Broccoli & Boconccini Salad. I made an enjoyable meal on the deck the other night, and I'm going to break out the posting from the meal to first highlight the salad, and submit it to Weekend Herb Blogging. This event is being hosted this week by the event's founder, Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen. My herb of choice this week is broccoli.

Although a certain occupant in the White House is reputed to hate broccoli, this is a vegetable worth cultivating a taste for. (His dislike is documented at: LookSmart's FindArticles - W, like his dad, is no fan of broccoli). The World's Healthiest Foods has documented broccoli's virtues on a page that seems to scroll forever!

One tidbit that should have you serve this often to the men you love is a study that showed an incredible one-two punch against prostrate cancer when broccoli and tomatoes were teamed up in the diet! To quote: " The tomato/broccoli combination was shown to greatly outperform all other diets, shrinking prostate tumors by 52%.

Broccoli alone decreased tumor weight by 42%, and tomato alone by 34%.

Lycopene alone (23 or 224 nmol/g diet) came in last, reducing tumor weight by 7% and 18% respectively.

Only castration—a last resort option for most men, although it resulted in a 62% reduction in prostate tumor weight—approached the level of protection delivered by the tomato/broccoli diet."

This salad is no slouch for women's health either as both broccoli and boconccini are good sources of calcium.

Broccoli & Boconccini Salad

1 container fresh boconccini (small mozzarella balls), drained
1.5 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and whole
2 crowns of broccoli, broken into flowerettes and steamed to tender (to your taste)

Mix all the above in a salad bowl. Put an assortment of flavored and unflavored oils and vinegars on the table so guests can dress their portion to taste.

So simple! So summery!

I am also pleased to mention that I will be hosting Weekend Herb Blogging at Anna's Cool Finds the week of July 23-29!