Steaming veggies is fine, but Munchy is totally right, roasting them will bring out a ton more flavor. And sweet potatoes are a perfect example. When you roast those they get almost caramalized and they are fabulous!
My favorite veggies to steam are broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and zucchini. But I mostly do this to throw into other dishes.
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I have heard it said that raw veggies have the most nutrition, but most people get digestive issues from raw vegetables. And I can only eat raw veggies if there's dip. LOL I believe that the best way to serve vegetables is the way that will get you to eat them. People who tend to not like veggies should start out slow with small portions. Try adding some spices to them to find a way that best suits your taste.
The original poster seems to be gone, but others might benefit from this information, and these vegetable threads need to be livened up!
while microwaving veggies is the proven best wat to retain nutrition values in vegetables. Its only because boiling or steaming causes many of the vitamins in minerals in the skins to transfer into the water that leaks from them. However if you were to include the water in the that nutrition is still there. Its when we pour it out that it's lost down the drain.
another point is salt. Typically when we use salt in water and boil something in the water we smell it . That smell from the veggies boiling in the water is also the flavor. Its been trade red into the air. So try seasoning the vegtables after they've been cooked.
also fast heating bring out more of the flavor as opposed to slow cooking. But as the temp cools so does the flavor. Like mushroom for example.
the longer they remain until eaten the flavor seems to disapate.
I know mushroom isnt a veggie.
Something else to consider when cooking is to not scorch or burn the food.
Its my opinion that burt food starts to become toxic the more it is burned.
so there is point where we want to kill what's harmful , but not char it either.
I found after just reacquainted myself with raw vegtables I can appricate them more without heavy seasoning or charing. What discovered. Was in cases w h ere im fasting for up
to 36 hours .is that I tend to enjoy the the less flavor able foods due to being so hungry. I dont need the flavor perfection to enjoy it. That being said I've started seeking flavor perfection on days when im not fasting.
as far as broccoli . Because it's a carb . I eat it the morning. And because it's not a major flavir. I eat it with other food like onion that has strong flavor.
right now in the 26 hour mark... 4 more to go . I eat just before i go back into work. Where i stand walk alot. Thats what ice learned about eating the healthier for foods that aren't the tastiest foods. Im actually salivating thinking about brocoli.
So ill slightly steam 1 stalk. But i also make a healthy dip similar to hummus. And will dip the the broccoli in the chickpea tomato onion dip.
"Place the broccoli spears into a heatproof bowl and cover them with boiling water. Add a good pinch of salt and leave for 10 minutes. Drain and put to one side" -'Beef and broccoli stir fry' by Jamie Oliver
(I guess I can't directly reference the link from which this is quoted, so if the original recipe is needed please check google with the recipe citation.)
Maybe it's old news, but it's new to me and I love sharing this recipe! IMO this is the best method to cook the broccoli and is game changing. I think a lot of it has to do with texture, but it also brings out a slightly different flavour in the vegetable. I find myself using the method even when not stir frying and with various vegetables, particularily for my IP diet.
Thanks Mr. Oliver!
I do like steamed veggies, especially if there's still some crunch to them....soggy veggies are no fun! Lightly steamed broccoli with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and maybe some chili flakes. That said....my favorite way to eat broccoli is to toss it in a bowl with a little olive oil and minced garlic and chili flakes, then roast until the tips are charring. YUM
Steam away, if that's what you like! When I discovered roasted veggies I tried roasting EVERYTHING....some things turned out great, others not so much (roasted cauliflower was a big fail in my house!) I'd start steaming any veggie you wanted to try...maybe keep a list of what turned out great and what didn't. In my mind, anything that increases my vegetable intake is a bonus! The roasted brussels sprouts I eat by the bowlful are better for me than the lightly steamed ones I won't eat at all...even if roasting them killed some of their nutritional value. (Which I don't think it does, much, I was just using it as an example!)
I swear to my god I love sweet potatoes in the that as seen on TV POTATO EXPRESS. 5 minutes and it's perfectly.
YES microwave retains vitamins.
What I do is drum roll.................. !
Sugar free pancake syrup and cinnamon.
So put carrots and potatoes in if I'm making a soup.
Or if I'm opening a can of soup and I want to add volume to the can by adding the steamed vegetables. I can cook soup and the bag at the same time. Food in the less than 5 minutes helps me stay out of the kitchen. On fasting days I simply have to avoid the kitchen or hear the food calling to me . OK I know right?
If you haven't tried that onion thing that looks like a big plastic onion. It microwave an onion tender in undertow minutes.
My favorite is to cut up white onion in a veggetti. So that the onion is in the consistency and structure of pasta noodles.
Then it has many possibilities, Chili, roasts. Onion has many health properties , so I attend to eat them as often as I can about 2-3 times a week, but my favorite is blooming onion . I use that air
Fry thing. I use avocado oil. It's in my menu choices as a feed day treat. So I only get it occasionally, because I favor other feed day treats and I eat onion often enough. It's the sip sauce that kills my calorie counter.
I have an egg steamer. But it is just a steamer. So it steams other things too. Broccoli but I don't over cook or over steam it. Just enough to take the rawness off. I don't season it.
I know for a fact that eating broccoli is a synergy nutritional uptake when eaten with meats. NOT processed meats OMG. I have a steak and chicken nights . Saturday is steak. And Sunday is chicken. I eat the broccoli then . I never thought about it when I was an overeater, but now I can't imagine not getting my broccoli with steak sauce. Just in moderation. God I wish I were cooking today.
Really though find the easiest to clean steamer. Nothing wrong if you got dish washer , but if you don't steamers can take longer to clean than use. So I found little cheaper ones and use em all the time.
OK maybe possibly someone help me.
I eat tuna as main course meat twice a week.
Tuesday and Thursday.
What vegetable-s help make a great tuna salad.
I recently used very ripe avocado Instead of mayonnaise.
Any other ideas
If you are having trouble getting vegetables in your diet at all, I really wouldn't fret about what preparation is optimal for preserving nutrients. Which is better: Eating vegetables a way that appeals to you, even if they've lost some fraction of their nutrients, or not not eating vegetables at all because they are unpalatable to you in their supposedly optimal state?
I also encourage roasting. It's very easy and makes very flavorful vegetables. Olive oil, salt, and pepper are already enough seasoning. Or, toss a few peeled whole garlic cloves and some chunks of red onion in with whatever vegetables you are roasting to add a very nice sweet flavor. Or, balsamic vinegar goes very well with asparagus, broccoli, and the like.
I have read that raw veggies have less calories than cooked veggies. That is because your body does not digest raw foods the same way as cooked. So a raw carrot ends up having less calories than a cooked carrot.
But I like cooked better. The less water you cook them in, the more nutrients they retain.
Does no one toss them in a wok/frying pan? I can easily make a stir-fry or pasta sauce using 1/4 teaspoon oil per serving, and kept doing this even when I had to stay on a low-fat diet due to gallstones. You can cook them quickly and they have far, far more flavour. I can't remember the last time I steamed a vegetable, they come out rather miserable that way, and it's very rare for me to nuke them. If you have difficulty pouring a small amount of oil, trying buying small bottles of oil to pour from, and then refilling them from large ones.
I got an air fryer last year and its great for roasting veggies. (Note that air fryer bakes and does not actually fry things).
Asparagus specifically has been great- Just a tiny bit of olive oil, salt, and a few minutes in the air fryer and it brings out the flavor while reducing the bitter taste.
Broccoli is my #1 thought. I bought a microwave steam bowl on Amazon which makes prep easy. I buy a giant frozen bag of pre-chopped broccoli so there's no prep-time, and throw them in just long enough its still slightly crunchy.
steamed veggies vs raw
