The Ask Me How I Know family has had a tough month.  Two surgeries, one planned, one a surprise.  Thank God all came out well, but I think when anything happens health wise, you start thinking and cooking healthy…….sure, it only lasts a few weeks, but you can pull out some GREAT things in your memory and in your old cookbooks.

Years ago Stacey Loth (one of the cutest people ever), gave me this Raw salad.  I remember laughing, because I didn’t plan to ever make it.  Too healthy!  However, she brought it to a party and we all devoured it.  Funny how something you turn your nose up to can turn out to be one of your all time favorites!  NOBODY doesn’t love this salad….

CAULIFLOWER/BROCCOLI RAW SALAD*

(*Stacey gave me this at least 10 years ago, when Broc. and Caul. only came in heads and stalks.  Now you can buy those wonderful little packages of them already trimmed and cut up for you.  You can even use the ‘riced’ cauliflower if you want, but I prefer the pieces to be a little more ‘bite’ sized, so I chop them myself. ). Of course, you can still do your own thing by chopping the heads and stalks.

1 pak raw Broccoli (chopped)

1 pak raw Cauliflower (chopped)

1/2 cup currants (or other dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, raisins)

5 strips bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled*

Dressing: (note:  I double this recipe and use about 3/4 of it.  We like a little more dressing)

1/2 cup mayo

2 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. vinegar (this is where you can try different vinegars that you like.  If you use white balsamic or seasoned rice vinegar they are very sweet, so you can cut the sugar in half) Recently I ran out of  mayo so I added some Ranch.  It was excellent that way too!  You just can’t hurt this salad!

Mix thoroughly and toss all ingredients.

You can make additions to your taste.  I like nuts!  chopped almonds, pine nuts, chopped pecans.  Don’t feel like you have to stick to all measurements.  This is a great salad to use more of anything you especially like.  Another wonderful thing about it is that it can keep in the fridge for days and not ‘wilt’ more get mushy.

*Another vegetarian note:  I usually put the crumbled bacon on the side so non-vegetarians can sprinkle their own on top!

A nice healthy dinner would be this salad with some grilled, baked or broiled salmon.  See Table of contents for this recipe under “main dishes”

 

The above shows when I did a “taste test” of three different salmons.  Left seasoned from Safeway.  Middle Costco Coho frozen salmon, and right the little filets from Ikea in the frozen section.  They come in paks of 3 and we just love them!  Even though they are frozen, there is no unpleasant aftertaste and the texture is great.  That’s steamed spinach on the right–another disgustingly healthy food.😩🥦😩🥦pretty tasty though.                Ask me how I know…