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Week 2: Your Challenge: Eat Your Veggies!
Mom told you to eat your vegetables for good reason! Chock-full of nutrients, vegetables are an excellent source of disease-fighting antioxidants, which may help protect you from heart disease, certain cancers, and a host of other ailments. Many vegetables are also rich in soluble fiber, which means they help slow down digestion and keep you feeling fuller, longer. What’s more, veggies are wonderfully versatile: Not only are there hundreds of different types to choose from, but each can also be prepared in a variety of ways. You can enjoy an unlimited amount of many veggies on all Phases.
This Week: In order to reap the benefits of vegetables, it’s important to eat a wide variety of them. Cooking veggies is quick and easy; some healthy cooking techniques include grilling, steaming, and roasting. Your challenge is to choose three vegetables you may not have tried before. Think beyond your favorites and try a few lesser-known veggies such as jicama, Swiss chard, or kale, which are used in the new South Beach Diet Super Quick Cookbook. You can prepare them on three different days or try them all in one day — it’s up to you! Then, let us know throughout the week which veggies you tried, and how you prepared them. Did you make them as a side dish or use them as part of a salad? Are these new veggies now your favorites? Share your creative ideas and tips on how you cook vegetables with us here in the Boards.
This is going to be fun! It will definitely be a challenge for me to find veggies I haven't had though.
A few months back I tried mustard greens and Swiss chard for the first time. I sautéed them with some olive oil, a little garlic and a few squirts of lemon juice. They weren’t terrible, but I kind of felt like a kid being forced to eat my vegetables.
I tried jicama, sliced it up like carrot sticks. I liked that it was juicy and slightly sweet but I found that it was too much like eating a raw potato.
Undeterred from trying new veggies, I also tried hearts of palm. I sliced them up and put them in a tomato salad with a little olive oil and lemon. The hearts of palm had an interesting stringy texture and maybe it was because they were canned but they had a tin-like taste to me. I should have rinsed them better perhaps, or maybe bought whole instead of chopped.
On the flip side, there are lots of other veggies that I’ve tried for the first time as an adult and now love. Here’s a little shout out to broccoli raab, collard greens, bok choy, patty-pan squash, kale, Savoy & Napa cabbages, turnips, edamame (do they count as veggie or bean or both?)…I could go on forever.
Let the search begin...
We just tried the Snow Peas for the first time with last night's dinner in a sauteed medley of veggies that I served with seared salmon steaks. I cooked them together with baby bok choy, yellow squash, baby zucchini, red onions, garlic, and red bells. The snow peas were a GREAT addition to the group of veggies and I loved the taste, but I also cooked them tonight quite differently and learned a bit about how I prefer them. Tonight we had the Asian Chicken and Veggie Packets for our supper and I used the rest of those snow peas in my packets. These were wrapped in foil along with broccoli florets, chicken, onions, and sauce and baked for only 15 minutes. WOW! When we opened the packets to eat, I discovered fresh-looking snow peas, still bright green in color and they were crispy crunchy to bite! OH! Amazing! I will NEVER over-cook those little beauties in a saute again! :)
We had the Mexican Grey Squash and Chayote for dinner last Wednesday or Thursday, I think it was. I wrapped those up in foil and cooked them in the embers of our new fire pit in the back yard. The taste was EXCELLENT! The Grey is a soft-meat squash like yellow summer squash though and grilling them the way I did made them mushy. The Chayote, on the other hand, was wonderful. It's very firm flesh stayed firm when cooked and the flavor was distinct enough to stand out from the other veggies. They are both a little pricey, but I will definitely be making Chayote a regular purchase. I want to explore some other options for eating the Chayote.
On that same night, I discovered the delicate flavor of Kohlrabi Greens. I tried kohlrabi for the first time several paydays ago and ever since then it has become one of my regular grocery purchases. We all absolutely love it roasted with a little evoo - It kind of reminds me of warm artichoke hearts cooked that way. But I have always just sent the tops (greens) out to the chickens! SHAME ON ME! THAT will not be happening any more. From now on, I will be choosing my kohlrabi by how fresh its tops look! They are delicious. I steamed them, then mixed in a bit of lemon and chicken broth, and THEN folded the greens into a small batch of quinoa. I am a huge lover of almost any of the green leafy veggies, but Kohlrabi greens are most definitely my new favorite.
The Arugula, we tried for the first time ever withing the past couple weeks when I made a Cooking Light recipe - Mediterranean Turkey Burgers. The arugula was a garnish in the pita pocket along with the burgers. It was pretty good - almost a very subtle "spicy" kind of taste. I bought another bin of it a couple days ago and plan to try it this week in a salad. That should give me a better chance to decide whether I really like the stuff. Will have to report back on that.
Milkmaid,
I love your post! You've given me a couple of new veggies to try. I wasn't sure how I'd ever find them.
I agree about the snow peas, once I learned not to cook them to death I actually started liking them. The trick with the stir-fry is to add them at the last second; they only take just 30 seconds to cook. It's the same with sugar snap peas.
Patty Pan squash are little bitty summer squashes only about an inch or two in diameter. They look like little flying saucers. You can steam them or roast them and they are delish.
And now for my first vegetable…I tried arugula.
"Arugula is an aromatic salad green. It is also known as rocket, roquette, rugula and rucola. In Roman times Arugula was grown for both its leaves and the seed. Arugula seed has been used as an ingredient in aphrodisiac concoctions dating back to the first century, AD."
This can be found at www.gourmetsleuth.com along with some other interesting arugula facts. J
I prepared the arugula by steaming it in about a teaspoon of olive oil, basil, garlic and white wine. After it was wilted I tossed it with some whole wheat penne, roasted red pepper slices and grilled turkey sausage topped with a couple shakes of Romano cheese. It was delish. The arugula has about the same texture as baby spinach, with a kick of peppery-spicy flavor to it. The leaves are delicate and thread-like when wilted, which made it a little tricky to blend with the bigger chunks of pasta, pepper and sausage.
The verdict: I like arugula. It’s probably not my favorite like artichokes are, but I’ll definitely make it again. Next time, I’ll try it raw as a salad. I’d also like to try arugula pesto and arugula with warm bacon dressing which both sound like tasty ways to enjoy it.
5/13/10 And here is a pic of the completed dinner...
Absolutely delicious! I just love good "greens". Arugula is right near the top of the list for me. And I can't WAIT to try it wilted, like Justme did! I also think it would be good tossed together with a scoop of quinoa! Mmmmm! That's it! Going to try that tomorrow!
A few weeks ago, I purchesed a bulb at the then new Winco store in town. I have used the fronds of the fennel plant for years, but never the bulb, stem, or roots - as I now realize one can! Just like most of the other new veggies I have tried, I owe trying the fennel bulb to this board. What can I say? If someone else does it, I wanna do it too! Or at least give it a try. :) The last fennel bulb I brought home, we sliced up and taste-tested raw. Pfffft! I barely got a slice! My children even ran off with the stems and sucked/chewed them to a pulp! My son proclaimed countless times that evening, "MOM! This is just like candy!" Since that night, I have purchased one bulb each payday grocery shopping trip and it has always been a big deal when "mom gets out the liquorice plant for a treat". Hehe! but I have been really wanting to try it cooked.
Well... after a couple days of internet "hunting" (inspired, of course, by this wonderful thread), I have decided on a cooked fennel dish for my family to try. Actually, there are several we'll try, but for this assignment I wanted one that was simple, with not a bunch of other ingredients that would mask the contribution from the fennel itself. Soooo... FENNEL will be the star at my house tomorrow. I don't know whether it will get an encore request yet or a thumbs down, but we are going to try a recipe called Fennel and Red Bell Peppers from my favorite (so far) "fennel site". Here is the link to the wonderful fennel sub-page of democratherald.com, for those who are interested.. They have several great-sounding recipes. http://www.democratherald.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/article_64cf4360-2bb2-11df-87cb-001cc4c002e0.html .
I LOVE Red Bells. While Fennel is my 9-year old boy's new candy, Red Bells will always be mine. So for dinner, we will have the Fennel and Red Bell Peppers and I'll let everyone know what we think about cooked fennel in the Calder house.
Milkmaid,
When you make your fennel be sure to caramelize it like you would with an onion. It's is wonderful that way and even sweeter. I grew up having fennel. My husband doesn't care for it but I slip it in where I can. I almost put it in the turkey sausage and pasta dish I made the other night.
I've never eaten or used the top parts though - you'll have to give me some tricks on how to use the tops and little leaves. When I was a kid I thought that part of it was dill! LOL!!!
My second vegetable…I tried cucumbers, COOKED!
Yes, we’ve all probably had cucumbers, but how many of us have had cucumbers which were prepared cooked? I realize this is a little weird, which is exactly why I wanted to try it. I searched the web and found the most suitable recipe for me was the most simple.
Sautéed Cucumbers with Dill
I used about 3 large cucumbers, peeled them and sliced them in half lengthwise. After I scraped out all the seeds I quartered the long slices and chopped into 1 inch chunks. Then it was into the pan. I sautéed them for about 5 minutes just until they started to brown. At the last minute I tossed in some dill, salt and pepper.
You know what? They tasted just like summer squash or zucchini. I will definitely make these again. There are a bunch of recipes online for cooked cucumbers. Julia Child even has one for braised cucumbers. The cooking sort of intensifies the mild cucumber taste. They were also good dipped in a little Romano cheese and also with a little red sauce. (we had whole wheat penne last night with tomato sauce). 
I would never have thought of cooking cucumbers... don't know that you've convinced me of it yet (LOL), but you've at least got me thinking about it!
Of course, until recently I never would have thought of sauteeing or roasting radishes either and they are truly yummy!
Linda
The turkey sausage was hot italian so that did the trick of adding a little bit of spice. I love cracked red pepper.
Sauteed radishes, huh? I'll have to try those - sounds like they might be good mixed in with the cukes.
You are SO adventurous! I will definitely have to try the cooked cukes! Try your fun recipe with the English cukes next time you fix it. I love their flavor and no seeds to discard.
Regarding fennel fronds... I simply strip the feathery fronds from the stems and lay them out on paper towels to dry. Once completely dry, just store them in a baggie or spice jar. When I use them, I rub them between my palms to release the mild scents (mother always did that, I guess). I love the fronds on fish and in soups and stews, but it really is good on chicken and other meats, as well.
Really!?! Do they get browned, does the radish like spicyness mellow when they are cooked? I'm intrigued.
Have enjoyed reading about the veggies i have not trie down here . will attempt to do so.
I came home from my morning of teaching today and set out to cook Fennel for the first time ever for my lunch veggie. Here is the democratherald.com recipe that I chose (with my changes in blue, as always) for my first experience...
Fennel with Red Bell Peppers
Ingredients:
3 to 4 fennel bulbs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine (trans-free margerine)
1 small onion, chopped (bermuda onion)
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped.
1/2 cup whipping cream (ff H&H)
Directions:
Cut off fennel leaves; chop enough to make 1/3 cup and set aside. Cut off and discard stalks. Cut bulbs in half lengthwise; then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices.
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft. Add remaining butter and fennel slices to the pan. Cook, stirring until fennel is just tender-crisp to bite (about 2 minutes). Transfer to a serving dish.
Pour cream into pan. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to boil, stirring until reduced by half. Pour over fennel mixture and sprinkle with fennel leaves.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Sunset vegetable cookbook
I made two mistakes with this new experience. First, I chose to file away Justme's advice about caramelizing the fennel and for this first cook, follow the recipe's directions exactly. My second mistake was following the recipe's directions exactly.
* sigh *
It tasted sooooo good as I was preparing it. The combination of the flavors is perfect. I transferred it into great-grandpa's wooden bowl and ALMOST ate it just like that, because it was so, so good. BUT as I said, I decided to do what the recipe told me to do. I cooked down the half and half and poured it over my yummy lunch, then garnished it with the feathery, fresh fronds and took a picture. It's lovely! But... but... <wiping tears from cheek> but... THAT CREAM RUINED IT! YUCKY! :) Ahhhh, well... live and learn, huh! 