Broccoli and cheese is a tasty vegetarian dish. Adding cheese to broccoli dresses it up and makes the broccoli more savory. Adding cheese to broccoli is also a great way to get picky children to eat vegetables.

The first step is to prepare the broccoli by steaming it. Broccoli that is steamed retains all of the nutritious vitamins that are found in raw broccoli. Frozen broccoli can be defrosted and steamed in the microwave in a covered microwavable casserole dish. A 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli should be emptied into the casserole dish with one inch of water. The broccoli should be cooked in the microwave on high or defrost mode for two minutes and given an additional 4-6 minutes to cook.

Frozen broccoli can also be steamed on the stove top by emptying the frozen broccoli into a sauce pan with one inch of water and covering it with a lid. The burner should be turned on high and cooked for 8-10 minutes to give the broccoli time to defrost and cook.

A fresh head of broccoli can be cut down into individual broccoli florets and cooked in the same way as frozen broccoli. The only difference in the cooking process is that 2 or 3 minutes can be subtracted from the cook time of frozen broccoli because it does not need time to defrost. The stems of cooked broccoli should be a bright green color and the texture should be crisp yet tender.

American and parmesan cheese are delicious on top of broccoli. Slices of american cheese can be melted directly on top of steamed broccoli without any additional ingredients or to make a cheese sauce, 5 oz of american cheese can be melted in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup of 2% milk. Parmesan cheese is another type of cheese which pairs nicely with broccoli but does not melt well unless it is in a sauce. 2 tablespoons of parmesan can be melted with 1/2 of sour cream or mayo for an even creamier cheese sauce.