Broccoli salad with oranges and crunchy noodles

I don't know about you but I was gorging on food all weekend, partly for Fourth of July and partly because...I was hungry. I wanted to start off this week with a healthier, lighter meal to offset everything that I ate over the weekend so today's menu is turkey sandwich with a fresh broccoli salad. This salad can easily be prepared a head of time and be served as a side dish for your Fourth of July party. 

Broccoli salad with oranges and crispy ramen

Recipe from Cooking Light

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

Slaw:

6 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage

1 cup diagonally sliced celery

1 cup finely chopped broccoli florets

1/2 cup grated carrot (1 medium)

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seed kernels

1 5-ounce can whole water chestnuts, drained and chopped

Dressing:

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/3 cup canola oil

Remaining ingredients:

2 cup fresh orange sections

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1 3-ounce package ramen noodles, crumbled and toasted (discard seasoning packet)

Directions

1. To prepare slaw, combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well to combine.
2. To prepare dressing, combine soy sauce and next 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add oil to soy sauce mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Drizzle dressing over slaw, tossing gently to coat. Top slaw with oranges, almonds, and noodles. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving : 162 calories, 10.7g fat (1.3g saturated, 3.4g polyunsaturated, 5.4g monounsaturated), 15.2g carbohydrates, 3.6g fiber, 3.7g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

The great thing about this dish is that it's incredibly easy to prepare: nothing is cooked! It's just a matter of prepping your raw ingredients and mixing together the dressing. 

For my version of this salad, I only added the celery, carrots, broccoli, toasted almonds, ramen noodles, and orange segments.

Remember that whenever you are using nuts to toast them! No one likes the taste of raw nuts, especially in a salad. 

To let the oranges keep their flavor, toss the other ingredients together with the dressing first. You also want to add the ramen noodles right before serving so they don't get soggy.

I've had other broccoli salads before, but I liked this one because unlike others, it wasn't sweet. The dressing was tangy and slightly spicy, complementing the other ingredients nicely. I can also imagine grapes would be great in this salad. Enjoy on picnics, large gatherings, or as a side to your main meal like I did today.