Avobroc Dip

3/4 c chopped broccoli

1 avocado

1 tbsp ranch dressing

Throw everything in a food processor and blend til smooth.

Good with chips or your favorite crackers.

Peanut Butter Beef & Broccoli, yet again

I've made this several times before, it's different every time.  (Like just about everything else I make!)  The other versions can be found on the "Meat" page of this blog.

Put a pot of water on to boil for pasta.  Chop 1/4 onion and begin browning it in some olive oil.  Chop 3 cloves of garlic and roughly a tbsp of fresh ginger and add them.  Add some garlic powder, ginger powder, and about 1/2 c of veggie stock. Chop up a pound or so of steak and add it to the pot along with some more veggie stock, a bit of beer, and some soy sauce.  Cover and let cook for awhile.  When the pasta water boils, add some salt, olive oil, and a large handful of linguini, broken in half.  Steam a bunch of baby broccoli, then chop it into bite-sized pieces.  When the beef is cooked, add about 1/3 c of crunchy peanut butter.  Sitr well, let cook until it has thickened enough not to be watery when mixed with the pasta and broccoli.  Combine everything in a large bowl and toss til evenly mixed.

This dish turned out to be just the right stickiness to make it possible to eat the pasta with chopsticks.  Hooray!

Broccoli Salad

1 1/2 heads of broccoli 

(steamed and chopped)

3 slices bacon

1 inch ginger root

3 cloves garlic

(chopped and cooked together in a skillet)

1 large spoonful of mayonnaise

soy sauce

ginger powder

mustard powder

(blended together)

small handful of chives

(finely chopped)

mix everything together

PB Beef & Broccoli

I haven't actually tasted this yet...I made it after dinner because I felt like playing in the kitchen.  I could taste a spoonful now, but I'm really not hungry.  I'll try it for dinner tomorrow.  

Ingredients

thin steak (I used .7 lb)

3 c chopped broccoli

2 carrots

2 cloves garlic

sm. chunk of ginger

2 huge spoonfuls of crunch peanut butter

soy sauce

Directions

Brown the garlic and ginger with olive oil in a large skillet.  Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and add them to the skillet.  Grate the carrot and add it and the broccoli.  Sprinkle with soy sauce.  Add PB.  

Stir well.  

I prefer fresh broccoli, but the selection was not good this week so I had to dig in my freezer for the 

freezer-burned variety for tonight's episode of playing in the kitchen.  

I thought I could chop the meat while the ginger/garlic was browning, but the pan was hotter than I thought it was.  They certainly got brown...or burnt. 

And then I thought it would be a good idea to grate the carrot directly over the skillet.  There are now little bits of carrot all over my kitchen.  And me.  Why must it be so messy?!

I'll toss this with some angel hair pasta tomorrow night. 

Sopa Verde

The majority of my soups have a mashed vegetable of some sort in them.  This soup has mashed broccoli.

As a disclaimer...this is not the most attractive looking soup.  Nor is it the tastiest soup.  However, if you really, really, really, like green vegetables...you just might enjoy this soup.  

This soup was one of the many things I made during my cooking frenzy last week.  I didn't write down anything that I did and the details are kind of fuzzy now, so I'll just have to do my best to recreate it here.

Ingredients

(amounts approximate)

 2 cups chopped broccoli

1/2 cabbage, chopped

1 1/2 c chopped asparagus

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 sweet onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup cous cous

butter

bacon grease

veggie stock

water

seasoning to taste

(I don't remember what I used...thyme & sage maybe?

Cook the onions on low heat in bacon grease, stirring as necessary.  Add the garlic when the onions are browned.  Meanwhile, steam the broccoli in a soup pot with butter.  Add some veggie stock if the broccoli starts to stick. When it is soft, put it in a food processor until smooth, then set aside.  Put the asparagus, cabbage, and celery in the soup pot with some butter/bacon grease and steam.  Add veggie stock as needed.  Add the onions and mashed broccoli.  Season to taste.  Add water and veggie stock to achieve desired consistency.  Add slightly more water than you think you want.  When the soup is thoroughly blended/cooked, add the cous cous and cook til soft.  

To be perfectly honest, I did not particularly enjoy this first taste of the soup. 

It may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I don't particularly like broccoli or asparagus.

However, I made a big pot of this green goop, so I've been eating it.  I think it did taste better after the flavors had time to blend together in the fridge for a few days.