What do you do with veggies?
 

I chop up onion, red, green, yelllow peppers, tomato and sometimes other veggies and put it all mixed in a big tupperware.
I usually try to add the veggies to:

-home made pizza
-saute with baked chicken
-added to spaghetti sauce
-Mixed with canned black beans, a little cheese in a tortilla (somtimes chicken too)

I need more ideas! I hate letting vegetables get funky and rotten... and I need to keep up the veggie intake. Help!!! :)

Based on those particular ingredients, if you find they're going to go bad before you can use them you could always make salsa.

I love veggies but have the same problem of finding them all squishy in the bottom of my fridge:( A few things I like to do are:

1) Chop up celery, carrots and peppers and eat them with hummus for snacks
2) Spread Laughing Cow cheese in celery sticks (yum!)
3) Put layers of mushrooms, zucchini, spinach and/or eggplant in homemade lasagna
4) Throw in 2" pieces of asparagus or green beans in with whole wheat penne about 3 or 4 minutes before your pasta is done
5) Throw frozen or fresh veggies in any soup

Hope you find these helpful! Can't wait to hear some more good ideas!

I loooove SPINACH! I cook baby spinach and put it in everything---pasta sauce, on my grilled cheese, in my WW Italian soup...I eat it fresh with pimiento cheese or on sandwiches. I also grill onions and spinach to put on Boca burgers.

Baby carrots are a good snack, along with cherry tomatoes (I could eat a whole box in one sitting!) I also eat a lot of salads, with lettuce/spinach, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, spices, and FF Italian dressing...Yum!

Baked potatoes with salsa---a great meal!!! (and very healthy!)

Lastly, grilled vegetables are amazing, and it's that time of the year! Last weekend, I grilled tomatoes, onions, and squash..but you can add zucchini, peppers, potatoes...anything!! I didn't even use any marinade, just put them on skewers directly on the grill. YUM!!

How do you cook fresh spinich?

fresh veggies + hummus = excellent and easy on the calorie bank!

sometimes throwing veggies like cucumbers and peppers on regular sandwiches give them a fun, exepected crunch.

i'm also a fan of making healty, broth based veggie soups

this is an awesome thread--i love me some veggies!! :)

If I haven't used up my veggies then my last-ditch effort is to zap them in the microwave until tender, toss them in a little olive oil and garlic salt and eat them as a side or sometimes even the main dish. I really like making veggie-dense noodle stir-fries lately (I found brown rice noodles at Whole Foods and I love them!), and I've always added them to my rice dishes to help make the rice more filling and nutritious.

I also have a problem eating enough veggies, because I just don't know what to do with them and I get sick of the same old thing. I love some of the suggestions I've seen on this thread, and will try some out. :D

As for some of my veggie strategies:

*I make huge salads and toss in some shredded cabbage mix (cole slaw), cherry tomatoes, chopped cauliflower, and whatever else suits my fancy.

*I like cooking up zucchini in some olive oil with melted parmesan cheese on top. Mmmmm.

*I will sometimes cut up onions, coat them with fat-free dressing & bread crumbs, and throw them in the oven for home-made onion rings.

*I cook up mushrooms in a pan and sprinkle them with some garlic salt.

*I chop up cabbage, cook it in a pan with some "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" until it's not crisp (covering with a lid helps), then mix in some cooked Top Ramen noodles with it.

*I also like having a veggie sandwich on occasion: I fill it with tomato, avacado, lettuce, red onions, sprouts, and cucumber slices. I spread fat-free mayo & mustard on the bread. Delish!

I LOVE using veggies in wraps. I have these whole wheat wraps, 100 calories each, so I can basically have 2 of them for only 200 calories, and I throw a ton of veggies on there with mustard (which has 0 calories). My total calories for dinner with that meal is between 300 and 400, yet they fill me up very quickly.

I personally like to eat veggies alone too or with a low calorie dip. You can use some of them as a "mixed veggie" side dish to your dinner too, which is what I do.

When my veggies start going too soft, I'll blend them up and put them into some sort of sauce of soup.

Such as last night. I made pork chops for my fella and sneakily put carrots and peas and onions into the "gravy".

I buy a lot of frozen vegetables, so that helps things last longer. Although I do buy some fresh stuff, and I have found that glad 'press n seal' wrap does help keep things fresher a bit longer, at least tomatoes and onions. Any green leafy stuff I have that starts to get slightly wilted I just give to my pet rabbit. It makes her day :)

roasted cauliflower
 

I'm always trying to find new things to do with vegetables... why is it so hard to think of it sometimes?

I found this easy recipe on Simply Recipes for roasted cauliflower and have been using it ever since.

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
1 lemon
Olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese

Method
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut cauliflower into florets and put in a single layer in an oven-proof baking dish. Add garlic. Squeeze a lemon over cauliflower and drizzle each piece with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. If the oven hasn't reached 400°F yet, set aside until it has.

2 Place casserole in the hot oven, uncovered, for 15-25 minutes, until the top is lightly brown. Test with a fork for desired doneness. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4.

It's really yummy, even for non-cauliflower lovers! :carrot:

And my other favorite thing to do is grill asparagus with garlic chips... especially super skinny asparagus.

I also steam or microwave sweet potatoes, peel them, and then mash them up. You can add stuff like milk, butter, sweetener but I find it doesn't really need anything. It's almost like dessert!

For a "different" kind of salad, nothing beats fresh roma tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese, sea salt, ground pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic...

As you can see, I like the simple stuff as I am not a huge cook... more veggie ideas please!!

I use all of those very same veggies in one of my favorite dishes! I throw them together with a little cous cous or whole grain pasta, fresh lemon juice, lots of garlic, some black pepper and red pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, a little fat free feta and sometimes chicken too. It makes a super tasty "greek" type dish! I don't cook the veggies before hand, I like them fresh and crunchy tasting.

At the end of the week I take my leftover veggies and put them in the rice cooker with rice, easy and tastes great.