 Here in Oklahoma, we are EX-CITED! We have a new Sunflower Foods store in downtown Oklahoma City. And Whole Foods will be opening next month. The only thing that could make it better would be for a threesome finished out by Trader Joe’s which appears to be in the works!! See? Okies do have taste. Yes, they do. Well, Wednesday I ventured into the wild crowd that packed our newly opened grocery and took advantage of a sale of sales. Organic plums for 77¢ – organic celery for 99¢ – organic 2% milk for $3.99 – 5 pounds of Gulf Shrimp for $18.00 – and the list goes on. But, oh my, they had an olive bar!! Give me a plate and call me Greek. I love olives. All olives. And all the things that go with olives like pickled garlic and marinated mozarella! Oh yeah. So I loaded up on olives and the works and left that store with visions of a salad deluxe and boiled shrimp. 1 1/2 cups lettuce, greens and spinach per person 1/3 cup olives of your choice per person 2 Marinated Mozarella Cheeses per person 2 slices bacon per person + 1 tsp brown sugar per slice 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tblsp butter 1/2 cup pecans 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese per person tomato slices Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing or Greek Vinaigrette I got home, chopped lettuce and put it into large bowls, one for me and one for Mr. Fix-It and set those aside. I used iceberg lettuce and some fresh spinach, but you can use any greens at all. That’s what I had on hand for this week.  Next, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and added 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I stirred that around on medium heat until a thick liquid was formed. This can take a little while and just when you get frustrated – poof – it all melts!  I added 1/2 cup of whole pecans and stirred those until they were coated. You don’t want to cook the sauce too long or it will scorch and get too hard.  I poured the nuts onto a nonstick tray to cool. Once cooled, I tossed them into the food processor and pulsed until they were chopped into large pieces.  Meanwhile, I really did it and sprinkled brown sugar onto strips of bacon. I cooked those in the microwave, but if you want to cook them in a pan, you can start them frying and then sprinkle them with the brown sugar. It gives a crisp, sweet taste to the bacon for salads.  Finally, I piled different olives onto the center of the lettuce and spinach, put two pieces of the marinated mozarella on the edge of the bowl alongside two slices of tomato, piled about 1/4 cup of crumbled blue cheese over the whole thing and then sprinkled the pecans and crumbled bacon over that. With Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing or Greek Vinaigrette, it is awesome!! I boiled some of the shrimp, made some drawn butter and called it supper!! Mmmm. Mmmm.  |
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Tags: bacon, blue cheese, olives, salad, Sunflower Foods, toffee pecans
Oh Gosh that looks fantastic! I need to find that store. I have been craving Olive salad; found some from Krebs I believe, a couple years ago, but none since. Yummy.
You were smart to take advantage of the grand opening specials in spite of the crowd. We didn’t venture into our Fresh Market until the newness was well worn off. We love it anyway. Everything is so tempting. You salad looks tempting as well and we’ll try it soon!
It was pretty crazy, Beth. But in spite of the long lines and having to wait to get items, everyone was in a good mood and I actually visited with the other people in line. It was kind of fun!!