Fresh Broccoli Salad

As a bride-to-be I made the horrible decision of buying a dress that is zippered instead of laced over a year ahead of my wedding.  As a precautionary measure I have started to decrease my carbs (good bye meals consisting only of bread and olive oil...) and increase my vegetable intake... by like 10x my normal amount.  Granted, my lifetime average of veggie servings is usually ~1-2 a day (generally on top of a pizza).  Most of us go on to live our lives thinking that vegetables can only taste good when they are seasoned beyond recognition or are dunked in a questionable white sauce.

I am no raw foodie by any means, but that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate that uncooked food has higher nutrition levels than their roasted and sauteed counterparts.  I am trying to get away from my former opinion that raw food is snooze-worthy, and this salad definitely helps.  It provides an overall sweet flavor with a satisfying variety of textures in every spoonful.  This salad does get mushy after a few hours- be warned!

Rating 8.5/10

Recipe adapted from Running to the Kitchen

3 heads of broccoli

2 large carrots

1 sweet apple- chopped

1/2 cup of dried craisins

1 lemon- juiced

extra virgin olive oil

sliced almonds

Salt and pepper (optional)

Shred your broccoli and carrots in a food processor in manageable batches, or hack into smithereens with a knife.

Combine the broccoli, carrots, apple and craisins in a medium sized bowl.

Drizzle the lemon juice and a to-taste amount of olive oil over the bowl and stir everything up.

Top with the sliced almonds.

Have a toothpick ready for any green clumps that might appear in your teeth if you shove this salad into your mouth without any control (like I did).

Enjoy!