Picnic-Perfect Broccoli Salad

Oh, those tasty trees! The trick to picnic-perfect broccoli salad is in the preparation of the broccoli.  Blanching the broccoli not only makes the little-bright-green-trees look better, they taste better too!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt
6 cups (1 lb.) fresh organic blanched* broccoli florets
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/2 cup cooked, Two Rivers crumbled bacon
1/4 cup of organic red onion, chopped
1 cup of organic peas (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 cup mayonnaise or vegan mayo
2 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey

* to blanch broccoli put it a pot of lightly-salted (1 tsp) boiling water for 1 minute, drain and place it in a bowl of ice water immediately to prevent overcooking and to cool it quickly. Drain well.

Directions

Combine broccoli florets, almonds, bacon, chopped onion, and peas in a large serving bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, cider vinegar and honey – makes a generous amount. Add dressing a bit at a time to the salad (to your liking) and toss to mix well. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Tip: save the “trunks” of the trees for shredding into a homemade cabbage, kale, carrot and broccoli slaw.  You’ll likely have leftover dressing to use.