Veggies you never knew you liked

FrumMama
FrumMama Posts: 79 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I find that bulking up my proteins/carbs with lots of low-cal veggies really helps fill me up and keep me emotionally feeling like I ate a full meal. I'm looking for new veggies to try, though, since I feel like sometimes eating the same veggies on a regular basis get pretty boring.

Here's what I already eat:
  • Lettuce
  • Cabbage (I've found that I really like it sauteed or roasted! but also raw as a salad base)
  • Broccoli -- I've weirdly always liked this, even as a kid
  • Cauliflower -- ditto
  • Spinach -- not that good for bulking up a meal, though, since it's expensive where I'm from
  • Zucchini -- now one of my favorites
  • Butternut squash -- with plenty of salt, pepper, and carmelized onions
  • Spaghetti squash -- with sauce, a bit of milk, and hopefully not too much cheese ;)
  • Green beans

I'll eat peppers and cucumbers and carrots too, but they are more "have to" foods rather than yummy sides. Now that I've written my other veggies down, it looks like a lot! Any other ideas I'm not thinking of? Cooked veggie sides, rather than salads, preferably.

What are some veggies you never knew you liked until you started MFP?
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Replies

  • layanqui
    layanqui Posts: 13 Member
    I love eggplant, and it's quite versatile. You can add it to pasta sauce to bulk it up with veggies (grated carrot works for that too and adds a bit of sweetness). You can bread it and bake it in the oven. It tastes good grilled with other veggies like onions, peppers and zucchini. It's also very good pickled if you like pickled foods.

    If you like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, you should try Brussels sprouts. They are very good roasted or sauteed or shaved in salads.

    As an alternative to spinach, you could try Swiss chard or arugula. Swiss chard can be used in the same way as spinach (although the leaves are a bit tough when raw so it's better cooked than in salads). Arugula is delicious in a salad or you can cook it. It's also great on pizza!
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    Baby corn, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, corn, peas, asparagus , you've got plenty more to try!!!
  • strongwouldbenice
    strongwouldbenice Posts: 153 Member
    Asparagus and broccolini (possibly called tenderstem or baby broccoli where you are?), brussels sprouts, definitely eggplant, and also my local supermarket has pickled red cabbage, absolutely love it, you could also make your own
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    My "new" veggies include

    parsnips, brussel sprouts - oven roasted, the first with olive oil, honey and sesame seeds, the second with butter,

    asparagus - boiled,

    beets, kohlrabi - raw, in sticks,

    edamame - in risotto.
  • Beckenzahler
    Beckenzahler Posts: 26 Member
    I find jicama amazing as a raw vegetable.
    I often fry pumpkin and lotus root (dont know if the later is available in the West)
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited July 2018
    I’m not a very good veggie eater :( my absolute fav is green beans. I grow them in my garden and they get eaten alive by Japanese beetles. Makes me so sad. I’m on a beetle killing mission this summer. I pretty much only eat green beans and broccoli (as sides) I eat tomatoes and cucumbers too but that’s more of a snack type thing and not a dinner side type veggie. I eat onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, turnips, peppers, but those are more IN my meals and not as a separate side. I need to branch out...
  • born_of_fire74
    born_of_fire74 Posts: 776 Member
    Sweet potatoes or yams. Mom never served those when I was a kid. No idea why not!! I make hashbrowns out of them or a mash, just like you would with potatoes.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 28,197 Member
    edited July 2018
    I like to go to a big produce market that's here in my US Midwest mid-sized city, look for things I've never tried (sometimes never seen or heard of), look them up on my smartphone to make sure the prep sounds manageable, then bring them home and try them. I've picked up some at farmers' markets, too. Be brave: What's the worst that could happen? :)

    I've tried bitter melon (not for everyone ;) ), red amaranth "greens", long beans (different flavor from regular green beans, but similar), tindora (looks like a small cucumber, but isn't), various exotic mushrooms, and I forget what else. (I've tried more previously unsampled fruits than veggies.) Jackfruit can be eaten as a cooked veggie - vegans use it to make BBQ that's kind of a pulled-pork texture, but very different flavor.

    Others not on your list that I knew about before but eat more now: Celeriac, turnips (hakurei ones raw, standard ones roasted - especially good with mushroom stuffing), elephant garlic, celeriac, collard greens, mustard greens, beet greens (my favorite greens, with the red amaranth a close second), jicama (prefer it raw), parsnips (roasted), eggplant, asparagus, sweet potatoes (so good in black bean tacos!), bok choi and its relatives, various summer squashes other than zukes (particularly like cousa/kusa), . . . .

    I'm sure I'm forgetting lots. Love my veggies! (Pretty much the only things I've found that I don't much like are lima beans and seaweed).

  • gcconroy29
    gcconroy29 Posts: 85 Member
    I've luckily always been a fan of veggies, but I didn't discover cauliflower or brussel sprouts until my 30s and I am totally hooked now.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 26,495 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    I’m not a very good veggie eater :( my absolute fav is green beans. I grow them in my garden and they get eaten alive by Japanese beetles. Makes me so sad. I’m on a beetle killing mission this summer. I pretty much only eat green beans and broccoli (as sides) I eat tomatoes and cucumbers too but that’s more of a snack type thing and not a dinner side type veggie. I eat onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, turnips, peppers, but those are more IN my meals and not as a separate side. I need to branch out...

    I think my first ever "job" was picking Japanese beetles off the plants in my mom's garden when I was little.

    Funny, I remember them as being a big problem when I was a kid but I haven't seen any in years.

    I have something similar to this which is working great to keep cabbage moths off my kale - maybe it will work for your beans? Good luck!

    https://smile.amazon.com/Tierra-Garden-50-5030-Haxnicks-Micromesh/dp/B004ZUEWT6/ref=sr_1_3

    715m7akyM2L._SX466_.jpg
  • junodog1
    junodog1 Posts: 4,792 Member

    I love lots of veggies raw, as well as cooked. The product is so different in each case.

    As had been said above you must do Brussels Sprouts. Roast them til the outside leaves are a little charred. Oooooohhhhh!

    Eat onions as a side dish, not just part of a recipe. So good. They usually sweeten up as they break down.

    I see no peas on your list, or yellow squash. Both great.



  • layanqui
    layanqui Posts: 13 Member
    edited July 2018
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I've tried bitter melon (not for everyone ;) ), red amaranth "greens", long beans (different flavor from regular green beans, but similar), tindora (looks like a small cucumber, but isn't), various exotic mushrooms, and I forget what else. (I've tried more previously unsampled fruits than veggies.) Jackfruit can be eaten as a cooked veggie - vegans use it to make BBQ that's kind of a pulled-pork texture, but very different flavor.

    Others not on your list that I knew about before but eat more now: Celeriac, turnips (hakurei ones raw, standard ones roasted - especially good with mushroom stuffing), elephant garlic, celeriac, collard greens, mustard greens, beet greens (my favorite greens, with the red amaranth a close second), jicama (prefer it raw), parsnips (roasted), eggplant, asparagus, sweet potatoes (so good in black bean tacos!), bok choi and its relatives, various summer squashes other than zukes (particularly like cousa/kusa), . . . .

    I love veggies, but I live in a place with limited access to exotic fruits and vegetables. I love jicama, for example, but I can't get it here. You named a couple I've never heard of (tindora?!), but next time I go back to the US to visit my family, I'm going to seek out some weird veggies.

    ETA: Oh, and I second your suggestion of black bean-sweet potato tacos. Yum! Love those.
  • plythacur
    plythacur Posts: 32 Member
    Roasted brussel sprouts, celery root, turnips, or parsnips. I like rutabaga that has been boiled and mashed like potatoes. Adding just a teaspoon of sugar to the boiling water will keep the bitterness at bay. Raw jicama or watermelon radishes. Okra sautéed or in soups. Regular radishes are pretty good in soups as well, but they lose the spicy zing when cooked. Kale, turnip greens, beet greens, Swiss chard, or collard greens sautéed with a little garlic, added to soups, or added to Indian curries are all good. Roasted, stuffed delicatta or acorn squash. Fennel and leeks sautéed, or a raw fennel, celery, and tart apple salad. Pumkin or butternut squash cream sauce for pasta or just turned into a creamy soup. Blistered shisito peppers with a touch of salt. Stuffed peppers (bell, poblano, or Anaheim). I also frequently mix veggies with beans or lentils (such as mirepoix and French green lentils or “cowboy caviar”).
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    I always hated brussel sprouts. Standard joke was
    What is the difference between brussel sprouts and snot?
    You can't get a kid to eat brussel sprouts.

    I then tried these roasted with a little olive oil, nutmeg and pepper. I now love them. I have always been fortunate enough to like a huge range of vegetables though.
  • strongwouldbenice
    strongwouldbenice Posts: 153 Member
    Oh also I realised I love kale! Cooked or raw. I've always been a fan of bitter veg though
  • madwells1
    madwells1 Posts: 510 Member
    Cabbage (green/napa); bok choy; daikon. I started experimenting with lots of asian foods and now don't know how I would live without some of these things!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 23,010 Member
    Snowpeas
    Corn
    Corn on the cob
    Radishes
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    I don't know that there is a vegetable that I only started eating in the last couple of years. Maybe zucchini? Different kinds of salad greens?
    I like roasted brussel sprouts. I liked plain brussel sprouts okay but roasted is a lot better to me.

  • mutantspicy
    mutantspicy Posts: 624 Member
    There are very few food items in the world, that I dislike. Especially Veggies, I pretty much eat all of them. that said, I never used to like radishes and onions when I was a kid. I started to like cooked onion, and now refuse to cook without them, that was a number of years ago.

    But radishes, I didn't know I liked until just recently. Somebody prepared salad for me with radishes, and normally I put them aside. But I decided to eat them and they were delicious.
  • Niki_Fitz
    Niki_Fitz Posts: 945 Member
    edited July 2018
    All the cabbage.

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