Yesterday, I posted about what fresh vegetables that we had left, and that Jay had said he would be willing to try broccoli. I about passed out. In the fourteen years I have been with this man, he has always been vocal about his profuse hatred for broccoli. "VILE DEATH WEED!" is usually his battle cry when I even mentioned the little green trees of deliciousness. I usually just let it slide, though, as I feel the exact same way that he does about celery.
Food should not come with built-in dental floss. So gross.
I went through our crisper drawer today in the fridge, and realized that the broccoli day had come. Last night, a friend and fellow reader posted a link to Alton Brown's Oven Roasted Broccoli recipe. I read it over, realized that not only did we have all of the ingredients to make it, Jay would EAT all of the ingredients in it (save for the broccoli, which he at least said he would try.) Win.
This afternoon, I prepped the broccoli, along with some of the other vegetables in the crisper. I chopped up some celery (ew), carrot, and onion for chicken noodle soup to be made later, and stripped up some red, yellow, and orange bell peppers for freezer bags to be used for fajitas or some of the few slow-cooker recipes that call for sweet peppers. The broccoli was just at its usable point. I chopped up the florets, peeled the stems, and chopped them too.
Jay entered the kitchen, looked at the pile of broccoli in the prep bowl, and said, "Whatcha doing?"
I casually said I was just getting veggies ready for a few upcoming meals. I didn't want to breach the subject of broccoli for dinner. He had said he was willing to try it, but I said I wasn't going to make it in the next 24 hours. I didn't want to set off any alarms. He didn't sense any need to panic, and said he was going outside to shovel snow.
Phew. Crisis averted.
I finished chopping the vegetables, went through the fridge, and saw that we had five strips of bacon that needed to get used up. It is a felony in our household to let bacon go rancid, uneaten, or forgotten. I began to fry the bacon strips-- thinking that they would be conveniently done for quick breakfast sandwiches for the first few days of the work week.
Well, the heavenly aroma of the smoked and cured swine flesh must have wafted through the doors, walls and siding, because no sooner was the bacon half cooked when he came back in the house. "You're frying bacon at four in the afternoon?" he said. I retorted, "Yes, and I have some news to break to you, dear. You're having broccoli with dinner."
His eyes got wide. Then they squinted as he tried to sniff out a bluff. No dice. I was stone cold serious. I gave him a strip of bacon to soften the blow, and he went back to shoveling. I can only imagine the thoughts that he had as he shoveled. I liken it to someone who is facing an impending root canal, paying an expensive car repair bill, or being forced to listen to elevator music.
Dinner itself was venison tips over noodles, with AB's aforementioned oven roasted broccoli recipe. I liked it. Jay looked at it, took a bite, and kept eating. I wasn't going to stop him. Usually when he detests something, he won't continue to eat it, and will try to pawn it off on the dog, or put it in the trash. When his plate was clean, I asked, "So? Was it as awful as you thought it would be?" He said that it wasn't. Then I asked, "Would you eat it again if I made it some other time?" He said that he would, but it wasn't as good as other vegetables I usually make.
Regardless, I will chalk that up as a win. When we first started dating, he would eat corn, raw carrots, salad, and cucumbers. Now, I think I've gotten him to try and continuously eat most all other vegetables in one way or another. I'm thankful that he is somewhat open-minded when it comes down to what I make for dinner.
Now if I could only get him to eat mashed potatoes and dry beans... I will keep working on those. He stonewalled broccoli for fourteen years. It might be another fourteen to get one of those other into our normal menu rotation.
One thing at a time, but I love him for at least trying.
In other news, we have made it to our first double-digit day of the no-grocery challenge. Small milestones are encouraging to us, no matter how small. It is a victory that we will happily claim. Also, one other thing to note: I started some salad greens indoors today. I don't know if they will sprout, because the seeds that I found are old, but I have nothing to lose. If anything, we will at least get some microgreens out of it for sandwiches. Our lettuce is going to be gone by mid-week. I will be dreaming of romaine and fresh spinach in no time, I fear. Until then, we are thankful for what we do have, and the blessings that we have received.
--SH