Amish Broccoli Salad

The freezer is full. That is the first sentence of most of my weeks, and it remains the first sentence today. The week was a spring week, the kind where the light through the kitchen window arrives at a particular angle and the freezer hums in a different register depending on the temperature in the garage. I made notes in my prep notebook on Sunday afternoon, the way I always do: meal name, ingredient list, cost per serving, prep time, freezer instructions. Twenty-eight bags. Two hours and eleven minutes. A little slow this week, by my standards, but Brandon was helping and the conversation was good, and I have learned, slowly and against my own grain, that the conversation is sometimes the point and the time is sometimes a courtesy I extend to my husband for being willing to chop onions on a Sunday afternoon.

The recipe of the week was chicken caesar wraps, which I have made some specific number of times in my life and have refined to a system that I now hand to other people in printed form. The version I made this week fed eight, cost under fifteen dollars, and required twenty-six minutes of active prep, which is within my requirements and not a coincidence. Three of the bags I pulled out this week were dated nine months ago and they were perfect, because labeling is theology in my house. I have stopped explaining the freezer-meal philosophy to people who already follow my work, and I have stopped apologizing for it to people who do not. The philosophy is simple: tomorrow is coming whether you are ready or not. You can either be ready or not. I pick ready.

Brandon called me at lunch on Tuesday for no particular reason and I knew without him saying so that he was thinking about Grace. Twenty-some years in, I can hear the silences. We have been married a long time. The arithmetic of it is the arithmetic of my whole life. There were years we missed each other in the same room, and there are years we find each other in the silences, and this is one of the latter, and I am old enough now to know that the latter is the achievement and the former was the cost.

The accountant in me keeps a private ledger of how old Grace would be. I do not consult it. It is automatic. I do not write about her every week. I do not avoid her either. She is in the kitchen the way the kitchen is in the kitchen — woven into the structure, not announcing herself, present. The photograph above the stove is the only one of her smiling, and it has watched me batch-prep more freezer meals than I can count, and I have stopped feeling strange about the parasocial relationship I have with a four-month-old who has been gone for years. She is my daughter. The photograph is what I have. I look. I keep cooking.

I'm Michelle. The freezer is full. Talk to you next week.

The chicken caesar wraps are already labeled and stacked, but a meal-prep week without a cold side dish feels unfinished to me — like a sentence without a period. This Amish Broccoli Salad is the one I keep coming back to on weeks like this one, weeks where the light is right and the conversation runs long and I need something I can pull from the refrigerator without thinking: crisp, a little sweet, a little sharp, and completely ready. Brandon will take it to lunch on Tuesday. I already know this. I am already grateful for it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

6 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp, about 8–10 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate, cool, and crumble. Set aside.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper until smooth and fully combined. Taste and adjust sweetness or acidity as preferred.
Combine the salad. In a large mixing bowl, add broccoli florets, shredded cheddar, red onion, raisins, and sunflower seeds. Toss gently to distribute evenly.
Dress and toss. Pour dressing over the broccoli mixture and stir until everything is well coated. Fold in the crumbled bacon last to keep it from softening too much.
Chill before serving. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld. The salad holds well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days — label your container.

Nutrition (per serving)

Amish Broccoli Salad — The Side Dish That Shows Up Ready