Rosie Makes A Broccoli Salad.

 I've been craving GREEN lately.
 So GREEN I shall have.

My body is a temple.  I listen to my body.
If my body says it wants GREEN, I give it GREEN.

If my body says it wants RED, I give it

.

It's a delicate balance that I maintain.

 I'm rummaging through the fridge and I have broccoli and spinach and baby carrots and there's my GREEN with some ORANGE thrown in to boot.

The first thing to do is make your dressing and let it sit in the refrigerator for a while to build the flavors and I've go a lot of flavors going into this buttermilk and fresh herb dressing.

Rosie's Buttermilk and Fresh Herb Dressing

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1 garlic clove

pinch kosher salt

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp dried minced onion

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 heaping tsp chopped fresh basil

1 heaping tsp chopped fresh chives

1 tsp poppy seeds

pinch kosher salt

a good grind of peppercorns

Smash the garlic clove with the flat side of a knife, peel it, then mince.  Add a pinch of kosher salt to the minced garlic and pull the knife blade back and forth over it to make a paste.  Combine paste with remaining ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate to let the flavors do what flavors do.

 Rosie's GREEN Salad

1/2 head of broccoli, chopped into florets

4 baby carrots, sliced vertically

big, big handful of spinach

1 scallion, sliced

1 TB dried cranberries

1 TB dried cranberries infused with pomegranate juice, because it's WHAT I HAD

4 TB sunflower seeds, dry roasted

Big 1-2-inch chunk of feta cheese, crumbled

handful of blueberries

Bring a pot of kosher-salted water to a vigorous boil and drop in the broccoli and carrots.  Cook for 1 minute, then drain in a colander and immerse immediately in a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking and set the GREEN color.

For the sunflower seeds, heat up a small dry pan - no oil - and toss the seeds until fragrant.  The seeds will start sweating.  This is where you practice and learn the ease of the wrist-flip action.  Keep whatever it is moving all the time, like a wave coming in.  Comes in handy in many a sauté.  Set aside and let cool.

 Combine the broccoli, spinach, carrots, scallion, toasted sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and as much feta as you like.  

Then I saw some blueberries looking at me and I threw caution to the wind and added those in too.

 I poured in about 1/4 cup of the dressing.  I like it light.

 Toss to evenly coat.

 I couldn't wait for all the flavors to play together.  

I had to have a bite.

 Loved it.  Tastes.  Textures.  Colors.  Flavors.  

This only gets better.