I Am a Broccoli Snob.
I have become a broccoli snob.
I didn't even realize it until last week when I was sick. I hadn't been getting a whole lot of vegetables in my diet, mostly because I was so dizzy every time I stood up that I wasn't going to the grocery store or cooking very much. So on the occasion that I did muster up the determination to walk to Ralphs, I bought a bag of frozen broccoli. When I steamed it up the next day, I discovered that it was totally disgusting.
I grew up on frozen broccoli. My mom always made sure we had a vegetable with dinner, but it was usually frozen and often broccoli. I never had a problem with it, but for the last year and a half or so I've eaten so much fresh broccoli that I became a total broccoli snob and now I can't stand the frozen stuff. It's mushy and tasteless! I couldn't even finish my steamed broccoli, so to make it edible I covered it in barbeque sauce and baked it at 450 for 30 minutes.
Much better.
I bought two stalks of fresh broccoli a few days ago and I had already cut off, steamed, and eaten all the florets and I was left with the stalks. I've mentioned before that you can peel, cut, and stir-fry the broccoli stalks and they're delicious, but today I wanted something a little different.
I was really hungry while I was cooking to I cut some of the stalks into broccoli sticks and ate them with this masala lentil dip from TJ's.
It's interesting and Indian-tasting but not spicy at all.
I used the rest of the broccoli and some of the frozen broccoli florets I had left over to make Broccoli Cheese Soup.
Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
3 stalks fresh broccoli
1 stalk celery
1 small white onion
2 cloves garlic
5 cups water
1 tbsp vegetable bouillon/soup base -- I use low-sodium
2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp tahini
Nutritional Info
Fat: 2.5g
Carbohydrates: 9.1g
Calories:63.2
Protein: 4.0g
Chop up all your vegetables -- use the entire stalk of the broccoli -- stalk, florets, and even leaves if they are there.
Saute vegetables for a few minutes until onion browns.
Add water, bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat and cover for 8-10 minutes until vegetables are soft.
If you have an immersion blender, use it. (I don't). If not, puree the soup in batches in a blender.
Once all the soup is pureed, add vegetable broth, miso, and tahini, stir well.
Makes 5 1-cup servings (approximately)
Enjoy this delicious soup! :)
Number of Servings: 5
I made it a tiny bit different because I didn't have any celery but I did have about 5 kale stalks so I cut those up and put them in the soup. I pulled out the florets and didn't put them in the blender so the soup would have some texture.
The color was bright green until I put in my red miso.
I love this soup because it's healthy, uses up vegetable parts you may not know what to do with, and it's remarkably reminiscent of non-vegan broccoli cheese soup from Panera!
Today's food diary:
Breakfast: Miso soup
Lunch: Baked potato, spinach salad
Snack: about 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
Dinner: Broccoli Cheese Soup
I didn't even realize it until last week when I was sick. I hadn't been getting a whole lot of vegetables in my diet, mostly because I was so dizzy every time I stood up that I wasn't going to the grocery store or cooking very much. So on the occasion that I did muster up the determination to walk to Ralphs, I bought a bag of frozen broccoli. When I steamed it up the next day, I discovered that it was totally disgusting.
I grew up on frozen broccoli. My mom always made sure we had a vegetable with dinner, but it was usually frozen and often broccoli. I never had a problem with it, but for the last year and a half or so I've eaten so much fresh broccoli that I became a total broccoli snob and now I can't stand the frozen stuff. It's mushy and tasteless! I couldn't even finish my steamed broccoli, so to make it edible I covered it in barbeque sauce and baked it at 450 for 30 minutes.
Much better.
I bought two stalks of fresh broccoli a few days ago and I had already cut off, steamed, and eaten all the florets and I was left with the stalks. I've mentioned before that you can peel, cut, and stir-fry the broccoli stalks and they're delicious, but today I wanted something a little different.
I was really hungry while I was cooking to I cut some of the stalks into broccoli sticks and ate them with this masala lentil dip from TJ's.
It's interesting and Indian-tasting but not spicy at all.
I used the rest of the broccoli and some of the frozen broccoli florets I had left over to make Broccoli Cheese Soup.
Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
3 stalks fresh broccoli
1 stalk celery
1 small white onion
2 cloves garlic
5 cups water
1 tbsp vegetable bouillon/soup base -- I use low-sodium
2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp tahini
Nutritional Info
Fat: 2.5g
Carbohydrates: 9.1g
Calories:63.2
Protein: 4.0g
Chop up all your vegetables -- use the entire stalk of the broccoli -- stalk, florets, and even leaves if they are there.
Saute vegetables for a few minutes until onion browns.
Add water, bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat and cover for 8-10 minutes until vegetables are soft.
If you have an immersion blender, use it. (I don't). If not, puree the soup in batches in a blender.
Once all the soup is pureed, add vegetable broth, miso, and tahini, stir well.
Makes 5 1-cup servings (approximately)
Enjoy this delicious soup! :)
Number of Servings: 5
I made it a tiny bit different because I didn't have any celery but I did have about 5 kale stalks so I cut those up and put them in the soup. I pulled out the florets and didn't put them in the blender so the soup would have some texture.
The color was bright green until I put in my red miso.
I love this soup because it's healthy, uses up vegetable parts you may not know what to do with, and it's remarkably reminiscent of non-vegan broccoli cheese soup from Panera!
Today's food diary:
Breakfast: Miso soup
Lunch: Baked potato, spinach salad
Snack: about 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
Dinner: Broccoli Cheese Soup
