Broccoli Salad

We visited Todd's extended family in Seattle this weekend, and his aunt asked me to pull together this salad, which is a family favorite. I grew more and more skeptical as I assembled the ingredients and started making the dressing. It all comes together really well, though. (And apparently tastes even better the second day.)

It's a head of broccoli cut into florets and 1/2 cup each cashews, dried cranberries and bacon all tossed together and then dressed with 3/4 cup mayonnaise mixed with 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar. The dressing IS really sweet, but hold your criticism until you toss it with the broccoli mixture. It actually tastes great. (But who ever thought of putting these ingredients together?) One of Todd's cousins says she substitutes yogurt for some of the mayonnaise when she makes it, in order to not cancel out all the good effects of eating broccoli.