I was thinking this morning about all the veggies I've tried over the years that I never dreamed of trying when I was younger, or even knew about. And now many of them are staples in my repertoire.
Cabbage: growing up, it was always boiled and stinky. Now I stir-fry it with sesame, or saute it with ground beef or ham. Tender crisp, filling, and definitely NOT stinky!
Spinach/kale: Started trying to eat spinach in my 20s. Fell in love with Boston Chicken's oh-so-fattening creamed spinach. Learned to make spinach more low-fat by adding it to stewed tomatoes (same way I learned to eat kale), then each batch lowered the amount of tomatoes and increased the amount of spinach until I could eat it plain. Now I love spinach or kale just fried up with olive oil, garlic and red pepper.
Chard: Loved looking at the rainbow or red stalks in the market, but had NO idea what to do with it. Now I saute it with oil and garlic, then finish with a sprinkle of basalmic vinegar. YUM!
Jicama: Again, wanted to try it but didn't know what to do. Tried it as "chips" but it was pretty limited. Then discovered dressing it with lime and chili. WOW!
What are the favorite vegetables you've discovered on your journey?
EDAMAME !!! I love the little beans!! I put it in soups, salads, stir fry, eat it as a snack-frozen ones lightly warmed up just to take the frost off..nibbled right out of the bowl.
Also, I'm a huge fan of Spinach, I eat 2-4 cups a day in salads.
Beans-not exactly a vegetable but a plant based food that I didn't used to eat before. Now I use them in salads, casseroles, tacos (in the place of meat). I love beans of all persuasions: garbanzo, red beans, black beans, pinto beans. Mmmmm....
Cabbage-I buy a big bag of "coleslaw" mix when I do my weekly veggie shopping, it's already cored and shredded and is a mixture of green and red cabbage. I add it to soups, salads, stir fries. Eat it steamed with apple slices and thinly sliced pork with a tiny touch of apple cider vinegar sprinkled on it.
Baby Carrots- I know they are not really babies but are just cut and smoothed regular carrots but I eat about a pound of them a day. I also eat them in salads or steam them as a quick side for dinner.
Last edited by Michelle98272; 05-11-2010 at 11:42 AM.
Also loving: bell peppers of all colors, cucumbers, cabbage and collards. And finding more to love regularly, even though I was an "I don't like vegetables" child/teen/early 20 something. I've been missing out!
Still learning to love: broccoli & spinach... I'm just not there yet!
I used to eat veggies all the time growing up and there is really only 1 veggie I learned to love.
Spinach - My mom loves spinach and always has but she really used to like the canned kind. I had a gag reflex to the smell of canned spinach. So I never wanted to eat spinach in any form. It took me quite a few years to eat it even in raw form and then even sometimes in cooked form, I didn't like it. Now I absolutely love spinach any way although I won't be trying the canned form
Squash - Zucchini, yellow, butternut, spaghetti....I love them all.
My favorite dish is sliced zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in a dash of olive oil with onions then sprinkled with a dash of parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Yummo!
I keep trying new veggies, or veggies I've tri3d before and didn't like.
So far, I can tolerate aparagus cooked in the barley risotto recipe I found on here.
I have grown to enjoy sweet potatoes as oven fries, and will be trying one baked tonight for the first time, with cumin, chipotle powder, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of brown sugar.
I like zucchini if it's shredded smal and put into something else like meatloaf or the barley risotto.
I tried butternut squash, just roasted chunks with seasonings and I still don't like it. I have an awesome pumkin and black bean soup that I love, so I might try the butternut squash in that sometime, though it doesn't really matter since pumpkin is a fruit/veg/squash too.
Don't like parsnips or turnips. Maybe if they were combined with potatoes or made with a really hearty beefy stew. Also dont' like peas, cauliflower, broccoli, yellow squash or green beans unless the green beans are cooked in bacon fat with onions and mushrooms...which is right on out at the moment.
I have always LOVED: corn, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, peppers, cooked tomatoes, or seeded tomatoes raw, cabbage, cucumber, celery, all kinds of lettuce except for iceberg, which is just okay. Can't think what else, but mostly I prefer veg raw. If they are cooked to mushy, then they have a horrid texture and I usually dont' like 'em...but sometimes I do.
Leeks were always a "weird" veggie for me. Then I got a recipe for a soup that used them, but it calls for 2, and they're sold in bunches of 3. So, I just started tossing the extra one into a stir fry. Yum.
I used to hate yellow squash, and then I went to a friend's house where she had made us flatbread pizzas with turkey kielbasa, yellow squash, and onions. I ended up eating the toppings and not the bread, and I've started to make the dish without the bread or cheese.
I like some ways of preparing mushrooms now. I used to dislike any kind.
Fresh raw beets from the farmer's market. I always loved the canned beets as a kid, but had never tried just peeling and slicing!
Bok choy is another great choice for asian stir fries, or Fennel in more americanized stir-fry.
I still can't eat celery without peanut butter on it, and there's no way you're getting me to eat cucumber unless it's the cucumber in tzaziki sauce.
Oh, and my big favorite that I "learned" to love? Alfalfa sprouts. Sometimes I use it instead of lettuce or spinach for a salad base.
Oh I forgot about celery. Celery used to be one of those I liked as long as it wasn't a dominant flavor. Lately, I'm completely obsessed to with celery. My husband says I'm a celery addict because every time we are at the store, I have to buy it.
Vegetables we've learned to love
