Veggies!

Vince524

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New Years resolutions was to eat better. So my wife & I are trying to eat more veggies. I've got a steamer that's easy to use, but I was hoping someone might have an idea for other really easy and maybe quick recipies for veggies.

Artichokes? Zucchinni? Squash? Carrots? Broccoli? I'll eat spinach and'or asparagus, but nobody else in my house will.

I do a fried zuchinni that's great, but it's fried. Brocolli I do a pasta thing, but that's not good for the week when we don't have much time to cook.

Any thoughts?
 

LJD

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Lots of things are good broiled or roasted with a little olive oil. Roasted cauliflower is really good. (OK, sometimes I add a little grated cheese in the last 5 min for cauliflower, but you don't need to.) I roast sweet potato and peppers with ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon, a little butter, and oil. (An adaptation of this recipe.) Takes maybe 25 min at 400F. This is one of my boyfriend's favourites. I roast zucchini, too. Broccoli and I don't get along, but I can tolerate it in stirfries. If your family doesn't like spinach, they might not like chard, but I like sauteed chard with garlic. Sometimes I add slice almonds and raisins as well. I also eat a good amount of veggies in soup form.
 

Kerosene

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I don't like steaming, methinks its stupid and doesn't do anything good.

I also eat low to no fat meals, so I don't roast nor do I add oil or fatty dressing.

I really like zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, spinach, peas, and onions.



Typically, I make a medley. I find serving only one vegi is boring.

Take a pan, I like a 6' skillet with a lid just for myself. Medium heat.
Add diced peppers, seasoning (Ms. Dash for me, this is also to hydrate it too. A lot too! About a tbsn) and a quarter cup of water. Lid it, let that cook while you cut everything else.
Add onions and tomatoes. Lid it. Couple minutes until the onions and peppers are cooked (can't over cook this).
Mix a tspn of cornstarch with 2 tspn of water. Stir until liquid and set aside.
Throw in some type of squash (I like big chunks for the meaty texture). Lid it for a couple minutes, just until they start getting a bit soft.
Throw mushrooms in (I like thinly sliced). Lid it for a minutes or until mushrooms are just tender, but not wilted.
Stir the cornstarch and add to the vegis. There should be some liquid left, if there's not add more. As you add the cornstarch, stir constantly and when it hits boiling, it'll thicken quickly.

Serve. Medley of vegis with seasoned sauce.
Done well, everything should be perfectly cooked.

You can also add any meat you wish and it all cooks up quick because of the liquid inside. Some chopped chicken breast will add a shit load of protein with almost no fat.


You do have to watch out though. Eating vegis is good, but some people's body can't live on just vegi protein alone.



Oh, and you can "fry" vegis too.

Take three bowls. Oven at 425F.

In one, add a cup of flour.
In the other, three egg whites (no fat), whisk until frothy.
In the last, bread crumbs, about three cups. (Don't buy seasoned. Buy regular and add your own non-salted seasoning. Italian herb mix or Ms. Dash is good)

Cut vegis.
Flour, pat off the excess.
Eggs, let it hang for a couple seconds.
Bread, pat the breading in to stick.

Then you lay it all out on a oiled baking sheet. (I have some cake drying racks that I picked up at the restaurant supply store. To me, a couple of these are a must have).
Bake until the crust is golden.

You can also do the same with pretty much everything.
 
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MaryMumsy

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zucchini
skim milk mozzarella
tomato sauce
Italian herbs/garlic powder

Cut the ends off the zucchini. Peel it or not as you choose. Slice it in flat strips the long way, about a quarter inch thick.

Put a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of baking dish. Make a single layer of zucchini. Add a layer of mozzarella. More tomato sauce. Sprinkle with herbs/garlic. Repeat layers until you run out of zucchini. End with sauce and herbs/garlic on the top.

Bake at 325 for about 25-30 minutes, until zucchini is soft.

This is also very good left over.

MM
 

sunandshadow

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I'm a big fan of okra - I grow it in my garden but you can buy it fresh or frozen too. You cut it up or if frozen it's already cut up, then microwave it, and eat it. I don't like the vinegar method because I like the way it's naturally gooey, no need for added oil or margarine.

Beets and rutabagas are like potatoes, all starch, so they may not be what you are looking for. But both are easy to prepare. Rutabagas, peel, dice, and boil in salt water. Beets, either roast whole, or peel, dice, and cook in cranberry juice.

I like zucchini but I like it deep fried and/or with cheese all over it, so it's not terribly healthy lol.
 

Vince524

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some great suggestions and please feel free to keep them coming. I don't have any mrs dash right now. I had some zuchinni, so I cut it up, tossed it into a big plastic bag, added some olive oil, sea salt, some rosemary, thyme something else in a poultry spice and let it sit for 20 minutes, then tossed into the oven. We'll see how that comes.

Anyone have any idea how these things would come on a crock pot?
 

frimble3

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I generally chop/peel and microwave most vegetables, then add stuff on top (cheese or fried crumbs - my mum did the fried crumbs on green beans a lot). Cheese on cauliflower or broccoli.
Or, add curry sauce.
Or, if you like a crunchy outside, but not frying: do dip zucchini strips in egg-wash, then into crumbs and bake/roast. You can do the same with sweet potatoes.
 

Kerosene

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Anyone have any idea how these things would come on a crock pot?

Minestrone and beans and vegi stew...

Most vegetable recipes take less than an hour to prepare and cook, so there's no need to let it all stew all day.
 

Katrina S. Forest

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No specific recipes per se, but my general cooking philosophy with veggies is to let them be veggies. So if you're going for burgers, don't buy veggie patties made to look like meat ones. Get a big portabella mushroom cap instead. Then you're trying something new instead of trying to pretend a bunch of mashed veggies are the dish you're familiar with.

We also have a rule in our house that you can only hate a food for 6 months. After that, you must try it again and see if you still don't like it. It applies to kids and grown-ups alike. :) I've been surprised by what foods I've grown accustomed to that I would've told you I'd never eat.
 

Vince524

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Minestrone and beans and vegi stew...

Most vegetable recipes take less than an hour to prepare and cook, so there's no need to let it all stew all day.

Yeah, I know. But what with work and all, I use the crock pot a lot. I was wondering how some might do in their.

Like chicken in a crock with veggies kind of a thing?
 

cornflake

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I second the roast veg. Was thinking of making that tonight actually.

Take a bunch of root veg, whatever's handy - cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, winter squash, etc., cut to the same-ish size (about 1 1/2-inch pieces, larger if it's not dense, like broccoli/cauliflower), toss in a large bowl with a bit of olive oil until very lightly coated (you need less oil than you'd think), dump onto foil-covered baking sheets so it's all in a single layer, toss in a 375-degree oven for about 40 or so minutes.

While it's cooking, you can make a big pot of brown rice, quinoa, couscous, whatever you like - add some butter and lemon or what have you, serve veggies over rice, voila.

As to the pasta with veg thing, I do that all the time and it's one of my easy, 15-minute, one-pot dishes.

I just set water to boiling, while it's coming to a boil I cut up broccoli, asparagus, whatever. Stick pasta in water. If fresh, be ready, if dried, well, stand there, heh.

When the pasta is about a minute and a half from done, toss in the veggies into the same pot. I also use fresh or frozen peas, fresh spinach (though I don't toss that in the water, just keep it aside), etc.

Let the veg and pasta cook together til both are done for that extra minute or two. Strain all. Take original pot, put back on stove, add sauce. If you're using fresh spinach, I wilt it in the bottom of the hot pan before adding the sauce or pasta back in - only takes a second. Jack the heat up, rinse spinach, toss lightly damp spinach in the hot pot, stir, wilts, done.

I prefer pesto or oil and garlic, but can do tomato too. If it's pesto or oil and garlic, put the pot on low heat, put some sauce in, dump in the hot pasta and veg, add a little more sauce, toss to coat, pour onto a serving dish or individual plates, top with cheese.

If it's tomato, well, same thing, though I also like to cube some fresh mozz bits and toss in right before plating.

Simple, one pot, 15 minutes, lots of veg, delicious.
 

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Vince, we have similar resolutions. I am an avid gardener, so summertime is major veggie time, but I need to do more in the dark and cold months, even if not from my own soil.

But I do have some suggestions, based on my own cookifying experience with vegetables:

1. Sweet potatoes and/or yams, peeled, cubed, and steamed, along with a similarly cubed apple (or pear or mango or papaya) and a bit of cinnamon. Steam for 15 minutes or so, enough to make everything soft, mash it up, and serve. It looks like baby food, and probably would make any infant happy, but it is really good, naturally sweet, and a great side dish. Plus being dead easy. We eat it a lot.

2. Try some less commonly-used things, like kohlrabi, daikon radish, bok choi, tomatillo, lotus root (the latter probably only available at Asian groceries). All of these are great in stir-fry dishes, and the lotus root, sliced and chopped into bite-sized pieces, is extraordinary. It has a light, nutty flavor, and remains wonderfully crisp when cooked.

Tomatillos also go very well on pizza, in casseroles, chopped fine in rice-pilafs, etc. And they are ridiculously cheap, even in the benighted far north where I dwell. Just peel off the husk, rinse in cold water to remove the standard stickiness, and treat them like a tomato, of which they are a close relative. But they are less sweet, with a natural saltiness that works in a lot of dishes.

3. Rutabagas. These orange relatives of the turnip are terrific in soups and roasts with beef or lamb. I crockpot such things when enough family are in town for a big meal, and rutabagas are a staple, along with potatoes, carrots and onion. Also the daikon radish, which I previously mentioned. These big white Asian radishes are now commonly available, and not expensive, yet few people seem to know how to use them. They are mild in flavor, not spicy like smaller salad radishes, and are great both sliced or cubed, raw, on a relish tray, or cooked, where they develop a wonderfully mild mellow flavor. Kohlrabi, cooked, is quite similar, and also is great as a raw snack on a relish tray.

4. Winter squashes. Aside from spaghetti squash, which is unique, quite good, but very different in cooking characteristics, most hard-shelled winter squashes I've used work about the same way. I like butternut squashes, because they have lots of edible flesh. Also the huge banana squashes, which you usually get as cut-up pieces at the grocery, because they are so damn big. But real easy to cook and make good. For a butternut, cut lengthwise in half, scoop out the seeds, put some butter, honey and cinnamon in the cavity, and bake at ~300 degrees for half an hour, contained in some bakeware to prevent fluid spillage. I haven't tried this, but you could probably cube these up much like the sweet potatoes mentioned earlier, and steam the stuff in the same manner. I think I'll give that a go sometime.

5: If you garden at all, try some leafy lettuces. There are bazillions of varieties of these things, almost never available at the major groceries, because they don't keep and travel well. But freshly-picked, they make magnificent salad stuff. Similarly mustard greens. If you've never eaten raw mustard leaves in salad or as a sandwich garnish, you've missed a real treat. Leafy greens generally don't do well in transit or storage, and need to be available fresh. Among the best also are mizuna, arugula, cilantro, chervil and dill, all very easy to grow. And, if you do garden, use radish leaves as well.

caw
 

LJD

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I don't like steaming, methinks its stupid and doesn't do anything good.

Steamed everything=horrors from my vegan childhood.
Mainly steamed broccoli and kale. Uggh.

I do think green beans work well steamed though.

I also used to do steamed cauliflower and toss it with a vinaigrette after. It was pretty much this recipe, although I didn't add sugar, and probably used less oil. Pretty good.
 

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Oh, and for carrots (though I usually just eat them raw!):

I sautee a clove of chopped garlic and a few carrots, sliced, in a frying pan with a little butter or oil. I add some cinnamon and cayenne papper. After a few minutes, I add a little water (a few Tbsp), lemon juice (maybe 1 Tbsp), and a large handful of canned chickpeas, turn down the heat, and cover for 5 minutes or so. If I have it, I add chopped mint when I serve it. Usually we have it with broiled fish. (inspired by this recipe)
 

firedrake

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You can't go wrong with soup.

Golden vegetable soup:
two or three medium size potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 medium leek finely chopped
two or three medium carrots diced.
Chicken stock or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste.

Saute onion and leek until soft, throw in rest of vegetables and cook, covered for 20 minutes. Stir in stock. Simmer until vegetables are soft.
Remove from heat, insert boat motor or pour into blender and blend until smooth. Put back on heat and bring back to suitable temperature. Filling and yummy on a cold winter day.
 

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Any suggestions with what to do with a few hundred zucchini? Sheesh, my garden has just purely exploded....
 

MaryMumsy

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Any suggestions with what to do with a few hundred zucchini? Sheesh, my garden has just purely exploded....

Get a number of grocery bags. Put a dozen or so in each bag. Leave them on assorted neighbors' doorsteps in the dead of night.

MM
 

sunandshadow

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Any suggestions with what to do with a few hundred zucchini? Sheesh, my garden has just purely exploded....
Put them in a big frying pan with ricotta cheese and stewed tomatoes. Sliced black olives can add a nice touch if you like them. Some people add cracker crumbs, but don't use bread crumbs instead, it doesn't taste right. Optionally mozzarella cheese can be added to make it a bit stickier. Or the whole veggie-cheese mixture can be combined with some kind of hot bread to make a pizza or calzone.

Zucchini slices are also excellent breaded and fried or baked, served with marinara or horseradish cream sauce.

Basically zucchini is a really mild vegetable with little taste of its own much like eggplant. It can be diced or sliced and cooked in a variety of ways to give body to something stronger-flavored.
 

Liralen

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Veggies + the grill.

I've gotten away from adding a lot of stuff to most vegetables, meats, etc. A little sea salt, dab of butter and I'm good with the veggies. Sometimes I'll use a splash of balsamic vinegar.

If you eat pasta, you can always add veggies for a really quick meal. A little olive oil, throw in some shredded parmesan, a bit of butter (NEVER margarine), sea salt, garlic if you like it and add some sauteed or grilled shrimp or chicken, whatever meat you like, or no meat.

Stir fry is a good way to cook vegetables too, and you don't have to add a lot of sugar laden sauces.

********

On the zucchini front, slice 'em longways and use in place of lasagne noodles.
 

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Get a number of grocery bags. Put a dozen or so in each bag. Leave them on assorted neighbors' doorsteps in the dead of night.
MM
We don't have enough neighbours. But, thankfully, most of my colleagues have come back from the hols. I just dump 'em on the tearoom table and pretend like I was never there :D

Zucchini slices are also excellent breaded and fried or baked, served with marinara or horseradish cream sauce.
Yup, I tried that tonight: sliced, dipped in milk, dusted with a mix of breadcrumbs, parmesan, and seasonings, baked, and then served with yoghurt and chives. Really delicious! That'll be a regular in my house now.

If you eat pasta, you can always add veggies for a really quick meal.
Yup, sauteed zucch and pasta was last night's meal. I'll have to try the lasagna trick, though I like making my own pasta.

Wee tip for young gardeners: Two people do NOT need twelve zucchini plants.
 

Vince524

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What seasonings are good on zucchini? Last night I baked some. I put a little olive oil on them then sea salt and oregano since it was out for my main dish. I didn't care for the oregano on it.
 

Stacia Kane

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I'm a big veggie roaster. I'll roast just about any veg you give me, really. :)

I do a pan-roasted broccoli that even my kids like:

A head or two of broccoli, cut into florets, or a bag of florets (you can slice the stems thin on the diagonal, but I'm not such a fan of the stems personally)
a couple cloves of garlic
a Tbsp or two of olive oil
salt & pepper

In a large skillet with a lid, saute the garlic in the oil until it starts to soften. Add the broccoli and saute together until the broccoli starts to brown (the garlic will be brown, too, at that point). Don't stir too much; you want it to brown/sear, basically.

Once that's done, and the broccoli is softened a bit, add a Tbsp or so of water. Cover and steam on low for two minutes. Very quick and easy, and the broccoli is a lovely bright green color, tender, and yummy.

You could also add bacon or use bacon fat for the sauteeing, which is delicious; just about any veg is better with bacon. :)


I roast Brussels sprouts, too; slice the large sprouts in half, and mix them in a bowl with a few Tbsp of olive oil and a good amount of salt and pepper. Spread on a roasting pan and stick in a preheated 400F oven. Stir every fifteen minutes or so, and cook for about forty-five minutes total. I've never been a fan of sprouts, but these are delicious; they get crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and the flavor is much mellower and less bitter. My kids actually like that one, too.

Roast parnsips are delicious; peel and slice them in half, so they're little half-moons (if your parsnips are really big, cut them in fourths). Parboil them for about five minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F (or even 425). Put 3-4 Tbsp of vegetable oil, or olive oil, or--my personal choice--lard or goose fat, into a roasting pan and heat in the oven for ten minutes until the oil is very hot or the lard/fat is melted.

Add the parsnips (be careful, they'll sizzle). Cook as with sprouts: forty-five minutes or so, stirring/turning every fifteen minutes. Roast parsnips are delicious.

You can do the same with carrots. It's often helpful when roasting carrots to cover the tray with foil for the first half-hour or so.

With carrots and parsnips, some people add honey or maple syrup while they roast. I usually don't, but many people do. (Actually I often add onion powder to my roasting parsnips.)

I also do carrots on the stovetop sort of the same way as the broccoli, except I stir them in butter until they start to soften a bit on the outsides, then add white wine--to about halfway up the carrots, not a lot--and Herbs de Provence or whatever herbs you like (sometimes I add a little beef or chicken stock concentrate, too, and maybe some minced shallots). Cover and simmer gently, shaking the pan on occasion, for twenty-thirty minutes (this depends on how soft you like your carrots. I like them fairly soft, but if you prefer tender-crisp you may want to limit the cooking time to ten minutes or so; check them as you go, of course).


Many vegetables are also lovely cooked with teriyaki or soy sauce.

I know I have more...