Fruity and Nutty Broccoli Salad

Everyone knows broccoli is super healthy and definitely deserves its place as one of those foods worthy of being called a "superfood".  Unfortunately for most of us, plain broccoli is not the tastiest of the foods we eat...until now, that is! 

This recipe for broccoli salad is wonderful.  I devised it based on other similar salads I had eaten elsewhere that were not readily available.  The first time I tried a similar salad was at a restaurant as a special - not a regular menu item.  Another version was at a community outing on the buffet table - only available once a year at best if the same catering is used.  So now I can make my own version and enjoy the benefits of broccoli any time I wish.  It's super easy and you can throw in a variety of things depending on what you have available or feel like for a particular batch.

Please forgive the lack of specific measurements as I typically go by how the salad looks and make it suitable to my own tastes.  You should feel free to experiment and come up with your own favorite variation.

Summary of Ingredients Needed:

• Fresh broccoli
• Red grapes
• Dried cranberries (or raisins)
• Chopped walnuts
• Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
• Equal or your favorite sweetener

Start with fresh broccoli florets.  You can buy spears and cut off the florets or for convenience you can get the prewashed bagged broccoli.  Both work equally well.  Be sure to cut the florets into bite-sized pieces for a more "user-friendly" salad.

Next you'll need a base dressing to flavor and moisten the salad.  I use light Miracle Whip salad dressing (but you could use non-fat or full-fat salad dressing or mayonnaise) along with Equal sweetener.  Of course, you can also substitute your favorite sweetener - Splenda, sugar, etc. 

Basically I put a small amount of dressing into the bottom of a mixing bowl and add a pinch of sweetener.  Then I add the cut-up broccoli on top of that, add another layer of salad dressing and sweetener and then mix everyhing together.  Add more dressing and sweetener to taste.

Once the broccoli mixture is finished, the fun begins.  The version I made most recently contained dried cranberries, chopped walnuts and fresh red grapes sliced in half.  Add these to the broccoli and mix.  You may need to add a bit more dressing and sweetener depending on your taste. 

That's all there is to it!  Refrigerate and enjoy.

Note: The variations of this salad are only limited to your imagination.  I have also used raisins in place of the dried cranberries which works very well.