Broccoli raisin salad – Recipe or no recipe?
I was recently denied from a food blog site because I didn’t post enough recipes. So fine, here, have a recipe, pfft. :P
Broccoli Raisin Salad
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sugar
Mix together first and let set while you make the rest
Salad:
- A head of broccoli (maybe it’ll be 2 cups, maybe it’ll be 4 cups)
- The half an onion that’s sitting in your fridge (or maybe that small red one you didn’t have plans for yet)
- The rest of the raisins in the box (about 1/2 cup, if you really want a number)
- 1/2 cup of almonds…or walnuts…or both….or maybe 3/4 cup if you like nuts…or maybe chop a whole cup ‘cause you’ll likely eat half of them while you’re making this
Mix together. Add dressing. Mix some more. Make more dressing if you think you need it or like it creamier….or don’t. Maybe add some salt. Maybe don’t. Maybe sneak the kids some broccoli while you’re at it ‘cause they’ll think it’s a treat at this point…not a veggie. Put in the fridge until ready to be served. The mayo/sugar dressing gets better with time and nothing in the salad can really get “soggy” with it, so don’t be afraid to let it set for several hours or even overnight. Or eat it now. Whatever.
And that’s why I don’t do many recipes. I don’t *remember* the recipes. I didn’t *follow* the recipe I found online in the first place.
As much as I hated my mother always telling me “until it looks right” (and still do! how do I know what it’s supposed to look like if I’ve never made it before??), that’s how I end up cooking a lot of times. I work with what I have in the fridge or pantry….I adjust to taste a lot….I leave out ingredients (this likely called for bacon or something….and vinegar in the dressing) or add other ingredients.
In the end, if it tastes good, we eat it, and nobody cares if it was supposed to be walnuts instead of almonds or if the recipe called for red onions instead. It just works. But it really doesn’t translate well to publishing a recipe online. :P
Subs, subs, and more subs – How to mass produce sandwiches for a crowd
My family loves subs. The kids, the adults, the animals….we’re all happy for gatherings because it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll have subs on at least once and nobody’s wallets will be broken in the process.
There are pictures from one of our dozens of gatherings in the last few years, but I don’t recall which. When I run across more pictures, I’ll update with some of the variations we’ve created. This set is pretty basic.
If you check a chain grocery store like Kroger’s, they’ll usually have these loaves of bread for about a dollar a piece. They’re gigantic but delicious.
Don’t slice them all the way through. You want to create a pocket for all the goodies instead of them slipping and sliding out.
Add your mayonnaise and Italian dressing to both top and bottom, but don’t overdo it. If you’re going to be eating soon, put the dressing first to cut down on some of the mess. If these will be going in the fridge for a while, put the mayo first to create a barrier between the bread and dressing so the bread doesn’t get soggy.
A little goes a long way. You can see that I used half slices of one of the meats and the cheese doesn’t create a solid layer. There are enough toppings that you don’t need a huge amount of each.
Use fresh veggies, but don’t limit yourself to tomatoes and lettuce. Onions, avocados (replace the mayo with a layer of avocado to cut some calories/fat), cucumbers, and lots of veggies from your garden work awesome.
Notice that because the bread is so huge, there’s a cut down the middle first, so the pieces come out closer to square shape.
Also, at the far left of the picture, you can see that we put the whole subs right back in the plastic bags the bread came in. This keeps all the goodies inside and makes it a breeze to put in and out of the refrigerator if need be.
It’s also great to write across the label if you happen to have different subs. We sometimes have ones that are vegetarian or with extra dressing (or no dressing at all). No need in having to open them up to inspect the ingredients when you can just label it ahead of time and be on your way.
~Edit~ Here are a couple pictures from when we were getting ready to move. I put together 6 large sub sandwiches, stored them in the fridge, and pulled them out for various meals while we were packing, cleaning, and loading the trucks. Keep in mind that the sandwiches will hold up for a day or two (if they last that long, pfft), but you should leave the dressing/mayo off until time of serving then.
Also shared with Let’s Do Brunch linkup.
Vancouver likes their carrots
Two different grocery stores. The first had them all neatly arranged in a semi-circle display, and the second had giganto-monster carrots.
And if you want to add to that, the Vancouverite I’m staying with decided to make pickled carrots first thing when I arrived.
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