Veggie Oven Steamer

Happy first post of October everyone! It's officially fall and that means no more pool, fewer outdoor activities, shorter days... I know, depressing.  But all of that means more time to spend in the kitchen!

After our summer vacation I was determined to settle into fall and get back to being a little more on the healthy side, instead of flitting around from fast food joint to fast food joint (my ass saw a lot of Chipotle and Elevation Burger this summer!) and stuffing my face with refined sugar on vacation. This involves hitting up the grocery store on the regular basis, cooking at home, and consuming foods that have actual color to them rather than anti-color foods with lots of browns and whites.

Well, I spoke too soon. There is at least one white colored food that is allowed: cauliflower! Cauliflower is super healthy and it's one of my go-to easy to cook veggies I make on a regular basis. I I love how it tastes, raw or cooked, and heck - even my dog likes it, so I make sure to steam up some extra for her! Another go-to veggie you'll usually find in my fridge is broccoli. I'm always looking for different, new ways to cook my go-to favorites, so I was super excited when this idea for a veggie steamer came to me.

I had some capers and broth left from another dinner I made recently, so I decided to experiment and see if I could get those flavors to infuse in the steam and into the veggies. Whenever I think about infusing flavors, I think of garlic, so naturally I had to throw some of that in there. I wanted a little bit of a richness to the dish, so I added a little butter. Well, vegan butter for moi. And a little spice of course, so I went the crushed red pepper route.

An y'all. It was so good! I was so happy about how well this dish turned out because now I have an easy, quick, flavorful, and tasty side dish handy in my back pocket whenever I need something extra to go along with an entree. And bonus: my boyfriend gave it his seal of approval. He's basically a meat-and-cheese-etarian, so you know it's good if he likes it!

OK, let's get steamin'!


Oven Veggie Steamer
Servings: 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: ten minutes

Ingredients
1/4 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 teaspoon butter (I used Smart Balance vegan/non-soy)
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon caper juice
1 handful broccoli florets
1 handful cauliflower florets
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt

Start by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover a pie pan or baking dish in loosely with aluminum foil. Push the foil down so the center is on the bottom of the pan and the sides are up a little, kind of like a bowl.

Pour the broth into the center of the foil. Add the butter, garlic, capers, and caper juice.

Add the broccoli and cauliflower.

Sprinkle the crushed red pepper flakes, FCBP, and salt over the broccoli and cauliflower.

Now, wrap up the aluminum foil. Start by bringing the two long sides together in the center, fold, and then fold several more times until the foil is tight. Then just roll up the ends. You don't want there to be any holes on the bottom where the liquid could escape.

Now take a fork and poke some holes in the top of the aluminum foil - no more than five small ones. This is to let some of the steam escape.

Now place the whole thing - including the pie pan/baking dish - in the oven.

Cook for ten minutes.

Remove from the oven after ten minutes.

Gently open the aluminum foil, being careful not to burn yourself!

Scoop the broccoli and cauliflower from the liquid and place on your serving plate.

Enjoy! Salute!