Two Salads + Grilled Broccoli

We had a barbecue potluck party last night. It was in celebration of graduations and the beginning of summer. Dan and I planned on bringing salads and broccoli, and at the last minute threw together some awesome salad dressings. So awesome that I feel the need to share.

We rounded out our cook out with some grilled chicken and sweet potatoes (wrap them in foil and stick 'em on the grill!). Awesome way to welcome summer!

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Tropical Fruit Salad
serves 6

8-10 cups of mixed summer fruit/berries (we used blueberries and strawberries and bananas)
0.25c white sugar
0.25c water
10-12 fresh mint leaves
0.25c lite coconut milk
1 inch piece of ginger (preferably frozen, or having been frozen)

1. Put berries in a large bowl.
2. Stirring occasionally, heat sugar, water and mint leaves in a very small saucepan until boiling. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk and ginger chunks, using a fork to squeeze some of the ginger juice out.
4. Once the mint simple syrup has cooled and infused, strain it, and add it to the coconut milk-ginger combination.
5. Pour dressing over fruit and let marinate for at least an hour.
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We imagine this would also be delicious with some sort of alcohol used in place of the water.

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Simple Spinach Salad
serves 6

huge salad bowl full of spinach leaves
1c walnuts, roughly chopped
1c dried cranberries

juice of 1 juicy lemon (0.25c or so)
2t honey
0.25c roasted garlic olive oil

1. Combine the first three ingredients in the salad bowl.
2. Whisk together the remaining three ingredients. Adjust the lemon, oil and honey to taste, and/or add salt. It will taste altogether too garlicky, but look for a good balance of sweetness/tartness, and the right ratio of acid to oil.
3. Dress salad and toss to combine.
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Grilled Broccoli Spears
serves 6


3-4 large heads broccoli
cooking spray
sea salt
bbq sauce for dipping (optional, sort of)

1. Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.
2. Chop the broccoli into long spears, stems around 1/2" thick.
3. Spray the spears lightly with the cooking spray and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Grill the broccoli over medium heat for around 15', or until tender and just past bright green, with a few decent char marks.
5. Serve with barbecue sauce.
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What do you bring to cook outs?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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