Eating Healthy shouldn't be a chore

[matt819]

I've not posted here before, but I have a peeve.

I'm presently on a "detox" program. Okay, laugh all you like, but, in that horribly hackneyed phrase, it is what it is.

Basically it involves eating healthy. What a shock, hey?

Lots of veggies and fruit. Chicken and fish are fine. No grains, so no breads, pasta, rice, and the like, even gluten-free. No caffeine, no added sugars, reduced salt. Paleo-ish.

Here's the peeve, and damn near every cookbook and online recipe site is guilty. One example. I like broccoli. Usually I steam it. Sometimes I pop it in the oven with other veggies. Pretty straightforward, but mostly dull. Dull's okay, but I went looking for less than dull. You know where this is going. Every recipe for broccoli casserole and such includes butter, rice, cheese (and lots of it), mayonnaise (or the ubiquitous cream of mushroom soup), bread stuffing. And if you look at almost any vegetarian cookbook, veggies are cooked up with pasta and cheese. And when you find a cookbook that is less pasta-centric, you find recipes that are ludicrous.

There you have it. Here's the title of the cookbook I'm never going to write: Cooking Without Pasta or Cheese.

[The empressof all]

1. You need to look more for Vegan recipes

You can make luscious veggie based soups and other dishes quite easily without dairy or wheat.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=vegan+recipes&form=U147ED&pc=U147E

One of my favorites is Fat Free Vegan

http://fatfreevegan.com/

[laundry_queen]

2. I know what you are talking about.

Every time I vow I'm going to get my kids to eat more veggies, I look up new recipes to tempt them and everything has bread or cheese or cream sauce or something. Now, it's not so bad once in awhile if it gets the kids to eat their vegetables, but I can't always eat my veggies like that and I'd like to eat some everyday and I'd like healthier recipes because I do get tired of salads or steamed veggies.

I have managed to find a few recipes for making sauces in the food processor mostly out of fresh bunches of herbs, fruits and vegetables (from a couple of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks) and the sauces go over meat or beans or lentils and it's shocking how many veggies and herbs you can pack into a small bit of sauce...the kids manage to eat their vegetables as a sauce over the meat. I'm going to see if I can't find more sauce recipes like that and maybe put those sauces over some veggies for added flavor (and nutrition!).

[matt819]

3. Ah, the kids

The kids are out of the house, and what they eat is they're business. I think they're pretty sensible, for which I take all the credit. They disagree. But the veggie fight is long in the past.

I guess I'll have to check out vegan recipes. I've thought about the raw food approach, but that looks likes a full-time commitment, as in no time to actually work to pay for all those raw foods.

[Galileo126]

4. I hear ya

Admittedly, I'm an unabashed omnivore. But, I do declare meatless days during the week.

And I do agree with you that cooking with broccoli almost always makes reference to cream of (xxxx) soup or cheddar cheese. I do keep on hand a couple of veggie or vegan cookbooks to avoid the trap you mentioned. ("Regina's Vegetarian Table" comes to mind.)

ps: I'd buy your (never gonna write) cookbook!

[cbayer]

5. Flavored olive oils and marinades may be your key.

And nuts. Can you have nuts?

You can roast pretty much any veggie. If you roast with some flavored oils and add nuts, you can make some great veggies.

And soy sauce/sesame oil makes everything better. Think stir frys!

Good for you, though. It's not easy, but sounds like you are commited.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

7. Amen to roasting!

I cook for crowds and get more requests for my veggie "recipes". How did you make that insanely good (insert name of vegetable here)? Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until done and YES experiment with different oils, onion & garlic, veggie combos. I have actually converted confirmed Brussels sprouts haters using this method. Roast, roast, and roast some more

[cbayer]

8. And there are few things in the world as good as roasted garlic.

There is a restaurant in New Orleans that does a garlic month once a year and uses roasted garlic in every way imaginable - all of them good.

[pinto]

6. Broccoli w/ ginger & curry is a favorite of mine. Either sauteed or par boiled.

Simple and lots of taste.

Welcome to C & B!

[matt819]

9. Thanks all

Also veggie soups. Made one last night with onions, garlic, broccoli, spinach, all sauteed, boiled, then blended. For broth I used the Better than Bouillon no chicken base. I suppose to be more conscious of ingredients, I could have stuck with salt and pepper and then added stuff as I felt it was necessary. But you have to draw the line at how much you're going to do by scratch.

[Retrograde]

10. Diversify

If you like broccoli, how about the other members of the cabbage family - kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kolhrabi, Chinese cabbage, bok choy - and other brassicas like radishes and turnips? You can steam or roast the later, than mash with stock or a decent olive oils, then season with your choice of spices. Sticking with root vegetables, there are beets (shaved paper thin for a salad, or roasted, or boiled and made into a borscht), celery root and jicama, both of which make good salads (I like to marinate the latter in citrus juice and chiles).

Chili verde made with chicken and white beans. Avocado halfs stuffed with a minced chicken/raisin/almond salad. Chickpeas with olive and tomatoes drizzled with lemon juice, mint and olive oil make a good salad: cook the chickpeas with onions, tomatoes and Indian spices and you have Chhana dal, a traditional curry dish. Most vegan cookbooks will have a collection of legume-based stews.

If you want to be daring, every time you visit a market by a vegetable you've never tried before and substitute it for something you'd normally cook with.

[yewberry]

11. I have a ridiculous broccoli recipe.

Take a head of broccoli. Cut of florets and remove the skin from the stalk, cut the stalk into like 1/4" pieces. Take all of your broccoli, rinse, then blanch it. Transfer broc to blender & set aside blanching water, add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper with a half cup or so of the blanching water. Puree the snot out of it, and voila, it's broccoli soup.

You can add whatever (mint, avocado, ginger) or garnish with toasted goodies, but sometimes I just want simple flavors, and this is definitely one of those.

[MrMickeysMom]

12. I love the responses here… Here's one more….

Have you tried nutritional yeast? In my younger hippy in the kitchen days, I did this with tofu and broiled it. However, since getting a dehydrator, I've discovered that if you have a good blender, you can combine nutritional yeast with blended nuts (cashews or sunflower), make it into a paste with lemon juice, minced red pepper and add filtered water to thin it out before spreading it on your veggies. I spread it on Kale, one of the most powerhouse veggies. I dehydrated kale, but that would take you too long.

Just play with the mix and roast whatever you've decided to get like beets, broccoli, kale, carrots, onions.

Oh, and I love it when I take a few heads of garlic, slice the tops and roast them in foil after drizzling extra virgin olive oil over the top. I squeeze this into chic peas, tahini for hummus. You could dip your veggies in that, so just save the garlic for other garnishes.

And, don't forget to have an inside herb garden. Nothing like spreading them on top for a finishing touch.