I love broccoli, but only if it’s cooked. Steamed with salt and butter is tasty.
I love cauliflower even more - also cooked and salted, but also covered in cheese.
I’m happy when I see them at restaurants, because it means they’re not serving some weird amalgamation of peppers, onions, and other veggies I don’t like.
I like fresh pineapple by itself but it’s highly unusual that I like it mixed into anything else, with the exception of piña colada. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t play well with the other kids and should be left to its own corner.
What about pizza?
Ugh. Pineapple belongs on cake … upside-down. No tomato sauce.
Yep.
Well, except taters.
I’m totally with you on this, but then, I mostly dislike vegetables. One of the supermarkets here makes a great roast chicken dinner, chicken breast stuffed with garlic sausage and a generous side of Fettuccine Alfredo. And, always, lurking in the corner is a big hunk of broccoli.
The green looks nice against the white of the fettuccine and the roast chicken, and I guess in theory it provides a balanced meal, but the stuff is barely edible. I used to make a half-hearted effort to slather it in butter and consume at least half, but nowadays it mostly goes in the garbage. I agree with @kayaker that beef and broccoli is a great traditional Asian dish, but it’s the beef and sauce that makes it, not the broccoli. The broccoli is there for decoration, as far as I’m concerned.
That bird has the right attitude! 
what about pineapple on baked ham?
Another broccoli lover here, and I’ll gladly take broccoli as a diner side over the canned vegetables that diners (and often my mom) used to serve as sides-- canned green beans? Probably the most tolerable of the classic canned vegetables. Canned corn? Blech. Canned carrots and peas were the worst, and the most ubiquitous. Seems like there was a time that whenever you ordered a ‘meat, potato and veg’ special in a diner, canned carrots and peas would be the veg.
I was kidding about weeping tears of joy at being served canned vegetables. But please, I would love buttery peas, corn on or off the cob, and fresh green beans to make a triumphant return to restaurants.
I was at Stella’s Diner a few weeks ago, and I had the roast turkey dinner. I loved it. They had sweet and sour cabbage soup, but best of all the turkey was sitting on top of a mound of old fashioned bread stuffing like I haven’t seen in years.
Praises of glory, thinks I. Here is a place that respects the classics.
So, some days later, I returned to Stella’s and ordered a steak. With vegetable of the day.
And it arrived, tah-dah! Broccoli. Of course.
The quest goes on.
I used to go to Red Robin a fair amount, and as a concession to my diet I started getting broccoli instead of fried. They were usually pretty good, especially with the Red Robin seasoning sprinkled on them. Sometimes I was even able to get seconds, arguing that if I could get “endless fries” why couldn’t I get “endless broccoli”.
No, and no, and hell no. And no Chinese sweet-n-sour. And no fruit salad. And no cake frostings.
And not in syrup. And not with little marshmallows or mayonnaise. Not in barbecue sauce. Just NO.
Cut the alligator skin outside off. Slice it off the central core. Cut into chunks. Eat, as is, by itself. Fresh, not out of can. That’s how you eat pineapple. Well, it’s the only way I wanna eat pineapple at any rate.
“Pizza”… •• shudders ••
Made shish-kabobs last night with marinated teriyaki turkey chunks, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and pineapple. I usually use canned pineapple out of laziness. Last nighty I butchered a pineapple that my gf bought “to be authentic”.
Some canned products are tolerable to perfectly acceptable compared to fresh. Pineapple is one. Tomato products are another.
Lightly steamed is not steamed enough for me. If I just want broccoli crudités, I’ll eat that. I want my broccoli so it’s soft, but not falling apart, when I stick a fork into it. My general approach is to steam it for about 8-9 minutes (depending on the size of the pieces), shock it in ice water, and then finish it in my dish (if it’s a stirfry) or fry it up in some butter and oil. I want it to have just the tiniest bit of resistance when you bite in it. If it resembles raw broccoli, except warm, forget it. Raw broccoli is awful. I feel the same about green beans.
Here is the best thing to do with fresh pineapple:
Stir together in a small bowl
3/4 cup tequila,
3/4 packed brown sugar,
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Chop pineapple into 2x1" pieces and thread onto skewers. Put in the fridge. Note: recipe says refrigerate separately but I put the pineapple chunks into the marinade to let it mingle a bit, and then thread onto skewers when ready to cook. Makes it messier but tastier. Be sure to soak wooden skewers in water first so they don’t catch fire!
Grill them on the BBQ for 10 minutes or so, turning a bit and brushing with the remaining marinade. Delicious hot or cold. I usually serve with ham or pork chops. Mmmm. I guess I know what we are having for dinner!
Raw is the only way I like broccoli. Just wash it and eat it. It’s like lettuce, carrots, and celery–best all by itself without its flavor hidden by other things.
Those are all pretty starchy. I enjoy them, but I’m not sure they really count as a vegetable, nutritionally.
We eat a lot of broccoli at home because my husband’s nutritionist told him to eat a lot of (non-starchy) vegetables, and broccoli is one of the few that everyone likes. And it’s easy to prepare. (Nuked with butter.) I really like the stem, and peel off the tough skin and throw chunks of plain stem into the dish.
Huh. That’s a new one on me. I’ve never heard of green beans not being counted as a vegetable. Only tubers and things like that. Corn also, I guess, is on the sugar-y side and may not nutritionally fit. But I’ve always thought green beans were fine. If they don’t count, how could carrots count?
I’m not sure of green beans. They are rarely available here fresh, and i really dislike the frozen ones. They’re probably okay.