The End of Our Mermaid Season

As much as I am in the kitchen, believe it or not, I am actually in the water much, much more.  I am only half human and chef.  The other half is a combination of dolphin and mermaid.  I have been teaching water aerobics all over the Denver Metro area for many, many years, and I just love it.  I get paid to play in the water and meet fantastic people everyday.  How good is that?!  All of my classes are very special to me, but sometimes you just get with a group of people and the chemistry is pure magic.  This was my “Mermaid Club” of Wheat Ridge.  The ladies who took my outside class this summer are a group of very strong, beautiful, very loving ladies, all of whom have big, huge hearts of gold.  Today was the end of our mermaid season for 2018, so we had a little end of season party, that was of course, mermaid themed.  Everyone brought something yummy, and we all had a great time.  Usually we work out hard, but today, it was more of a fun, party day than a work out day.  Needless to say, we were all a little distracted.  I always try to bring something healthy, but I love my sweets too.  So today, I brought both; a broccoli salad with a honey-poppy seed dressing as well as some blackberry-sage thumbprint cookies (still kind of healthy); something healthy and something sweet to eat.

The food is only starting to come to the table.

Not all of my Mermaids were able to join us, but here I am with some of my beautiful Mermaids.  I just love all these fabulous ladies.  (I am in the back, on the right).

 

 

Broccoli Salad with Honey-Poppy Seed Dressing

broccoli, cut into florets, as well as part of the stems, cut into a small dice (I cut away the bottom parts of the stems and threw those away)

grapes, cut in half

red onion, diced small

green onions, sliced thin

toasted almond slivers

shredded carrots

cranberries, reconstituted in warm water

 

I did not measure anything for my salad.  I actually made enough for two salads because my husband and I are going to a BBQ on Saturday, and I am taking the same salad.  As with most things I make, I just kind of eyeball it for my amounts.

 

Honey-Poppy Seed Dressing

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

2 TBSP Dijon Mustard

1 TBSP poppy seeds

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

 

Whisk everything together and pour over the salad right before serving.

Blanche the broccoli florets in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then immediately remove and place in ice cold water so the broccoli does not continue to cook.  If you over cook the broccoli if will turn mushy and will loose its vibrant green color.  Then toss everything together and add your honey-poppy seed dressing right before serving to prevent the vegetables from getting soggy and limp.  The salad is best when served chilled.

Making the dressing.

Tossing everything together.