Broccoli Raisin Salad Recipe: No, really, it's very tasty!

When I first saw broccoli raisin salad on a salad bar, I wanted to, well, hurt. I mean, I can get my arms around a broccoli salad with bacon, but a broccoli salad with raisins? Seriously?

This Broccoli Raisin Salad Recipe is by no means as common as coleslaw, but, made with fresh ingredients, it is a great alternative. (I actually blindfolded my kids in order to try this,and even after the blindfold was removed they had no problem cleaning their plates!)

Recipe:

1 lb. Broccoli crowns
12 cups water
4 Tb. Salt

Bring water and salt to a boil. Add the broccoli. Cook for 3 minutes until al dente. Cool.

This seems like a great deal of salt, but this just serves to season the broccoli. In fact, if you are on a diet, stop here as this is a great recipe for broccoli. You can eat it like it is and it's great cold. No added fat. We add the fat below!

• 3/4 cup raisins, plumped in hot water for 15 minutes.
• 3 Tb. diced onion (1/4" dice)
• 3 oz. diced cooked bacon, or bacon bits. (real bacon please)

Dressing:

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• rind of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• Black pepper

Direction:

1. Mix the dressing ingredients together. Adjust seasoning.
2. Add the broccoli, onions, raisins and bacon together. Toss with dressing.
3. For a great treat, cook the bacon and add the bacon while still hot to the salad and serve! 

Southern Collard Greens Recipe

This Southern collard greens recipe, using collards is really delicious. In fact, it is the best that I've had- I used to avoid any type of greens like the plague. Greens are not common with bbq in many areas, but are common in the South, especially great served alongside smoked pork!

Many people don't know how to cook greens, but it is really very simple- the trick, like making great soups, or braises- is having a highly flavorful liquid base. This helps tremendously as the greens are a bit tough and bitter, so the liquid combined with the right cooking time takes them and makes them flavorful

In many recipes, collard greens are combined with some sort of pork, and like any soul food worth its salt bumped up with spice. The recipe here is the same and adds a bit of sweet and an acidic component - vinegar here- to cut through and brighten the flavor.

As with other greens recipes,the "potlikker" or the broth left over is highly flavorful and can be eaten separately, have corn bread dunked in it, or added to a soup base- so don't throw it away!

Southern Collard Greens Recipe

• 3 lbs. collard greens, mustard greens or turnip greens, cut into 1" ribbons or your preference
• 8 oz. bacon cubed or sliced
• 10 cups water
• 1/2 onion left whole (to facilitate removal later)
• 1 tsp salt
• Add bacon to water and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove bacon.
• Add greens and 1/2 onion and salt. Simmer greens uncovered on low heat for 1 hour. Turn off heat.

To Finish:

• 1/2 large onion diced
• 1 Tb. Bacon fat, butter or oil
• 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 Tb. Honey
• 2 Tb Apple Cider vinegar

Direction:

1. Saute onion in hot bacon fat until brown. Add the greens and potlikker. Add the rest of the ingredients and heat through.
2. Test for salt, pepper, sweet and sour. You can adjust to your taste. Also, if the greens are too "brothy" bring to a slow boil and reduce to your liking. Don't worry it is hard to overcook these!

Serve with your favorite bbq and corn bread for dunking!

Serves 6-8.

Coleslaw Recipe: Amazing what you can do with a little cabbage and a little vinegar...

Coleslaw is one of the most common of the BBQ side dish recipes and is truly easy (and cheap!)

It's kind of funny to think of it also as one of the "vegetable" side dish recipes- but that's what it is. Each region puts its own spin on slaw, the dressing, and even how they cut the cabbage.

At the base level, slaw is a salad made from green cabbage, dressed with a vinegar-based dressing, that over time- 1/2 hour and up- allows the cabbage to wilt and give up some liquid, making it tender and adding to the dressing. Simple.

But before we go through some of the more classic slaw recipes, here is my out and out favorite:

Rey's Chipotle Coleslaw:

1 lb. finely shredded cabbage (mix green, purple and shredded carrots if you like for color)

3/4 c. mayonnaise

2/3 c. chipotle vinegar (see below)

1 Tb. sugar

Mix all ingredients except the cabbage together. Do not worry if it is a bit lumpy. It will all work out in the wash. Add cabbage, toss and let sit for at least 1/2 hour to get to know each other. Toss again just before serving. Keeps 24 hours nicely. After that, it loses some of its oomph but is still good.

Chipotle Vinegar:

1/2 gallon seasoned rice vinegar

1 can (7oz) chipotles en adobo

Puree in a blender or Cuisinart until blended. Keeps indefinitely in the fridge. Great on this slaw as well as for pickled onions for tacos. I'm dead serious, this simple little vinegar rocks!

Now back to the other BBQ regions and recipes:

As with other aspects of BBQ, the Carolinas tend to have a very distinct method of preparing coleslaw and other side dishes. This is probably due to the fact that this is one of the earliest settlements and so methods of preparation recall those beliefs.

Eastern North Carolina Slaw #1

1 pound green cabbage "mulched" - (chopped very fine a la Kentucky Fried Chicken) 3 Tb cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup mayonnaise

1 Tb mustard

celery salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except the cabbage together. Add cabbage, toss and let sit for at least 1/2 hour to get to know each other. Toss again just before serving. Keeps 24 hours nicely.

Western North Carolina (Piedmont) "Red Coleslaw"

1 Pound Green Cabbage chopped fine

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tb red pepper flakes (optional)

Mix all ingredients except the cabbage together. Add cabbage, toss and let sit for at least 1/2 hour to get to know each other. Toss again just before serving. Keeps 24 hours nicely.

Classic Creamy Mayonnaise Coleslaw:

1 pound Green Cabbage julienned

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise

2Tb sugar

1 teaspoon celery seeds

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except the cabbage together. Add cabbage, toss and let sit for at least 1/2 hour. Toss again just before serving. Keeps 24 hours nicely.

Debbie's chichi California Coleslaw:

1 pound Purple Cabbage julienned

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise

2Tb sugar

1/2 bunch green onions chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except the cabbage together. Do not worry if it is a bit lumpy. It will all work out in the wash. Add cabbage, toss and let sit for at least 1/2 hour to get to know each other. 

Toss again just before serving. Keeps 24 hours nicely. After that, it loses some of this oomph but is still good.

Broccoli Salad Recipe

Ingredient:

1/3 cup fat free mayo

1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt

3 tbsp sugar (I use splenda)

1 tbsp white vinegar (I like to use a little more) 

Salt & Pepper

1 bunch broccoli

3 bacon slices, fried & crumbled

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

After that Mix them altogether

Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe

This Caesar salad dressing recipe came from my mom.  She always has a jar of it in the fridge and I would sit at the kitchen counter with a head of romaine lettuce, break off pieces and stick them in the jar.  If she made it for a get together, holiday, or party, she would make extra and put it in little jars so if someone loved it, she could send a little jar home with them.  It's a better-the-next-day dressing, so make it ahead of time.  Try to ignore what you're putting into it.  Just trust me.  It's good.

Because I made this for Easter dinner, I made my own croutons.  I've never made croutons before but now that I have, I won't ever buy them pre-made.  These were SO good!  I bought a small "artisan baguette" (it looked like a mini loaf of good bread, the size of a hoagie) for $0.90 at Super Target.  I was only making croutons for two people so that made more sense.  I took it out of the package and let it sit on the counter for a few hours.  Cut it up into little cubes.  Melt a few tablespoons of butter and a splash of olive oil in a skillet over medium.  Dump your cubes into the skillet and add salt, pepper, and minced garlic (I love that little jar of minced garlic that you find in the produce section), and a little garlic salt.  Toss and let them brown until they start to crisp up.  Mine were light golden when I took them out and let them dry on a paper towel.

Caesar Salad Dressing
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (the cheap shake stuff in the can)
1 tablespoon anchovy paste (I know, just go with it.  It's by the tuna fish.)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon curry powder

Mix all ingredients together but do not beat them!