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It’s 23 days into “eat healthier, eat smarter” 2007 and things are looking promising! The treadmill that Santa brought me hasn’t turned into a clothing rack yet and that green stuff in the fridge? Well it’s supposed to be green: broccoli, peas, romaine, asparagus, basil, and parsley. I stocked up on green during my last trip to the grocery store.
Honestly, I can’t think of many things to do with broccoli to up its appeal. Steamed/blanched broccoli just doesn’t do it for me unless the florets are swimming in a pool of butter. While I agree that most everything is okay for you in moderation, “swimming in a pool of butter” sadly is not moderation. Some people drown the suckers in ranch dressing, but I’m really not a fan of ranch. Yep, you heard me – someone from Texas that doesn’t care for ranch dressing. I can do fresh broccoli in small doses, but small enough that it probably doesn’t do me much good.
Last week, Pinch My Salt featured a very tasty recipe for oven-roasted broccoli. As soon as I saw it, I literally ran downstairs to make it for lunch. Now, that wasn’t the first time I’ve run into the kitchen inspired by a tasty recipe or picture (those other recipes typically involve chocolate, heavy cream, and/or fritos), but it might have been the first time I’ve ever gotten excited over broccoli. Okay, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that it was the first time I’ve ever gotten excited over broccoli.
After having it as a side to last night’s Aglio e Olio (and for lunch last week), the broccoli served as inspiration – I whipped up a batch of asparagus for lunch, substituting the broccoli in Nicole’s recipe for half a bunch of asparagus. I hang my head in shame as I can offer you no picture of the asparagus – it was gone in a blink. I did, however, manage to control myself long enough last night to let my husband take a picture of the broccoli.
The bottom line – everything green tastes better oven-roasted. With garlic 🙂