roasted broccoli

remember what i told you about roasting lima beans? turns out you can do the same thing to broccoli and it’s equally as tasty (and probably a titch healthier).

cut your broc into florets and toss in a bowl with plenty of olive oil.

spread out on a baking sheet, leaving lots of space. do two batches if you have to. crowding leads to steaming and you want browning!

sprinkle with salt, pepper, some red pepper flakes and garlic powder.

roast at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, toss, and bake for about 10 minutes more.

scrape into a bowl, complete with all the oil/salt/seasonings on the tray, and top with plenty of lemon juice and parmesan.

what else can i roast??

shout out to ms nag for the inspiration.

another pumpkin-bran muffin

as you know, there’s nothing i love more than a yummy homemade muffin (maybe a bowl of oatmeal? an oatmeal muffin?) and as it’s the middle of october already (?!?!?!), i decided to kick off true muffin season with another pumpkin-spice-bran variety.

from the archives:

• pumpkin muffins
• pumpkin-spice bran muffins

they’re all good–i’d pick which one to make based on what ingredients i have in the house.

so here’s…

another pumpkin-bran muffin
(inspired heavily by domestic dreamboat’s recipe)

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup wheat bran, toasted in a skillet until toasty-smelling
a scant 1/2 cup granulated sugar (measure a 1/2 cup and take out a tablespoon or so)
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
chocolate chips

in one bowl, mix together the first nine ingredients and in another bowl, mix together the next five. make sure you put your spices, especially the ginger, and your baking soda/powder through a fine sieve. they are always lumpy and you don’t want lumps.

gently mix the two together. there’s so much fiber in this recipe – and i cut the sugar a lot – i would have felt just fine adding chocolate chips (so good with pumpkin), but he doesn’t like them so i abstained. i’m sweet enough already.

grease your muffin tin well and scoop batter in. i sprinkled some old fashioned oats over the top of each just because i like how they look. not necessary, though, especially if you went the chocolate route.

bake at 400 degrees for 20-22 minutes.

cressida cress

this summer, my farmers market had a really exotic selection of yummy greens. our favorite has been pea shoots, which taste just like sweet, tender, baby peas. eat the very thin ones raw with dressing or sautee the slightly larger stems quickly with a lot of garlic. mmm

but last week, i discovered cressida cress. related to watercress, that rarified green found with butter in crustless english tea sandwiches, cressida cress is described as peppery and spicy.

i also found some very unique mozzarella-like goat cheese, so farmers market dinner was open-faced tomato and melted cheese sandwiches with mayo, salt, pepper and a big pile of cress.

the flavor of the cress was great, and it would be an excellent way to spice up a regular salad, too. check it out!