Broccoli-Pine Nut Side Dish and My Hair Balls!

Hi everyone. I’m going to air some dirty laundry: I pull my hair from the shower drain and leave it on the sink. I’ve done it my whole life. I feel like I am making an effort by pulling it from the drain. I always intend to throw it out but just can’t seem to remember to take that next step of actually throwing it in the garbage. It drives Brian crazy and he thinks I’m being passive-aggressive by leaving it there. Isn’t it enough that I take it out of the drain??

Some of us out there have mentioned how annoyed or subtly annoyed our partners get when we don’t have dinner made at night. Isn’t it enough that we are shopping, buying food, running errands, doing laundry, working, making social plans, keeping our kids alive, helping save the world, etc?

Well, although we are trying to do our best and it seems like we are doing all we can do, maybe, just maybe, we could try some new techniques or strategies to think out of the box to accomplish what we want or what we should do for ourselves and our families. The question is: Is it worth it to make the effort? Only you know the answer. I, for one, have been truly trying to remember to throw that nasty hairball out before I leave the bathroom.

I don’t want to start any arguments, but here’s a link to an article discussing how much more work women do once they get married:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080404/lf_nm_life/housework_husbands_dc

Anyway, here’s a great recipe I created the other day . I can’t bear throwing away the stalks to my organic brocolli since they are so crazily expensive. In years past, I would look around and make sure noone was watching me, and break the stems off so they would weigh less. I guess I now have a more developed super ego so I have stopped. Here’s the use I have found for them.

Steamed Brocolli Stalks alla Alma:

Stalks from a bunch of brocolli
olive oil
handful of pine nuts
grated parmiaggani cheese to taste
salt and pepper
1/2 lb of pasta if this is an entree

Trim the stalks by peeling them with a carrot peeler until the fibrousy outer layer is off. Slice into 1/4″ size pieces and steam or boil until tender (steaming is healthier for you)
Toast a handful of pine nuts on a low flame-watch carefully so they don’t burn.
drizzle stalk slices with olive oil, add pine nuts , salt and pepper to taste and grate cheese to taste. Voila! Place on top of a serving or two of pasta if it is an entree or leave as is for a side dish. Enjoy!

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4 Responses

  1. OK, so the hairball thing is gross, but it cracked me up because the title sounded oddly like one of your recipes! On a different note–the subject of not wasting kitchen scraps–have you considered composting? My best friend from high school is an amazing cook as well as an avid gardener and she is in the habit of keeping one of those stainless steel pre-compost containers on the counter next to her sink for all biodegradeable food waste. When its full, she brings it out to the yard and dumps it in her compost pile which in time becomes fabulous organic soil for the garden. I’m going to give it a try and I’ll let you know how it goes!

  2. I just wanted to agree with anonymous – composting is a great solution for kitchen scraps. Instead of one of those pre-composting containers, I just use a big tin canister (which I, obviously, have to empty more often than a professional container). Just about all kitchen scraps except meat products can go in and then I dump them in a composter in my backyard. I just “harvested” the results of last fall and winter’s composting and put it on the flower beds yesterday. Makes you feel actually virtuous about orange peels and brocoli stalks.

  3. Hi Alma – I looked up your broccoli stalks recipe today and made it. It was so fun to know what I wanted, look it up on your site, and get right to work (yes, I brought my laptop into the kitchen – breaking down old barriers). And it's tasty, too. Thanks!

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