Weekly Recipe: Broccoli Salad

Five posts in one week?!  Will wonders ever cease.  I think these beautiful rays of sunshine have injected something magical in me (:

If you live in an area that has Kroger grocery stores (or their subsidiaries), you may recall one of their recent marketing attempts whereby they assigned ratings to various fruits and vegetables.  We don't really shop at Kroger but Colin, for one, found those commercials very educational.  The thing I took from it was that broccoli, which receives a 100%, is one of the healthiest fruit or vegetable you can eat.  No lie, since then, I think we've had broccoli once a week since then.  We had it a lot before but now I can't even think about broccoli without thinking 100%.  I guess Kroger's ad campaign worked for our little family.  Now if they could just get me into their store.  That's another story.

This salad is one of our favorites.  I love it because it adds some extra depth to the broccoli.  It also adds additional textures and flavors to the sometimes bland broccoli.  The original dressing makes more than I need, so I've scaled it back a bit.  I also don't cut up the stem, as the original recipe suggests.  My kids love broccoli but I think the stem would be pushing it.  Heck, it'd be pushing it for Wes and I too! 

I love to make this either the night before or the morning of to allow the flavors to really soak into the broccoli.  Plus, having one less thing to do when I get home is always helpful as well.

Broccoli Salad
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 3-pack of broccoli
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup diced red onions

Buttermilk Dressing:
1/4 cup almond milk, plus 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar (allow to rest while you combine the rest of the ingredients)
1/4 cup olive oil mayo, plus more until you achieve your desired consistency
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1 T. diced red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Trim broccoli and cut into bite-sized chunks.  Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries, and red onions.

In a separate bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk to combine.  Pour the dressing over the broccoli and toss to combine.  Season with additional salt, if desired.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 2 hours.  


Linking up to It's a Keeper Thursday, Tastetastic Thursday, and Lady Behind the Curtain.