Bacon-Cauliflower Salad

Author: Dee J. Hartman

"Unless someone else wants some, I’m finishing off the rest of Gramma’s bacon-cauliflower salad," I recently announced.

I enjoy food. But, unfortunately, I used to overeat the wrong foods—foods that weren't healthy for me or for my family. Over the past several years, I had become increasingly overweight, and soon developed a medical condition called GERD (Gastro-Esophagal Reflux Disease). I had little energy, and sometimes found myself to be an irritable wife and mother.

I now realize the truth in the cliché, "We are what we eat."

With GERD, I would belch, have stomach discomfort, and heart burn. This problem would keep me from sleeping through many nights and I'd awake many mornings with a sore throat. The doctor explained that sour acid from the stomach flows up to the throat as people with GERD sleep in a reclined position.

My family and I needed to change our eating habits, we needed to:

eliminate sugared foods;
reduce carbohydrate intake;
eat more protein;
cut out breaded and fried foods;
and stop eating bedtime snacks.

It was about nine months ago when I started our "new way of eating" plan. As the main cook of the family, I needed to find better, healthier recipes. I wanted fun, easy, and fast recipes.

We started eating more:

salads;
broiled meats;
broiled fish;
vegetables;
and fruits.

We said good-bye to greasy French fries! And as a result, I lost forty pounds and I feel like a new person.

I no longer suffer from GERD and everyone has noticed a change in me. I have more energy and feel like a more pleasant person to be around.

And hooray for "Gramma's Bacon-Cauliflower Salad" recipe! We can keep this family favorite on our new food plan. I serve it a couple times a month and we never tire of it...

Living on the outskirts of town, Gramma's garden was an important part of her daily life. Gramma created her own recipes with foods from her garden and often served them as summer meals.

Gramma always had at least two plantings of lettuce—which lasted all summer. Cauliflower is a hearty vegetable, as it survived the late fall and early winter seasons of Pennsylvania, when most of the vegetables have already been harvested. Although Gramma did not have a farm that included pigs, the meat market (or sometimes a neighboring farmer) provided her with wonderful slabs of bacon. Back in those days; however, Gramma had to cut the bacon in thin slices herself.

Today, we still use Gramma's recipe, but our cauliflower comes from the super market and the bacon comes in a sealed pre-sliced package. I substitute the sugar Gramma used with Splenda—a non-caloric sugar and use jar mayonnaise. When this recipe was created, there was no such thing as low-fat mayo...Gramma made her own mayonnaise!

Thankfully, times have changed and meals are easier to prepare today!

Bacon-Cauliflower Salad Recipe

Ingredients

1 head lettuce
1 head cauliflower
1 C mayonnaise (low fat)
1 Tb Splenda (sugar substitute)
1 handful of grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium red onion
1 pound bacon (can substitute with 1 cup bacon bits)

Instructions

In a large bowl, tear lettuce into bite-size pieces.
Cut florets from cauliflower.
Slice and arrange over lettuce.
Spread mayonnaise over the cauliflower.
Sprinkle Splenda and Parmesan cheese over the mayonnaise layer.
Slice onion in thin rings and layer over cheese.
Cook bacon and drain well; then crumble over the onions.
Cover and refrigerate.
Do not toss until ready to serve.

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