Loving Vegetables [for Recovering VegePhobes]

I honestly can't remember eating vegetables when I was little, except potatoes... or carrots/celery/peas in sauces and soup but I don't remember them as a side dish or a snack. I was a picky eater too so... I won't blame it entirely on my parents lol

What I remember is tasting cut green beans (from a can) while dining over at a friend's house when I was around 10 maybe. And I liked it so I told my mom about it and we started buying them !

I don't like cooking, so I stick to the basic veggies now: brocoli, spinach, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, bell pepper, the occasional zucchini and asparagus or brussels sprouts.

But I'm always on the look out for easy quick recipes to eat more vegetables, so I'll keep an eye on this thread for ideas !

Growing up in a low-income family, veggies consisted of carrots, corn and peas, sometimes apart, sometimes together, almost always from a can except for the once-a-year grilled ears of corn served on Independence Day (the one day I actually looked forward to eating a veggie). I never enjoyed the texture (too soft), always preferred the crispness of fresh fruit. On a very rare basis I had lettuce on sandwiches, but it was always tasteless and worthless in my eyes.

After getting married, my wife insisted that every night dinner would include a veggie. As the designated chef, I grudgingly obliged, and it didn't take her very long to get sick of a steady stream of (wait for it) canned carrots, corn and peas. She pushed me to spread my wings and try a variety of veggies, and most importantly, a variety of cooking methods.

It was the different cooking methods which truly opened my eyes to begin appreciating veggies. Through experimentation, I've learned some I prefer raw (carrots, red bell peppers, spinach), some I prefer steamed (broccoli, green beans) and some roasted (corn, Brussel sprouts).

Somewhere along the way my taste buds also transitioned from always demanding something sweet to now enjoying salty and savory. (Sour still revolts me.) I still enjoy a daily dose of fruit, but now I also actually enjoy the veggies served with dinner. Never with a thick sauce, usually just the veggie straight up (with or without salt) or with a little melted butter. Heck, I even prefer my side salad without any dressing.

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As an avid weightlifter, I place an emphasis on protein from meats in my diet, so veggies usually remain a side dish rather than the featured component of any meals I prepare. The closest veggies come to being the star attraction is in my stir fry, where the stovetop has two large pans, one cooking meat in bite sized pieces, the other sautéing a variety of veggies in a garlic butter sauce:

Mushrooms (sliced)
Diced yellow onion
Greed/Red bell peppers sliced into strips about 2-3" long by a quarter inch wide
Snow peas (the really thin, almost flat, pea pods)
Shredded carrots
Broccoli (steamed separately, only added to pan at the very end before serving)

Recipe: heat a large skillet over medium heat, melt 4-5 tbsp butter. Add mushrooms and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add onion, peppers, carrots and snow peas, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp seasoned salt, stir. Add steamed broccoli, quick stir to mix, remove from heat and serve.

Great thread! My parents had limited palettes so we only had iceberg lettuce and canned green beans when I grew up. I was also picky but tried a lot of new things in college. What surprised me as an adult was air fried brussels sprouts! So crispy. They are now farmed to be less bitter than when we were kids.

The smaller the brussel sprouts are the better they taste! My father and I grew brussel sprouts one year. By the way a very cool looking plant! Anyway they were just so delicious when we just picked them off when they were about the size of the top part of your thumb, steamed very lightly. Yummy!

Is canned corn a vegetable or grain??? I can't remember eating very many veggies until I started watching ESPN exercise shows at 15, becoming a little obsessed, and buying my own groceries. I lived on this spinach salad I'd make every week with all kinds of veggies and sunflower seeds.