Mini Trees O'Broccoli

Happy Friday Night!!
FINALLY the weekend is here....it's been a long week at work for me. I needed to unwind tonight so I thought I'd try out a new recipe. It's not a full fledge honkin' entree type one, just a side dish.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day coming up next week I thought I would make something ((green)) for you all. YES it's going to be a "Tell Me if I Have any Broccoli in my Teeth Recipe Tonight"

I was searching the internet for Broccoli recipes and came across a ga-zillion of them. But I was thinking...ok, my goal tonight was to get the non-broccoli eatters out there a recipe they could try..."kinda a transitional type recipe" So if they like this one...(because it does have cheese and yummie-ness to it) maybe they would start to kinda like the taste of Broccoli? Why am I concerned with this? Well, for one thing Broc. is SOOOO good for you....and second, it looks like mini trees :) You've gotta love that!!

My Dad hates broccoli...absolutely hates the smell of it cooking etc...and will only eat it raw. Well, raw is the healthiest way to eat it, but it's kinda hard on your stomach (gassy?) So, I will put up with the smell as it cooks (which isn't near as bad brussel sprouts?) YUK!!! and I usually just drizzle a little low fat Italian or Caesar salad dressing on top :)

K...Ready to see the recipe I picked?

So here's the recipe I used. Ya, it has corn in it too because I LOVE corn. :) You can leave it out if you want. The only thing I had to kinda alter was I had to add a little more flour to the milk to thicken it up and I already had purchased a Mexican cheese blend so I used it ---otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.

** (Oleo is margerine I used butter instead)

Ok, so you take a couple small heads of broccoli (or one REALLY big one) chop it up a little, rinse it with some cool water and steam it for about 10 mins? Check it as its cooking by stabbing it with a knife to see if its tender. Don't over cook it!

Meanwhile in another pan, melt a tablespoon of butter and add two tablespoons of chopped up onion. Saute that for a minute or so...then sprinkle in the two tablespoons of flour ---stir-- then gradually add the milk. You have to stir this now...don't get impatient...it will start to thicken, adjust your heat (higher) if you want... but just keep stirring it. When it gets thicker (3-4 or so mins. later) add the shredded cheese....stir some more...

Add the can of corn and HALF of the cracker crumbs to the milky cheesy mixture and stir. Dump the steamed broccoli into a shallow casserole dish and pour the cheese mixture over the top.

Sprinkle the rest of the buttery cracker crumbs on top of the broc. and put in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 mins. Thats it!! See?? Looks good huh?

Night all!

Posted by Lori at March 11, 2005 08:35 PM