[buckandchelsea]

Any suggestions? Me and my wife are starting it a week from Monday. One big question is what is the difference between steamed and boiled? (Sorry we eat out a lot and braely cook) Can you boil your veggies? Also wth water can you put a lemon wedge in it? Anything else might not be in the book that we should know? Any and all help is appreciated. I am going to seach previous postings but was wondering about the lemon in the water and boiling/steamed question.

thanks,
Buck

[buckandchelsea]

I was looking and can not seem to find anwers to my questions so I thought I post again,
1) Can you put lemon in your water with Phase I
2) What is the the difference between boiling and steaming veggies?

[Quiltz]

I'm doing EFS, not the original FS, so I'm not sure what your rules are regarding the lemon. On EFS, only in phase 2 & 3, the books says we're allowed up to 1/2 C lemon juice a day which would make a lemon wedge perfectly ok in those cycles. If you're doing the original FS, check the guidelines in your book to see if lemon juice is allowed for phase 1.

Boiling is when you put the vegetables directly in the water, bring the water to a boil, and let it bubble with the veggies until they're cooked to your liking. You can lose a lot of vitamins this way (you'll notice the water taking on the color of the veggies).

Steaming is when you cook veggies above boiling water in a steamer basket or in a microwave steamer and with a lid on. Once the water boils, the steam rising off of the water cooks the veggies. You lose less vitamins this way and I think the veggies taste better with steaming.

Spices make the veggies much more palatable for me, although lemon certainly would help as well. Also, making a veggies soup by cooking the veggies and some spices in low fat, low sodium chicken broth (assuming that's allowed for you in phase 1).

[strawberryrhubarbpie]

I bought a microwave steamer from Tupperware years ago and it's wonderful. It's 3 pieces, you put the water in the bottom piece, the veggies in the middle piece (it has holes on the bottom), and then the lid. Pop it in the microwave for a few minutes (5 or more depending on what the veggie is), and out comes wonderful steamed veggies. It's a real life saver.

[Quiltz]

I have that steamer too, it's great! Mine came with an index card chart of how many minutes for what veggies, but most of what I cook takes 3-5 minutes.