"Beginner Vegetables"

kdogni

Try spinach, peppers, mushrooms. As someone already mentioned try a new one,once a week. I used to never eat em and now I eat all veg

shadowfax_c11

Steamed broccoli with a squeeze of lemon on it is delicious.
Cabbage is great to add to soups and stews.
Saute mushrooms peppers and onions together until they start to caramelize and enjoy on a steak or with chicken breast.

All veggies are delicious. Some just take some time to develop appreciation for.

peleroja

I'll add my voice to the chorus of avoiding canned if at all possible. The texture is almost always unpleasant in my opinion.

I love all vegetables except mushrooms (it's a texture thing) but I still love to dump hot sauce on mine, which might be an option for you if you like spicy food until you get used to the textures etc. Plus most hot sauces are super low-calorie so they're awesome unless you're watching your sodium.

I also use garlic a lot to flavour my vegetables - strong flavours that you like are generally a good way to get used to eating stuff you don't love.

I am also super into zucchini noodles made with a spiralizer lately, and you can do it to most squashes and add pasta sauce if you want.

vivmom2014

I fry cabbage (shortcut is to just buy a bag of fresh cole slaw mix) with mushrooms and nuts until they're browned (slightly caramelized), then drizzle with a little soy sauce. It's really delicious. My non-cabbage-eating husband will scarf a plate of this down in no time.

Also got him to eat roasted Brussels sprouts after a 40+ year stand-off with them. And he liked them!! Again - they were slightly charred and crispy. He had bad memories of being forced to eat watery boiled Brussels sprouts as a kid (ick!!!) and when he refused, he had to sit at the table long after everyone cleared out. Aw.

OyGeeBiv

You said you're not familiar with veggies, not that you don't LIKE them. So start out trying vegetables that aren't cooked in an "unhealthy" way. Vegetable soup is a great way to start. The vegetables you grew up with are all root vegetables, and are higher in carbs and calories than ones that grow above ground. You can eat a huge volume of some vegetables for very few calories.

A good way to try a lot of different raw vegetables is to go to a salad bar at the supermarket. Get a little of this and a little of that, without having to commit to large quantities of anything. Some of my favorites are red bell peppers, cucumbers and celery. I eat vegetables plain, but you could dip them in ranch dressing if you want. You can also pick up some cauliflower to try raw or roasted.

Once you know what you like, it's less expensive to buy whole veggies rather than pre-cut at the salad bar.

markrgeary1

I had to introduce my wife to veggies. One thing I learned was since she loves cheese is to sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on roasted Brussels sprouts, Asparagus.

We also roast veggies, I'll take whatever root veggies beets, carrots, sweet potato, onion, garlic, parsnip, turnip. .. coat in olive oil and roast at 350-400 F. Beets take longer than the rest.

Bok Choy is amazing with olive oil, lemon and salt on the grill. Like to get the leaves a little burnt and crunchy.

Endemamie is great too, some come with a little salt. It's all they need.

Change the preparation too. Stir fry can be a great change for many veggies.

mjwarbeck

There are many other ways to introduce a vegetable.

Soups are an easy one. Risotto is another. One of our favourites is portobello, arugula and pistachio, another winner is roasted butternut squash. Now if you don't want cheese then maybe a shrimp risotto with fresh peas (you can find in Jamie Oliver cookbook). Of course you can then play on themes...I made a fresh pea risotto mashing the peas first to get a bright green risotto that went brilliantly with the broiled salmon.

Our kids love mashed sweet potato with a bit of butter and cinnamon as a side for grilled foods. You can also create fun mashes with carrots, swede, turnip...take some and mix with mashed potatoes...

For us, travelling is always a source of inspiration. When we were in Yangshou, China a dish we had almost every day was a braised pumpkin in garlic: http://blog.yangshuomountainretreat.com/blog/braised-pumpkin/
You could easily use squash. This was where we first started eating Luffa as a vegetable. Kids love it.

niniundlapin

mjwarbeck wrote: »

We (especially the kids) eat tons of vegetables...hard to provide recipes without some guidance

When we are cooking Chinese (usually Sichuan) we always have one of Snow Pea shoots, Gai Lan, water spinach or Bok Choi. Will often have an edamame dish as well. Kids love it cooked in a bit of garlic and then make a sauce using a little oyster sauce, water and starch (they call it garlic sauce and love it). You could make it a Budda's feast and include a mix of veggies and mushrooms. Will also do a fish fragrant eggplant that is incredible (though lots of oil...so don't eat a ton).

Lots of green beans (again common in asian cuisines).

Yay to Asian veggie dish!

Snow pea shoot (dou miao) is our favorite! Napa cabbage is another one that can be found in non-Asian grocery stores that we usually cook. Here are some simple ways I manage those leafy veggie:

If the leaves are grass-green and pretty soft, like spinach, bean shoot/ sprout, or even ice berg lettuce and Napa cabbage, I usually just rinse them really well, chop them into smaller pieces (if those are too long), heat up the pan, add some cooking oil (1 Tbsp is usually more than enough for a dish that serves 2-3 people), put sliced/diced garlic, put the veggie when you smell the garlic, stir-fried until leaves become soft/ watery, add salt, and serve (so the basic materials are veggie, garlic, oil, and salt).

For something more sturdy like Gai Lan, asparagus, or broccoli, you can even steam them (but not too long) and add whatever sauce you like. I highly recommend oyster sauce and Soba tsuyu. These are my go-tos and you can probably find them in every Asian grocery stores.

These are the most common way I prepare my veggie, but once a while I'll add something else to make them taste better for my pickier family. I use cooking alcohol (about 1 Tbsp) at the end of stir-fry phase if the veggie has some sort of grassy smell. It evaporates pretty quick so (I believe) kids can have them, since I have those since childhood. I sometimes add a little bit sugar (really little, like 1/4-1/3 tsp) to enhance the flavor. Mirin (a Japanese cooking sauce for sweetening purpose) is a good helper in terms of enhancing the flavor as well, but be aware of the kcal per serving... you don't want to trick yourself end up consuming more sugar. I sometimes add oyster sauce too (so I don't add salt afterwards) but this is a little bit too heavy for my personal taste.

Linzon

An idea for leafy greens like lettuce and spinach - try them shredded! I hate the 'leafy' texture of large pieces of lettuce, but shredded in a salad mixed with a bunch of other yummy things? No problem! I actually eat a large number of my meals on a bed of shredded leafy greens now.

vegwrangler

I would highly suggest blending the crap out of some greens and adding it to a proper protein shake. Guzzle those veggies.

When you see fruits (fresh or frozen) at a reasonable price, buy them. Freeze them. Blend them with baby greens (kale, arugula, lettuce, spinach, parsley, whatever) and add your favorite bits. You'll get 3x more greens in you than you would have trying to stomach them otherwise.

lemurcat12

mjwarbeck wrote: »

For us, travelling is always a source of inspiration. When we were in Yangshou, China a dish we had almost every day was a braised pumpkin in garlic: http://blog.yangshuomountainretreat.com/blog/braised-pumpkin/

Thanks for this. I have some pumpkin I need to use and am getting bored with roasted squash and squash soup (not that they aren't both delicious). This looks like something fun to try.