i don't eat broccoli

The Thanksgiving holiday is barely over and everywhere I go, all I hear about is Christmas!! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and wonderful long weekend. I’d love to hear about your signature dish, what you do with your leftovers or your favorite dessert … please share!!

Now, what was that I said about Christmas? Oh yea … like many people, I normally start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I would probably start earlier, but I have a deal with Dan that I will not start until the day after Thanksgiving because he thinks I go a little overboard and that it is not healthy to listen to Christmas music year round. So every year, on the days after Thanksgiving, I lovingly turn my leftover turkey into Feel Better Soup, clean the house top to bottom and bring out the decorations and tree to make the whole house look like Christmas exploded all over the place. This year, however, I am way behind on my normal schedule thanks to Dan talking me into a complete and total lazy day followed by a day with the fam followed by a gluttonous girls’ day (wine + mani + pedi = yay!). It wasn’t a total loss; I enjoyed myself thoroughly but now I am BUSY getting caught up from my three days off! Between Christmas prep, working on my list of 101, regular every day “fun” and who knows what else that’ll pop up … I will be very happy when January 1st has come and gone. (I normally take down everything Christmas on January 1st, if I don’t then Dan threatens to do so for me and, well, neither of us wants that!)

As part of my ongoing attempts to cut-the-fat, here is another holiday fave gone thinner. I cannot personally vouch for the flavor as I detest broccoli; it does not matter what you cover it in, I still can’t eat it. However, Dan told me this Thanksgiving that this dish has moved to his list of holiday faves and has asked for it to be added to our Christmas menu. I can attest that the cheese sauce is delish though so I hope you give it a try!

Broccoli Au Gratin (sounds fancy for broccoli with cheese sauce)
3-4 cups fresh broccoli (frozen works too) washed and chopped
1 small brick Velveeta made with 2% milk (I know, I know, I’m not a big velveeta person either but I promise this is good)
1 cup reduced sodium 99% fat-free chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (2 if they’re large, 3 if they’re small or you’re measuring minced garlic out of a jar)
2 tsp black pepper
1tsp white pepper
Panko (or whatever bread crumbs you have in your pantry)

- Cut the brick of velveeta into about 1” cubes and place in small saucepan with remaining ingredients over medium-low heat

- As the velveeta melts, whisk the sauce together until smooth; immediately remove from the heat or it will BURN (yes, I know from experience)

- Steam your broccoli, or boil your frozen (you can do this while the veleeta is melting)

- Place broccoli in a casserole dish, pour the cheese sauce over and toss to coat, sprinkle a little panko over the top

- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until all bubbly and browned; enjoy!

**VARIATION: increase the broth to 2 cups and add 1 cup uncooked Minute brown rice + 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken breast (or leftover turkey), increase cook-time to 30-45min and turn this into an easy weeknight casserole entrée instead of just a side dish. Again, I cannot personally vouch for the flavor but Dan loved it when I made it for him from the leftovers we had in the fridge. **