I need an Eat More Veggies challenge!

[BearyBlessed]

Care to join me?

DH and I went gluten free just after the start of the year. It's been almost two weeks. The idea was to cut back carbs and eat more veggies. We'll we've been pretty good about the g/f part, but the more veggies is, um, not so good.

I need good ideas of ways to eat or prepare veggies that will be tasty for us who don't eat much. I like most of the starchy ones, but I really need help with green ones.

Currently, I make and like corn, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, roasted veg with zucchini, carrots, onion, and red pepper. DH loves brussel sprouts. A basic green salad with just lettuce and tomato is fine, but add much else and I have a hard time with it.

So, anyone up for adding more veggies to your diet? Have any inspiration for how to do it?

[Caecelia]

:cup I could use some help/motivation in this dept. I tend to cook from scratch a lot and by the time I make the main course, I run out of steam to make veggies (no pun intended). And clearly, veggies are an afterthought for me as it is, apparently! I do get a good portion of our meat local and pastured/grassfed, so that's a step in the right direction, but yeah,...don't really want to be a carnivore. :shifty


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[jujubnme]

I'll join you! We're in a similar situation.... Grain-free, but not eating as many veggies as I'd like.

[Marrae]

How do you feel about having cooked veggies with one meal and raw with another each day? AFA salads.....could you eat those with more than just lettuce and tomato if you add a little fruit or nuts/seeds or dressing? I just love baby leaves and have them with every meal.

What about stuffed tomatoes or peppers?

[believer]

I am on day 4 of being grain/dairy/sugar free.
And I am still alive and have not killed anyone.

I love veggies.
One thing I have been doing is stir fried sort of greens with mushrooms.
I use olive oil or coconut oil or both, add some fresh chopped garlic - you can add onion too, and mushrooms, cook a bit until the mushrooms don't look raw anymore then add greens - chopped chard or kale or spinach, stir to coat w/ oil, add a little bit of water, cover and cook until tender. Add salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice. Yum!
I am going to bake spaghetti squash tonight and I got some pasta sauce that does not contain sugar to put on it.

I also eat lots of salads.
Steamed broccoli.
Soup with vegetables.
I made chicken stock - had some organic chicken breasts a couple of nights ago - pulled the meat off and cooked it and put the bones (w/ some remaining meat) and the fat in a crockpot along w/ frozen veggie scraps from the past week and cooked it for a couple of days. It is cooling now and I will strain it and feed the solids to the dogs (the chicken bones get really soft so they are safe) and I will use the broth/stock to make veggie soup.

[Kiara.I]

:cup I could use some help/motivation in this dept. I tend to cook from scratch a lot and by the time I make the main course, I run out of steam to make veggies (no pun intended).

I find that too. Main course *has to* be made. Veggies...um....sometimes.

It helps *A LOT* to buy frozen veggies. Are they the best? Nope. Are they a lot better than no veggies at all? Oh yeah! :yes There are some really nice blends, too, that we keep on hand. Stir-fry blends are very nice eaten as a side dish.

The kids and I like them thawed but not cooked. DH I think prefers them warm. I'll eat them warm too, of course, but my *preference* is for cold-but-thawed. It's a holdover from eating frozen veggies as a kid. (What? They're a great snack food. Try them on your children! Frozen corn can buy me a peaceful 20 minutes. :giggle)

[BearyBlessed]

Krista, that is totally me too! I figure out the main dish and then forget about veggies until it's too late. :doh

For salads, I definitely do dressing. :yes I prefer non-veg toppings on them- egg, chicken, cheese. I figure if it helps me get *some* greens in, I'm still doing ok. But, salad feels like a lot of work. :shifty

I really *wish* I loved veggies. :pout I only love corn and broccoli.

[Kiara.I]

:shifty Seriously, try them frozen and then thawed. It's worth a shot. ;)

[cbmk4]

I am a veggie lover! Here are some examples of how I use vegetables.

Lunch: roasted or sauteed veggies in olive oil--parsnips, radishes, red beets, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, chard, garlic and onion. I use whatever I have and whatever is in season. I like mine with goat cheese. A big plate of these veggies is my usual lunch.

Dinner: aim to make at least two veggies. Things like carrots, winter squash (pumpkin, acorn, butternut) mix very well into chili, soups and casseroles. I also add spinach, kale, cabbage, chard or collard greens (finely chopped) to soups, casseroles and meatloaf. I once counted at least 7 different veggies that I used in a dinner, and it wasn't even vegetable soup!

We also eat a lot of lentils, chickpeas and beans.

[Kiara.I]

And then there's this recipe. :yum:yum:yum You can sub in veggies too, it's often challenging to find yellow squash where we live so you can increase the zucchini or others to compensate. Yellow squash, by the way, is the stuff that looks like a zucchini except with yellow skin--it's not one of the winter squashes. :no

Baked Marinated Vegetables

2 yellow squash
2 zucchini
1 eggplant (long narrow Japanese ones)
1 tomato
1 purple onion
1 sweet yellow pepper
1 sweet red pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 pound cremini mushrooms (baby portobellos or brown mushrooms)

Marinade:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

1 Quarter squash, zucchini, and eggplant lengthwise, and cut in half.
Cut tomatoes and onions into thick slices. Quarter peppers. Leave
mushrooms whole.
2 Combine marinade. Pour over vegetables. Chill for 2 1/2 hours.
3 Arrange vegetables on a broiler pan and bake at 350*F (175*C) in a
preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe by Chris Lilly.

[ShangriLewis]

How about Taco Salad? I will eat a huge plate of that it is so good.

acorn squash is good. slice in half and remove the seeds. We usually just do walnuts ,brown sugar and butter. My mom adds dried fruits. Then you sort of mix it together as you eat.

[BearyBlessed]

Taking notes of all the recipes. :tu

[itzj]

Maybe you could look to start making main courses that also have vegetables in them.

We love any greens sauteed with carmalized onions and garlic. And we roast just about every veg with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder.

[greengirl19]

Stir fry!!! We're on gaps, which grain and starchy vegetable free, so meals are meat and veggies and thats it. I've always loved veggies and had a big serving for dinner, but now its usually two or more kinds for lunch and dinner. Stir fry is my favorite last minute and clean out the fridge meal. Chop up an insane amount of any kind of veggie and some semi frozen meat. Cook the meat first in a big pan and take it out when its browned. Add the veggies (harder things like carrots first, greens last) and when the veggies are almost done add the meat back in. Season as you go along, i like ginger, garlic, white pepper, and coconut aminos (like soy sauce).

[BearyBlessed]

Well, tonight I made mashed potatoes and broccoli. Not adventurous, but it's some veggies. :shrug3

[believer]

have you tried spaghetti squash? I made some tonight and dh, oldest dd and I enjoyed it very much! I also made ground turkey burgers and added onion, cilantro, and 4 different peppers to it - red, yellow and orange bell pepper and some jalapeno and fresh garlic and ginger and one chopped up mushroom and they were really good too. Next time I will add even more veggies (I did add an egg to help it all hold together.)

[silverlining]

We love kale chips here for snacking! You can experiment with different seasonings to see what you like.

[Marzipan]

I so need to do this. I think I will try what a previous poster mentioned and have lunch with raw veggies and dinner with cooked, or vice versa. I do not really love salads with lettuce/spinach/greens, but I have discoverd I like cabbage, and chopped salads. I have a pinterest board called "Salads for people who don't like salad." :giggle

[Psyche]

How about Taco Salad? I will eat a huge plate of that it is so good.

acorn squash is good. slice in half and remove the seeds. We usually just do walnuts ,brown sugar and butter. My mom adds dried fruits. Then you sort of mix it together as you eat.

Raw????

[Momma2Luke]

I so need to do this too...

Here's one of my "go-to" recipes that is guaranteed to convert anyone into a veg lover:

Maple-Mustard Roasted Veggies!


Recipe:

A baking pan full of peeled, trimmed and cut-up veggies. I use root veggies such as:

Carrots, parsnips, turnips, fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes,
garlic heads, quartered onions.
I also tend to add a few bell peppers cut into quarters and if I have a winter squash on hand, I'll throw that in as well.




Marinade:

Whisk together 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1 tsp red chili paste, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 3 tbsp dijon mustard,1tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp dried tarragon or thyme, 1 tsp freshly ground pepper. Now add the marinade to the pan of vegetables and mix well. Roast uncovered for about an hour at 375 degrees. Stir every 15 minutes.

[ShangriLewis]

No you put it on the pan with hole side up. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and walnuts and top with the pat of butter. You can cover it with foil if you want. I just bake it at 350 till a fork poked in the side can slide through easily. I would say about 40 minutes.