Broccoli Salad

Where have I been?

You ask, where have I been the last few months and why haven't I been doing the blog. My answer: running, running, running. Oh, I've been doing important things but I have left things that really are important undone. I was reminded of that as I looked at a new January calendar I just received. The picture is of a young man sitting by a stream and waterfall with his winter coat on just thinking. His small orange tent is positioned nearby and glows with a warm, orange hue against his icy blue surroundings. The quote underneath the picture says, "There is more to life than increasing its speed." -Mahatma Ghandi

I complain at work because my computer has been running slow, and I run hither and thither doing things but at the end of the day how important were the things I was doing. This year, I'm going to take a breather each day and sit down on the floor, close my eyes and picture this beautiful stream with the orange glow of the tent and thank God for the blessing of life, no matter how stressful it gets or the challenges I face. This will be my little orange tent time and I'm going to think about what and who really are important and adjust my time and possibly slow down just a bit.

Thanks for listening my friends and especially sharing your thoughts and recipes. Many thanks to Debby Black for her gentle encouragement and continual sharing of her cooking discoveries. You are a treasure Debby!

Debby shared how she came by this recipe:

"Deb's Valentine Broccoli Salad"

"For Valentine's, Gary and I went up to Provo to do some shopping and we decided to go to dinner at Chuck-A-Rama Buffet. They had a great broccoli salad, so I decided to look on the internet for a recipe. I found three that were close-so I combined all three and the salad was great!

1 large head of broccoli, chopped

1 cup chopped red onion, sweet onion or green onion (we like sweet onion)

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup cranraisins or raisins

1/2 cup cubed fried crispy bacon

Mix all together in a large bowl. Add dressing:

1 cup salad dressing - Miracle Whip is best - more tan!

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. vinegar

Mix atogether and then mix into salad. (A little dry- depends on how much broccoli you use -I would next time increase the recipe by half 1 1/2 cup salad dressing, 3 Tbsp. vinegar, 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar)

A trick I used for the bacon - I used frozen bacon -cut the pound pkg. in half, then sliced and chopped into cubes- fried up great in the pan.

Gary said it was better than the restaurant!! (the restaurant also had pasta but no cheese)

See you later my friends and happy "tent thinkin"

Debbie