How do you eat your vegtables?

maeflower1234
maeflower1234 Posts: 87 Member
edited September 22 in Food and Nutrition
I am just starting my second month of a healthier lifestyle change. I am doing pretty good with getting exercise in daily and staying within my calorie limit. However, as it is with most things, the more I learn the more I see ways to drastically improve. I don't eat veggies. I like them, I think but I never did eat them. As I am now wanting to vastly improve my eating habits can you all share how and what you eat for your veggies?

Thanks!

Replies

  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    I've become a red bell pepper addict. I swear, they are one of God's candies! Pretty sure I ate at least 1 big one as part of Thanksgiving pre-dinner munchies.
    Generally I like mine steamed and super soft. I can't do cold, hard veggies (except certain ones). We usually buy the Birds Eye steamfresh sets. They are a super nice/easy way of getting in the veggies. Toss in microwave, set, and it takes care of itself.
  • fitinyoga14
    fitinyoga14 Posts: 448 Member
    -Salads are always a go-to for a good dose of veggies. the possibilities are endless here! (if you don't like eating lettuce all the time, there are plenty of salad recipes that don't contain it!)

    -also raw veggies with dip! make sure its a healthy dip such as hummus with any carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

    -Make it a priority to have HALF of every meal be a fruit or vegetable! (ex. if you eat 4 meals a day, make 2 half fruit and 2 half vegetable.)

    -vegetables always make a great side for any meal. Choose ones that are in season and look up simple recipes online for cooking instructions, how to flavor them, etc.

    I hope this helps!! Upping your vegetable intake is a wonderful thing! good for you!
  • JMun
    JMun Posts: 409
    roasted brussel sprouts with a drizzle of olive oil.
    lightly fried snap pea's with a little butter & garlic
    steamed broccoli or cauliflower
    baked squash with a little butter and brown sugar
    sweet potatoes (bake them like french fries)
    boiled green beans

    I think those are my staple veggies. I have them most often and I always eat fresh (organic when I can) and avoid canned.

    allrecipes.com will be your saving grace :)
  • wiggleroom
    wiggleroom Posts: 322 Member
    I roast nearly all of my veggies (though I eat baby carrots like they're popcorn).

    Set the oven to 400 or 425, toss your vegetables with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper (can add thyme or other herbs as well), and roast for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of vegetable and how hot you've set your oven.

    I do this with cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, fennel, carrots, potatoes, asparagus .... and pretty much any combination thereof!
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
    Spinach, peppers, onions, tomatos, mushrooms, and carrots are my staples. I eat them in all sorts of ways- mixed in my eggs (scrambled), as a salad, in a wrap, in a soup, sometimes roasted in the oven and put over pasta, and just as often raw with hummus, or sometimes just by themselves. My coworkers tease me (in a fun way, not a bad one) about how many veggies I eat, because most of the day they look over and I'm munching on something- baby carrots, grape/cherry tomatos, or green/red peppers (one of my friends at work laughed because she had never seen anyone eat a pepper "whole, like an apple")

    I'm a veggie FIEND! :happy: Good luck and I hope this helps.
  • maeflower1234
    maeflower1234 Posts: 87 Member
    Thanks for the ideas!!!
  • TheMaidOfAstolat
    TheMaidOfAstolat Posts: 3,222 Member
    Roasted, grilled, steamed, raw...every which way that I can. If you want some interesting ideas...check out sites for vegetarians. We tend to think outside the box because veggies make up quite a lot of our diet. Try www.vegweb.com it's a great site...and my fave by far. Also check out vegetarian times magazine.
  • MJ5898
    MJ5898 Posts: 1,549 Member
    Bump :bigsmile:
  • lkm111
    lkm111 Posts: 629 Member
    I like my veggies better raw - I will eat them cooked, too, but to me there is nothing better than raw broccoli, cauliflower and carrots (with a little bit of light Buttermilk Ranch dressing for some zip). I also try to eat a lot of salad.

    One good way I like to cook veggies is to put them in a foil packet, lightly drizzle w/ EVOO, season w/ S & P, roast for about 20 minutes @ 400 or so in the oven. Always good!
  • HeatherShrinking
    HeatherShrinking Posts: 776 Member
    Sugar snap peas dipped in ranch. Crispy, decent subsitute for chips
  • bloodbank
    bloodbank Posts: 468 Member
    Sugar snap peas dipped in ranch. Crispy, decent subsitute for chips

    I'm pretty sure sugar snap peas dipped in mud would be delicious.
  • I dip every veggies in hummus :)
  • clioandboy
    clioandboy Posts: 963 Member
    I love veggies and salad, I find that it is good to experiment with them, find out what you like and how you like them also don't forget soups , I have been living on roasted pumpkin soup ( lush) and today I am making a pot of curried lentil ( with potatoes carrots onions in n whatever else I find in the pantry.
    Veggies are so low cal and so filling they are great value, go find out what you like!
  • firedragon064
    firedragon064 Posts: 1,082 Member
    I don't like to eat raw vegetables but I know it has more enzymes if I do so
    I have it in it smoothie. spinach + celery + banana or protein powder = yummy
    and I don't like most of the salad.
    I like veggie stir fried, veggie in meatloaf, burger.
  • Sugar snap peas dipped in ranch. Crispy, decent subsitute for chips
    Roasted seaweed strips are my favorite substitute for chips. They're salty, crisp, and feather light. You can buy 'em seasoned or just cut up your own sheets of nori into bite sized pieces.

    Other favorites are sliced tomatoes with garlic pepper salt. Goes great with grilled cheese.

    Steamed red potatoes with frozen peas, butter & salt. Steamed corn on the cob.

    Air popped popcorn with olive oil, sesame oil, nutritional yeast, cinnamon sugar, pepper, garlic salt.

    Brussel sprouts sauteed in olive oil with parmesan and garlic pepper salt.

    Baked potatoes, yams, & sweet potatoes with olive or sesame oil (sesame goes well with the sweeter taters).

    Spinach salad with hard boiled eggs and bacon or tuna.

    Canned beets & kidney beans aren't super healthy but taste yummy in salads.

    Raw with ranch dip/dressing: red/yellow/orange/green bell pepper strips, cherry tomatoes, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, yellow squash, cucumbers, snap/snow peas, etc.

    I throw frozen corn into pretty much anything with tomato sauce to sweeten it, same with onions.

    If there's foods you don't like but want to include in your diet anyway, a food processor can pulverize it beyond recognition so you can slip it into something else, like a soup or sauce. I've made a killer mushroom gravy for pork chops this way.

    Homemade salsa with tomatoes, finely diced onion, cilantro & garlic salt.
  • You can also make a giant pot of roast veggies with or without a meat pot roast. All of these are yummy roasted in a covered pan in the oven:

    potatoes (any color, but reds and yukon golds have tasty skins)
    cabbage (any color)
    onions (any color)
    carrots (super duper yummy - the only way I like carrots other than carrot juice)
    yellow squash
    zucchini
    celery
    mushrooms - I like shiitakes best, portabellos are also good (hydrate first if dried)
    beets would probably be good but tend to be messy
    bean sprouts - the long skinny white kind
    garlic is kind of a pain to peel but is yummy roasted whole with the top cut off & drizzled w/olive oil

    Chop everything up, throw it in a covered oven safe container with a little bit of water, oil, and spices. Bake until house smells good and fork goes through the hardest of veggies easily.
  • schpanks
    schpanks Posts: 468 Member
    Not technically a veggie, but one of my current favorite snacks is cottage cheese with grape tomatoes. I had forgotten how good real food tasted while I was numbing my sensibilities with garbage. :)
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
    When I started here I realized the only veggie I ate was potato. Fried, mashed, boiled, grilled.......if not for taters I'd have no veggies at all :laugh:

    So here is what I did ( but mine was over a few months of learning on here and at other sites) and they all worked for me. I had gotten out of the practice, but now I am almost back to healthy eating.

    Buy a good salad bowl crisper, it can be your best friend. Also those little Glad screw on top bowls are needed. (bags do not work as well, I learned the hard way)

    On the weekend cut up a large head of Romaine . The greener the better, Iceberg has little nutritional value.
    put it in the crisper bowl, ready to grab a handful.

    I have radishes in my garden, so I clean up a couple and put them on the side in the lettuce bowl

    I then make 5-6 little bowls of
    red pepper(also green and yellow)
    onion
    celery
    tomato
    zuchini
    yellow squash
    broccoli
    cauliflower

    Now let me say, I did not LIKE all of these. Some I hated. But I cleaned them all, and chopped them up in bowls for the week.

    When I made a salad, I could just throw on what ever veggies I was in the mood for. Or sneak in something I didn't really like

    When I wanted hot veggies, I took a glad square container and put in broc, red and yellow pepper, onion.......and nuked them for 2 minutes.
    Or zuch and yellow squash with some tomatoes..........

    The combos are endless.

    When cooking dinner there were no excuses. I also buy the frozen, nuke in bag veggies for emergency.

    Congratulations on changing your life!!
  • vandy29
    vandy29 Posts: 39 Member
    green leafy veggies are the healthiest.....the more raw veggies you eat the better....I like salads in the summer however since it is cold I make vegetable soup with a couple of cans of tomatoes and a big bag of frozen veggies....easy and filling......one of my other favorites is bell peppers, onions and mushrooms with pasta sauce on whole wheat pizza crust with no cheese....very taste....I make my own pizza crust and sometimes fold it over to make a pizza pocket of sorts.....
  • I use lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt in all my salads and veggies. I try to stay away from dressings!
  • Veggies? ewwwwwwww!
  • Kidding of course. I live off spinach, cucumbers and baby carrots. I try to stick spinach into 1-2 meals a day because it's so nutrient dense, talk about a super food. Now I understand why Popeye loved it so much. I snack on baby carrots and long English cucumbers. I need to add more veggies to my snacking and I should probably have a salad now and again. I found the greatest thing at the store recently. Up till now I had been buying the 1lb bags of baby carrots on sale which I usually get for about 1.5-1.75 on sale. This past week I saw a 2lb bag at a regular price of $3. Not only that but it has a zippered seal. If I hadn't picked up 3 smaller bags earlier in the day I would have bought myself a bag. The best place I've found to get veggies is in smaller markets and produce only markets. The major grocery stores are usually more expensive and aren't as fresh looking.

    I've seen people mention carrots and hummus a lot of times in the past. I tend to eat the carrots on their own as adding ranch dressings and things just skyrockets the calories and they're usually chocked full of crap. I keep meaning to try hummus, one of these days for sure.

    Someone mentioned seaweed strips that I absolutely have to try. I recently bought kale so that I can give kale chips a try, can't wait to try those out. I desperately need a substitute for chips.
  • Oh and spinach and mushrooms for an omelette. Spinach with banana and blueberries for a smoothie. Both are good ways to get your greens.
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