Oregon Rafting Vacation Spices Up Lives!

"What is in this dish you are serving for lunch?!?" is a question our White Water Warehouse rafting/hiking guides often hear from WWW's guests. For us, cooking and serving yummy, local-sourced foods on our Oregon Rogue River rafting, kayaking, and hiking trips is simply a matter of pride. And to get the highest degree of yum-factor in our foods, we often turn to the sultan of spices--Penzeys Spices.

So when the folks at Penzeys recently emailed us to ask us about how we use their spices in our river rafting dishes, it got us thinking. Here's another quality company (Penzeys) whose spices allow us to really enhance our river rafting trips for our guests. So why not share our "little secret" with the world (or at least the folks that visit this blog!!!)

Penzeys Spices has been around for 23 years. Started in Wisconsin, the company now has storefronts in 18 different states (including Portland, Oregon). The company has a fascinating history--built on hard work, a clear vision, and quality products. Here at White Water Warehouse, we immediately recognized a like-minded company. With that said, we have been purchasing most of the spices we use on our trips from Penzeys for the last 13 years.

OK, enough chatter...lets get down to the food. The following is a recipe that folks really love at this time of year when fresh broccoli is maturing in our organic Willamette Valley gardens.

Broccolicious Salad
1.) Take 2 big heads of broccoli & cut up into bite size pieces
2.) Crisp fry 8 pieces of bacon and break up into small pieces
3.) 1/2 cup red onion, chopped fine
4.) 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
5.) 3/4 cup chopped cashews or slivered almonds
6.) Mix together these ingredients for the dressing: 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/8 cup white sugar or honey, 2 tablespoons Penzeys Buttermilk dressing mix, 2/3 cup mayonnaise,
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice.

Mix the first 5 ingredients with the dressing and you have a delicious, nutritious salad!