This isn’t about my New Year’s Resolution.
This salad has nothing to do with the obscene amount of lasagna I ate this December. I embrace that lasagna, every bit.
This big bowl of apples and broccoli are simply a testament to my brain-tummy. This is what it asked for. And I thank it (my brian-tummy)… because usually it asks for cinnamon rolls and root beer and I have to convince it otherwise. My brain-tummy is in a constant passive-aggressive fight with my thigh-tummies.
In other news: I can’t believe the internet continues to let me have a blog.
In ultra-other news: Yes… this is still happening.
If we were to boil down to the essence of what I’m trying to say, it would be this: I made a salad. It was really delicious. I ate the whole thing. It was healthy and made me feels strong and capable… like my college education. I’ll stop saying brian-tummy starting exactly right now.
This salad has such romantic beginnings.
While the recipe below details numerical measurements, a big bowl and a few large spoons will suit you just fine.
One giant spoon of whole grain mustard meets a slightly less giant spoon of raw honey. A good dose of olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper.
Stir with spirit.
The rest of the salad ingredients will be added to this large bowl. Why is that romantic to me? Something about a large bowl with two spoons makes me sentimental.
Apples, arugula, and sunflower seeds are usually strangers in my kitchen until I force their friendship.
Broccoli has no idea what it’s doing at this salad party…
This recipe uses both broccoli florets and the stems. All broccoli bits are steamed until juuuuust a bit of their raw crunch is cooked out.
This unlikely cast of characters is absolutely delicious. This salad is hearty and filling, while still feeling light and fun. I also love that this salad is durable, making it a really great salad to take to work for lunch.
If you’re anything like me, you have a random assortment of weird kitchen items in your purse, a yogurt spoon, a pound of butter, and a jar of this salad.
This salad is sweet and savory. It’s the homemade Honey Mustard Dressing. It brings everything together, and sets it all apart. It’s salad, and so it all makes sense.
Honey Mustard, Broccoli & Apple Salad
serves 2 large or 4 small portions
adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen
For the Salad:
2 bunches (about 1 pound total) broccoli with stems
1/2 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds (seeds not seeds in shells)
1 Fuji apple, cored and sliced thin
heaping 1/4 cup arugula leaves (or you can use finely chopped parsley instead)
For the Dressing:
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar (white wine, apple cider, red wine, or coconut)
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Place a large pot with about 1 inch of water over a medium-high heat. Insert a steamer into the pot and bring the water to a low boil.
Cut broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice broccoli stems and add both the florets and the stems to the steamer. Cover and allow to steam for about 2 minutes, or until the hard raw crunch is cooked from the broccoli. Remove from the steamer and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine mustard, honey, olive oil, vinegar, and a few pinches of salt and better. Whisk vigorously until thoroughly combined. Add broccoli, sunflower seeds, sliced apple, and arugula to the bowl. Toss until every piece is coated in dressing.
Chill for about 30 minutes. Serve cold. This salad is best served the day it is made.
Moira
This is such a great combination! Thank you for this wonderful recipe. It will now be a staple for me.
Bernita Schmader
Making your own fruit salad is not hard; you just need to prepare its ingredients. And the ingredients used are neither extinct nor hard to find, you can just whip out your wallet and make the march to the nearest grocery store.-
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Catherine Sullivan
I love this salad, have made it several times and do modifications, different kinds of nuts; with broccoli, without broccoli, with different kinds of lettuce….all yummy. The dressing is fabulous and I get rave reviews for the salad at potlucks. Enjoy your creativity, you make cooking fun and reading about cooking even more fun.
Tartaruga
Hey!
I came across your blog yesterday and I was like – wow. Just overwhelming! So many delicious recipes, so many creative ideas. You are amazing and really talented!
Everything sounds so delicious, so it was hard to choose one, but today I’ve tried one of your recipes out – this great salad. It was fantastic and I wondered that I’m able to cook something delicious – just because of you :3
Tomorrow I’ll try your Banana Cranberry Bread – just boght the ingredients. I’m really looking forward to it :D
Keep baking and cooking, your really amazing & I hold your deeds in veneration! :)
By the way – sorry for my horrible English, I’m not a native speaker! Hope you will understand me anyway :)
Lots of love & have a nice week!
Fiona
This looks so refreshing and yummy! Can’t wait to try it.
Elaine
Perfect! Simple and fresh. Thanks for sharing.
Eileen
I fell in love your website during a baking craze a couple of years ago, but keep coming back because of the delicious soups and salads you weave into the mix. I was looking for a new salad to make for guests, and tried this one yesterday when we had friends for lunch. It was delicious, and we’ll be making it again & again. Thanks!
joythebaker
i love this!!
Carole
Hi there. Food on Friday: Mustard on Carole’s Chatter is now open for entries. This looks like a good recipe using mustard! I do hope you link it in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links. Have a great week.
FashionEdible
I love the combination of both! Going to have to try this…
Cookie and Kate
Hearty, crunchy salads with tangy dressings are where it’s at! I need one of these after all the quesadillas and nachos I’ve been eating (all in the name of my blog, of course).
Cassie
Oh my heavens – this was delicious! Made it last weekend for the starter course of dinner I made with friend and we both loved it!
Thank you!
SaRaH
i’ll get a try!
With the same dressing, i made an other salad : arugula, pear and gingerbread in cubes. Always a hit!
stacy
“something about a large bowl with two spoons makes me sentimental.” You are a darling, Joy and I completely agree.
Alicen
My brain-tummy has switched to salads since January 2nd :) Mostly just a handful of baby greens topped with 1/2 a sweet pepper, 1/2 an avocado, some cherry tomatoes, some cucumber and some celery. I like to dress it with olive oil and apple cider vinegar with a bit of salt and pepper. SO tasty!
I didn’t realize I enjoyed salads so much. I often just don’t take the time to make them, I guess.
I’ll have to try adding some apples and broccoli – Yum!
Marsha @ Splenderosa
omg, this is wonderful !
Nabil Ali
this looks delicious, Thanks for the recipe
Terry
Love the idea of pairing broccoli, apples, arugula and whole grain mustard.. If you think about it the combo’s are endless with salads, just use your imagination! Gets the imagination going.
Chineka (savorthebaking)
This is a great way to have a salad, but spice it up a bit by putting broccoli in it.
Natalia
Dear Joy,
I just wanted to tell you that today I opened my Christmas presents (In Spain we still celebrate the Three Wise Men more than we do Santa Claus) and I love, love, love your book. I have been reading it non stop for an hour this morning and I just can’t wait to get started and do some baking!!!
Thanks to you and Tracy Shutterbean I have had the courage to start a cooking blog (in spanish, yeah) and I’m sure lots of your recipes will be there…. You inspire me so much!!!!
Bea
All my favourite things are in this salad. Made it last night with walnuts, and forgot to add the arugula. It was so delish. Love the mustard honey dressing–I’ll be making this often. Thanks.
laura
i always think of it as more of a tummy brain. found your blog while looking for something to do with left over brown rice. luckily for me, in 2009 you made brown rice pudding, so now i am making brown rice pudding!
Steve
We tried making this salad last night. Loved the flavors, but we think we got something wrong. Are the sunflower seeds supposed to be shelled? Three of us ate it and all agreed they didn’t quite fit, but we also left the shells on. It’s our first time cooking with sunflower seeds, so we assumed there was a hidden step of shelling them?
jodye @ chocolate and chou fleur
This is just my kind of salad. I’d replace the honey with maple syrup to make it vegan, but otherwise there’s nothing I’d ever want to change! I’m such a fan of salads that combine several textures and flavors. It certainly keeps them more interesting that plain old lettuce!
titch wardall
This looks my idea of the perfect salad-yum! Also, first time I’ve been on your site and loving the photography and site design, gorgeous.
Brie @ Entrée the Giant
I love that picture of the dressing and pepper specs – looks like my kind of kitchen!
Rocky Mountain Woman
I will have to get a jar of this salad in my purse for work next week!
Emily
Haha I seriously thought it said stir with SPIT up there, I had to double-take and see that it said spirit. Glad it didn’t end up saying spit. This salad looks deee-lish! Can’t wait to make it, I think I will today :)
Alex-Rose
Mmmmmm, this looks delicious! Lots of my friends hate broccoli but I love it! Will have to take a break from eating sweet things to try this! Your blog is wonderful and beautiful. If you have time please stop by my baking blog:
http://rainingcakeandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/
Maggie
Looks beautiful! I have yet to make friends with broccoli but I keep trying! I bought your cookbook yesterday (one for me and one for a friend) and I can’t wait to try something from it! I made those brie and cherry puff pastry bite things you did forever ago for our family holiday party and they were out of this world amazing!
Ellen
I love this. It is filled with stuff I adore and I think I got just a tad healthier just by looking at it..
Nancy
Ooooh!! I will have to try this. I love apples in my salad…especially Granny Smiths with balsamic…and dried cranberries….and walnuts….mmmmm!! But I need to change it up for the new year! Broccoli and apples it is!
Aikko @ Bake Happy
I must convince my brain-tummy to have this, too!
Happy New Year Joy! :)
Cindy
Ugh, you’re making me hungry with these photos!
Cindy x
http://www.cindynguyen.ca/
Carrie @ Kiss My Whisk
This salad will be on my table REAL soon! Looks delicious!
Sarah
Serf regulating appetites…living the dream! Eat what you literally want all the time! Want the right things! 2013 woot!
Natalie
So simple and lovely!
Katie @ Blonde Ambition
sunflower seeds are rare in my kitchen too, but it’s always a delight to find them in a salad! this sounds perfect :)
Erin @ The Speckled Palate
Yep, this is exactly what I’ve been needing for lunch these days after overindulging in, umm, everything (?) during the month of December. Thanks for sharing this, Joy!
Joelle (on a pink typewriter)
Buying sunflower seeds now to recreate this!
Jackie- The Seaside Baker
I love honey mustard! Thanks for the great recipe!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
I need this salad in my life, love!
Sophie
I never would have thought about putting broccoli in a salad, especially with the apple, but I think I will give it a try after seeing it here.
It sounds delicious!
x
Heather {ModernMealsforTwo}
Haha! You crack me up! If the Internet stopped letting you have a blog it would be a very sad day.
Sarah @ The Cyclist's Wife
Sounds like your brain tummy did what mine finally did, it said “STOP eating sweets you crazy lady!”. Last night I fed it a salad and it was happy.
Chloe Moon
Looks delicious, sounds delicious, and perfect for this new year!!! I have to make this!! =)
Ergo – Blog
TARTESANDCARO
want to test this pure healthy salad
Jen
Sometimes typos are the best part of a post — something about “brian-tummy” is making me giggle out loud.
This salad looks fabulous, and is going on the menu for the weekend!
Caz
Congrats to your brain tummy, sounds like it came up with a pretty smart combination of flavours. I must give this a try!
Julie Kate
This post is great and looks yummy. Just the laugh I needed on this never ending day of work! I will make this for lunch tomorrow. In other news: I’m glad the internet continues to let you have a blog.
Monica P
Awesome salad! I am so .. sick of lettuce salads .. lol. This will be a welcomed change !!
Monica.
Sydney
I’ve never thought of combining apples and broccoli in a salad–interesting combination.
Packing Rainbows
Yay! Broccoli got invited to the party – super weird – just weird enough that I must try it :)
Margherita
Never had broccoli and apple in a salad before. Sounds like a great pairing!
Kendra
YUMM!! My tummy brain thanks you as all it wants to eat is salad right now (after scarfing down an unmentionable number of cookies and other assorted baked goods . – including Tracy Shutterbean’s Apple Pecan Sticky Buns (OMGGGgggggggggggggggg) – over the holidays).
Gerry @ Foodness Gracious
Exactly how food should be, simple ingredients- in a bowl- marriage to some awesome flavor- toss n’ shake- eat!
Eva from Notyourmamasdinner
My brain-tummy has only one thing to say to yours: High-five!