Broccoli: Delicious and Versatile
I remember hating broccoli as a kid.
My mom would boil it until it was dead and then slap a bit of margarine on it—yes, I said margarine—then she would call it a vegetable! It took me years to get my folks to eat real butter but that’s another story for another day. Today it’s all about that bright green cruciferous veggie broccoli. Thank goodness as an adult I eventually found great ways to eat broccoli and therefore found my love of the veggie.
Sure, it’s packed with fiber, calcium, potassium, vitamin C, B vitamins, beta carotenes, protein, water. And oh yes—there is evidence that it has cancer preventive properties; but that’s not why I eat it. I eat it because it’s delicious and versatile.
Broccoli is best eaten soon after harvesting. Try to include broccoli in your meal planning when it is in season. For me here in Portland, Oregon that’s late spring, early summer, and then again in the fall.
The recipe for broccoli flatbread that I am going to share can be made with frozen broccoli if fresh cannot be found. My advice for frozen veggies is to go with a local and organic brand. The closer to home it was picked, processed and packaged, the better. The longer the veggie sits and breathes, the less of all those great nutrients it can hold onto for you to enjoy. So, make a plan, go shopping, come home and steam that broccoli up within a day or two of purchase, if possible.
One quick way I like to make it for myself and my family is to lightly steam it and then toss it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, lemon zest, gluten-free breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Place it in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 15-20 minutes at 375. Wait for the cheese and breadcrumbs to turn golden brown. Serve immediately as a side dish, or toss with some fresh GF pasta and sardines for a fine and fast Italian meal.
But the recipe that I am going to share today was given to me by a lovely RD that I met at the Virginia Garcia Health Center out in Beaverton, OR. I volunteered through the Oregon Food Bank to take her healthful cooking class on a shopping tour.
For those of you unfamiliar with and interested in what a shopping tour would entail let me explain. A shopping tour focuses on learning how to read labels, what to look for, what to avoid. We tackle every section, from produce to meat and fish, canned to frozen, bulk to bakery. How many names can sugar have? What is carrageenan? We learn about all the tricks that food manufacturers like to play with words like fresh, natural, heart-healthy, light and so on. We learn how to price foods so we can find the best deal, and we learn how to take charge of our health by knowing what is in the food we are consuming. We learn how to vote for better food with our dollars.
Shopping tours are always eye opening and inspiring.
If you would like to do a shopping tour with me, please schedule a free call on my calendar!
I would love to spend an afternoon shopping with you, helping you learn how to take charge of you and your families health just by knowing what’s in a label.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this broccoli bread as a great way to get more of this delicious vegetable!
Eat well – live well
Rosie
References:
https://www.usda.gov
Nandini DB, Rao RS, Deepak BS, Reddy PB. Sulforaphane in broccoli: The green chemoprevention!! Role in cancer prevention and therapy. J Oral Maxillofac Pathol. 2020;24(2):405. doi:10.4103/jomfp.JOMFP_126_19
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/broccoli