Broccoli Salad with Special Dressing

This recipe is so out-of-this-world delicious! My Aunt Jill makes this recipe during the holidays and when company comes over. It's lovely to bring to someone's house, a potluck, serve your company or even just to eat right out of the bowl with your husband on a weeknight -- true story!

This recipe is in our family cookbook that my aunt put together for everyone about 10+ years ago. I was flipping through it trying to figure out what recipes I can actually eat (not many too choose from) and what recipes I can tweak and share with you. This recipe will blow your mind!

I am so excited that I was finally able to tweak this recipe so that we can enjoy it without worrying about food allergies or food restrictions. The original recipe uses mayonnaise, which is fine for me, but when my mom is in town I can't make it due to eggs. It also contains 1 cup of white sugar which we don't eat. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do!

Side note: One night, I decided to really test this recipe out and tweak it to see if it would be good enough to post. We made a trip to the store and planned to eat this salad alongside or before a normal dinner. I made the salad, we tasted it and decided to nix our dinner plans and just sit at the counter with two forks and eat this entire salad for our dinner! YUM

I recommend that all your ingredients be organic.

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INGREDIENTS

4 small broccoli florets, cut into bite size

1lb bacon, cooked and chopped

2/3 cup raisins

2/3 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds

1 red onion, chopped

Dressing:

2/3 cup raw cashews*

1/2 + 1 TB cup water

1/3 cup coconut sugar (palm sugar)

2 TB red wine vinegar

* make sure that it's a heaping 2/3 a cup

For Whole 30, omit coconut sugar, add 1-2 dates.

Directions:

Cook the bacon until crispy and set aside to cool down.

Rinse and cut broccoli into bite size pieces and put in a large salad bowl. Set aside.

Add raisins, sunflower seeds, red onion and chopped bacon to broccoli and mix.

In your VitaMix or blender, add in cashews, water, red wine vinegar and coconut sugar and blend until smooth.

Pour dressing over salad, toss and enjoy!