Organic Just Tastes Better: Simple Spicy Steamed Broccoli

Since I began my nutrition course (5 months ago) I’ve started buying mostly organic produce (especially for the Dirty Dozen). However, sometimes the item I need isn’t available, so I settle for non-organic, and make sure to wash it really well with vinegar water.

This hasn’t happened for a while, but the other weekend my husband and I went to St. Lawrence market on Saturday and got our produce for the week (which was cheaper than ordering through Mama Earth Organics, and we got way more stuff…I guess you pay for the convenience). We bought a variety of organic produce: (only came to $33!): big bag of pink lady apples (they’re my fave!), large carrots, baby spinach, naval oranges, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cremini mushrooms & sweet baby broccoli. We wanted to buy some sugar snap peas because we got them in our organic box last week and loved them, but they only had non-organic. I decided to go for it, and didn’t really think twice about it until later that day. I washed them really well, took a bite, and they tasted awful – I couldn’t even eat them!

That same night we had steak with steamed organic sweet baby broccoli & baked organic sweet potato fries, and they tasted better than ever. I usually buy non-organic sweet potatoes because it’s not one of the “Dirty Dozen,” but the taste difference was unbelievable.

The baby broccoli was amazing too. We bought two big bunches of baby broccoli (tastes a bit sweeter than regular brocc, & has longer skinny stems) for $2, and I have to share the recipe we made. Once you cook broccoli this way, you won’t go back to your regular steaming methods. I found this recipe on Food Network on the show “Ten Dollar Dinners” and it’s really easy and so yummy.

Simple Spicy Steamed Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 head of organic regular broccoli or 1 bunch of organic sweet baby broccoli
¼ cup of water
1 tbsp. of grapeseed oil
1 garlic clove minced
½ tsp of red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Wash, trim and take the leaves off the broccoli.

Combine all the ingredients (except for broccoli) in a pot, cover & bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, put the broccoli in, cover and let it steam for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, turn off the heat, take off the lid and let it sit for a couple minutes. Toss to coat, and serve!

When you choose organic; not only do you save yourself from harmful pesticides and carcinogens; you get better tasting fruits & veggies! Organic produce tastes like how nature intended it to taste.