My sister hosted a family dinner tonight. Usually, there are few, if any, low carb side dishes. So I offered to bring a side dish. Because it's the end of summer, I wanted something light. The recipe below is what I made. The beauty of this recipe is the ingredient quantities (especially the dressing) are variable according to taste. The blanching of the broccoli florets took the most time (other than the bacon) because my broccoli had brown spots and yellow sections that had to be cut off. Blanching might not be necessary but it made for a very colorful and enticing salad.

I've read about blanching veggies. I've read it brings out and preserved the color. BUT, I thought there might be some ... exaggeration to that claim. Well, guess what? I was WRONG. It really does enhance the color. My broccoli florets went from pale/dull green to a bright and vibrant green. It made a gorgeous salad.

Ingredients:

5 sliced thick cut bacon, cut up or crumbled (depends on the crispness factor)
2 12-oz bags broccoli florets (cut into bite size pieces) (I only got about 9 oz of usable florets out of each bag)
8 oz baby sliced Portebella mushrooms (because of the decreased yield of broccoli, I used only 6 oz mushrooms)
3 oz shredded 4 Cheese blend (or shred your own preferred cheese)
1 cup mayo
4 t mustard
4 caps Lime juice
16 drops liquid Splenda

Method:

1. Bake the bacon until it's as crispy as you want (mine was semi-crisp but I left some of the fat semi-soft).

2. Cut up the broccoli florets into bite size pieces (and trim any non-green spots, if necessary). Blanche them (dunk into lightly boiling water for 10 seconds, then immerse them into water with ice [have the ice water already waiting before you dunk the broccoli into the boiling water], then drain them). Put the blanched florets into a large serving bowl.

3. Add mushrooms

4. Add cheese

5. Make dressing in a small bowl: Mix 1 cup of mayo and 16 drops of liquid Splenda. Mix in 4 teaspoons of mustard. Then add 4 cap-fulls of lime juice. Mix until smooth and thin enough to pour and mix into the broccoli mix. (My dressing was extremely pale yellow or white with the slightest tinge of yellow.) **The amounts of mayo, mustard, lime juice, and sweetener are VERY adjustable to taste and consistency.**

6. Mix dressing into the broccoli and mushroom combo.

7. Add shredded cheese, reserving some for topping the salad.

8. Cut up or crumble the bacon and mix most of it into the salad. Reserve some for topping the salad.

9. Top the salad with the remaining shredded cheese and bacon pieces.

This salad got rave reviews from my family - none of whom follow LC.