Work. Cook. Eat.

And we’re back. 

Sorry for the delay between posts, but I’ve been a little busy. I took a little trip to Vegas and got married! It was totally awesome and dreamy and fun and crazy, but now I’m back to real life. I’ll be posting more regularly since that big life change has happened.

Now, back to talking about food. One thing I find myself constantly googling or scouring Pinterest for is side dishes. Especially vegetables. I find it relatively easy to think of a million and a half ways to change up a chicken breast for dinner, or put together a casserole or sandwich, but when it comes to side dishes that I actually want to eat, that’s a different story. I can only eat side salads so many times a week before I will just skip it all together (that number is more than 1 and less than 3). I don’t want to expend a lot of energy just for a side. I need it to be easy and tasty. Bonus points if it’s healthy.

Enter Roasted Broccoli with Hummus.

I’m not exaggerating when I say roasted broccoli with hummus is hands down my favorite side dish. It’s ridiculously simple to put together: broccoli tossed with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, roasted in the oven and then tossed with lemon juice and hummus. Because it’s roasted, you don’t have to babysit the stove, so you can work on cooking your main dish. Then you get to eat it. The tops of the broccoli florets get crunchy and nutty tasting, and the hummus and lemon juice are tangy and creamy and just yum.

As I said, this recipe is stupidly easy, but there are a few keys to crunchy, roasty, creamy broccoli perfection. First, relatively high heat. 425°F to be exact. You won’t get crunchy tops if you don’t crank the heat. Second, don’t chop your broccoli or garlic too small. The broccoli shrinks quite a bit and the garlic will burn if you’re not careful. Third, use the same bowl to toss the raw broccoli before it’s roasted and the cooked broccoli later, and you’ll have less dishes to clean.

That last one is really just a pro lazy girl tip.

This method is also tasty with cauliflower, but you won’t get the crunchy tops, which to me is the best part of everything. You can also use whatever type of hummus you want. I just used regular hummus here, because that’s what I had on hand, but it’s just as tasty with roasted red pepper hummus, garlic hummus, or the spicy versions. Get as weird with it as you want, you won’t regret it.