Zesty Broccoli Salad

Most people don't like their dorm or sorority food in college, but I found ours to be pretty darn good! I was a Pi Phi at the University of Kansas and our cook, Mary whipped this up every few weeks.  I've been craving this for years and finally found a few recipes, merged them and created my own.  The Pi Phi broccoli salad never had bacon, but it seemed to be a common ingredient in the recipes I stumbled on.  I gave it a shot.  Wow, was it a great idea.

Ingredients: 


-2-3 large heads of broccoli
-6 slices bacon
-1/2 cup sunflower seeds
-1/2 cups golden raisins
-1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
-1 cup light mayo
-3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
-1/4 cup honey
-salt and pepper to taste




First, fry up the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat. Let the bacon cool on a plate lined with a paper towel.  Once it is cool, crumble the bacon into a small bowl and set aside.

The greatest part of this salad is that you don't cook the broccoli.  It stays fresh and crisp...even after a few days in the fridge tossed in the dressing,  Rinse and chop the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Put in a large mixing bowl.

Next, thinly slice the onions and throw into the broccoli bowl.

Add the raisins, sunflower seeds and bacon to the broccoli.

In a smaller bowl whisk together the mayo, apple cider vinegar and honey.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the dressing over the broccoli salad and toss until coated evenly.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to cool and let the flavors develop.  To be  honest, I'll eat a large serving for lunch.  But, it's best served as a side salad to meat or chicken.  Even though it's the dead of winter, it would be a fabulous summer salad with grilled burgers.  I'm just wishful thinking for warm weather. Can you blame me?