Tag Archives: Broccoli

Broccoli Salad – a summer favorite!

Posted on by
2

Broccoli salad has been a staple in my family for as long as I can remember. We’d have it on holiday occasions and periodically in between, but makes a cool summer salad for when things start to heat up. It’d been sounding good to me for a while so I decided to re-create the traditional recipe to make it a little healthier. Rather than commercial shredded cheese, miracle whip, sugar and bacon bits, it’s no sugar added, uncured smoked bacon and Sir Kensingtons original mayo.

Re-vamped Broccoli Salad

  • 1 12 – 16 oz bag frozen broccoli (ran under cold water to thaw, and dry a bit)
  • 2 fresh ripe mangoes diced
  • 1/2 diced large red onion
  • Cut up beef (we had some leftover from our smoker, so I used kitchen shears and cut it up!)
  • Cut up cooked bacon
  • 1 cup Sir Kensginton’s original mayo
  • White vinegar (enough to get mayo to dressing consistency you prefer)
  • Salt/pepper

Toss everything in a large bowl and let refrigerate overnight. The mango adds the perfect touch of sweetness instead of a cup of refined white sugar, and the recipe remains dairy free! I really did not miss the cheese at all, and it’s full of healthy colors!

Enjoy (I apologize, I only took one photo, which is a pretty crappy photo)!

IMG_2200[1]

Spicy Coconut Chicken Saute

Posted on by
4

Here’s another recipe that I threw together based off of the vegetables that needed to be used, and the stockpile of quality coconut milk I have on hand – that stuff is quickly becoming a staple to have on hand, as is cilantro.

Spicy Coconut Chicken Saute

  • 1 can coconut milk (I use Natural Value)
  • 2 TBSP coconut oil (wanted a fat source)
  • Broccoli
  • Bok choy
  • Roasted shredded chicken
  • Cilantro
  • Black peppper
  • Crushed red pepper
  • Sriracha

Pour 1 can of coconut milk into saute pan and add the 2 TBSPs coconut oil. Sprinkle generously with crushed red pepper and fresh ground black pepper. Add broccoli and bok choy and saute until cooked, but not mushy, sprinkling with more crushed red pepper (I was feeling the spice). I used leftover roasted chicken that I shredded, but you could add any protein source. I added the meat last as it just needed to be heated.

I filled up a bowl, and topped with a generous handful of cilantro, and then drizzled with sriracha.

Enjoy!

IMG_9391[1]IMG_9397[1]IMG_9402[1]IMG_9405[1]

Reinventing Food-Twice Baked Carrots

Posted on by
2

One of the things that helps me be successful with healthy living, is prepping food on Sunday for the upcoming week. This ensures that I have plenty on hand to bring for lunch at work, and easy prepared meals when I get home in the evenings.

The military commissaries here in San Diego sell 5lb bags of carrots for about $1.69 (what a steal!), and you can do tons of things with carrots. One Sunday I roasted 2 cookie sheets full of whole carrots, with nothing other than garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little oil. I brought them as sides in my lunches, ate them at dinner, and then I got sick of them (this is rare for me and veggies). They just stared at me every time I opened the fridge, but I refuse to let good food go to waste, so last week I decided I’d reinvent them.

I cut the remaining carrots into chunks and tossed all of them into my food processor. I processed until they were finely and consistently grated into little pieces. I dumped them into a bowl with diced white onion, frozen broccoli, 2 eggs, 1 TBSP of organic 1/2 & 1/2, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I mixed well until the eggs were thoroughly incorporated, and then dumped into an 8×8 glass baking dish. I had no idea how this would turn out, but the house smelled amazing! I baked it at high heat (I think around 400 degrees), until the edges started to brown.

I was extremely pleased with the result. It was like twice baked carrots, or carrot broccoli bake, or carrot quiche or something. Now I had a new little side dish to bring to work for lunches and for dinner. It didn’t last long 🙂

Tip: Next time, I’d remove the 1/2 & 1/2 and add 1 more egg to hold it together. It wasn’t falling apart, but I feel like it could’ve held together just a bit more.

DSCN0144DSCN0156

I Can’t Resist

Posted on by
4

The gardening. I ran a couple errands earlier, put stuff in the car, then said to myself, “well, maybe I’ll go back in and just look to see what they have in the garden center.” Right…just look…my garden was cleaned out for a whopping ONE WEEK.

I came out with kale, 2 different kinds of cabbage (red and ornamental), broccoli, and cauliflower. Figured I’d give my hand a try at winter gardening in SoCal 🙂DSC_0106

10 Minute Side Dish-Garlic Buttered Broccoli!

Posted on by
1

I have no fruits or vegetables at home after returning from Africa, and can’t get to the grocery store until this weekend. Therefore, last night’s dinner ended up being the one vegetable I had left in the house (in the freezer), steamed: Broccoli. I had a frozen bag of broccoli on reserve just in case, and it finally got used! Much to my surprise, I inhaled the entire bag, and this will be a new quick side dish I add to our meal rotations, it was that tasty.

Garlic Buttered Broccoli

  • 1 bag frozen broccoli (or 1 head fresh!)
  • 3 TBSP raw butter or ghee
  • Garlic powder
  • Kosher salt/pepp

I dumped the frozen bag of broccoli into my vegetable steamer, and steamed for 10 minutes (to prevent mushi-ness). In the meantime, I melted roughly 3 tablespoons of raw butter. Once the broccoli was steamed, I dumped the butter on it, sprinkled generously with organic garlic powder, black pepper, and light kosher salt, and tossed. Amazing.DSC_0019

Broccoli is one of my least favorite veggies (and I don’t veggie discriminate, at all), as historically it’s always upset my stomach, but I’m trying to gradually work it back in for the health benefits. This dish, helps 🙂