Sneaking broccoli into your diet

When the kids were little, adding cheese to almost anything was a way to make even the most unacceptable food a tasty treat.

Broccoli was always an acceptable food, oddly enough. Genevieve liked all of it. Amanda liked the "trunks" and Jessica liked the "leaves" but they all at it. Some of their friends were not as thrilled with the tiny trees, but I made it anyhow even when there was a sleepover.
A friend of mine gave me a recipe for a casserole that she said would sneak veggies into a kid diet with no problems. She said that if you mix cheese, mayo and rice with anything it would be good to a kid. Not a big fan of mayo, I replaced it with sour cream and made this dish.
And it worked. Every kid who came through our house (and there were lots of them over the years) gobbled up this dish. Some tried to pick out the broccoli, but when they tasted the creamy topping, they ended up eating the green stuff as well.

So be sneaky. Whip up this casserole for the kids (or for yourself) and you'll be eating more calcium rich broccoli in no time.

Broccoli Casserole with Rice and Cheese

1/2 cup of onion, chopped

1/2 cup of celery, chopped
1/3 cup of bell pepper, chopped
1can  condensed broccoli and cheese soup, undiluted
1/4cup of sour cream
2 cups of cooked rice
1 10 ounce package of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
• Spray a  large skillet with cooking spray. Add the onion, the celery and the  bell pepper; cook and stir over medium heat until crisp-tender.
• Stir in the soup and the sour cream.
• Layer the rice and the broccoli in the baking  dish.
• Top with the soup mixture and spread it out evenly.
• Cover the dish and bake for 20 minutes.

Vegetarian.