how to roast broccoli (and other vegetables)

i suppose i am a lucky mom in the sense that my kids LOVE broccoli. i’ve never had a problem getting them to eat it. i think it started when they were really little and i told them to pretend they were a dinosaur eating a tree….

anyway, since we all love broccoli, i bought a big bag of it from costco last week. and there was only 1 problem…it was a BIG BAG!! huge. ginormous. mammoth. whatever word you want to use, it was a lot of broccoli for our family of 4. so we were trying to think of ways to prepare it. we like it raw with ranch dip. we like it steamed with a little cheese sprinkled on top. and we like it roasted – my favorite.

roasting, or baking broccoli is really very easy and i’m a little surprised at how few people i know that have ever made it this way.

all you need to do is:

1. cut your broccoli into florets and rinse. pat dry with a paper towel, or a salad spinner.

2. place on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. mix it all up to get everything coated.

3. bake in the oven at 400-425 for 12-15 minutes, or until tender. (keep an eye on it the last few minutes.)

and that’s it! super easy, right? and it tastes amazing. hands down my favorite way to eat broccoli.

not a huge broccoli fan yourself? or think you couldn’t get your family to eat it? that’s okay. high heat, olive oil, and salt & pepper are the basic recipe for roasting many vegetables. try out a variety and see which ones your family likes best.

stay tuned for some other recipes and ways we like to use up some of our broccoli. until then, use this roasted broccoli as a side to this to-die-for chicken alfredo recipe.