I'm not a fan of a lot of veggies... help

Paula46151
Paula46151 Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm not a fan of a lot of veggies, but I need to work them into my diet somehow... I need ideas... Veggies I like: Carrots, Cauliflower (with holindaise or cheese sauce), celery, lettuces/salad greens, potatoes, corn, peas & carrots, green beans (grilled), onions and peppers (cooked in a recipe).

Replies

  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    Paula46151 wrote: »
    I'm not a fan of a lot of veggies, but I need to work them into my diet somehow... I need ideas... Veggies I like: Carrots, Cauliflower (with holindaise or cheese sauce), celery, lettuces/salad greens, potatoes, corn, peas & carrots, green beans (grilled), onions and peppers (cooked in a recipe).

    That sounds like quite a wide variety of vegetables. What do you think you need to work into your diet that you are not currently having? Why do you think you need to do so?
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    As the others said, that's actually a pretty good variety. A few general suggestions:
    • Since you like cauliflower, try brocolli
    • Vegetables are delicious roasted or grilled with a little olive oil and some seasoning
    • There is nothing wrong with dipping or coating vegetables in sauces as long as it fits your goals
    • Soups, stews, and sauces are a great way to gets lots of veggies with more muddied flavor to mask some of the taste you might not like
    • I personally LOVE zucchini and will happily grate it and add it to cookies, muffins, pancakes, waffles, black bean burgers, etc.
  • echmain3
    echmain3 Posts: 231 Member
    I buy a huge bag of mixed veggies (corn, carrots, green beans, peas) from Sam’s Club and eat some every day.

    For variety I use different spices on different days. I have a rather large collection now, everything from kinda sweet to spicy hot.

    Most spices add very few calories but lots of flavor.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    echmain3 wrote: »
    I buy a huge bag of mixed veggies (corn, carrots, green beans, peas) from Sam’s Club and eat some every day.

    For variety I use different spices on different days. I have a rather large collection now, everything from kinda sweet to spicy hot.

    Most spices add very few calories but lots of flavor.

    Hey, me too :smile: They get mixed in with frozen dinners and cans of soup, they get mixed into rice or lentils or small cuts of pasta, and they end up on the side with a little butter and parm cheese or a sprinkling of spice blend.

    Tomato sauce counts as a veggie. :heart:

    Also seconding roasting. Boiled or stir-fried brussel sprouts deserve my hate. But frozen sprouts, thawed, cut in half, tossed with oil and garlic salt, and roasted is delish.
  • mariluny
    mariluny Posts: 428 Member
    I’m not a huge fan of most cooked (or boiled/steamed) veggies to be honest. I like them cook to a very specific « doneness » but there’s way i found to work around that.

    Asparagus for example, not the biggest of them cooked but you can do a shave asparagus salad in about 10 min and i could eat it all day long. I just cut them thinly with a knife and toss them in lemon juice-garlic-bit of oil, it’s delicious!

    I really like vinegar based coleslaw: shred some cabbage, a few carrots, vinegar, a spoon or two of sugar in 4-5 cups of cabbage, some spices... i love eating on top of salads, in sandwiches or as a side... and it doesn’t taste very « vegetable » to me hehe

    Make « fries » out of root vegetable: just slice up potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets... toss with just a bit of oil and spices like garlic powder and paprika, cumin or chili powder and bake at 400-425 until tender and golden.

    Roasted cauliflower seasoned with curry powder is one of my absolute favorite way to eat it.

    I really enjoy mash potato and carrot: boil until very tender 1 potato with a bunch of carrots, drain and and pulse in a blender/robot until smooth with a bit of butter, salt and pepper. Great low carb side! I really like to add turnip in the mix too, or cauliflower!

    Google cauliflower rice if you’ve never tried that before. It’s great when you make more calorie dense food like curries for example.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    One option is to blender-ize veggies and mix them into something you like. For example, roasted winter squash (can use frozen) is good as part of a pasta sauce with a modest amount of cheese, as it adds some texture and richness. Almost any veggie can be blended into soup or tomato sauce. There are lots of recipes on the web that are designed to hide veggies from children who dislike them. ;)

    But since you like a lot of different ones already, maybe set yourself a challenge to try one new one a month, maybe preparing it in some different ways (search the web or Pinterest for possible cooking-method alternatives), and try to slowly grow your range of veggies that way. As others have said, roasted veggies are richer tasting than just steamed or boiled, so might be more appealing. Some can also broiled or grilled. Cut-up in smaller bits in soup, an omelet, pasta dish or crustless quiche might also be good ways to start in on new ones.

    Best wishes!
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    I never used to eat veggies. When I started dieting I added them to my diet but I refused to give up butter. So I steam them then drop a teaspoon of butter in the drained pot with salt and pepper and give them a quick saute. Now I look forward to my veggies. Broccoli is my favorite. I substitute shredded cabbage for lettuce in tacos and salads etc. It's so filling and I love it. I have also discovered that shredded cabbage really stretches my meat in a stir fry and tastes great. In the end I realize I didn't like veggies before because when I had eaten them they weren't prepared well. The same issue had kept me from eating fish. Once you have some ways to prepare them that you enjoy it becomes much easier to eat more of them.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,157 Member
    I find that frozen vegetables taste like whatever you put on them. I save calories for meals with vegetables so that I can liberally add things like dressing, ranch, garlic, cheese, butter, hot sauce, soy sauce, sriracha....whatever it takes to get a few veggies down my gullet.

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