Gut-Healthy Broccoli Salad

I’m a huge fan of Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook; her Broccoli Slaw recipe was my inspiration for this recipe—I just tweaked it a bit to make it more gut friendly. Check out her other recipes at www.smittenkitchen.com.)

Not sure why gut health matters? Check out this blog post for a few tips!

Ingredients:

• 2 heads of broccoli (slightly less than 1 pound)

• 1 cup thinly sliced radishes

• ½ cup small red onion, finely chopped

• 1/2  cup toasted, chopped walnuts or slivered almonds

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries

• ¾ cup plain kefir (you can use buttermilk if you don’t want to buy kefir)

• ¾ cup plain 2% Greek yogurt

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1-2 tablespoons sugar (I like raw turbinado sugar)

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.     Cut the broccoli into florets and then cut the florets into thin slices, include some of the stems sliced into thin matchsticks

2.     Combine the broccoli, radishes, nuts, and dried fruit in a large bowl.

3.     Whisk together the kefir, yogurt, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper; toss in the onions and let marinate for about 10-15 minutes

4.     Toss the dressing with the broccoli mixture; let sit in fridge for 1-3 hours and serve.

 Notes:

*I think this salad is even better the next day so feel free to make it one day ahead of time. 

**It makes a great side dish for dinner, and there’s lots of ways to use it for lunch too. Add it to a green salad, stuff it in a wrap with some chicken, or make a tapas plate with broccoli salad, hummus, crackers, and hard-boiled eggs for example.

***If you're looking for something to do with that extra probiotic-rich kefir, here are some suggestions: if you like tangy flavors, you might enjoy drinking it as is. But you can also use it in smoothies, salad dressings, pancakes, and other baked goods (try it in place of buttermilk).