The Superfood Broccoli and Two Great Recipes The Whole Family Will Love!

By Sara Tipton

Broccoli can be considered a superfood because of its nutritional content.  While it’s a polarizing vegetable because not everyone likes it, there are a few ways you can make it more tasty to get the nutritional benefits of this amazing food!

NUTRITIONAL CONTENT

Broccoli is considered one of the most nutritious vegetables because it is packed with numerous vitamins and minerals to help fight disease, build strong bones, and lower cholesterol. It is also low in carbohydrates, making it keto-friendly.  There are only 3.5 grams of digestible carbohydrates in a cup (91 grams) of broccoli. This superfood only has 31 calories per cup, is loaded with fiber and antioxidants and contains vitamin C to aid in iron absorption. In fact, a 1/2-cup (45-gram) serving of raw broccoli provides almost 70% of the daily value of vitamin C.

While broccoli doesn’t provide as much calcium as a glass of milk, it is a great source of calcium to help control blood pressure and build strong bones, especially for those who have a dairy allergy. Eating broccoli,  as well as other cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, several times per week will have you reaping the benefits of this nutritional superfood.

Broccoli isn’t extremely high in protein, but it does contain some. Broccoli is relatively high in protein for a vegetable, however. Protein makes up 29% of its dry weight, compared to most vegetables. Proteins are the building blocks of your body, necessary for both growth and maintenance. Broccoli also contains a lot of water, and because of its high water content, 1 cup (91 grams) of broccoli only provides 3 grams of protein.

Broccoli can also be prepared in numerous ways to enhance or hide the flavor – whichever you prefer!

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 heads with stems of broccoli (shredded or chopped)
• 1 cup of organic soy-free mayonnaise
• 16 ounces of bacon
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

Chop or shred the broccoli. Use a food processor, after peeling the skin off the stems and removing any black or bad spots. Cut all 16 ounces of bacon into pieces and cook it.  Drain the bacon grease and put the bacon on a paper towel to get crunchy. Once it’s cool and the paper towel has soaked up most of the grease, toss it in with your shredded or chopped broccoli. In a separate bowl, mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar together. Once it’s combined, pour it over the broccoli and bacon and stir to coat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This is a perfect dairy-free recipe (for those who don’t know, my daughter has a severe reaction to the milk protein in dairy) for someone who can have eggs, but not any milk products.  I make this broccoli salad almost every Sunday and keep it in the refrigerator.  It only lasts a few days because the kids and my husband love it, but it’s a perfect nutritious snack that beats those sugar-filled granola bars!

Broccoli can be lightly steamed, too, and some sources say this is the most nutritious was to consume this superfood!

Steamed Broccoli

Ingredients:

• Broccoli, 4 heads, florets only
• Olive oil
• A drizzle of balsamic syrup
• Goat cheese or feta crumbles
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 cup Chopped red onion
• salt and pepper

To steam the broccoli, remove the florets from the stems and cut them into chunks. Put water in your steamer pot and let it boil. Put the broccoli in the steamer with a lid on top. Cook for 3-4 minutes at the most to keep the broccoli a little crunchy. Drain the water and flavor your broccoli! Add the onions, feta crumbles or goat cheese crumbles, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic syrup and the minced garlic.  Toss it around and salt and pepper to taste!

This is a wonderful way to get the kids excited about broccoli, and it’s really good without the cheeses too for those who can’t eat them.  The bite of the raw red onion against the fresh broccoli is a wonderful combination, in my opinion.

Broccoli is great for you and really packs a nutritional punch! If you’re looking for some ways to change up the way you eat vegetables, give these recipes a try even if you don’t like broccoli.  These can be changed and manipulated to your exact taste buds, so keep that in mind too!

Article source: Ready Nutrition

Image: Pixabay

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