Parmesean Broccoli Balls

I have made this recipe three times now and believe it or not I have not recorded the process. This is unfortunate because I am making this recipe now based on my notes from my printed recipe card and the balls aren't turning out how I expected.
Let's start with the bones of the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/41116/parmesan-broccoli-balls/

This time I used:
1 large head of fresh broccoli
1/2 box of Trader Joes Cornbread Stuffing Mix
3/4 cup grated parmesan/Romano cheese
1 medium onion
5 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

I steamed the broccoli florets for 5 minutes in my basket steamer. That was perfect. I sauteed the onion with some butter and onion to brown them a little, which I think works well for this recipe. I melted the butter in a saucepan and then added it to the egg, after which I realized I might have cooked some of the egg, so next time add the butter to the large mix, maybe even after the egg has been stirred in. I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I made them into 1 inch balls and put 20 of them on a large baking sheet. They went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20minutes. That was pretty perfect for cooking them, but at this point I saw that my balls were falling apart! They also stuck to the pan. To the second half of my ingredients I added 2 more eggs to help with binding and put it back in the fridge for one hour.

I baked the second batch on parchment paper. This was a good idea. I feel that the second batch was a little too wet, so maybe use 6 or 7 eggs for the whole batch?

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

For this recipe, I took inspiration from a few different recipes on allrecipes.com.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broccoli-Chicken-Divan/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Divan/Detail.aspx

Bert sauteed about 1 pound of chicken tenders, cubed. I steamed 1 medium head of fresh broccoli (cut into pieces) for about 5minutes or so, but I think the "or so" was a little too long. I layered the broccoli into an 11x7 glass Pyrex. The chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper and layered into the dish. Then I mixed 1 can of cream of broccoli soup with about 1/2 can of fat free milk and some curry. I poured/distributed the soup over the chicken and broccoli. I sprinkled low fat Mexican cheese blend on the top, then some breadcrumbs (plain).  Maybe I should have mixed melted butter with the breadcrumbs to add some color to the dish. I baked in the oven for 30minutes at 350degrees.

I liked the casserole. Bert did not care for it. He thought there was too much broccoli, but he also didn't realize there was curry in it, which was the most prominent flavor, so we are still not really sure what he didn't like about the dish.

We served this with steamed corn the first night and roasted potatoes the second night. If we didn't have either, you could probably add more water to the dish with instant rice to make a complete casserole.

Broccoli stir fry

Fresh broccoli is so good. I am not a huge fan of broccoli, especially raw and plain. I will eat it after it has marinated in a pasta salad and certainly after being steamed. Bert prepared our broccoli first by stir frying with pepper, onion and olive oil. As the vegetables got tender, he added chicken and then Island Soyaki Sauce. The final product was amazing. Broccoli has never tasted so good to me.

We prepared the other half of the head tonight in the same way. I defrosted some shrimp to change things up, so we had shrimp and chicken broccoli stir fry! I am so sad that the broccoli is all gone now.

I still have eggplant, one squash, 1/2 onion, a tomato, 2 cucumbers, some lettuce and kale. I have 3 meals left to finish them off! I think I will probably make pickles on Saturday.

The lettuce is holding up well in the cotton sacks.