Tall-tale Tuesday

First, I must apologize for my heart-wrenching absence in your lives yesterday.  Parent-teacher conferences beckoned me.

Second, a tall-tale (or is it?).

Once Upon a Time,

Broccoli was interesting.

The End

Tall-tales usually operate on the assumption that they are false.  But, this one ISN'T.  Yes, blog-reading faithful, broccoli can be interesting.  Now I will admit that I have mostly had broccoli that was A) rubbery and steamed or B) doused in enough soy sauce to cause me to bloat up and float away like a balloon.

Today was a different story.  It all started in the kitchen.  I was on my own for dinner, so I went rummaging through the kitchen and found two things.  A) My husband had bought approximately 1 lbs of broccoli for his Thai Thursday meal, and forgot to use it.  If you've met my husband, this won't surprise you.  B) We STILL have garlic.  It's like the annoying friend who will never leave!  So, after some google searching, and a little help from Skinny Taste, I came up with a recipe.

Here are my two leading ladies.

Roasted Broccoli

1 lb broccoli florets
2 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, and then came to grips with the real challenge of this recipe.  Smashing garlic.  This consequently lead to about 15 minutes of searching youtube how-tos of smashing garlic.  People have too much time on their hands.  If you are posting videos of smashing garlic, and not getting paid for it,  GET A LIFE!  But, come to think of it that seems a tad hypocritical.

Finally these garlic cloves were ready to meet their maker.

After a successful smashing experience.  I threw all the ingredients in a baking dish and popped them in the oven for about 20 minutes.  Lo and behold,  broccoli IS interesting!

It doesn't look like much, but it actually had that "nutty" flavor so many of the recipes boasted.  I ate the whole thing.  My mother would be proud.

But, never fear, I didn't just have broccoli for dinner.
CAUTION: frozen food ahead.
After rummaging through the freezer I found a few of my favorite vegetarian burger substitutes.  The Spicy Black Bean Burger by Morningstar Farms.   For frozen food, they really are quite delicious, and the perfect match for my broccoli.

Oh, and for the record, we still have garlic.  More creative recipes to follow.