Bacon Broccoli Salad

I made this for a potluck earlier this week. Since I've been asked for the recipe and had it typed up anyway, I thought I'd share it with you. This was a result of last minute prep. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I looked into my fridge to see what was left from last week's vegetable share and saw a ton of broccoli. Sure, I could have just steamed it, but everything goes better with bacon. This is just a variation on a German Potato Salad recipe.

4 heads of broccoli, cleaned, de-stemmed, and chopped
(or one bag of frozen petite broccoli)

6 slices bacon
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar, because it's what I had)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli; cook until tender but still firm. Drain and cool.
2. Place bacon in a skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve 1 TBSP bacon fat.
3. Add the onion to the skillet with the reserved bacon fat. Saute until tender. Add the crumbled bacon back into the skillet.
4. Add the flour, sugar, salt, & pepper to the skillet. Stir until well-combined.
5. Add the water and vinegar to the skillet and cook over medium heat until dressing is thick and bubbly.
6. Stir the cooked broccoli into the dressing. Serve hot or cold.

March Link Love

My favorite links from March:

The William James' quote from Lee continues to resonate for me, especially since my to-do lists have to-do lists. I too am a victim of Distractadon.

Both Lee and my friend Christine got me following the Happiness Project. Here's a thought from Christine.

As a mathematician and a librarian, I've gotten this question a lot.

I'm still interested in Jeremy's budget and financial advice.

I'm salivating over Marie's bread. How can you go wrong with Bacon!?

Getting ready for summer, GovGab did a nice post on Drive America's Byways, and then moved to a new blog site and forgot to migrate the content. Here's a direct link to the Byways program. Routes on the list include Historic Route 66, California's Big Sur Coast Highway, Colorado's Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway, Alabama's Coastal Connection, Minnesota's Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway, and the Las Vegas Strip.

Do Overs

Since I went back to work full time in March, I have very little creative time. That means I'm not stitching, stamping, or blogging. I'm trying to figure out how to manage my time better so as to get more "me" time. I might have to start getting up at "oh dark hundred" -- which isn't likely.

On top of that, I have 2 or 3 projects that have fallen into the do-over category. I already wrote about my Lee's project, which I may be starting a 3rd time. I don't like the yellow thread I'm using. Then I discovered that I'd cut the fabric I was using for my nephew's sampler the wrong way. I'm about a 1/3 of the way done, and I won't have enough fabric length to finish it. And I think there's one more, but I can't recall which one at the moment. Bah.

I have a number of projects started and several more waiting. I have plans for a 3rd birthday party in August that I need to start working on. I have a gazillion things that need to be done around the house.

Stop the clock. I need get off for a while.

I won something!

CJ recently posted a giveaway over on her blog, Tea-n-Stitches, and I was the lucky winner. I'm very excited. Not only did I win the delightful Plum Berry Sampler from Bent Creek, but I finally figured out the name of a chart that I admired long ago but couldn't find its name or designer.

You see, back in 2009, the Pumpkin Patch Stitcher posted on her blog some pictures of her work. I immediately fell in love with the pumpkin alphabet sampler. Marjorie no longer had the pattern and didn't remember the details, so I was stumped. When I saw CJ's post, I just knew it was the same designer and was able to track down the pumpkin pattern.

I feel like I've won twice!

February Round Up

More links of posts I wanted to remember, from February 2011.

Natasha's designs continue to inspire me.

October Farm shared recipes for Homemade Fig Newtons and Poptarts (two of my favorite junk foods).

Stitch Bitch pointed me in the direction of the Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread, which would be tasty with October Farm's Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad.

And I'm totally amused by Kathy's tribute to lip balm.

Hmmm... lots of food links. I guess you can tell I'm not stitching much these days.

Ringing in the New

Several month's ago, Lee started documenting the blog posts she had read and starred from the previous month. I'm stealing her idea. And the title of this post from the first entry in my list. Here are my choices from January 2011.

Susan quotes Tennyson.

Karen V tutors us in Pillow Ornament Finishing.

Natasha shares some card layouts: 10-minute sketch and Silhouette.

John shares how to make Rootbeer Pinwheel Cookies.

Marie makes Quesadillas with a British twist.

Kathy shares Homemade Granola. (Updated with link to her new blog.)

Jeremy tells us how to get financially organized in the new year and kick our productivity into gear.

May Giveaway

Not mine, CJ's. She's giving away 2 charts. Go check it out.

http://tea-n-stitches.blogspot.com/2011/05/stitching-update-and-small-giveaway.html