#3 Broccoli Bacon Salad

I love salads --especially when I have fresh grown tomatoes in our backyard. I am not an expert  gardener, but I do have a green thumb that occasionally produces a few essential vegetables like tomatoes, green chillies and beans.  Surprisingly, this year I was lucky enough to grow fresh bunches of the type of Red Spinach grown in Kerala.  I have fantasies of growing watermelon, cauliflowers, cucumbers, squash and lettuce too but I wonder if that will ever happen. I cannot get myself to eat a salad everyday, so I am enthusiastic about coming up with vegetable salads either cold or warm. Of course it does not feel like summer is around the corner anytime soon, which means I will not enjoy the red leaf lettuce salads for some time. I come up with recipes like this because vegetables like Broccoli do serve my purpose of eating low carb and keeps my stomach satisfied for longer periods of time.

Ingredients:
Broccoli Heads- 2 small
Green Onions- 1 stem
Bacon- 2 small slices
Mayyonnaise- 2 Tblspn
Mustard- 1/4 tspn
lime juice- 1 tspn
garlic- 1/4 tspn
Ranch dressing- 1 Tblspn
Grated Carrots-1/2 cup
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Wash and cut the Broccoli heads into small florets.
2. Boil a pan of water and when it comes to a full boil, blanch the broccoli for a min.
3. Blanching allows you to cook the vegetables completely then cool quickly by adding some ice cubes to  keep them crisp.
4. In a large Glass bowl, mix together the dressing- Mayyonnaise, mustard, lime juice, garlic, Ranch dressing, salt and pepper.
5. Take three paper towels and fold the bacon into them. Place in a microwaveable plate and microwave for 2 mins.
6. Cool the bacon and crush it up.
7. To the dressing in the bowl, add the broccoli and the crushed bacon, toss and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.