How to eat more vegetables?

[SiriusBomb]

I've recently started cooking most of my meals for myself. I think I'm getting plenty of meat and grains and I'm drinking my milk, but I would like to get some more vegetables into the equation. Right now my intake (at home) is limited to mostly spaghetti sauce, raw carrots dipped in hummus, and mashed potatoes. The thing is, I really like vegetables (broccoli is my favorite), I just don't have any good (read: easy) ways to prepare them. I was using the Steamfresh bags that you microwave, but I read that microwaving things like broccoli kills a lot of the nutrients. Whenever I try to prepare it another way, it just comes out mushy or tasteless or what have you.

Anyone have any quick and easy recipes that actually feature vegetables? Do you guys buy veggies fresh or frozen?

Thanks for any tips you may have.

[Jay Cohen]

I buy California Blend at Wal Mart, 5 lb bag, about $4.98, buy 5 at time, have extra freezer. Eat 1/2 bag per day, stir veggies in cast iron skillet, garlic, lard, butter or Olive oil(in pinch), add in my protein, chicken, beef, pork, fish or eggs. Could also bake this combo into a Frittata. www.frittatarecipe (http://www.%3Cb%3Efrittatarecipe%3C/b%3E).net/. Also a big fan of Sauerkraut. Bacon gets added to everything.
Also, check out spice section, pick up some of the Cajun spices, like http://www.tonychachere.com/ which I put on everything except my girlfriend, as she prefers being smeared with warm chocolate.

Keep it simple, Google is your friend.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

When I'm in bachelor mode, I like to make up a huge salad, half spinach and half lettuce, with whatever assortment of veggies, and a bunch of cheese chunks and some meat; a chicken breast or a bunch of salami are good bets. You can go Mexi style and dump in some beans and corn and dress it with salsa (more veggies).

For an easy broccoli cooking method, get one of those vegetable steamers that looks like a little UFO, get a little water boiling, and put the brocs in the steamer; err on the side of less cooking. You can also just toss the shit in boiling water for a couple minutes; again, less cooking time than you think. Toss it in some olive oil, and BAM!

Nice variation on mashed potatoes is smashed potatoes; you need some smaller potatoes for this. Boil the potatoes, then when they're soft, drain them, heat up a pan with some oil, lay a couple taters in there, and smoosh 'em down enough so they flatten out (about 3/4" thick). Let 'em crisp up real well on one side, flip and repeat. This would probably be bitchin' if you cooked some bacon first and used some of the bacon grease. They're a perfect bridge between mashed potatoes and french fries.

Easy pasta setup I like is to cook up your pasta, drain it, put the pot back on the stove on the same burner you were using (turn it off though), dump in some olive oil and a grip of spinach and/or arugula, then stir it up so it wilts/steams the greens right there. Throw in a bunch of halved cherry tomatoes, minced/chopped/shredded/grated garlic, some feta or goat cheese, some olives, and pine nuts or walnuts, and you are golden. We call this Euro Pasta, and it goes great with wine! And chicken.

Stir-fry is pretty easy; keep the heat high and the cooking time down for nice, crisp, seared veggies. Dump it on some brown rice (or quinoa, or some paleo approved substrate if you're one of those people), and whip up some quick peanut sauce (or buy some Trader Joe's Soyaki or something like it). Peanut sauce: in a small pan, add a few tablespoons of peanut butter, a little soy sauce, some honey, squeeze in a bunch of lime, a little sambal (hot-ass chili paste; a little goes a loooong way), maybe some garlic powder, and enough water to get the consistency right. Stir this, over low heat, tasting and adjusting ingredients to taste. It might take a little trial and error to get the ratios right, but it'll come out pretty tasty even if it's not perfect. You can even slacker this step and just dump all those ingredients into a pot with your rice/noodles/whatever and veggies, and stir the hell out of it, although if you F it up, you've totaled your whole meal. Goes great with chicken.

We have a 5-year-old daughter, and lately when we're rushed at dinner, we've taken to just putting out a bowl of sliced veggies that everyone can grab from, and that works well too. Easy!

For the record (someone is writing all this down, right?), I think the whole "microwaving 'kills' nutrients" thing is probably bullshit perpetrated by people who are scared of microwaves. Any kind of cooking is going to alter the nutritional content of food; boiling, you're going to lose some nutrients into the water. The nutrients of some foods are not bioavailable unless you cook them. It's not like the spooky machine is somehow sucking the life force out of the food, it's just a natural consequence of heating.

[gzt]

second the whole "steaming broccoli" thing. quick and easy.Am big on spinach salads - tear up the spinach pretty small - with some other vegetables thrown on - chopped pretty small. Throw on some diced ham or something, through a little salad dressing on there, maybe some sunflower seeds or other nuts to up the calories, then grind away at it. Dice the vegetables fine beforehand so it's less work to chew and less knife-and-fork work later. also, snack on carrot sticks while doing crap on the internets.

[Dastardly]

Forget spinach salads, if you cook the spinach you can kill about 60% of the volume so you are able to eat A LOT more. It tastes better too.

Saute with a little garlic & chilli.

I also recommend buying yourself a lot of frozen green peas. You can put them in all meat dishes, they go well esepcially with ground beef/mutton. But also good with chicken, and even with scrambled eggs. Peas add a good amount of bulk/fiber to your digestive workings, parts of the shell never really digest fully a bit like sweetcorn. Which will obviously help with the exit of wastes. A big reason to eat vegetables!

[Kate]

Easy pasta setup I like is to cook up your pasta, drain it, put the pot back on the stove on the same burner you were using (turn it off though), dump in some olive oil and a grip of spinach and/or arugula, then stir it up so it wilts/steams the greens right there. Throw in a bunch of halved cherry tomatoes, minced/chopped/shredded/grated garlic, some feta or goat cheese, some olives, and pine nuts or walnuts, and you are golden. We call this Euro Pasta, and it goes great with wine! And chicken.

Oooh, that sounds good (except for the garlic & feta) -- and so easy, even I could do it. Thank you. I'm going to have to try that.

By the way: http://www.rossipasta.com/ -- Best. Pasta. Ever.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

Oooh, that sounds good (except for the garlic & feta) -- and so easy, even I could do it. Thank you. I'm going to have to try that.

By the way: http://www.rossipasta.com/ -- Best. Pasta. Ever.

It will survive without the garlic, and it's great with chevre. It's a weekly staple at the Kov Fam house.

We'll keep an eye out for that Rossi pasta. I do love quality pasta, but haven't seen that stuff around. We've been experimenting with various whole-wheat or otherwise enhanced pastas (Barilla Plus, for example) lately, with varying success. Most whole wheat pasta is about as much fun as stewed poster board.

[Patrick]

Re: the whole microwaving vegetables thing --

While it's possible that you're destroying some of the nutrients in the veggies, there's a still VERY good argument for eating them in the microwave: you're more likely to eat them that way! Those frozen microwave bags are a real time saver for me and I'd venture to say that the amount and variety of veggies I eat is doubled because I can buy them in a bag that takes 5 minutes to prep.

My favorite "recipe" is broiled asparagus. Trim the stalks, toss the spears in some olive oil, throw a pan under then broiler, take them out when they're 'done', and top with grated parmesan, some lemon juice, and/or salt and pepper. I can't imagine anything much more tasty and the time investment is almost nil. I also find salads to be super easy, and if you make a decent sized batch you can get away with only doing it once or twice a week. Peppers, onion, beets, carrots, snap peas, etc... all that stuff is fantastic. And if you figure it takes 20 minutes to make a huge bowl that you can put in the fridge for the week, it's a massive time saver and goes with anything.

Frozen stuff is fantastic, microwave in bag stuff is great, and fresh stuff is great. Off-season hot house stuff usually doesn't taste as good but I'm not so picky. I just can't stand a tough, fibrous, white tomato. Those things are fucking pathetic.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

Forget spinach salads, if you cook the spinach you can kill about 60% of the volume so you are able to eat A LOT more. It tastes better too.

Saute with a little garlic & chilli.

I also recommend buying yourself a lot of frozen green peas. You can put them in all meat dishes, they go well esepcially with ground beef/mutton. But also good with chicken, and even with scrambled eggs. Peas add a good amount of bulk/fiber to your digestive workings, parts of the shell never really digest fully a bit like sweetcorn. Which will obviously help with the exit of wastes. A big reason to eat vegetables!

Does anyone else around here eat for reasons other than nutrition? Like, to enjoy food? I try to stack the deck towards useful nutrient content, but I really, really like food, and will happily scribble outside the lines of my precious dietary requirements in the name of culinary enjoyment.

UP WITH FOOD!

[Ian Kovtunovich]

My favorite "recipe" is broiled asparagus. Trim the stalks, toss the spears in some olive oil, throw a pan under then broiler, take them out when they're 'done', and top with grated parmesan, some lemon juice, and/or salt and pepper.

+1 and fuck yeah. Soooooo tasty when they get that seared action going on. Bully.

[tertius]

It will survive without the garlic, and it's great with chevre. It's a weekly staple at the Kov Fam house.

We'll keep an eye out for that Rossi pasta. I do love quality pasta, but haven't seen that stuff around. We've been experimenting with various whole-wheat or otherwise enhanced pastas (Barilla Plus, for example) lately, with varying success. Most whole wheat pasta is about as much fun as stewed poster board.

For a year, I practically lived on pasta with butter, olive oil, basil, pecorino romano cheese, garlic and red pepper flakes.

The great thing about this dish is that you can add nearly any vegetable to it. Not that I did, back in the day. But you can. And it will be awesome.

[WildPegasus]

Toss your vegetables in olive oil and then roast in a 425 degree oven until brown. Takes about 20 - 25 minutes for things like broccoli and cauliflower.

[Kate]

While it's possible that you're destroying some of the nutrients in the veggies, there's a still VERY good argument for eating them in the microwave...

But... how do you fit in there?

(Sorry; couldn't resist.)



My favorite "recipe" is broiled asparagus. Trim the stalks, toss the spears in some olive oil, throw a pan under then broiler, take them out when they're 'done', and top with grated parmesan, some lemon juice, and/or salt and pepper. I'm coming over to your house for dinner.

[DLong]

I take Brussel Sprouts, Asparagus or Broccoli and toss some garlin and pepper on a pan with foil at 425 degrees. After about 15 mins drop a dab of mayo on each and let bake for another 10-15 mins..awesome

[forgeforth]

All you need is the salad blend. Plenty of grocery stores sell packaged salad; you simply open the bag and load a serving into the bowl. The number of servings will depend on the size and brand. You can get coleslaw, iceberg, greener variety, California style, etc, etc, etc. I usually eat one bag per day, split up into two meals. You can also include dressing.

These blends usually do not include cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Mostly just lettuce, cabbage, carrots and a few other things. But how hard is it to cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes and throw them into the blend? Not hard at all.

[Jeffrey]

When I'm dieting, I eat the same thing every day to makes things simple. To get my veggies I just stick them in a dutch oven with water, tomato sauce, meat(brown it first), spices and cook it all over night at 200 F. This requires very little prep and it's tasty enough without adding oil/cheese.

[Carlos Daniel]

dutch oven (...)(brown it)

Don't tell me anyone else didn't see this. Am I such a pervert? I mean, I didn't even know there was any other kind of dutch oven.

[merceri]

I don't usually participate in forums, but this thread jumped out at me. I recently came across what I believe to be the best recipe for preparing vegetables (it's called 'Broccoli Salad') I have ever tried, which is really saying something, considering I don't generally like eating veggies.

It's from Jamie Oliver (from one of his gazillion books I suppose....), and while it sounds fiddily, it's actually quite simple. It also has the bonus of containing some protein and overall calories (via bacon and a rich-ish dressing) that the average salad/veggie dish doesn't. And it can be eaten cold (stay with me...), which is a huge bonus if you're a shift worker like me and don't always have time to heat food for lunch/smoko breaks.

See link below.

Seriously, it has totally changed my approach to eating my greens - I can do with the extra calories, and it actually tastes good (as in, not the usual 'got-to-eat-my-veggies' chore). I've been making it at least once a week for the past 2 months and have not yet tired of it.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salad-recipes/broccoli-salad

Enjoy.

[Marotta]

Have some cucumbers and baby carrots at dinner as an appetizer of sorts, also, load burgers up with vegetables (and an extra meat patty)

[John2336]

Vegetables? Do those have protein?

[shanuea]

I don't usually participate in forums, but this thread jumped out at me. I recently came across what I believe to be the best recipe for preparing vegetables (it's called 'Broccoli Salad') I have ever tried, which is really saying something, considering I don't generally like eating veggies.

It's from Jamie Oliver (from one of his gazillion books I suppose....), and while it sounds fiddily, it's actually quite simple. It also has the bonus of containing some protein and overall calories (via bacon and a rich-ish dressing) that the average salad/veggie dish doesn't. And it can be eaten cold (stay with me...), which is a huge bonus if you're a shift worker like me and don't always have time to heat food for lunch/smoko breaks.

See link below.

Seriously, it has totally changed my approach to eating my greens - I can do with the extra calories, and it actually tastes good (as in, not the usual 'got-to-eat-my-veggies' chore). I've been making it at least once a week for the past 2 months and have not yet tired of it.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salad-recipes/broccoli-salad

Enjoy.

Thanks for that, I'm a big fan of Jamie. Will try this recipe on weekend.