Recipe Update: Sweet and Sour Broccoli Salad with Agave Nectar

One of the things I always try to avoid eating is white sugar, partly because it has no nutritional value, but also because for me, it sets off cravings for more sugar which can be hard to resist. For recipes that needed sweetener, I've been using Splenda, mostly in small amounts in things like marinades and salad dressings, and I've made a few desserts with Splenda. Splenda helped me avoid the cravings that come from white sugar, and I'm truly not a big sweets eater so I wasn't using Splenda that frequently or in large amounts.

Even though I've never thought Splenda was harmful in the small amounts I was using, when I started hearing about the low-glycemic sweetener Agave Nectar, a completely natural product, it sounded interesting. In May I wrote about agave nectar for Blogher, and discovered people are using it to make some pretty wonderful sounding things. Agave nectar isn't super low in calories the way Splenda is, but it's very low-glycemic compared to other natural sweeteners. It's about 1.4 times sweeter than sugar, with light and amber varieties, each slightly different in flavor. I'm not sure why I was so slow to try this product. I think I had somehow assumed it was horrendously expensive, but when I found some Madhava Agave Nectar recently at the Wild Oats store near my house for $5.49 for a 23.5 ounce bottle, I eagerly bought one of each type to try.

This is the first recipe I've experimented with where I tried using agave nectar in place of sugar or Splenda, and the results were excellent. I liked the flavor of it right away, even when I tasted it plain, and I loved the touch of sweetness it gave to the dressing for this salad. I'm really looking forward to trying more recipes with this type of natural sweetener.

Sweet and Sour Broccoli Salad

(About 8 servings, recipe adapted from many sources, updated with agave nectar July 2007. I also reduced the bacon and cheese in this version and used pecans instead of sunflower seeds.)

8 cups fresh broccoli, cut into small flowerets
1/2 small red onion, cut into slices and then 1/2 inch dice
6 slices bacon, cooked very crisp, then crumbled
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I used Four Cheese Blend from Costco, which is a blend of lower fat cheeses. I think this would be quite good without the cheese too, if you wanted less fat.)

Dressing:
1 cup mayo (you could use light mayo, but do not use fat free mayo which contains sugar)
3 T red wine vinegar
scant 1/4 cup agave nectar (or use 1/4 cup Splenda or generous 1/4 cup sugar)
2 tsp. Spike Seasoning
salt/pepper to taste

While bacon is cooking, wash and dry broccoli and cut into small flowerets. Chop onion into small pieces. When bacon is very crisp, blot with paper towel and crumble. Coarsely chop pecans. Combine broccoli, onion, bacon, and pecans in large salad bowl.

Combine dressing ingredients in processor or in bowl with a wire wisk. Mix desired amount of dressing into salad (you may not want all the dressing depending on how wet you prefer your salad.) Gently fold in cheese. Salad can be refrigerated for an hour or two before serving. It will keep over night in the refrigerator, but it's better when freshly made.

South Beach Suggestions:
(Edited 7-18-07) I haven't been able to find information about whether agave is allowed on phase one of the South Beach Diet, but since the sweetness of agave comes from natural fructose, the same thing that makes fruit taste sweet, I would recommend using agave for phase two or three. Made with Splenda, this would be good for any phase of the South Beach Diet, but it should be a "once in a while" treat due to the amount of fat, especially the saturated fat in the bacon. I use pre-cooked bacon from Costco, which has a lot of the fat cooked out, and then I crisp it in the microwave and carefully blot off as much fat as possible.

Other Recipes with Agave Nectar:
(Recipes from other blogs may or may not be South Beach Diet friendly, check ingredients.)
Oil and Honey Dressing for Salad Greens from A Veggie Venture
Carrot Spice Muffins from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Vegan Blueberry Cobbler from Karina's Kitchen
Three ways to use agave nectar from Nika's Culilnaria
Shortbread Butter Cookies from Writing at the Kitchen Table

Things you might want to know:
You can get Kalyn's recipes by e-mail.
There's a great way to print recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen.
It's easy to find out who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week.
There are actual rules for Weekend Herb Blogging.
Here is another place where I write more about food.

Tags:
Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Diabetes Friendly Recipes