July 21, 2015

Broccoli Chicken Salad

My two daughters left to spend a week on my dad’s farm yesterday which is one of the things they have come to look forward to most during the summer as it’s become an annual trip for them. They will be hanging out with the goats, showing their crafts at the county fair that I grew up attending and just soaking up the farm experience making memories with their grandma and grandpa. Today is day number one without them around so I’m down to just me and my son at home during the day FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK. It’s like a vacation (almost)… so much more calm with just one kid in the house! Time to play catch up with a few home projects and recipe posts now that my garden building project is nearly finished too (future post on that coming!). While I was out sweating my buttooski off last week in the heat and humidity building the garden with my hubs, I didn’t cook anything that required the use of a stove/oven or anything that took more than 15 minutes of my time so this broccoli chicken salad was just the ticket to an easy meal.

We had grilled chicken leftover from the night before and I had just hit up the farmers market and found a great looking head of broccoli so a broccoli chicken salad was an easy and awesome combination of protein and veggie with a little tangy sweetness from the dried cranberries and homemade dressing. The dressing is very similar to the poppyseed dressing I posted a few weeks ago and also begins with homemade mayo. A little whisk of three ingredients is all this dressing needs to then be simply poured over a head of fresh broccoli florets, diced chicken (leftover directly from the fridge), celery bits, sunflower seeds (or pecans) and dried cranberries for a summery simple salad – no cooking required 🙂