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I'm not getting enough of a variety of VEGGIES!!! HELP!!!
Started
by Alexis Black
on November 27, 2009
ok so here's the dealio: i just became vegan after reading alicia's book and realized i dont know that much about a varied vegan diet. Alicia talks about having variety in our diet so we can get all our nutrients. The only veggies i have now are broccoli, carrots, sweet potatos, and kabocha squash. I didn't get anything else from the store because i have NO idea what anything else is or how to prepare it. Any suggestions for some other veggies and how to prepare them and also what they're good with?! please and thank you!
Beets are great. You can drizzle them in olive oil and add salt/pepper and wrap them in foil and bake them in the oven (375) until they are soft. You can also steam them until they are a little soft and them saute them. They go great with spinach. you can eat them raw in salads. Lotsa options!
One of my favourite lunches is some kind of variation on Alicia's magical healing soup...I boil some water and throw in some carrots, daikon, leeks, mushrooms, cabbage--let it boil for a few minutes then turn off the heat and add some chopped broccoli and kale until they turn bright green. Then I "season" with a little shoyu and ginger juice. I usually add some cooked brown rice or soba noodles (add at the beginning with the carrots) and a few mochi croutons and top with chopped pea sprouts or watercress, sometimes I throw in some cubed tofu...it's a big bowl of veggie goodness and you can put in whatever looks good from the store-baby bok choy and celery are nice additions too.
Miles, the beets sound great! thanks for the idea. and clare, what parts of the leeks do you use? the whole thing or just the green parts?
I haven't managed to warm up to beets yet. I get them in my CSA box every week and keep trying to cook them different ways but just prefer other veggies. I agree with Clare about putting a bunch of veggies into the soup. I also do a stew with cannellini beans, kale, carrots, onions, tomatoes and then I mash up some beans to thicken it. Mmmm. Also, thanks to Alicia, I now love collard greens, and they are so easy to make using Alicia's Sicilian collards recipe. The collards go great with any pasta dish and even just on top of some brown rice. Probably great on soba noodles too!
Roasting sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts and kale with garlic was a new yummy dish for me. I roast in olive oil with salt and pepper. And, if you make a soup, I recommend sauteing onion, celery and carrot in olive oil with garlic to start then adding anything you like to the soup. I've been using vegetable broth in a box and it is yummy. If you have leftover rice, it works well in soups too.
Roasting your veggies on a cookie sheet is a great way to cook greens because they have this toasty flavor.
Try cutting brussels sprouts in half, olive oil, and a little salt and roasting them
Try eating some veggies on a salad! I like to grate a beet raw on salads, or red bell pepper (if you aren't doing the no nightshades thing).
Also, green beans and snow peas are super yummy. With a touch of tamari and toasted sesame oil. Divine.
WOW great ideas guys. Thank you all so much!!! I'm off to the store haha :)
Another good veggie for roasting is parsnips - they take on a really nice taste roasted. I sometimes roast them with onions, sweet potatos or squash. I first heat a roasting dish with a litle olive oil until the oven reaches 350 and then add the chopped onions, parsnips, sweet potatos or squash (squash cooks a lot faster than the rest though so can get overcooked) and sometimes for a real treat add potatos. When they take on that real roasted crispiness it adds a great flavor. Leave uncovered in oven stirring occasionally.
Hi Alexis, ditto on the parsnips! I roast them with carrots, butternut squash, turnips, and red onion. Drizzle with a little olive oil before roasting (and some pure maple syrup or brown rice syrup if you want to sweeten them more), and add some chopped parsley and a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end. Scrumptious! I've also been loving bok choy lately: saute some garlic and fresh ginger in a bit of olive oil, then add rough chopped bok choy (white parts for a few minutes first) and a splash of shoyu. I like to eat this with organic brown basmati rice and you can make a little stir-fry of it by adding any other veggies you want (peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc). I also get 'braising greens' from my local farmers' market (several kinds of mustard greens and kales) and like to toss them with a quick dressing of olive oil and vinegar. I toss in some sunflower or pumpkin seeds and eat alongside a baked sweet potato with cinnamon and usually some variety of beans. Hope this gives you some additional ideas! I am still learning, too! :)
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