Broccoli Salad - souped-up version 3.7
I am almost never without a broccoli salad. One lasts me several days, almost a week, and when one is finished I make another. The origin of this recipe is a newspaper article someplace, but I have altered it so that its creator would not recognize it.
I do not claim that it is a complete meal, but I think it is close. I'm sure that there are a lot of things it lacks, to me, the most notable is beta carotene, and I thought about adding carrots; nevertheless, I think it is extraordinarily nutritious and healthy - I often eat it with cooked yams as a side dish, they are an excellent source of beta carotene.. For the broccoli, I just use the florets, and throw the rest away. I buy fresh broccoli crowns and then cut the florets off with little or no stem attached. Some time ago, the University of Illinois did considerable research on broccoli which was published in the paper. I called the researchers and they told me that 1) not all broccoli is the same and some is much more healthy than others, and you can't tell just by looking, so it is a crap-shoot when you buy it, and 2) virtually all the nutritional value is in the dark green part - which are the florets - and the stems contain little of value, other than fiber. So in the recipe when I say five medium crowns, I really mean just those florets. For the beans I use canned garbanzo beans and canned dark red kidney beans. I put them in a colander and wash them well of all the liquid that was in the cans. I use red onions, but any onion will do. For oil, I use flaxseed oil, which is quite expensive and usually can only be found at a health food store. It is probably the best vegetable source of omega 3 fatty acids. An even better source of omega 3 fatty acids is mackerel. Occasionally I will include a can of drained mackerel, depending on how much canned fish I have been eating. I try to eat canned fish at least four times a week, principally to get the omega 3 fatty acids, and protein. Flaxseed oil must be refrigerated. I add wheat bran, which I also get at a health food store, for fiber (you may laugh, but anybody who's had a nightmarish hemorrhoidectomy at a relatively young age worships fiber for the rest of his life.). Like the mackerel, or any other ingredient, this can be left out. I use tofu in the dressing to provide protein. I use the little grape tomatoes whenever they are available. Otherwise I will halve cherry tomatoes and use them. As a last resort, I will use a full-sized tomato. I use two bulbs, yes, bulbs and not cloves, of garlic. Peeling all this garlic is the hardest part of making the salad. (Here's a tip, microwave a bulb of garlic for about 20 seconds and it peels very easily, the cloves almost jump out of the skins.) I have found that because the garlic is liquefied in a blender, it need not be peeled all that meticulously. A few chopped up garlic hulls are indiscernible, particularly if there is already bran in the salad. I make the salad in a 19 cup Rubbermaid "servin' saver," and these ingredients will fill it to the brim:
Now add all the broccoli florets, I usually cut them off the crowns right into the bowl at this time. Sprinkle in the rest of the wheat bran. Add all the remaining chopped pepper, chopped onions, beans and tomatoes. The salad is finished and ready for the dressing.
The dressing is mixed in a blender in two equal batches. I find it it easiest to use the blender container for measuring and do not use a measuring cup. To the blender add 7/8 cup of cider vinegar and 7/8 cup of Real Lemon juice. Then add 1/8 cup of flaxseed oil. Cut the tofu in half and place half in the blender. Place half of the garlic in the blender and liquefy. Pour on salad and repeat. You may have to help the dressing get to the bottom of the bowl by using a knife to open holes.
Store in the refrigerator. I usually let it chill and sort of marinate for at least a couple of hours before eating. Broccoli Salad II- a sweet&simple version Here is another broccoli salad that I recently had at a party and got the recipe, probably not as healthy as the one above, but very tasty (at least to me.) I have been making it pretty often lately, mainly because it is so simple and I am so lazy, and I don't pay a real lot of attention to the exact amounts in the recipe below; I substitute artificial sweetener for the sugar and bottled lemon juice for the real thing. But it always seems to taste good. I have also started adding imitation crab meat (Alaskan Pollock) to this salad, and sometimes also add grape tomatoes. Sometimes when adding the cherry tomatoes I leave the onions out. Ingredients:
Dressing:
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