I was always a broccoli hater, all my life. The smell of it cooking would cause me to shriek and yowl and turn into a teetotal beeyotch, from the beginning of my life. For many years, my mother wouldn't make it, actually. She would eat it at other people's houses, or make a broccoli salad, which required no cooking.
I used to say, how can anyone eat those TINY LITTLE TREES?!? ACK!
In the dictionary next to PICKY EATER there was a photo of me.
I was famous for hating vegetables.
I grew up and realized,eventually, that if I were going to not be hugely fat I would have to make peace with vegetables.
It has been a long journey, though.
I once went to the home of an attorney I worked for and witnessed her taking steamed broccoli florets, covering them with butter (out of the squeeze container), and handing them to her small children, who happily munched the broccoli as they went tottering around the house.
My mother would never have handed my vegetables like that. We ate at the table, napkins in laps, elbows OFF THE TABLE (as my dad used to holler), glass of milk in front of each child. We didn't run around holding broccoli in our grubby little fists, chomping down on butter-covered trees.
However, I must confess something: I now admire that attorney for making the eating of broccoli fun.
My mother was raised by a Home Economics major who was diligent about making her children adopt what she considered healthful eating habits. My grandparents were very cognizant of eating properly and they imparted that to their three children. Fruits and vegetables were on the table at every meal.
However, I was grown when Mom told me that during World War II, when the family lived on a farm in South Carolina, Papaw would go home for lunch every day and often pick a head of broccoli right out of the ground and hand it to Mamaw to fix while he washed up. She would pop it into the pressure cooker and cook it until it was MUSH. Mom and her brothers loved broccoli mush.
Mom never made us mush like that.
Of course, Mom hated pressure cookers. She got one when I was small and tried to use it, and there was an explosion. Mom and Dad spent a good deal of time cleaning green beans off the ceiling. No more pressure cooking..
And I would complain loudly if she boiled broccoli on the stove. [I cut my nose off to spite my face, y'all..]
I now have an Instant Pot. It has made the cooking of broccoli easier and more fun. I pop in the broccoli, pour some water in the pot and hit ON and in 4 minutes I have wonderful, tender broccoli. I douse it with butter, salt, and pepper, and happily eat it.
Not drenched with cheese. Not disguised with a lot of other stuff. I used to try it covered in cheese and get annoyed by finding green stuff in the cheese.. LOL
Cook the broccoli until tender. Add REAL butter, salt, pepper, maybe some garlic.
YUM.
If you don't like broccoli, try it like that. It will change your life.
