I know a lot of people might cringe if broccoli has to be part of a meal, but what if you knew that just one cup of broccoli can provide just as much Vitamin C as a medium orange? Broccoli is also high in Beta-Carotene, Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc, and Iron. This vegetable supplies a few different Vitamins B’s as well such as B1, B2, B3, and B6, as well as a good level of Glutathione which is a particularly effective antioxidant for your body. Let’s not forget about the dog, with a high level of Fiber and Vitamin C and being low in fat it’s a great treat for your furry K9 friend, in fact my furry friend gets some for dinner chopped up raw to go into her food. Keep in mind many dogs react different to human foods and some dogs may not digest it well, best to try a little bit at a time at first.
Well we know that broccoli is super good for you, I guess that’s why mom always pushed it on me as a kid… But we need to get past the over-steamed, soggy, bland vegetable we’re all afraid of and try to make it taste just as good as it is for your health!
Let us start with breakfast. I know right, broccoli for breakfast? You have to be mad! A great way to add it into the starting meal for the day would be to roast it like potatoes for hash browns. Grab that cast iron pan or oven safe frying pan, get that pan nice and hot with some olive oil, add in sliced onions and garlic, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and sauté for a few minutes. Then add some chopped broccoli, sauté a little more, and place in a pre-heated oven at 375°C for about 10-15 minutes. When you take it out you can add some fresh herbs to add more flavour, such as a little chopped rosemary or thyme, then serve with eggs your way and some bacon! It will taste great and is super helpful for your immune system, plus we dropped the high-carb potatoes cooked something better and better for you.
If you are feeling uninspired or perhaps a little less motivated for lunch, let’s do a nice easy raw broccoli salad with sautéed prawns. You might think this would be difficult, but I’ll help you do it easily, quickly, and with ingredients that are common in most households. For this spring-style immune boosting salad with prawns we will be adding in some spinach, green onion, radish, apple, carrot, and of course broccoli.
Now for the broccoli what we want to do is slice it as thin as you can with a nice sharp chef’s knife so that you don’t have massive chucks of broccoli. The other very important part is once you have all the vegetables sliced to place them in a large bowl and season with a bit of salt, then pour the vinaigrette over them and let soak for 10 minutes. This will allow the veggies to take on the wonderful flavour of the vinaigrette and to soften them just a tad, but keep the crispness of them being raw. If you do not enjoy prawns (shrimp) you can easily use chicken, beef, pork, tofu or whatever you like really. I’ll keep it simple for the vinaigrette as well to hopefully avoid a trip to the grocery store What you will need is olive oil, apple cider vinegar (you can use any vinegar really, just avoid using white vinegar), Dijon mustard, orange juice, salt, and black pepper. The secret for most vinaigrette is 3-parts fat (oil) to 1-part acid (vinegar, citrus juice) and aggressively whisking it. If you have blender that is even better! As for the prawns, just sauté them in a frying pan with a splash of oil and season with a few pinches of salt and pepper. A nice clean and simple lunch that’s full of immune boosting foods and will satisfy your taste buds while eating healthy as well.
Right, so if broccoli salad is not your thing, let’s find a delicious way to use this health food at dinner. If you want to try something a little different with a heap of flavor and easy to pull off, how about a curry whole roasted broccoli head. It is delicious and quick, and uses just a few ingredients and only a bowl and baking tray, simple. If you don’t like curry you can add your favorite spices and spice mixes instead, or just keep it clean and easy with a little olive oil salt, and black pepper. It’s up to you, but I highly recommend you give this curry-spiced broccoli a try!
Well there you have it, we have turned broccoli into three really good dishes to serve up and enjoy while getting all the wonderful benefits broccoli has to offer your immune system. Plus we satisfied your taste buds at the same time, I would call that a win! Next week I will be talking about one of most used immune boosting foods, garlic. Until then, have a great week and stay healthy!
Ingredients we used that also have immune benefits
- Onions- Sulfur compounds, Zinc, Vitamin C
- Olive oil- antioxidants
- Citrus- Vitamin C
- Garlic- Allicin
- Prawns (shrimp) – Selenium
- Radish- Vitamin C
- Spinach- Vitamin C and E, Folate
- Apple (skin)- Quercetin
- Carrot- Vitamin C
- Curry spice (with turmeric in it)- Curcumin
