Writing when I should be asleep

[403]

Over dinner last night, I read Eat food. Stuff you like. As much as you want. by Michelle over at Fat Nutritionist, and it occurred to me that I want to like vegetables, not least because my body seems to ask for them on a semi-regular basis... but I don't know what to do with them. When I was a kid, veggies came from a can and were served as-is (which is to say, disgustingly). I don't have the experience to evaluate a veggie-centric recipe for whether or not I'll like it, and as a result it's proving difficult to bootstrap myself up to preparing meals with them as often as I'd like.

Comments

[milkymoon]

That is an awesome article, seriously. I tend to not cook as many vegetables as I should, mostly because...well, there's a lot of association with them being 'foisted' on, and the texture of some uncooked vegetables is a bit...meeeeh.

[403]

Meh, shoulds. For the first six months or so when I moved out on my own, I probably didn't eat anything more veggie-like than mushrooms and hot peppers because my folks had told me to do otherwise for a good long while. It was just a bit confusing when my body first requested veggies after that - by way of an unexplained food craving that I had to walk through the nearest grocery store's produce section, sniffing the food, to nail down. (Target turned out to be raw cauliflower, which I didn't realize had a smell before that.)

[taldragon]

depending on what kind of veggies you like, either simply boiling them works or else use a recipe book.

my stepmum (a vegetarian cook) swears by the Moosewood cookbook - it's got some really scrumptious recipes that are filling, nutritious, fun and cheap.

[taldragon]

http://www.amazon.com/Moosewood-Cookbook-Katzens-Classic-Cooking/dp/1580081304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299101294&sr=8-1

[siderea]

I'm not a big believer in doing elaborate things with veggies, though the zucchini you're rashly cultivating will require some treatment. Mostly, though, vegetables come already tasty.

In particular, I buy frozen peas, which I nuke in a tiny bit of water in a covered dish, and they come up perfectly scrumptuous. Frozen broccoli works out OK too; you might want to put butter/margarine, salt and pepper on them. The margarine, salt and pepper thing works very nicely on french-cut frozen green beans.

My normal heuristic is three minutes of nuking at a time, stop and stir, and repeat until it's sufficiently cooked.

[403]

I'll try that. Thanks!

[serenissima]

You like Indian food, right? Where I went to college, there was a nearby Indian restaurant that claimed on its menu, "If you don't like a vegetable, you'll like it the way we prepare it." And my vegetarian kosher mainly-eats-Mexican-and-Italian-food roommate said they told the truth.

As far as frozen vegetables, I like edamame, green beans, brussel sprouts, and corn... but corn is hard to mess up, and one of my doctors told me it doesn't have much nutrition. Unlike siderea, I'm suspicious of frozen broccoli: I think it's mushy. I do like lightly steamed or stir-fried fresh broccoli. And over the past two or three years, I've discovered that eggplant is rather nice.

I suppose you could try one new vegetable every couple of weeks, in at least two preparations, to see how you like it? Otherwise sticking to what you already know you like.