In 2019 I’m working through Our Best Home Cooking: Roosevelt County 1997 Family and Community Educators. Its contributors, members of the county’s homemakers’ clubs, are the basis for the characters I’m creating, or in cases like my grandma, they arethe characters. The recipes are artifacts of their daily lives.

I initially chose this recipe because I typically have the ingredients on hand. As discussed in a previous post, most of the recipes rely heavily on canned and processed ingredients, and it totally makes sense. This one, however, uses all real ingredients. It wasn’t until I read the notes that I realized this recipe showed its own love of convenience.

The recipe says to mince the onion and garlic and coat with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and MICROWAVE until the onions are tender. Then add the chopped broccoli and RECOVER the dish (the unstated assumption is that the first piece of plastic wrap is completely melted), and microwave again until the broccoli is tender. Squeeze lemon juice on top and serve!

I couldn’t do it, Agnes. I used the same ingredients, but roasted it in the oven at 400 degrees.