Don't throw away those broccoli stems!

Listening to the radio before Thanksgiving was like listening to a non-stop cooking show!  Every station had at least one famous chef speaking about what we who have celebrated Thanksgiving all our lives, should  do or not do in the kitchen!  There was one message that caught Marash Girl's attention.

That news? Broccoli stems are not to be tossed but rather eaten!  Wow!  Let's see . . . how many years ago did Marash Girl figure that out . . . and never even thought it worth writing in her blog?  She assumed everyone knew!  So what's the thing with broccoli stems?  If you're preparing  a salad or a vegetable platter, it's the most delicious of all vegetables, with the most interesting of textures, milder than the broccoli flowers themselves and easier to chew and digest.  Marash Girl peels the stems  (was it Auntie Rose that taught her, or did she teach Auntie Rose?) and slices the stems  -- no, don't you cook them! Add the broccoli stems to a salad -- that unidentifiable vegetable -- or place them on a veggie platter along with the carrots, the celery, the peppers, the cherry tomatoes, the radishes, the cucumbers -- with Arppie's secret dip at the center.  Should Marash Girl give you Arppie's secret dip recipe here or in the next blog post?  Okay, because you're curious, here it is . . . very complicated : )

Ketchup (in bottle from store -- no preservatives) of your choice.

Prepared horse radish (in bottle from store -- no preservatives) of your choice.

Complicated procedure:

Add a teaspoon of prepared horseradish to a 1/3 of a cup of ketchup. 

There's your dip! Tastes even better than Shrimp Cocktail Sauce and costs you pennies.

Arppie, who used to be the Director of the UConn auditorium in Storrs, Connecticut, always served a veggie platter (with this dip of her own making) to the gathered celebrities that she regularly entertained at the auditorium, and the dip never failed to wow them . . . (Don't think she ever served them peeled broccoli stems, though.)  So Arppie, here's a big thank you for your simple but delicious dip that family members have been using for eons!