DELI STYLE BROCCOLI SALAD!! PERFECT COOL SUMMER EATING!!

The heat of summer has set in. I don't know about you but this time of year it is hard to get motivated to want to cook or prepare food. I do everything possible to avoid heating up my kitchen and do everything I can to cook early in the day and do a lot of grilling. I even put my slow cooker on the covered deck because that thing can throw some heat! This deli style broccoli salad is a great dish to have on hand for the heat of summer. It has everything! Sweet, tangy, crunchy, chewy. Filled with fiber rich broccoli and lots of delicious ingredients including bacon so how can it be bad? This is a great salad to have in the fridge for quick, light lunches, sides and snacks. This will keep up to a week, so add this one to your weekly prep!

Broccoli salad is nothing new. Everyone has seen it in just about every deli case they approach. The ingredients here are sturdy and can hold up to the dressing which is just as delicious as the salad but together they are a marriage made in salad heaven! This is very reminiscent of many an Amish or Mennonite recipe, highly influenced by their Germanic heritage with sweet and tangy being ever present. The beauty of this salad is that you can customize it to suit your own tastes by swapping out or adding different ingredients that will compliment the flavors and textures.

I have started with some fresh broccoli. I did not plant a garden this year so I purchased mine from the store, but if you still have broccoli coming out of your garden this is a great way to use it! I cut the fresh florets into small, bite sized, pieces that would be easy to eat. I added some cooked crumbled bacon, and toasted pecans. I actually toasted the pecans in the same skillet I cooked the bacon in, for extra deliciousness! I also added some shredded cheddar cheese and dried cranberries along with some diced sweet Vidalia onion. Many recipes use salted sunflower seeds but since I am not a huge fan I chose to use the pecans instead. You can use just about any crunchy element here.

The dressing is simple, but packs a flavor punch! Very much like a poppyseed dressing it is made up of mayonnaise, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, sugar and seasonings. I have used celery seed in mine but if you swap that out for poppy seeds you would have an excellent poppy seed dressing for whatever you like!

The salad and the dressing are blended together just to coat all of the ingredients. The vegetables and other goodness should not be swimming in dressing. It is merely there to coat and assist in delivery of flavor. This really is just the right amount of dressing, in my opinion for the amount of ingredients in the salad. Of course, if you like your salad to have more dressing, then please make a half batch more and go to town and enjoy!

As I mentioned before, this salad lends itself to customization. Broccoli doesn't have to be alone here. Do you like raw cauliflower? Toss it in half and half with the broccoli! Don't like pecans or sunflower seeds? Add slivered almonds or candied walnuts. Cheddar cheese can be swapped for Monterey Jack, pepper Jack or colby very easily and dried cranberries can be swapped out for golden or dark raisins or even dried cherries. You create the broccoli salad you love!

This salad can be served immeditely after preparing or you can store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. This is just a great go-to salad to have on hand that will stand up to grilled meats, or as a side dish to just about any weeknight meal. I also love it for a light lunch that is filled with flavor, fiber and nutrition.

I hope you give this deli style broccoli salad a try, sometime soon and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

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