Veggie Recipes

[taxguykarl]

Prep wise: Stick to steaming, stir-frying, roasing and grilling.

Here's one you may like (I came up with this last Christmas):


SWEET POTATO SLAW:
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes
1/4 cup of dried cranberries or Crainsins
1/2 cup your favorite cole slaw dressing

Peel and julienne (matchstick) cut (I use a mandolin) the sweet potatoes.
Place in a bowl with the cranberries and dressing.
Toss to coat.
Enjoy.
It's even better if you do this the night before they are to be served.

[Eric the Grey]

That, and I have some really odd texture issues. For instance, while I love the flavor of mushrooms, I cannot stand the texture and either have to remove them after cooking or cut them up so small I never have to chew them.

I can't blame you there. The only way I'll eat mushrooms is if they're diced up very small. Never could stand the texture of them.

As for vegi's, I'd try steaming them until they are tender-crisp (slightly crunchy, but still a bit soft). I prefer my vegi's fresh and crunchy, and since I got my steamer pan a year and half ago, I steam them every chance I get.

Also, as mentioned, soups and stews are a great way to get some vegi's amongst other foods.




Eric the Grey

[42_42_42]

I like to take carrots and put them in a pot with just enough orange juice to come up about 1/2 way and add a dash of powdered ginger and cinnamon and a tiny drizzle of honey. Bring to a boil, put on the lid and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until carrots are tender but not mushy. Drain and serve. MUCH better than the sticky, gloppy, sickly-sweet "candied" carrots!

If you like to grill steaks, pork chops, etc, a great way to prep veggies is by making foil packs and throw them on the grill. We usually do zucchini (courgettes), yellow squash, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms, season with a drizzle of olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper. Fold up in heavy duty foil and add to the grill so they aren't over the direct fire. Depending on how hot the grill is, they'll be done in about 20 minutes.

[taxguykarl]

If you like to grill steaks, pork chops, etc, a great way to prep veggies is by making foil packs and throw them on the grill. We usually do zucchini (courgettes), yellow squash, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms, season with a drizzle of olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper. Fold up in heavy duty foil and add to the grill so they aren't over the direct fire. Depending on how hot the grill is, they'll be done in about 20 minutes.

Ah yes, the Boy Scout classic...yum!

[phantasy]

I love to make homemade tomato soup. It goes perfect with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Garden Tomato Soup

Ingredients
4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 slice onion
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

Directions
In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl, or pan. Discard any stuff left over in the food mill. You can also stick it in a blender.
In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.

I also love to make peruvian Estofado. It's a tomato based chicken stew.

Ingredients
1 tsp. olive oil
4 fresh diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 clove minced garlic
1 red onion, diced
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or boullion (sp?)
2 whole chicken breasts, cooked
1 large carrot, sliced
1 cup peeled peas
3-4 small peeled red potatoes
A bayleaf and whatever other seasonings you like


Directions
Fry garlic and onion with oil in a deep stockpot until onion is transluscent. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn a deep red color and soften. Add chicken stock, tomato paste, carrots, peas and potatoes, simmer for 15 minutes. Add cooked chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes, or until potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with white rice.


I'm a real tomato person. I love fresh tomatoes, especially in a sandwich with a crapload of homemade mayo and pepper.

[Cazzi]

I also love to make peruvian Estofado. It's a tomato based chicken stew.

That sounds gorgeous... Don't know about any one else but I really must give that a try

[Magpie]

I'm reluctant to suggest ones that you might like until I know what you don't like - what are you used to? If you grew up eating veggies covered in butter or cheese all the time then my usual recommendations of "if you don't like veggies cover them in fat" would probably be counter productive. That said, make a white sauce, and once it's off the heat but still quite hot, add grated cheese. Pour over veggies. Then go for a very long run to work off all the calories you just ate.

[ArcticChicken]

I also love to make peruvian Estofado. It's a tomato based chicken stew.

Ohh, that sounds tasty.

I'm reluctant to suggest ones that you might like until I know what you don't like - what are you used to? If you grew up eating veggies covered in butter or cheese all the time then my usual recommendations of "if you don't like veggies cover them in fat" would probably be counter productive.

The problem is that I didn't grow up eating veggies. I just refused, and after a while my parent gave up on getting me to eat anything green. I ate some fruit, but that's it.

[Magpie]

Well if there's nothing in particular that you don't like, I really push the other extreme. Less work, more nutrients, and I personally much prefer the taste. Carrot sticks are a personal favourite. Peel them if you have old carrots, make sure you rinse them, and scrub them if you're not peeling them. If you decide that you'd like your veggies less sharp and crunchy, try steaming them gently. If you have a microwave then put chopped up veggies (fresh or frozen) straight into a covered casserole and microwave them starting with 1 minute and continuing until they're done.

For frozen veggies, done = heated through. For fresh ones, it varies. I recommend starting with when they're heated through. You can cook them longer if you want them better done. If you don't have a microwave (or, presumably, a veggie steamer) put a couple of centimetres of water into the bottom of a sauce pan, put your veggies in a metal sieve, and stick the sieve with the veggies in the top of the pot, with the lid over top. The veggies should not be touching the water.

[jedimaster91]

I'm in the same boat. Generally, I don't eat veggies, particularly during the winter months when they're out of season. My aunt got me a WONDERFUL cookbook as a wedding gift called Deceptively Delicious that adds veggie puree's to your food. I particularly like the Mac & Cheese with butternut squash and the Hawaiian Chicken kebobs with pineapple and sweet potatoes. Baked sweet potatoes with cinnimon tastes like pumpkin and a great way to get loads of vitamin A.

My parents grew yellow squash and zucchini every year. A great way to fix those is cut them in half length-wise, marinate in italian salad dressing, and grill 2-3 minutes each side. This year I might try it with a vinegrette instead of italian. The taste better if you get them 2-3 inches long before the seeds form. But for that, you'd probably have to grow your own. I also like to bread and fry zucchini slices. Mr Jedi got me a mandolin slicer for my birthday and I can't wait to use it for such a purpose.

As always, big juicy tomato slices on my ham sammiches are a must. Stuffed bell peppers are also amazingly good. Mr Jedi and I prefer the orange peppers because they're sweeter. And I could eat carrots all day. Mmmmm, carrots.

If you have some extra funds laying around, I highly recommend a juicer. We have the Jack LaLanne juicer and I love it. You can juice up your favorite fruits and sneak a veggie in with them. Carrots, beets, and bell peppers are sweet and go well with fruit juices.

ETA: One of these days I'm going to try a spaghetti squash in place of pasta.

[r2cagle]

You can put veggies into dishes you've never thought of. Meatloaf is one where I hide spinach, or Stuffed Chicken with spinach/parmesan. Hamburger Stew/Shepherds Pie add mixed veggies to them. My son eats canned beets with ketchup on them. (weird, but he eats them). For that matter, dice up different veggies and put them in an egg omelet. I used to work with someone that would use eggplant diced up really small as a substitute for hamburger meat. I've made mashed turnips and mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes. Those are unique flavors, but yummy.

Start small, so you don't feel bad if you don't like the way it's cooked, you don't feel bad for throwing it out. Bacon cooked with green beans is so tasty (yeah, I know it's duplicate info). I dressed spinach last night with 1/2 tbsp butter and some parmesan cheese. Mac and cheese mixed with broccoli and sausage, is one of our family favorites. So is chili mac with hamburger and baked beans. Basically, you want to add veggies to your favorite dishes so that you start associating their flavors with good vibes. Before you know it, you'll start enjoying them for themselves.

Edit: Spaghetti Squash is worth it. Lots of squash for your dollars. I've used it in place of actual duram wheat spaghetti (use a thicker sauce), and it holds up well to recooking such as in casseroles. Plus it's yummy by itself with butter/salt/pepper.

[Evil Queen]

One of my favourite meals is Insalata Caprese. Slice Roma Tomatoes (instead of the big steak tomatoes, Romas has more flavour) and slice a chunk of soft mozzerella cheese. Add a little bit of balsamic vinegar and some fresh chopped basil. So tasty and great on a hot day!

Sauted green beans with a little touch of extra virgin olive oil and pepper.

Oooo, glazed carrots! Basically they're cooked until almost mushy with a little bit of honey and brown sugar. Like, a spoon ful of each. So it's not very sweet.

[ArcticChicken]

ETA: One of these days I'm going to try a spaghetti squash in place of pasta.

That's one that's pretty tasty when I remember to do it. My Aunt is glucose intolerant, so we did that a few times before we found a good rice spaghetti.

One of my major problems is that the produce section at the store I can walk to sucks. My cousin made pesto today (a recent addition to my diet) and when we went to get basil we were astonished that it didn't have any black and icky bits. Half the potatoes have bad spots in the center. It just totally sucks.

[42_42_42]

The V8 soups are actually really good. I like to jazz up the broccoli one by adding frozen chopped broccoli with the soup as it's heating up and then top with a bit of grated cheddar cheese. But they're all really good on their own. I can eat an entire carton as a meal, maybe with a bit of good bread or a grilled cheese sammich.

My hubby grilled leeks this past Sunday. He split the leeks ( the white minus the roots and about half of the greens) down the center and brushed the cut side with bacon drippings. A couple minutes on the grill to char and omigosh it's good!

[jedimaster91]

My cousin made pesto today (a recent addition to my diet) and when we went to get basil we were astonished that it didn't have any black and icky bits.

Basil is super easy to grow in a porch planter or flower pot. I make a lot of Bruchetta in the summer, so I have my fresh basil in a big pot. Last year I got tired of waiting for it to grow back, so this year, it's going in a bigger pot.