It is no secret that I looooove //smitten kitchen//.  Love her.  LOVE.  HER.  She was probably one of the first blogs I’ve ever followed, and I found so much inspiration in her photography.  She has taken some really mouthwatering pictures, famously, with only a single window in her NYC apartment kitchen to light the food.  I am quite confident that had I never seen smitten kitchen’s work, I would never have thought I could do something like a food blog myself.

I have a deep love for many of her dishes…  //Red Wine Chocolate Cake//, once recommended to me by a dear friend; //Homemade Ricotta//, I submit that there is no easier, no tastier, no creamier homemade ricotta recipe out there; I could go on and on.  I also absolutely love her site, because it it minimalist, and there are maybe 1-2 ads on her pages, and none of them get in your face, no annoying popups, no splash screens.  Nothing ever gets in the way of the content you are there to see!

Quite frankly, she is my ultimate food blogging idol.  #skwannabe

Now, folks, I can add this delicious casserole to my list of favorites.  There are a couple reasons I LOVED this //broccoli cheddar wild rice casserole//:

?  It tastes decidedly “grown-up”.  The cheese sauce doesn’t taste like a run of the mill cheese sauce.  I am attributing this to the dijon mustard, though I could be wrong.  My kid’s 7yo tongue would definitely NOT like this dish.  ?  Not right now anyway.

?  Broccoli!  I mentioned recently that I like dishes like this casserole because they help me get more broccoli into my belly.  Broccoli isn’t so bad when it’s covered with cheese sauce.  ?

?  It was REALLY good leftover.  I ate it for lunch for the next two days.

I already have this casserole on my menu again for next week – we will be pairing it with a salad, following our new primarily vegetarian diet.  Maybe I can get my kid to try it.  ?  But YOU should DEFINITELY try it.  Go forth, and eat the broccoli!