I am kind of on a salad kick right now.  With summer here it just feels right to be making bright and lively salads.  This one is one of my favourites, and the concept of this salad was given to me by my mom, when I was younger (a lot younger).

I have been making broccoli salad for years.  As I mentioned, my mom first introduced me to this delicious salad, but over time I have made modifications to the original recipe that she shared with me. (No real surprise with this statement!)

When my mom used to make this, I think she would only add two maybe three slices of cooked bacon.  I don’t know what she was thinking, if two is good, and then seven or eight has to be better!  (If I am making this salad to bring to a BBQ or pot-luck, you can be guaranteed that I use a whole pound of bacon) 🙂  We also used to make this using frozen broccoli florets and cooking them in the microwave, but I now use farm fresh broccoli and keep it raw.  Both ways are good but I like the crunch of raw broccoli.

I love it when all the flavours combine together.  I think that my mom used to throw in a green pepper, but I like the colour contrast of a red pepper.  I also have added a jalapeño pepper to the mix.  Over the years my taste-buds have developed a craving for spicy foods.

The added flavours of chilli powder and garlic power, add just a bit of contrast to the mayonnaise.

After I have combined all the ingredients together, I let this salad sit in the fridge overnight.  It just seems to taste better when all the flavours have time to mingle.  What I love about salads like this, is that you can make them up and enjoy them all weekend, and not have to worry about cooking.  (I love to cook, but sometimes weekends get full in the summer and you don’t have the time you want to devote to the kitchen)

Jamie and I will sometimes add a grilled chicken breast when we have this, just to make it a full rounded meal.

If you decide to make this, play around with the vegetables that you add to the mix.  That is one of the wonderful things about salads, there are no rules!

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Ingredients:

• 7 strips of bacon, diced and cooked crispy
• 5 cups broccoli florets
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed and diced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup good quality mayonnaise

Directions:

1. Cook bacon till crispy.  Drain on paper towels and set aside.
2. Mix together all your cut up vegetables.  Add in drained bacon.  Combine with chili and garlic powder.
3. Mix well with mayonnaise.
4. Let flavours combine together in the fridge for 8 – 24 hours.
5. Enjoy!