Gourmet Thai Chicken Pizza

The first time I had this pizza, we were having dinner in Decorah, Iowa.  My favorite thing about the pizzas there is the crust.  A super thin crust baked in a wood fired oven.  Here you can get your usual pizza or you can order one of their specialty pizzas.  This pizza is loosely based on their Thai Kicken' Chicken pizza.  Both have the same peanut sauce and mozzarella cheese, but that is where the similarities end. 

The peanut sauce is sweet and sour with just a hint of spice from the hot chili oil. The chicken has a touch of heat from the red chili.  Baked to perfection and topped with fresh chopped cilantro and grated carrots adds a freshness to this pizza and guarantees it will be a hit.

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (use your favorite kind)

• Pizza Sauce
• 3 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons brewed black tea
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili oil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Pizza Topping
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and sliced very thin
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 small, fresh red chili finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 green onions
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 carrot peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the pizza sauce: place peanut butter, tea, rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, ginger, and honey in a blender and process until smooth.

In a medium bowl combine paprika, chicken, sesame seeds, chili pepper, and salt.  Toss with 3 tablespoons of the peanut sauce.  Mix until the chicken is evenly coated.  Spread remaining peanut sauce onto prepared pizza crust.  Top with chicken and green onions and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Garnish with chopped cilantro and grated carrots.  Enjoy!

Grilled Greek Lamb Burgers with Spinach and Red Onion Salad

Have you ever been in the grocery store, spotted something, and thought to yourself, I should try this?  That is exactly how ground lamb ended up i our freezer.  What do you do with ground lamb?  A little searching on the Internet leads me to this recipe: Greek Lamb Burgers with a Spinach and Red Onion Salad.

We grilled the burgers and buns instead of frying them.  Talk about delicious.  With each bite, you got a hint of mint, cinnamon, and of course the salad on top of the burger.  Truly a great burger, one we're going to make again!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 1/3 pounds ground lamb
• 4 hamburger buns
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach
• 1 1/3 cup crumbled feta
• 2 1/4 in thick red onion slices (The original recipe called for 4, I used 3 and thought it was to much.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

In a bowl, mix together mint, cinnamon, paprika, salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil.  Crumble in ground lamb and mix well.  Shape into 4 patties.  Grill to desired doneness.

While burgers are grilling, spray the cut side of 4 hamburger buns with cooking spray and place on grill cut side down and grill until toasted.  Remove from grill and place burger on the bottoms of buns.

Toss spinach, onions, and feta together in a bowl.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Top each burger with the salad and cover with tops of buns.  Enjoy! 

 

 

Wicked Weekend

My long awaited for birthday present, tickets to see WICKED the musical in Omaha, NE.  What a blast!  The show was AMAZING!  If you get the chance to  go, I highly recommend you do.  I also recommend the Magnolia Hotel as a great place to stay, it's within walking distance of the Orpheum theater where WICKED was playing. 

We arrived at the hotel Friday evening, handed the truck off to the valet and checked in.  In our room awaited the first surprise of the weekend: a perfectly chilled bottle of champagne and strawberries dipped in chocolate.  Yum!  Dinner was room service, and extremely delicious.  Wild Mushroom Gnocchi with crisp spinach and tomato and Grilled Coho Salmon on a bed of braised romaine and white beans.  For dessert Skip ordered a bread pudding with homemade bourbon caramel sauce.  Not a bad way to start the holiday weekend.

Saturday morning lead us to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.  Another great place to go if you get the chance.  We spent about 3 hours there and didn't see everything.  As you walked into the zoo, you were greeted with the smell of food being grilled.  After leaving the zoo, tired, thirsty, and a little hungry, we found our way to, Jazz, A Louisiana Style Kitchen.  The food there was superb!  Skip ordered a Catfish Po'boy and I ordered the Shrimp Po'Boy, delicious.  We split and order of sweet potato fries, the best I ever had!  They had a little kick to them, but they were amazing.  Of course all orders came with hush puppies. 

Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and we were feeling very full from lunch, so we split an order of calamari and a cheese plate.  The restaurant was running a special on wine, so we ordered a bottle of Bordeca Norton Reserva Malbec.  The perfect wine to go with our light dinner.  The calamari was by far the best calamari we ever had.  Each bite was tender and served over a marinara sauce and topped with a roasted garlic aioli.  Mixed into all this deliciousness was strips of summer squash and zucchini (fried).  The cheese plate was every bit as delicious as the calamari.  Different cheeses and meat served with grilled flat bread.   

After dinner we walked over to the Orpheum theater, to see WICKED.  I can't even begin to describe the musical and the performance.  The cast was extremely talented and the music was phenomenal!  A very memorable night.  By the end of the performance, you were rooting for Elphaba (the wicked witch) and laughing at Galinda who changes her name to Glinda to impress the guy she likes.  An amazing performance.  The Orpheum theater is a historic theater with tons of carvings the majority gold in color.  A beautiful setting for a very memorable show.

We left Omaha Sunday morning with plans to return, hopefully later this summer.  Again a great weekend filled with good food, good company, and a new place to get away in the future.  One of those get away places you never thought would be a get away destination.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

I made this sandwich over the weekend, I served it with Caesar coleslaw.  The chicken is marinated with hot sauce, butter, and few other things and then basted with the same marinade as it grills.

The weather here did not cooperate over the weekend, so we baked it on a rake in the oven.  It turned out great and it was similar to eating buffalo wings, right down to the sauce on the sandwich.  A definite must repeat!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups hot sauce
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4  cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 strips of bacon cooked crisp
• 2 slices Colby cheese
• lettuce, tomato, and red onion

Combine the hot sauce, brown sugar, butter, cider vinegar, and taco seasoning.  Bring to a boil and let boil for one minute.  Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.  Reserve 1/2 cup of marinade for basting.  Flatten chicken to 1/2 inch thickness and pour remaining marinade over chicken.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Grill chicken over medium heat, basting with reserved marinade until fully cooked.

In a small bowl, combine: mayo, blue cheese, buttermilk, garlic, Parmesan cheese, chives, lemon juice,  balsamic vinegar, and pepper.  Mix well.

Spread sauce over the bottoms of rolls, top with chicken, bacon, cheese, lettuce, and tomato.  Serving remaining sauce on the side.  Enjoy!

Brined Pork Chops

Brining meat is in my opinion the best way to get a lot of flavor into any cut of meat.  Over the weekend, we had brined pork tenderloin and then grilled it.  It was awesome.  Friday night we brined some pork chop, not 100% sure of the cut, but they were excellent.  I made the brine early in the afternoon and then let the chops hang out in the brine for about 4 hours and then grilled them.  Awesome! 

Here is the brine I made on Friday;

• 8 cups of water
• 1/4 cup coarse salt, I prefer Kosher salt for making brine
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 very small pinch of cloves or 2 cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• pork chops

Mix together water, salt, sugar, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and garlic.  Stir until sugar and salt have dissolved.  Cool to room temperature.  Once brine is cooled to room temperature, add pork chops and refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes, but no more than 8 hours. 

Remove from brine, rinse, and pat dry.  Cook pork chops to desired doneness.  Enjoy!

Meatball Calzones

Rigby stumbled on this recipe one night when she was bored and saw the pile of cook books on the coffee table.  Before she left for school, she said she had found a recipe that looked interesting.  She showed me the recipe and that is what we had for dinner last night.  

The meatballs were very easy to make and they were baked in the oven, so no standing in front of the stove frying little balls of meat forever.  I used homemade bread dough instead of the 3 loaves of frozen bread dough and made my own spaghetti sauce to dip it in.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs (can be seasoned, I used what I had in the freezer)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
• 2 Pounds ground beef
• 3 loaves (1 pound each) frozen bread dough, thawed (I used homemade bread dough, but use what's most convenient for you)
• 3 cups shredded 5 Blend Italian Cheese (the original recipe called for mozzarella, but I like the Italian blend better)
• 1 egg white lightly beaten
• Additional Italian Seasoning
• 1 14 ounce jar spaghetti sauce, warmed (use your favorite, I prefer homemade)

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning.  Add beef and mix well.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  I used a small ice cream scoop to make all the meatballs the same size.  Place meatballs on a baking rack over a shallow pan.  I covered the pan in aluminum foil for easier clean up.  Bake meatballs in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink in the middle.  Drain on paper towels and set meatballs aside until needed.

On a floured surface, tool each portion of dough into an 18inch x 12 inch rectangle.  Spoon a third of the meatballs and mozzarella cheese down the center of each rectangle.  Fold dough over filling; press edges firmly to seal.

Place seam side down on greased baking sheets.  Brush tops with egg whites and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.  Let calzones sit for 15-30 minutes prior to baking in a 350 degree oven.

Bake for 15-30 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with spaghetti sauce.

Enjoy, Rigby certainly did. 

Chocolate-Caramel Dream Pie

Who doesn't love the combination of chocolate and caramel?  This pie is pretty simple to make.  It starts with a cookie crust, you can either make one or buy one.  I made mine.  Plan ahead, as this pie does need to chill.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups crushed cookies, I used butter biscuits
• 1/3 cup butter melted
• 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
• 2/3 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
• 1 8 ounce package cream cheese softened
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine crushed cookies and butter;  press onto the bottom and sides of a greased 9-inch pie plate.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Spread hazelnut spread over crust.  In a large bowl combine 2 tablespoons cream and caramel topping, stir in almonds.  Spoon caramel mixture over hazelnut spread layer. 

In a small bowl combine cream cheese and confectioners sugars, beat until well combined.  Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth.  In a large bowl, beat remaining heavy cream until stiff peaks form.  Fold into cream cheese mixture.  Spread over caramel-almond layer.

Sprinkle pie with 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar and refrigerate for at least 1 hour prior to serving.

Grilled Protobellos with Mozzarella Salad

This is another simple dish that we served with the pork tenderloin this weekend.  I made the mozzarella salad early in the day, and grilled the mushrooms prior to serving.  It was a very simple dish to make and very tasty.  At only 133 calories, not a bad dish at all.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
• 3 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 large portobello mushrooms (4 to 4 1/2 inches), stems removed
• Cooking spray

In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until serving.

Coat grill with cooking spray and then apply a thin coat of cooking spray to mushrooms.  Grill the mushrooms over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until tender. 

Spoon 1/2 cup of the mozzarella mixture into each mushroom cap prior to serving.  Enjoy!

Artichoke and Tomato Salad

I made this salad over the weekend to accompany the grilled pork tenderloin we had brined.  This salad goes together in minutes and looks pretty.  I served it at room temperature, because I don't like how tomatoes taste after they've been refrigerated. 

To make this recipe, you will need:
5 large tomatoes cut into wedges
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar of marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1 can ripe olives, drained
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic minced

Place tomatoes on a large serving platter, season with salt and pepper.  In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and spoon over tomatoes.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

A few weeks ago we saw the movie "HOP" at the local theater.  Its one of those second run theaters, reduced price for the movie, but they serve food.  We ordered a chicken Alfredo pizza.  Don't get me wrong, it was definitely chicken, but it tasted more like the Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza I make. 

I've had Chicken Alfredo Pizza in the past and I remembered it having a very thin crust and tasting it like chicken Alfredo. 

Last night this is how I made my version of the Chicken Alfredo Pizza.

Sauce
1/4 butter
1/4 flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup 3 cheese Italian cheese
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic minced

Garlic butter
2 tablespoons butter
pinch of rosemary
1 Clove garlic minced

Chicken
3 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper

Pizza Crust (store bought is fine, but I prefer homemade)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Place pizza crust on prepared pizza pan and set aside.

Heat olive oil large saute pan.  When oil is warm, add minced garlic and saute for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add chicken to the oil and garlic, season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Cook chicken until chicken is no longer pink.  Remove from pan and set aside. 

Add butter garlic to the same saute pan chicken was cooked in, stir in flour, salt and pepper.  Gradually add milk and cheese.  Once cheese melts, remove pan from heat. 

In a small bowl, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add the remaining garlic and pinch of rosemary.  Let sit until cooled to room temperature.  Once cooled, brush garlic butter on pizza crust.  Then spread on Alfredo Sauce, and top with chicken.  Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Brine for Chicken

Recently we started brining our meat before we grill it.  Brining helps to really flavor the meat and it keeps the meat nice and moist.  Brining involves using salt and liquid for flavor, as opposed to a marinade that will often have some type of acid in it, ie vinegar.  Both are delicious, but back to the task at hand.  Whenever I make a brine, I use kosher salt.  Why kosher salt?  Its bigger, therefore you use less, but if all you have is table salt or sea salt, use 1/2 the amount of salt called for. 

To make the brine you'll need:

• 1 gallon warm water
• 3/4 cup kosher salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Start with a container large enough to hold a gallon of water, plus the chicken you'll be submerging into this mixture.  I used a large stock pot and it worked well.

Mix ingredients together and let cool to room temperature.  Once cooled to room temperature, add chicken.  I used two chicken cut into quarters, but you can leave the chicken whole.  Place in refrigerator and let sit for 4 hours for the cutup chicken and 4 hours to overnight for a whole chicken.  Remove chicken from brine and cook as desired.  I chose to grill ours and baste it was a balsamic barbecue sauce as it

grilled. 

If your worried it will be to salty, the chicken can be rinsed or soaked a few minutes in plain water to remove the salt from the surface of the chicken.  Enjoy!

Baked Brie en croute

Brie en croute, sounds really daunting and impressive, but it's no more than a wheel of brie and some preserves baked in a puffed pastry crust.  You wanna get fancy, add some dried fruit and some toasted nuts before wrapping it up. 

But I like brie en croute.  Its delicious.  The one I like to make can be served as an appetizer, snack, or dessert.  It's creamy and warm, filled with fruit and nuts.

To make this you'll need:

1 sheet puffed pastry, thaw according to directions.  (unless your me and forgot to take out the puffed pastry, then shove the pastry in the microwave and defrost in 30 second intervals.)
1 wheel of brie
1/2 cup chopped and toasted nuts, for this one I used pecans
1/2 cup dried fruit
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll the defrosted puffed pastry into a 14 inch square.  In the center of the square, spread the preserves.  Top the preserves with the nuts and dried fruit.  (I used a combination of dried cranberries, raisin, and blueberries)  Top fruit and nuts with the wheel of brie.  Bring the first corner of the puffed pastry over the brie, paint egg mixture on the pastry and bring another corner of the pastry over the egg wash, continue until the brie is covered.  Turn pastry seam side down onto baking sheet.  Brush the tops and sides of the pastry with egg wash.  Cut slits into the top of the pastry to allow the air to escape with it cooks.  Place in oven and bake until golden brown.  about 15-20 minutes.

The Best Burger

On Sunday we made the best burgers ever.  Everyone has their favorite burger and that's great.  But this one, oh yum.  No other way to describe it.  We used ground bison, I know some will be turned off by that alone, but when cooked properly, bison is very delicious. 

This burger included some of my favorite things, a very good quality blue cheese and port wine.  Yes, port wine. 

Here's how we made them:

1 pound ground bison

2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

1 cup port wine (get the good stuff, never and I mean never cook with an alcohol you wouldn't drink)

3 ounces of a good quality blue cheese.  (we used a danish blue cheese)

Pour the port into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat port has reduced to 2 tablespoons.  This will take about 15-20 minutes.  Stir the port as needed during the reduction time.

Mean while, get your grill ready and preheated.

While the grill is preheating, get the bison burgers prepped.  Mix together the bison, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Since bison is a lean protein, you have to add a little fat to the meat prior to cooking it, or else it will become dry and uneatable.  When this concoction is mixed well, place on a nicely heated grill and grill the burger to desired doneness.  When cooked through, add the blue cheese to the burger and continue cooking until the cheese has melted.  This process can be sped up by adding a tinfoil tent to the top of the meat to allow steam to form and melt the cheese quicker.  Place burgers on a bun (again we used homemade buns) drizzle on port wine reduction and serve immediately.  

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Last night for dinner, I made sweet and sour chicken.  It was amazing, the colors and the smell, yum.  This dish isn't hard to make and its very budget friendly as well, I believe a little over $2.00 per serving, not bad at all.

The ingredients are fairly simple and most people have the majority of the ingredients in their pantry at any given time.

In order to make this you'll need:


Salt and pepper
1 cup white rice (We used Jasmine Rice, but use whatever kind you prefer)
1 20 ounce can of pineapple, save the juice
2 tablespoon white vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons of corn starch (I bumped this up to 6 teaspoons, to make it thicker)
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped into bite size pieces

Start by cooking the rice.  We used a rice cooker, but rice can be made on the stove top as well.  Bring 1 3/4 cup water and some salt to boil, add the rice, cover, reduce the heat, and let simmer until the water is all gone.  About 20 minutes.

In a bowl, combine 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, 1/2 cup pineapple juice, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, and ginger.  Mix well and set aside.

Toss chicken and remaining 2 teaspoons of cornstarch together in a bowel.  In a large saute pan, heat the 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the chicken until it has browned.  Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.  Cook peppers in the same pan for about 2 minutes.  When peppers have started to tenderize, add chicken and drained pineapple to the pan.  Stir in the liquid mixture one more time and add to pan.  Continue cooking until sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through.  Serve over rice.

Turkey Cutlets with Homemade dressing

Sometimes you want a "Thanksgiving" type of dinner and don't want to make an entire turkey or the breast of the turkey.  It takes along time to cook the turkey and then to deal with the left overs, ugh.  So why not try a turkey breast cutlet.  They cook quickly and the portion sizes are perfect. Sometimes I"ll do a light breading on the cutlet and saute it before placing it in the oven.  This time around, I chose to skip the breading and just seasoned the cutlets with salt, pepper, and some dried thyme.

The dressing is baked in the oven and made from homemade bread, an apple, onion, and some sausage.  Its seasoned with salt, pepper, and chicken stock.

To make this recipe you'll need:

1 package turkey breast cutlets

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper

1 small onion finely chopped

1 apple, diced

4 ounces breakfast sausage cooked and crumbled

10 pieces of bread

3-4 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a saute pan, cook sausage and onion together until sausage is no longer pink in color.  Set aside.  Finely dice apple and coat with lemon juice to prevent the apple from turning colors.  Toast the bread and cut into squares.  Place bread in casserole dish, mix in apples, sausage, and onion.  Stir in about 2 cups of chicken stock.  Add more chicken stock if mixture seems dry, being careful to not add to much chicken stock.  Season the turkey breast cutlets with salt, pepper, and thyme; and place on top of the dressing.

Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking until the dressing is warmed through and the turkey cutlets are fully cooked.  Enjoy!

Chicken Tenders

I'll admit, I like chicken tenders.  Who doesn't?  One of the things I love and hate about them is the fact they are usually fried in oil.  I came across this recipe for chicken tender that are baked in the oven and they're really good.  Matter of fact, can't even tell they're not fried.  I'm thinking the secret is in the breading of the chicken.

To make this recipe you will need:
Ranch dressing - doesn't matter what kind of ranch, pick your favorite
Ritz Crackers - two rolls
Chicken breasts - I use one boneless skinless chicken breast per person

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Start by crushing the Ritz crackers.  I run mine through the food processor to make a nice fine crumb.  Once the crackers become crumbs, pour those into a large ziplock bag and set aside.

Next take the chicken breast and slice them into strips.  I've found its easiest to cut the chicken breasts after they've been in the freezer about 10 minutes.  Once the chicken is all cut up put the chicken in a bowl and pour on enough ranch dressing to cover the chicken.  Give the chicken a toss in the ranch dressing to make sure its all covered.  Let stand about 10 minutes. 

Remove chicken from the ranch dressing a few pieces at a time, allowing the excess ranch dressing to drip off.  Place chicken in cracker crumbs and shake.  Place breaded chicken pieces onto prepared baking sheet.  Once all pieces have been coated, spray the tops of the chicken pieces with cooking spray and place in oven.  After 15 minutes, turn chicken and continue to cook until done.  I promise, you'll love these!

Creamy Broccoli Salad

I absolutely love broccoli.  This salad is simple to make, but plan on making this ahead of time, so the broccoli and onions have time to marinade in the dressing.  This is one of those salads that even Rigby will eat and it goes so well with just about everything.

To make this recipe you will need:
1 cup mayo
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 bunch broccoli
1/4 cup onion chopped fine
6 pieces of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup to 1 cup raisins

Mix mayo, sugar, and vinegar together in a bowl.  Remove broccoli from stems and add to dressing.  Finely chop onion and add to dressing.  Mix together well and refrigerate.

Cook bacon crisp and set aside until cool.  Once bacon is cool, add to the broccoli mixture, along with sunflower seeds and raisins.  Mix well and return to refrigerator.

Before serving, stir salad one more time to coat mixture with the salad dressing.  Enjoy!