Broccoli – the stereotypical bane of fun loving children everywhere. I’ve always wondered how kids can hate food that looks like trees…
First, the facts. Broccoli is a part of the cabbage, or cruciferous, vegetable family. Other members of this crew include cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbages. Broccoli develops best during the cool months of the spring and autumn.
For the best storage, keep dry broccoli in a loose or perforated bag in your fridge’s vegetable crisper. As with any produce, the fresher it is the better it will taste and be for you, so try to eat your broccoli within three to five days.
Here’s a breakdown of broccoli’s nutritional value, according to the University of Illinois:
Calories 23
Dietary fiber 2.4 grams
Protein 2.3 grams
Carbohydrates 4.3 mg
Vitamin C 49 mg
Folic Acid 53.3 nanograms
Calcium 89 mg
Iron 0.9 mg
More Facts…
- In regards to fiber, broccoli helps not only with digestion, but with cholesterol reduction, especially when steamed. Do be aware that broccoli can produce a lot of gas during digestion. Classy.
- As a detoxifier, broccoli contains a special balance of phytonutrients that support the neutralization and elimination of nasty contaminants. In other words, it helps your body get rid of the bad s#@%.
- If you’re one of the many concerned about vitamin D deficiency, eat more broccoli. The prevalence of vitamins A and K in the green food are thought to help vitamin D metabolism. That’s important.
In addition, broccoli’s got vitamin A through beta carotene, and is thought to be one of the star anti-cancer veggies (because of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and pro-detox properties). Really, there’s so much good about broccoli, we ought to be forcing the kids (and finicky adults) to eat it.
Earlier this week I decided I should eat some of the broccoli I had in the fridge. Here’s what I did. It’s haphazard:
Ingredients:
- 1 small head of broccoli
- Olive Oil
- 1/4 cup water
- Minced onion
- Dash sea salt
- Dash pepper
- Dash garlic powder
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Directions:
- Wash the broccoli and separate it into individual florets
- Warm a skillet with the olive oil and water
- Put the broccoli in the warm skillet
- Add minced onion, sea salt, pepper garlic powder and lemon juice and toss
- Cook just until the broccoli is a little tender and bright green
Smart Cookies are Well Rounded
Interesting tidbit: Because of its shape and growth pattern, Romanesco broccoli is considered a fractal. Fractals are complex shapes which self-replicate to the point that they look the same close up or far away. This will explain it better. It’s cool.
More? Watch the hippy video!
Sources:
My kids happen to LOVE broccoli. Know how that happened? I made my own baby food, including pureed broccoli and fed it to them as least once a week. They developed a taste for it and now it Claire’s favorite vegetable (her words).
I was thinking about you as I wrote this, as your kids are really good about veggies. I’m hoping to foster the same tastes over here… might actually learn how to use our food processor!
I also think of the three Mitchell babies whenever I eat an avocado – I remember you feeding them a mashed one with sour cream once when we were there:)
Rock this: http://www.myvegancookbook.com/recipes/recipe.php?id=66
Although I suppose the better part of the broccoli is the greener leafy part, but don’t throw out the stalks!
Mmmm… that looks really good. I’m totally guilty of just tossing the stalks in the compost. May have to think twice about that:)
Try adding almonds and sesame seeds w/soy sauce and sesame oil. Not as heathful, but delicious nonetheless. (And you can thank Mr. Haan and Strunk and White for my use of healthful instead of healthy ;))
Ha! We were recently having a conversation here about ‘healthy’ vs ‘healthful’;) Love it!
That sounds really good – we use a lot of sesame seeds, actually. I like the Asian feel of what you described:)