B for broccoli for #AtoZChallenge: cheese broccoli cauliflower recipe

Tell a story to little children how similar broccoli and cauliflower florets are to tree in the forest. Imagine that they are heroes who are going to rescue a beautiful princess. To find the princess, they have to finish eating both the florets of darker color broccoli and the lighter color cauliflower. These mini-tree-like vegetables are the secret why Prince Charming is so charming!



Melted or grated cheese is a natural partner for broccoli and cauliflower. Mix with yogurt to achieve whiter color in appearance, I prefer melted cheese covering their florets. Don't they look like snow-covered tree?

For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 02 Wed, I lovingly present a cheese broccoli cauliflower recipe by ServicefromHeart.

Servings: 2
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 3 cups broccoli florets
♥ 3 cups cauliflower florets
♥ 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
♥ 1 egg, hard-boiled, peeled, quartered
♥ 1/2 cup cheese, melted Parmesan/ feta
♥ 5 tbsp plain / Greek yogurt
♥ 1 tbsp sesame oil*
♥ 1 tbsp white sesame seeds*
♥ 1/2 tsp pepper

* For any concern of potential nut allergy, substitute sesame oil with olive oil and exclude sesame seeds.

Directions:
1. Hard-boil egg. Cook the broccoli and cauliflower in boiling slightly salted water for about 3 minutes (for younger children with yet-to-complete set of teeth, cook slightly longer for softer florets). Refresh with cold water. Drain.
2. Warm sesame oil on top of boiling water. Mix cheese, sesame oil, sesame seeds and pepper. Then, add yogurt to the mixture.
3. Combine tomatoes, egg, blanched broccoli and cauliflower. Spoon the cheese mixture over them before serving.

Tips:
♥ Besides egg, you can also use quails' egg (substitute in 1:4 ratio of egg:quails' eggs).
♥ Try naturally dyed eggs. Engage little children in this fun scientific experiment at home kitchen. It's magical to see everyday eggs with white soft skin turns into a rainbow of pastel colors!

Other recipes that I love:
♥ Martha Stewart's naturally dye eggs with turmeric (pastel yellow), red cabbage (pastel blue), beets (pink), vinegar.
♥ Shirley's fusilli pasta with broccoli and anchovy sauce @ Køkken

With love,
ServicefromHeart
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