Sesame Steamed Broccoli

Have you ever stood in your kitchen and stared at the fridge racking your brain trying to decided what to serve along side dinner. I love my steamed veggies; they're nutritious and I really enjoy them. But there's some days when I just want to jump out of the plain old routine and spice things up.

So here's a simple classic side dish that is reminiscent of Thai take-out.

I'm a huge fan of going out to dinner for Thai food. It doesn't get to happen all that often...(sad face)...but it's so good when it does. It's also happens to be one of the few restaurants where you can make some healthier menu choices.

Feeling inspired for my love of Thai food, I came up with this great little side dish. The best part is it only takes five minutes to cook and and a couple minutes to throw together this tasty little sesame dressing.

First I steamed the broccoli with freshly minced garlic. Three to five minutes is just enough to turn the broccoli bright green, tender crisp and bring out all those precious nutrients. Then I whisked together a few choice ingredients that compliment each other. Soy sauce, sesame oil, a pinch of hot red pepper flakes, and of course toasted sesame seeds. Nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary. I wouldn't add much of anything else or the flavours could risk getting confused. Except maybe for a pinch of ginger. That would go quite nicely!

You can serve this with any choice of protein you like. I'd recommend topping some steaming hot brown rice with it. Heck, why not make it a brown rice bowl and add some bell peppers, snap peas and stir-fried chicken.

Is it dinner time yet?

Sesame Steamed Broccoli

(serves 4)

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Ingredients:

• 1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets
• 2 clove of garlic, minced 
• 1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari
• 1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

 Directions:

1. Place the broccoli and minced garlic in a small sauce pot and cover with about 1/4 inch of water. (you can also use a steaming basket if you prefer). Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid.
2. Steam until the broccoli is tender and bright green, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, red pepper flakes and sesame seeds. Transfer the broccoli to the bowl and give it a really good toss to coat.
4. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information:

For 1 serving: Calories: 38g  Fat: 1g  Carbohydrates: 4g  Sugar: 0g  Sodium: 165mg  Fiber: 1.5g  Protein: 2g

Whole Foods Detox Salad

Whenever I take a trip to Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods, which doesn't happen as often as I might like, lunch is almost always planned at the hot and cold salad bar. There's just so much to choose from and you want it all! Every kind of veggie and greens you can think of, hot soup, I still have yet to try out the stir-fry station, and the bakery goodies are so tempting. But one of my favourite things to get is the Detox Salad. I've really wanted to re-create this one for a while now. I love how they list the ingredients on the label. The ingredient list is quite simple. There's broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, sunflower seeds, currants, parsley, lemon juice, raisins, kelp granules, salt, and pepper.

No wonder it's called a detox salad. Talk about your raw cruciferous vegetables! The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are the main body ingredients to the salad. They contain tons of vital nutrients that will help your body's natural detoxification system along the way and give it a little boost.

I love having this salad for lunch because it's one of those fast make ahead lunches that will have you set for the whole week. 

It's super healthy and tastes great!

Once you start to add the sunflower seeds and dried fruits the salad really starts to come together. The sunflower seeds add some extra satisfying crunch and the currents and raisins give it some much needed natural sweetness to contrast the raw veggies.

The parsley and lemon juice add a nice fresh taste, but little did you know they also play a part in the detoxifying process. I didn't bother to add the kelp granules, but I did add pumpkin seeds.  

Of course you could most definitely add whatever fresh herbs you prefer. I imagine mint and diced pinapple would be quite good in this together.  

Detox Salad gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian (makes 8-10 cups)

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Ingredients: 

• 2 heads of broccoli (stalks removed, and cut into florets)
• 2 1/2 cups of roughly cut cauliflower florets
• 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8-1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: 

1. Place the broccoli florets into a food processor and pulse until chopped very fine. Empty out into a large bowl.
2. Do the same with the cauliflower florets. Depending on the size of your food processor you may have to work in batches. 
3. Next add the carrots and pulse until finely chopped and add to the bowl along with the broccoli and cauliflower. Give it a good stir to mix everything together.
4. Stir in the parsley, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins and currants. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

To store: keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container. I like to keep it in a big sealed glass container because I find that the glass keeps the salad fresher than plastic.