So I just recently started calorie counting with myfitnesspal, and while I'm staying at/under my daily limit, it's more because I'm just eating less of the food I normally eat (which isn't the healthiest quality!). I know I should be exchanging some of those things for healthier options-- like fruits and veggies. The problem is, I'm not a huge fan of either. I know, terrible! But do you ladies have any suggestions for how to make them, well, more appealing?
I've always loved fruits and veggies, but hubby is pickier.
I've gotten him to try and like more veggies by doing what my mother and grandmother used to do when we didn't like a veggie. She'd prepare it in a way that we did like (usually by adding fat of some kind - butter, sauce, dip, cheese....) and then would use less and less of the fatty ingredient until we liked the veggie on it's own.
She also used the "eat it or you can't leave the table" tactic - but that didn't work as well. We didn't have to "clean our plates" but we had to have at least two bites of everything being served. For years I would plug my nose and swallow beets like pills, so I wouldn't taste them.
Now I love beets, but I wouldn't have even tried them if it weren't for a crazy little incident when I was in my early 20's. My mother and I had ordered greek salads, which came with sliced beets. My mom stuck her fork in my salad without asking to stab my beets, and I objected on principle. Mom said "but you don't like beets," and I said "well, I should at least be given a chance to decide whether or not I want a part of MY salad."
So, Mom asked "well, do you want the beets on your salad?," and I decided that I had to try one to save face. And I loved it. It still tasted like dirt (as I remembered from my childhood) but in the salad it "tasted like dirt, in a good way."
My tendency to ramble is coming out, but I've learned that a lot of the veggies I thought I didn't like, I actually do like when they're made a certain way.
For example, experience with beets gave me the idea to experiment with other veggies I didn't like. One that recently surprised me was brussels sprouts.
Until just a couple years ago, I had never met a brussels sprout I did like. Then our favorite farmers' market vedor (who always throws in extra freebies) threw in brussels sprouts. I didn't want them to go to waste - so I decided to roast them.
I swear roasting with oil and seasonings could make shoe leather taste good. I quartered the sprouts and tossed the with a generous amount of oil in a ziploc bag. Then added a couple tablespoons of ranch dressig mix (I buy it in bulk but it's equivaleent of a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing powder).
I found out they tasted amazing this way, and I just kept using less and less oil, every time I made them.
Eating tons of fat isn't the best way to keep eating veggies, but it can get you started on a veggie. If you calorie count or use an exchange system, you can just reserve some "good fat calories" to go to veggies.
One of my recipes that gets rave reviews even from veggie-haters is my veggie potluck salad. We have a friend who treats veggies like poison, and he will even eat my veggie potluck salad.
About 12 to 24 hours before I'm going to serve it - I empty a bag or two of frozen california blend or other mixed veggies into a bowl. My favorite blend to use are the stir-fry blends (but you have to read the label to make sure it doesn't contain a sauce). Walmart has an asparagus stir fry blend that is really good. For actual potlucks, I usually use one bag of california blend (cauliflower, carrots, broccoli) and one of the fancier stir fry blends.
I add a good salad dressing (I like vinaigrettes like italian, but even creamy salad dressings work), and usually chopped onion or green onion and green pepper. My mother adds black olives and cherry tomatoes - but I don't like those, so I leave those out. I do sometimes add banana pepper rings, or artichoke hearts, because I like those. I also like adding shredded asiago cheese.
At it's simplest I use california blend, bottled italian dressing, and chopped sweet or green onion.
You mix the ingredients and let the salad sit in the fridge until the frozen veggies have thawed. 24 hours is best because the veggies pick up the most flavor from the marinade.
You've got to use a salad dressing you like though (assuming there are salad dressings that you like).
Another way to get in veggies is to sneak them in to other foods.
I found a recipe on Hungry Girl website that I really liked (until I found out I was allergic to wheat). You take a cake mix and add a can of pumpkin. That's it. No water, no egg - just pumpkin. It makes a very thick batter and makes great muffins. I've tried it in chocolate and spice cake or carrot cake flavors. The chocolate muffins were a hit with the kids at a family potluck (you couldn't taste the pumpkin at all).
You do have to read the pumpkin can ingredients to make sure that it contains only pumpkin and not any additional spices (you want pureed pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling).
I've also grated veggies to put in spaghetti sauces.
My husband is also picky... I've loved veggies all my life, though, lol. I hide them in a lot of foods. Stews, sauces, meatloaf, breads, muffins, cupcakes... lots of things. He has no idea, and I'm benefiting too!
And you really should keep trying them several diff ways before you rule something out completely..
I don't know how much this will help you, since I don't know what specifically you don't like about fruits/veggies (texture, flavor, etc), but here are my go-tos for me and/or my picky fiance:
Roasted beets with goat cheese
Roasted beets with dijon mustard
Shredded red cabbage with rice wine vinegar/fish sauce/sugar/lime juice/cilantro/mint dressing
Pumpkin soup
Sweet potato and black bean burritos
Sweet potato fries
Roasted red pepper soup
Pea soup
Cauliflower-carrot soup
Roasted cauliflower with rosemary
Hummus with slices of red and green pepper as dippers
Carrots in lemon juice and dill
Carrot-apple bran muffins
Frozen mashed banana (tastes like ice cream)
Pomegranates
Green apple with peanut butter
Bananas in oatmeal
Pumpkin in oatmeal
Sliced apples in pancakes
Any Thai-style curry with lots of veggies
Any Indian-style sauteed vegetable
Any Indian-style vegetable curry (aloo mutter, palak paneer, bhindi subzi... Indians know how to make okra, peas, and spinach taste unbelievably amazing)
Eggplant marinara (eggplant fried in breadcrumbs, covered with tomato sauce & cheese)
Baba ghanoush (mediterranean eggplant dip)
Thai-style papaya salad (som tam)
just a start... I really think you can learn to love any kind of fruit or vegetable. It all depends on figuring out how you like it cooked and seasoned.
Roasted veggies are always delicious, but you can add veggies into anything. I shred zucchini and/or summer squash into my turkey meatballs and burgers, finely chopped mushrooms can be mixed in 50:50 to ground beef, any veggies can be put into an omelette or egg scramble, soups and tomato sauce can have diced veggies or pureed veggies added into them. I chop up all kinds of veggies to put into my chili recipes, and stir fries and curries are great ways to use any kind of veggies.
fruits & veggies!
