It’s almost Fall, and to most people that evidentially means Pumpkin Spice season.  But to me, Fall means football season.  Which means tailgate spreads.  And that’s the season of cream cheese! Ha! 

I haven’t come up with new tailgate dishes yet.  I didn’t get to cook for the opener.  I know, I know… hear me out! I was in Seven Springs for the Steelers opener last week for an amazing charity clay shoot that Williams puts on for the United Way.  It’s an incredible event, and I’m incredibly grateful to that crew for making it happen despite Covid.  

So, this week will be my first tailgate spread and I have a lot of favorites I haven’t made in months.  It’s hard not to break them all out the first week, but with my oldest daughter having a doubleheader of softball in the morning, that will limit my prep time.  Regardless, I needed a recipe to share with you and I shared all of my appetizer recipes last year (can you believe I’ve been going this column for almost a year?!).

Since it’s cream cheese season and there is this chill in the air, it makes me want a warm casserole.  A big batch of Mac n’ cheese sounds amazing.  When I started eating low carb a couple of years ago, this is something I found myself missing often.  To curb that craving, I made a cheese sauce and tried it on veggies.  

This is one of my go to meal/side dish to make and it hits the mark every time. It is a 15-minute dish and super easy to throw together with ingredients I always have on hand.  If you don’t like broccoli, toss in a different veggie. And if you would rather have the macaroni, this is a great sauce. Feel free to add in different cheeses. 

There is a lot of broccoli in this dish.
When you make this dish, you can adjust the ingredients according to taste.

Cheesy Broccoli Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of frozen broccoli 
  • 1/2 brick of cream cheese 
  • 1/2 cup of sour cream
  • 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream or milk
  • 1/2 bag of shredded cheddar (more to top) 
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/4 tsp of nutmeg 
  • (S&p to taste)

Directions:

  1. Cook broccoli florets as directed or feel free to roast or steam fresh broccoli. 
  2. In a pan, melt the cream cheese, sour cream, milk/cream and shredded cheddar. 
  3. Stir in garlic salt and nutmeg.
  4. When broccoli is cooked, add to cheese sauce. 

If you’re super hungry, let it cool and dig in.  If you have some time, top with some more cheese to the top and bake on 400 for 15 minutes.

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