Broccoli, Cranberry and Pepper Salad

I don't have a Whole Foods Market close to my home, but I do have an Earth Fare Market not too far away.  Earth Fare reminds me a lot of Whole Foods, right down the the prices!  Like Whole Foods, Earth Fare has a wonderful selection of prepared foods, a salad bar, and homemade soups.  The soups are excellent.  Short lists of real and whole ingredients.  You have to love that.  But the prepared foods are also awesome.  

This weekend, I picked up a container of a Broccoli Salad that caught my eye.  Broccoli florets, red and yellow peppers, dried cranberries in a wonderful sweet mayo sauce.  When I looked at the list of ingredients, that is just what was in the salad.   The sweet mayo sauce was nothing more than Canola mayo and honey!  Surely I could duplicate this!

After a search on the internet that basically turned up nothing....not even nutrition information, I set out to try my own hand at it, and so my copycat version was born.  It is pretty darn close to the original salad that Earth Fare makes!  I didn't have any yellow peppers on hand, but next time I would add them.  Along with the red peppers they give great color to the salad.  

I am thinking of adding this salad to my Thanksgiving menu.  I know it's not traditional food, but I love the colors and the sweetness about this salad, and with the cranberries, I think it would fit right in just fine!

Broccoli, Cranberry and Pepper Salad

adapted from Earth Fare Markets prepared foods

Servings - 4   Serving size - 1/4th of recipe   Points Plus per Serving - 4 Points+

Calories - 146.9,   Total Fat - 7.5g,   Carb. - 20.5g,   Protein - 2.8g,   Fiber - 3.6g

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup Canola Mayonnaise ( such as Hellman's)

1 TBS. honey 

1/3 cup dried cranberries

 Raw broccoli florets from one small bunch of broccoli, approx. 4 cups

1/4 red pepper, cut into strips

1/4 yellow pepper, cut into strips

Directions: 

In med bowl, whisk the mayo and the honey together.  Add in the cranberries.  Add in broccoli and pepper strips, toss to coat evenly.  Allow to sit in fridge for 2 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend and cranberries to plump up a bit. 

*If you would like your broccoli a bit more tender, you can blanch it in boiling water for a few minutes then plunge it into an ice bath.  I don't mind the crunch from raw broccoli. 

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This salad is so yummy, it totally reminds me of the higher calorie broccoli salad with the bacon and the cheese...but so much healthier for you.  And you gotta love those colors!  Wow.  Beautiful! How cute would this be on your Christmas table? 

We technically got our first snowfall of the season last night.  I woke to a dusting of the white stuff on the grass and roof tops.  Ya, ok....it did look kind of pretty.  But I am not a fan of snow.  It's all melted now!  I decided I was too much of a wimp to brave the cold, so it was back to the treadmill for me this morning.  I say it every year, but I seriously need to consider moving SOUTH!  lol