Easy Ways to Dress Up Veggies For Variety, Flavor and Enjoyment
I hope you enjoy Starting from Scratch, my second book, published each week online, one chapter at a time. Before the book’s final publication, I hope to sprinkle readers’ thoughts, opinions and advice throughout. After all, you each have helpful systems and solutions in the kitchen worth sharing. In addition, for each section, I’m consulting experts in their fields – for this excerpt, it’s Lynne Viera, founder of how2heroes.
I really like vegetables, and just about any kind of vegetable. I even liked them when I was a little girl, canned or cooked for hours in bacon grease.
In my opinion, part of our country’s disinterest in eating vegetables is due to a lack of creative preparation. We steam them or stir fry them, deluge them in butter or perhaps we still cook them all day until they’re mush. The result is a lack of variety and a little boredom in flavor.
I’m no veggie expert and by no means have a repertoire as extensive or exciting as a professional chef, but I have experimented with cooking veggies a few different ways to make them more interesting. I have even had success in getting my son, Luke, to eat veggies.
Here are some ideas to making eating veggies more interesting and enjoyable.
Grill them. A number of vegetables taste great when grilled, such as Vidalia onions, red peppers and zucchini squash. All you have to do is flavor them with a little salt, pepper and olive oil, possibly balsamic vinegar if you’re really feeling crazy.
Two other favorites are asparagus and corn. I marinate asparagus in olive oil, premium soy sauce and garlic, then after grilling, I pour the marinade back on top of the asparagus.
Corn is wonderful seasoned with a little chili powder and paprika, then some lime juice after 8-10 minutes on the grill. It takes great and is healthier than drenched in butter.
Roast them. Especially convenient in the winter, all you have to do is peel (if necessary) and chop root vegetables, like carrots, turnips and parsnips, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake them for about 45 minutes. Our delicious sweet potato fries are prepared this way, too, sliced up in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the mood, and then baked.
Roasted beets taste great in salads and broccoli is wonderful when seasoned with spices and doused in olive oil. Roasted about 15 minutes at high heat, roasted broccoli has nice flavor that’s a change of pace from the usual steamed version.
Mash them. Who said mashies have to be a category exclusive to potatoes? Mashed cauliflower is tasty, too, and I can even get Luke to eat it! All you have to do is steam the cauliflower (in chicken broth instead of water) for 15-20 minutes, mash and add a small amount of mayonnaise. They are yummy!
Puree them. Lynne recently made a big batch of Romesco and commented, “It couldn’t be more healthy, or more versatile. You roast a wonderful array of ingredients for about an hour including red peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic – and most importantly, almonds. Puree and voila, you have a sauce for fish or chicken, a dip for crudités, a topping for toasted bread or a side for eggs. AND it freezes really well.” Check out the video on how2heroes for further instructions on how to make Romesco sauce.
Dip ‘em! I started the notion of magic cream sauce (aka Ranch dressing) served with raw veggies a long time ago, and now many of Luke’s friends have jumped on board. Lynne also reminds us, “Pesto and hummus also make veggies more fun to eat.” Both of these are easy to make and versatile with lots of dishes.
Cheese ‘em. My mom liked to make lots of vegetable casseroles when I was a little. And though they tasted great at the time (especially that spinach casserole), I later learned how much butter, cream and cheese were added to those dishes. Not only can casseroles be a pain in the neck to make, but they are usually laden with fat, too.
As an alternative to super rich sauces, sprinkle some grated cheese on veggies. I throw cheese on cauliflower and baked potatoes, but you might like it on other veggies as well. If you use a sharper cheese that’s more flavorful, you’ll probably need less of it.
Slow cook them. Slow-cooked veggie dishes like Caponata also a great use of veggies and super easy.
“Fake fry” them. I have to have some way to re-live my youth and fondness for okra! If you slice up this heavenly veggie, sauté in olive oil and sprinkle some corn meal on top, it’s better than the deep fried version! Sliced squash can be prepared the same way.
Add new spices to them. It doesn’t always have to be butter and/or olive oil, salt and pepper. Fresh garlic and ginger are wonderful when veggies are stir fried, while paprika and cumin are great on sweet potato fries. Try fresh parsley on sautéed mushrooms or capers with Brussels sprouts. It’s hard to find a combination that lets you down.
Throw them into lasagna. Lynn suggests, “Veggie lasagnas using whatever you have on hand are a fun way to experiment with everything from eggplant to zucchini, mushrooms and butternut squash.”
I made eggplant parmesan this summer, in fact, and Luke love it. His review was, “Oh, mommy. This is delicious. I just love the meat!”
Dressing up veggies has never been easier or tasted better. What are you waiting for?
About Lynne
Lynne Viera is the Founder of how2heroes, the premiere how-to video cooking website. Lynne combined her expertise in creating websites for major brands like Safeway and National Geographic Channel (as the Founder/CEO of Rival Marketing) and her passion for food to create this world-class website destination for people who really want to learn how to cook. Every video is original and carefully shot so viewers can easily replicate the recipes and techniques being demonstrated in the videos. The site features a combination of master chefs like Ming Tsai, Angelo Sosa (Top Chef) and Jason Santos (Hell’s Kitchen) as well as home cooks, farmers, fishmongers – anyone who has creative cooking ideas to share.
Photo courtesy of http://myrecipes.com.
I'm excited to try the "fake fry"...I love veggies, but I do get in a rut of making the same salads and stir fries over and over again. My new Spud.com deliveries are really helping me venture out to explore different veggies than I usually buy. It's been a great way to force my husband and I to have more healthy diets!
P.S. - I'm loving all the Indian Vegetarian recipes on How2Heroes - they've been so helpful for cooking for our close friends who are vegetarian! 
Track comments via RSS.
I wish I had learned to roast veggies years ago. They are so much tastier that way.
I’m excited to try the “fake fry”…I love veggies, but I do get in a rut of making the same salads and stir fries over and over again. My new Spud.com deliveries are really helping me venture out to explore different veggies than I usually buy. It’s been a great way to force my husband and I to have more healthy diets!
P.S. – I’m loving all the Indian Vegetarian recipes on How2Heroes – they’ve been so helpful for cooking for our close friends who are vegetarian!