Veggies

Can you all share your favorite vegetable recipes with me? I grew up in a house where vegetables were not part of every meal. I don't know how to cook them. I don't even know what half of them are in the grocery store.  Please help. 

I'm following this.  We were a meat, potatoes and bread family.  If there was a veggie, it was canned green beans or frozen broccoli.  

What stage of your eating are you? I ate mashed cauliflower with cheddar cheese during the pureed stage. I took a 16 ounce bag of frozen cauliflower, sprayed cooking sprayin my crockpot, dumped the cauliflower in. Then I added 1/2 c unsweetened plain almond milk and 2 Tablespoons olive oil. Cooked on low for about 5 hours. Then I threw in some Mrs Dash and mashed everything up and mixed in 1 cup of your favorite shredded cheese, I used taco cheese.

Zuchini and yellow squash are favorites of mine too, but I can't eat them yet. I sautee onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil, then add 1 small zuchini and 1 small yeloo/summer squash sliced to the pan. Cover and cook on low heat stir to mix the ingrediants.  When the squash starts getting soft, turn heat to medium. Coo****il the squash is soft and some of the pieces turn golden brown. Sometimes I add red, yellow, orange and green bell pepper and a 1/2 cup of low carb spaghetti sauce to it.

Sorry, but I can't resist........

Step 1: Start with raw veggies

Step 2: Put on plate

Step 3: Eat

Optional: lightly steam or microwave before step 3

I have started eating a lot of veggies since WLS, because I needed something to make my meals more interesting. Since I avoid carbs, I'm fairly limited to dense protein and low-carb veggies.

One way to get started is try the frozen veggies you can cook in the bag, like SteamFresh.  They are really easy and tasty. Then you can get a taste for which types of veggies appeal to you and then look for recipes for that veggie on the internet. 

I like roasted veggies.  I'll make roasted cauliflower where you cut the cauliflower into bite-sized floweretes, put them in a zip-lock bag with a little olive oil salt and pepper and mix to coat.  Then dump them on a pan and bake for about 25 minutes, turning every 10 min until soft and  a little browned.  I sometimes add some balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese near the end of the baking for flavor. 

Another roasted veggie dish I like is made from zucchini, summer squash and red peppers.  Again coating them with olive oil, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings, and roasting them as above.

I also make a lot of combo dishes with chicken and broccoli, or Crack Slaw with Cabbage and ground beef, or stuffed green peppers.  There are so many choices, and  ton of recipes on the internet.

Best of luck,

Carol

My all time favorite is stir fry vegetables; Red bell pepper, slice onions, sliced zucchini, yellow squash and 1 plum tomato saute in coconut oil and when vegetables are cooked at your desire, add some fresh basil and 1/4 cup of parmesan.

Mashed cauliflower is my favorite. 

Cut up a head of cauliflower into pieces (or buy the already cut up), throw into a large pot of water with about 8-10 cloves of garlic.   Boil until cauliflower is tender.  Drain liquid and then put into a food processor.  Pulse until the consistency of mashed potatoes.   I add 3-4 wedges of Laughing Cow cheese and season with salt and pepper. 

Fresh green beans with garlic and ginger.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil in a skillet. Add 6 cloves of chopped up garlic and a few squirts of ginger in a squeeze tube.  Add green beans and cook a few minutes.   Add the juice of a lime and season with salt and pepper. Cook a few more minutes and enjoy. 

I bought something called a Vegetti which turns zucchini into spaghetti looking strands.  You can quickly boil it or lightly fry it in olive oil.  Add tomatoes and a little shredded parmesan. 

3 words: roast, Roast, ROAST!  My favorites are broccoli and brussel sprouts. Toss in some olive oil and sea salt then roast at about 450 degrees for 20 minutes.  AMAZING!  Good luck!

Also look into shirataki noodles.  Crazy good substitute for noodles & hardly any calories. Here's where I found out about them http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/28/shirataki-noodle-recipes_n_1919696.html. A must try!