Easy Broccoli Salad - Weekend Herb Blogging #41 (Broccoli)

Broccoli photo from Wikipedia

I injured my ankle on Monday and was forced to go to the Emergency Room to have it checked out and make sure I hadn’t broken any bones.

As my sister waited with me in the crowded Emergency Room, we noticed that many of the patients waiting to be examined were children. We couldn’t tell that there was anything wrong with them. They ran around the room with a lot of energy. One boy in particular kept bumping into my injured foot as I sat in my wheelchair. Grrr!

To appease the children, it seemed, their parents would give them money and they’d run back and forth between two vending machines that sold junk food – soda and potato chips – in the room. I have to say, it was food those hyperactive kids didn’t really need.

We noticed two mothers who did not give their kids money for the machine. Instead, they repeatedly filled plastic bottles with water and handed them to their kids. The contrast was so different from other children guzzling down their Coke and chomping down on the potato chips, cheese doodles, and the likes.

Finally they called my name, the doctor examined my foot and ordered an X ray exam for me. Luckily nothing was broken and they dismissed me with instructions, a bandaged foot, and crutches.

I hobbled into the Discharge office with the aid of my newly acquired crutches to complete the last part of the Emergency Room process and recognized one of the mothers who gave their children water to drink. Next to her sat her three children. They ranged in age from eight to three years old and all looked very subdued.

The eight year old, a girl looked very unhappy. She fidgeted in her chair, turned to her mother and said aloud, “I’m tired and I want to go home.”

Her mother ignored her. In an attempt to distract the girl, my sister spoke to the girl.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get out of here soon and when you go home, you’ll have something good to eat.” She smiled at the family.

There’s nothing to eat at home,” the young girl told my sister.

“Oh, I’m sure there’s something good in your cupboard to eat.” My sister didn’t take her seriously. “Just wait till you go home.”

“No, there’s nothing in the cupboard.” The girl was insistent.

“Nothing?”

“No. We don’t have any money.”

My sister looked at the mother who hadn’t said anything throughout the conversation.

“We live in a homeless shelter,” the mother whispered.

Ahh! That explained the little girl’s response and the family’s behavior earlier. They had no money or home with a kitchen and cupboard and all the basic amenities that we sometimes take for granted.

My sister dug in her bag and pulled out a few dollars, which she gave to the girl. “There’s a nice pizza place where you live. Buy pizza for everyone.”

The girl gave the money to her mother but she held on to a dollar. “I want to get something from the machine,” she told her mother.

“Why don’t you wait and get a pizza?” My sister asked, thinking that a pizza would be healthier and more filling than the junk food in the machine. However the little girl looked determined.

The mother took the money and thanked my sister. As we left the Emergency Room, the girl, happy this time, ran to the machine that sold the potato chips. I think she simply wanted to be like all the other kids there by buying something from the vending machine.

I love to make salads any time of the year, especially when the weather is as hot as it is nowadays. As I made this Easy Broccoli Salad recipe, which I found sometime ago on Green Olive Tree, I thought about the little girl and her family. Kel mentioned that it’s a broccoli recipe that her former colleague feeds her children, without any trouble.

For me, the recipe wasn’t bad. However, I love broccoli and don’t need any enhancers, like the mayo and sugar, to make me eat it. Quite frankly, I prefer my broccoli plainly steamed with olive oil and salt and pepper… On the other hand, I think that those who don’t like to eat their veggies, especially broccoli, would like this recipe.

I’ve always loved broccoli, a word that comes from the Latin word brachium. It also comes from the Italian word brocco, which means “arm” or “branch.”

A plant, broccoli comes from the cabbage family. You can steam it, boil it, or eat it raw. I’m happy that there are several recipes for broccoli.

The best thing about broccoli is that it is considered one of the world’s healthiest foods. Its health benefits include: cancer protection, heart disease reduction, cataract prevention, birth defect fighter and more.

Perhaps we should figure out a way to prepare and put broccoli in vending machines. Hmm... somehow I have a feeling the kids would prefer to buy potato chips and soda from the machines, instead. Oh well, it was just a thought.

This is an entry for Weekend Herb Blogging. You can read about the event below.

Paz

Easy Broccoli Salad

Here is Kel’s recipe:

Easy Broccoli Salad

1/2 cup mayo (Original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I think that's too much!)

1 tablespoon mustard

2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoon sugar

2 heads of broccoli, cut into tiny flowerets and pieces

a handful of sunflower seeds (I used black sesame seeds instead in the pic above)

1/2 onion finely diced

a handful of raisins

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything up and keep covered in the refrigerator overnight. Serve cold.

*If you are not at all anxious about training for a beach-ready body, you can add the original 6 bacon strips that the recipe calls for. Just pan-fry them till crispy and cut them into tiny pieces and add them in with the rest of the ingredients.

*One can blog about herbs, plants, vegetables, or flowers for Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB). To see the list of other interesting WHB posts, go to Kalyn's Kitchen, Sunday afternoon.

Interested in participating? Check out the guidelines.