Broccoli Salad

It sounds really weird that I was excited when I was invited to try out the new Hellman’s mayonnaise squeeze bottle through Influenster.  But, I have to confess that I’ve always been a big mayo fan. I’m talking a mayo sandwiches in 2nd grade kind of fan (literally mayo only on white bread!)  Except this time I wasn’t excited for myself and my passion for mayonnaise, I was excited because mayo is dairy free so it’s something Doodle can actually have and we’ve come to rely on it for pretty much anything creamy.  Plus Hellmann’s uses real sugar instead of corny syrup so I know it’s a brand I can trust!

I haven’t had a lot of cravings this pregnancy, but one did pop recently: Sweet Tomatoes’ broccoli salad.  It has always been a favorite of mine with its sweet zing!  So I looked up some copy cat recipes online and decided to try it out at home.  I was surprised to see the dressing was basically just the same as I would put on coleslaw and while my recipe wasn’t exactly like Sweet Tomatoes’, it did hit the spot!

All you need is:

• 1 bunch of broccoli (I actually used frozen which unfortunately left us with a lot of stem pieces but the taste was the same)
• 1/2 cup cooked bacon
• 1/2 cup nuts of your choice (I like pecans)
• 1/3 cup craisins or raisins
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the bacon until crumbly and pat of excess fat on a paper towel and let cool.
2. Chop broccoli into bite sized pieces.
3. Mix together the mayonnaise, sugar, cider vinegar, salt and pepper.  Let rest a few minutes to let flavors come together.
4. Combine broccoli, bacon, nuts and craisins.
5. Add dressing and mix.  Serve immediately or chill for later.

Since my this post already got weird with my mayo obsession confession, let me take it one step farther: I actually remember my first bottle of squeeze mayonnaise.  The flat spout was heaven for making sandwiches!  But then you get down to the bottom of the bottle and the mayo backs up and all you get is mayonnaise farts all over the place and you end up throwing the bottle away with plenty of good mayo still trapped inside!

Luckily, Hellmann’s felt my pain (and apparently the pain of millions of other mayo wasters) and redesigned their lid to make it not only less wasteful but more user friendly.  Kids can draw pictures on their sandwiches with the small, stay clean spout.  You can easily measure out small spoon-sized amounts for a recipe.  And (so far as I can tell since I’m not nearly done with the bottle yet), you don’t get large air bubbles which result in those irritating mayonnaise farts.  And I can tell that getting the last little bits out will be much easier!  A little banging on the counter and the remaining mayo will slide right down the funnel shaped cap to the spout and squeeze right out!