I confess I squealed like a little girl when I saw these on Stacey Snacks. I was planning to make carrot soup for dinner and needed something to go on the side. Not only did Stacey have these, but she had also posted a recipe for chickpea and carrot soup. It seemed like fate. Or a girl crush. Or a combination thereof.
Cheesy Broccoli Bites
- 16 oz. package of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed (I already had some steamed broccoli left over from last night's dinner. I chopped that up and then supplemented with 3 crowns of fresh broccoli, chopped and blanched for 3-4 minutes. No matter what you're using, drain well to get rid of excess liquid)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (Fresh or bagged, your choice, I had a bagged blend of cheddar and monterey jack. I imagine mozzarella would be yummy)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs
Jeeps came to play in the kitchen tonight, which I love. The bites were being made at the same time as the soup. It turned into this ballet of passing the camera back and forth, or calling "Quick, I need both hands, take a picture!"
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. It was real sweet how hard Jeeps worked to compose the shot so that it came out exactly the way Stacey's photograph looked.
In the end we had to add another egg to the mixture. These things happen.
With your hands, form small patties and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet. Small patties. 1-2 inches tops. We made some too-big ones which did not brown up as well.
If you're wondering, Jeeps has that squeamish expression because he doesn't like touching raw eggs. His side of the family has an inborn streak of germophobia. Me, I'm not afraid, just wash your hands. I don't believe in antibacterial this, that and the other. Plain old soap and hot water was good enough for my mother and her mother and her mother, it's good enough for me.
Oh stop making that face, those are organic eggs!
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, flip patties, bake another 10 minutes. The too-large ones had to go back in another five minutes each side.
Delicious!!!