Vegetables: I don't eat enough of them. Quick, tantalizing recipes to make them compelling?

[Anonymous]

I used to inhale my grandmother's green beans because, I now realize, they were smothered in butter and I think bacon. Now I know better, and I simply steam my beans with a squeeze of lemon. You know what? They're boring and I can't get excited about eating 6 servings of veggies like this.

So call me immature, but do please share ideas for making vegetables less basic, or something.

[Anonymous]

Use a little bit of butter and a sprinkle of sea salt. A little bit goes a long way, and you will eat more veggies. Cheese also works--real Parm is excellent with just about anything.

[Anonymous]

I whip my fruits into a smoothie. It's slightly high in calories b/c of the vanilla yogurt, just keep that in mind.

[Anonymous]

Now that it is spring, try to buy whatever is fresh, in season, local. It really makes a difference in taste.

Spring is the time for leafy greens. Kale, spinach, dandelion and mustard greens will be at the markets now or very soon; chard, bok choi, tat soi later in the summer. I cook them all the same way --wash them, chop into bite sized pieces, and steam them, I do it in the microwave. I put the chopped greens on one plate; they are still a little damp from being rinsed. I drizzle a little olive oil on top and sprinkle with a sillt salt and pepper. Fresh ground pepper and sea salt seems to taste better. Then cover with another plate and steam for just a minute or so, until you can smell the greens. Maybe add a little lemon juice at the end. Sometimes I might top with some toasted chopped walnuts or almonds. THis makes a "hot green salad" that we try to eat almost every day as an appetizer -- in one version or another. Oh, you can top with a small amount of feta cheese, too.

The other leaft greens you can eat in spring would be fresh lettuce. Arugula, baby dandelion and spinach, chicory, endive, watercress -- and the more familiar lettuces. I make a olive oil vinagrette with some minced garlic -- I mix it up right at the bottom of my salad bowl, add a little salt a dn pepper and some fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme, and just add a little of each lettuce that I have, plus some chopped up whatever other vegetable is in season that week -- radish, spring onion, regular onion -- just use two or three different lettuces and one or two additions to keep things varied from day to day. Top with some toasted nuts or sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. You can add a few pices of fruit, too.

I try to make eitehr a cold or a hot green salad every single meal We are supposed to eat more leafy greens every day!

[Anonymous]

try roasting (or grilling) your veggies. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe garlic and some herbs. Roast at 375 (or up to 450, if you are watching carefully) until tender. Roasting brings out some natural sweetness and olive oil isn't bad for you. After doing this for a while, you'll get a feel for how long different vegetables take and then you can start combining them, starting the slow ones first.

[Anonymous]

Buy Sophie Grigson's Vegetable Bible book. It contains all sorts of ideas for making vegetables more interesting. It also has a great simple recipe for broccoli which makes the tastiest broccoli ever. Will find the recipe and post it later...

[Anonymous]

I have a recipe for a cold broccoli salad that has bacon, almonds and a cider vinegar-mayo dressing that is really really good. I'm sure you could google and find something similar.

Also, spinach salads with bacon, blue cheese, egg and mustard dressing are so good, either warm or cold. Or make a spinach salad and serve with salmon or other fish. Very good.

I like broccoli with balsamic vinegar sprinkled on it. Mmmmm.

Zucchini boats baked with tomatoes, garlic and cheese are also yummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:try roasting (or grilling) your veggies. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe garlic and some herbs. Roast at 375 (or up to 450, if you are watching carefully) until tender. Roasting brings out some natural sweetness and olive oil isn't bad for you. After doing this for a while, you'll get a feel for how long different vegetables take and then you can start combining them, starting the slow ones first.

I do this with cauliflower: throw in a ziplock back with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese and roast at 450 for 15 minutes (longer if you do a lower temperature).

[Anonymous]

PP here... I just use the ziplock bag to shake on the olice oil/spices... I don't bake the cauliflower in it.

[Anonymous]

I'm making this as I write.....it's in the oven now and smells divine!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/roasted-broccoli-with-cherry-tomatoes-recipe/index.html

[Anonymous]

14: 53 here again. This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's broccoli.

Cut broccoli into 1 inch florets. Can use the stalks too if you wish. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan until just smoking. Add broccoli then clamp on a closely fitting lid. Leave to cook for 2 mins. Remove lid, shake pan a bit. Season with salt and pepper, add a bit of butter (about 1 oz or so), then put lid on again and give broccoli another 1 to 2 mins on the heat. If you want the broccoli a bit softer then take lid off, shake pan again, replace lid and cook for a few mins more.

I add some fresh minced garlic and lemon zest just before serving. You could also try using some chili. Delicious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:try roasting (or grilling) your veggies. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe garlic and some herbs. Roast at 375 (or up to 450, if you are watching carefully) until tender. Roasting brings out some natural sweetness and olive oil isn't bad for you. After doing this for a while, you'll get a feel for how long different vegetables take and then you can start combining them, starting the slow ones first.

Agree with this. Although I am pretty good about veggies, I could barely choke down broccoli until I tried this (simple! easy! quick!) recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Broccoli-with-Garlic-and-Red-Pepper-351031

It is crazy how good it is. I now buy a 5 lbs bag of florets at Costco and make them like this. When DS was a baby he went crazy over this too, I just omitted the red pepper flakes. I now prepare cauliflower, asparagus, and others like this, especially a mix. I can eat a whole plate of it. Oh, my mouth is watering now. I simply cannot eat steamed broccoli, just can't.

[Anonymous]

I love the microwave steam bags. Slice up summer squash add a pinch of salt and peppper and steam for a couple of minutes. Corn on the cob is excellent this way and just about any fresh veggie can be prepared this way in 2-3 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I whip my fruits into a smoothie. It's slightly high in calories b/c of the vanilla yogurt, just keep that in mind.

It doesn't have to be high in calories. I make this for post workout meals.

- 1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
- 1/4-1/2 cup fat-free milk
- banana, or half of a banana
- fresh berries
- sometimes a dash of vanilla extract
- sometimes 1/8-1/4 cup ground up oatmeal, this makes the smoothies more filling and tides me over until lunch

[Anonymous]

In summer:

sliced tomatoes with a dash of salt and balsamic vinegar

the above with sliced cucumbers