Eating vegetables are supposed to make you feel good, right? Then why do I feel guilt? Because if you look at the picture of the broccoli below, you’ll see that for years I used to throw away those beautiful green stems. Not only broccoli, it’s the seeds and pulp of winter squashes and tomatoes; scrapings from carrots; wrinkled ends of cucumbers, zucchini and potatoes. So much gets thrown out! I haven’t committed to composting just yet, so I just feel guilty.

When I found a recipe for vegan “broccoli sauce” from The Fitchen, I was all over it. The original recipe uses only broccoli florets but I also added all the broccoli stems as shown below. So no waste ✅ I’ve actually eaten broccoli stems in a stir-fry before and was surprised how tender they were, so I knew this would work. I changed the recipe only slightly and kept the other important ingredients of coconut milk, nutritional yeast and vinegar.

Directions

1. Boil 6-8 cups water in a large 3-4 quart saucepan.
2. Add 3-4 cups chopped broccoli florets and stems. Don’t worry about cutting neatly, it will all get pureed anyway! Turn heat to medium-high and cook at a gentle boil for about 12-15 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat and drain water.
3. In a blender or food processor, add broccoli, 1/3 cup canned whole coconut milk, 1 tablespoon favorite vinegar, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon each of garlic and onion power, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.

I poured the warm sauce over julienned carrots and squash and brown rice pasta. There’s also a hearty flaxseed tempeh that I’d marinated in a red pepper vinaigrette before grilling on the George Foreman. This versatile sauce is the perfect blend of creamy richness from the coconut milk, and zippiness from the vinegar and nutritional yeast. Serve it over pasta, whole grains, salads, or steamed or roasted vegetables!