let's talk vegetables

[joelsgirl]

So you're supposed to eat 3 servings of veggies a day. That's like 21 servings of vegetables a week. I'm finding it hard to bring some variety to the table, so I'm wondering what some of you serve.
Here's what we eat:
Roasted Veggies (broccoli & sweet potatoes are our favorites, though not together)
Potatoes: baked, mashed, roasted
Carrots, raw
Broccoli: steamed with cheese or roasted
Green Beans: stir fried or boiled with bacon
And really, that's all we like, really. I'd like to broaden our vegetable choices, so tell me what you guys eat and how you cook it. Recipe links are always appreciated.

[mariewilcox]

Actually, you really should eat 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day

BUT - a serving is only a half cup, so if you eat a salad you are getting way more than 1 serving of vegetables/fruits.

Also remember that berries count too. I eat a 1/2 cup blueberries on my oatmeal in the morning or an apple sliced up on my oatmeal or a banana on my toast with peanut butter.

As for what we eat for vegetables with meals here is a list of the things we eat:
*summer squash sauteed with EVOO, onions and chopped garlic
*green cabbage sauteed with EVOO, onions and chopped garlic
*mashed winter squash
*Bruschetta (tomatoes, basil, garlic, EVOO, balsamic)
*steamed green peas
*raw vegetables with hummus (colored bell peppers, carrots, celery, cucumber)
*tossed salads
*tomatoes cut up and tossed with EVOO and balsamic
*green beans
*sauteed fresh corn with onions and chopped garlic
*beets (just steamed)
*baked sweet potato fries
*brussel sprouts roasted with garlic
*steamed broccoli
*roasted asparagus with sesame seeds and sesame oil
*roasted vegetable combo (sweet potato, beets, peppers, fennel, brussel sprouts)

I'll try to hook you up with some recipes but I really don't follow many recipes

Okay, we often eat meals where the vegetables aren't just a side (especially since we don't eat meat at all) - we love stuffed peppers and each one is at least 2 servings of vegetables if not 3. I don't always use poblanos either, you can use a regular colored bell pepper.

We also love soups/stews that are loaded with vegetables and a stir fry is a great way to load up on vegetables.

Also, remember that a plate of spaghetti with red sauce is a serving of 2 vegetables if you have a cup of sauce. A bowl of chili with tomato sauce and bell peppers and onions in it is at least 2 servings of vegetables.

I'll start a list here of our favorite soup recipes:
Spicy Carrot and Ginger Soup

[Tracyfish]

We eat:
Sweet Peas - just heated in a pot
Corn - just heated in a pot or corn on the cob boiled
Cauliflower - roasted or boiled and then mashed up with cheese
Brussel Sprouts - roasted in the oven on a pan with cut up bacon pieces and then splashed
with red wine vinegar after they are done
Broccoli - steamed or with cheese
summer squash & sweet onions - sliced up and then cooked in the oven with a little butter,
garlic powder and salt and pepper
Potatoes - mashed, sliced & layered with flour, cheese and milk (scalloped potatoes), baked
Tomatoes - sliced with salt & pepper

[LJSDesigns]

My favorite ia asparagus and red peppers. Just clean the asparagus and slice the red peppers in strips and spread them out on a cookie sheet lined with foil and evoo cooking spray. Season them to preference and squeeze half a lemon over it all and bake in the oven. So good!!

Brussels sprouts are awesome too. I steam them first then cut them in half and sautee them with some butter spray and cracked black pepper.

Fresh corn on the cob is a big one for us right now. So delicious!

We also do fruit as a side dish with every meal. Whatever I choose I just clean it, slice it if needed and put it on everyone's plate. They tend to eat what's in front of them.

[Stacey42]

We eat
spinach salad
sweet potatoes - grilled, steamed, mashed, roasted
beets - grilled or roasted
asparagus - grilled or roasted
peas, corn & carrots frozen mix bag
carrots - raw & in things like stew
corn - on the cob, off, creamed in muffins or cornbread
cauliflower - roasted or raw
broccoli - roasted, raw or stir fried
parsnips - roasted & in stew
eggplant - grilled and roasted (usually then pureed & used as filler in meatloaf, lasagna & as a sauce for pasta
zucchini - grilled or shredded and added to a frittata

and since it's supposed to be a mix of fruit & veg we erve apples, oranges, cantaloupe, watermelon, mangos and various fruit salads depending on the season with lunch & supper.

A lot of times in summer it's a platter of crunchy raw veggies & fruit slices in the middle of the table & everyone can help themselves.

We also drink those veggie/fruit juices like v8's Vfusion and Ocean Sprays 100% fruit & veggie juice

[Darcy Baldwin]

Heck - half of a cup of salsa is a vegetable serving

[ayaandjudah]

Darcy is right about the salsa...YUM!

We eat:
Avocadoes
Squash, baby broccoli, beets, onions, bell pepper and asparagus on the grill! YUM
Celery and raw carrots with dip
salads
peas steamed
broccoli steamed
tomatoes sliced with mozzarella cheese

then for fruits, we eat apples, bananas, peaches, berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries), pears

[kscwgirl]

I'm not good w/ veggies I eat raw carrots, raw cauliflower, raw and cooked broccoli, corn.. and that's about it. I don't like any kind of peas or beans and i can't stand cooked carrots. Its a texture issue.

[schock77]

I need this thread for ideas as I'm trying hard to eat clean which involves lots of plants! I'm hoping that by doing this now, my kids won't struggle with eating healthy as I have.

[kelley]

I eat pretty much any veggie. One of my fav things is to make a veggie soup. First we just saute veggies (carrots, onions, brocolli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, whatever) with some garlic. Then add veggie broth. Then I transfer to a blender adn puree it mostly, then add some cheese, parmesan usually.

I also like to do sauteed bell peppers, spinach, and tomatoes with some jalapeno and have a veggie fajita plate.

Those are some of my faves aside from the usual spinach salad or side of brocolli. I eat lots of cooked veg, but I try to do lots of raw veg too because they are more nutritional.

[mariewilcox]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

Heck - half of a cup of salsa is a vegetable serving

Exactly! LOL - and don't forget the pickles, chutneys, and like I said red spaghetti sauce, etc.

And how could I forget avocados! We eat lots of those too. And fruit for breakfast or berries or both. Smoothies with fruit count as a serving too.

[LJSDesigns]

Since I have been dieting, my meals consist mostly of fruit and veggies with smaller portions of meat as more of a side dish then the main course. I've learned to add veggies every where. For example we are having taco salad for dinner tonight. It will have black beans, roasted corn cut from the cob, tomatoes, carrots, blk olives, lettuce of course, maybe some cucumber from the garden and a little left over chicken sauteed in evoo spray with red and green peppers and onions. It is delicious. I usually cook an extra chicken breast and corn on the cob during our weekly meals for this fast leftover meal on the weekend.

I think anything works in a salad, so I also put strawberries, dried cranberries and other fruits in a side salad with most meals. I mix it up with good veggies like mushrooms, cucumbers, sweet peas, carrots, ect... At first my family was like "why is there fruit in our salad?," but after they tried it they loved it. What I don't do is use a lot of dressing on any of it. That is where the salad calories get you. lol

[Sarah8914]

I need to figure out how to get my KIDS to eat more veggies! They'll eat broccoli (sort of), green beans, and maybe corn... and that's about it. Maybe I should serve those more often because it's better than nothing!

Shane and I LOVE peppers, squash and zucchini. He sautes onions, squash, zucchini and garlic (and some red or yellow peppers if we have some) in some olive oil and adds a little italian seasoning and whatever else. It's delicious. We eat that with spaghetti every time now and I seriously want it ALL the time!

Anyway, that probably doesn't help, but good luck.

[4noisyboys]

One of our favorites is grilled squash (zucchini and yellow), bellpeppers (all colors), onions, and artichoke hearts. We toss with a little olive oil and either bake in a 450 oven on a pan, or use a grill pan out on the grill.

We love cabbage and onion chopped fine and sauteed with a little coconut oil.

Brussel sprouts...roasted with a little bacon and then splashed with balsamic vinegar

roasted sweet potatoes....yummm!

I make a Thai chicken curry and put TONS of veggies in it...cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, roasted red peppers, etc....

My favorite salad is fresh greens, chopped fresh orange, sliced strawberries, sliced toasted almonds...maybe a little blue cheese if you like it. Toss it all with fresh squeezed orange juice and then lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can add chicken or salmon too. I could eat a major size bowl of this every single day!

[mariewilcox]

Originally Posted by 4noisyboys

One of our favorites is grilled squash (zucchini and yellow), bellpeppers (all colors), onions, and artichoke hearts. We toss with a little olive oil and either bake in a 450 oven on a pan, or use a grill pan out on the grill.

We love cabbage and onion chopped fine and sauteed with a little coconut oil.

Brussel sprouts...roasted with a little bacon and then splashed with balsamic vinegar

roasted sweet potatoes....yummm!

I make a Thai chicken curry and put TONS of veggies in it...cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, roasted red peppers, etc....

My favorite salad is fresh greens, chopped fresh orange, sliced strawberries, sliced toasted almonds...maybe a little blue cheese if you like it. Toss it all with fresh squeezed orange juice and then lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can add chicken or salmon too. I could eat a major size bowl of this every single day!

Yum Debra! Just leave out the chicken and I would love eating at your house! I'm so glad that Cheyanne loves curry as much as I do because I crave that stuff all the time. And we eat fruits on our salads all the time too - blueberries, strawberries, Craisins, apples oranges... I'm making myself hungry!

[crystalbella77]

oh we are huge fans of corn and LOVE to eat corn on the cob in the summer and the kids love it sooo much so we eat it all the time. We love brussel sprouts as well and I either boil or roast them. the kids are way into salad so they have a salad a lot and two of them are huge fans of salsa

[rach3975]

We tend to eat multiple servings of the same fruit or vegetable at a time rather than 5-9 different ones each day. So for example, lunch for the kids might include a big helping (2 servings) of strawberries. Dinner might include 2 servings of melon plus a serving of steamed carrots or we might have beans (which they'll eat 2 servings of) plus corn and a big serving (2) of melon. For me, I eat a big salad for dinner every night and get anywhere from 3-5 servings in it depending what I top it with that night. I also give the kids at least 1 serving of fruit or vegetable with every snack.

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

I need to figure out how to get my KIDS to eat more veggies! They'll eat broccoli (sort of), green beans, and maybe corn... and that's about it. Maybe I should serve those more often because it's better than nothing!

Yeah, me, too! I serve plenty of veggies, but each of the kids has a small list that they like and won't eat more than the required bite of anything else. Of course, except for beans they don't all like the same vegetables so I can't hit everyone's favorites at the same time. My pediatrician's advice is to keep serving all vegetables even if they're not eating them and to increase fruit servings so they're still getting enough produce.