50 Shades of Green Challenge day 22

Broccoli Bites

Little nuggets of green love. A perfect texture for kids and strong on flavor for adults. Relatively Easy to whip up too.  Preheat your oven to 400deg. while you prep.

Grab a head of fresh broccoli. Wash, chop and quickly dunk in a pot of boiling water. After 2 minutes remove and plunge into a bowl filled with ice and water. This is called blanching. It allows the firmness, nutrients and color of the veg. to stay intact.

Put the cooked and cooled broccoli in the food processor and pulse until it looks like rice.  Don't turn on the food processor and walk away or it will turn to mush.  Pulse only.  Then add 1 egg, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (preferably panko), 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and one fistful of parsley.  Pulse again to combine.  Take the mixture and pop it into a ziplock bag.  Cut the edge off the corner so you can sqeeze the goo from the corner.  It will come out like a log of broccoli lump.  Cut/chop into tater tot shape/size.  Make sure each one has space on the cookie sheet that is sprayed or has parchment paper or split mat to prevent sticking.  Bake for 10-12 minutes then remove the pan and flip each tot over.  Place back into the oven and continue to bake another 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Excellent served hot but they firm up as they cool making it easier for little hands to grab and stuff in the mouth.