Eat Your Veggies

So, you have a picky eater who won’t eat veggies? I’ve got two, which is difficult when the whole household is vegetarian. When my kids say they don’t want to eat veggies, I say, “What are you going to eat then, since we’re vegetarians?” I get blank stares in return.

This leads me to being sneaky and underhanded in getting veggies into my kids’ food. One of the best ways is to puree fresh veggies in the food processor and add it into things like soups, stews and most sneakily into spaghetti sauce. My kids love pasta and that’s an easy dish with which to be sneaky. The tomato and spices help cover up the taste of the fresh veggies. You just need to make sure that there are not so many veggies in the sauce that they overpower the sauce. My general rule is to put in one cup of pureed veggies for each jar of sauce.

Which fresh veggies are good ones to add? Zuchhini or other squashes, mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, and turnips. Some veggies that are not a good addition are leafy greens (too fibrous for puree), onion (if your kids can tell it’s in there, otherwise puree away), beets (I love to eat them, but they are actually a bit strong and can change the flavor of the sauce.

Whatever you add, good luck with your picky eater!

Sweet breads are a great way to use up fruits and veggies that are about to spoil. They are usually a favorite in my household, too, which makes them a sneaky way to incorporate some additional vegetation into my family’s diet.

Some of our favorites include pumpkin bread, banana bread, and zucchini bread.

Here is a general recipe that can be modified:

Grease a loaf pan with a light coating of oil. Then flour it and dump out the extra flour. Or, alternatively, you can just put a layer of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan (this is my preference).

1.5 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar (you can use less than this actually & certainly so, if it is for zucchini bread for which it should only be .5 cups of sugar)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

.5 cups of apple sauce (or you can use veggie oil, if you want, but the applesauce is healthier)

1 cup of pureed veggies — this is where you pick pumpkin, zucchini, banana, etc.

2 eggs - beat them in a separate bowl

.25 cups water

Spices, .5 teaspoon of each — pick what you like - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves. I like cinnamon & cloves for pumpkin, just cinnamon for banana and none for zucchini. But, you should add spices to your family’s taste.

Additions — you can add chocolate chips or chopped nuts, as you like.  About .5 cups of any of these should do, but you can adjust if you like more or less

Putting it together:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, spices) in a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients (veggie puree, apple sauce, eggs, water) in a separate bowl.

Then combine the wet and dry ingredients together a little at a time. Mix all ingredients thoroughly, but there is no need to continue to stir after everything is combined well. Now gently stir in any of the additions like chocolate chips or nuts.

Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes, give or take, depending on your oven. The most important thing is to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. Stick a toothpick or thin knife in the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, then the loaf is done.

You can remove it from the pan and cool on a rack, if you like. In my family, we tend to just keep it in the pan and cut out slices of the bread as we want some. It usually doesn’t last long, either.

Have fun and experiment with this recipe. But, most importantly, try it so that your bananas or zucchini don’t end up just going into the trash or compost (although the compost is at least better).

So . . . if you are still full from yesterday’s Thanksgiving over indulgences, perhaps on this most dynamic shopping day of the year (at least here in the US), it is time to think salad. Following yesterday’s T-Day meal should be as much roughage as possible to help move things along.

Start with fresh salad mix, preferably from the organic produce section. Choose dark leafy greens rather than iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value. An herb mix usually provides a nice balance of flavors. Add your favorite veggies. A few suggestions include strips of red pepper, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, turnips cut into matchsticks, and thinly sliced zuchhini. 

For protein, add firm tofu cubes, chick peas/garbanzos, kidney beans or any other bean/legume of preference. 

When considering salad dressing, think low calorie. Try a vinegar based dressing with spices rather than oil and vinegar. If there are enough spices in a good blend, you will never miss the oil.

Basically, the idea is to get some fresh veggies in your system to help clean out all the high-calorie foods from yesterday. But, you can do it in a way that is delicious and satisfying.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that you have decided which vegetable dishes you are serving at today’s festivities, if you celebrate this holiday?

At our meal we are to have squash casserole, pumpkin something or other (I can’t remember, but it’s not pie), and various other vegetables as side items to the poor lamented turkey.

My immediate family will be brining along a vegetarian dish to eat instead of the fouled fowl. But, it is, alas, not the eggplant parmesan. I have developed a rather icky cold and my husband has decided upon and cooked the dish we are to take. I have been mostly sticking to the sofa, feeling miserable while using up a lot of facial tissue.

The dish is a “chicken” rice casserole. He used fake chicken strips (you can find in the freezer section with the meat substitutes), rice and cream of mushroom soup. It is currently baking away in the oven. This is actually one of my family’s favorites and is also a quick and easy meal. I do prefer making a real cream of mushroom soup with fresh mushrooms and cream, but given the craziness of the holiday my husband opted for the canned variety this time. I have confidence that it will be fine as he is good about adding spices like garlic powder, red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper to jazz things up a bit.

Whatever you are eating today, I hope that is something you enjoy and that you eat as many vegetables as possible on this fine Thanksgiving Day. Best Wishes for good health.

To answer a question from a comment on my last post, no, my extended family does not expect my family unit (myself, husband, kids, pet rock) to try meat dishes at our Thanksgiving meal. They are respectful of our choice. I do feel compelled to fix something really great to represent the vegetarian lifestyle. My pressure to perform well is completely internal and my own mental issue.

That being said, there was also a request in that comment for an Eggplant Parmesan recipe. Here is the quick and easy way to fix it . . .

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1 - eggplant cut into slices (it should look like round circles or disks of eggplant, about 1/4″ thick — in this case thinner is better)

Salt (enough to lightly coat the eggplant slices — not a big heavy winter coat, but more like a light spring rain)

3-4 eggs — crack them open into a shallow dish like a pie pan or a plate (yes, this sounds odd and cryptic if you don’t know what I’m doing, but all will be clear soon . . .)

3 cups - Seasoned bread crumbs (you can buy bags of seasoned bread crumbs, particularly at this time of year, or you can make your own. To make your own, toast some bread so that it is completely dried out - but not too dark/burnt - then crumble the bread and add your favorite Italian seasonings to it. I like to add oregano, thyme and basil. Add what you like and in the amounts you like to your taste. Yes, I know that isn’t specific. You may have to play around with the seasoning mix. Just remember that it is easier to add than to take away, so start out with light seasoning, taste it and then add more, if needed.)

Olive Oil - extra virgin is the best, but a little virgin is okay (Hmm . . . degrees of virginity? You think your parents would have bought that when you were in high school?)

2 cups - grated Parmesan cheese (and I’m not talking about that powdered stuff that comes in a plastic container that you shake out and it looks like yellow snow. I mean the good stuff that you have to grate yourself. Trust me, it’s worth the extra effort. You can find it for sale in blocks in the gourmet cheese section at your grocery store)

2 jars of spaghetti sauce — the easiest thing is to buy jars of your family’s favorite. You can also make your own if you have a good recipe.

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Now that you have all of your ingredients collected it’s time to start. And, yeah, you should get everything together and ready first before starting to cook as it saves panic attacks in the middle of the process because you are missing something.

Take the sliced eggplant, sprinkle both sides with salt and let it drain in a colander or on paper towels. After about 15 minutes, turn them over and let them drain on the other side for another 15 minutes.

When the eggplant is about done draining, lay out an assembly line for yourself. First put out the pie pan with the raw eggs, then another plate or pie pan with the bread crumbs on it in a spread out layer. The third and last plate should be one that is empty. Take your drained eggplant slices one at a time. Dip both sides of each slice in the egg, then lay the slice on top of the bread crumbs. Flip the eggplant slice over to coat the other side with bread crumbs. When both sides are coated, place the slice on the empty plate.

When you are about half way through with coating the eggplant slices, heat up a frying pan/skillet to a medium high heat. I personally love my cast iron pans, but use whatever you are comfortable with. Once the pan is hot, pour in enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Fry the eggplant in the pan. I will take a few minutes each side to get the eggplant cooked through and soft. You will have to use your own judgment on how long it takes each side because it depends on how your individual stove cooks. The main thing is to stay there and not let it burn. That means you shouldn’t be e-mailing, texting or watching TV while doing the frying. Yeah, I know, weird concept.

While you are frying, you can also put the spaghetti sauce in a pot and heat it up.

When you are almost done frying the second side, take your grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle some of it on the eggplant slices, allowing it to melt as the eggplant cooks.

As you take the eggplant out of the frying pan, place it on paper towels to drain.

After frying all of the eggplant, place it in one layer in a baking dish. Pour the warmed-up spaghetti sauce over the eggplant slices. You can either stop here or you can add more Parmesan cheese on top and bake the whole thing for about half an hour at 350 degrees. My preference is not to bake it, but I like my Italian-style food pretty saucy (just like me).

Now, eat and enjoy!

If you make this dish, comment and tell us how it went. Did all go well or did you end up cleaning egg and bread crumbs off of the ceiling?

Well, it is one day closer to Turkeyless Day and I still don’t know what I want representing healthy vegetarianism on the extended family’s table. Do I go for something that is safe and normal to the non-vegetarians? Or, do I take a risk and break out from the norm?

For some reason today I am in the mood for eggplant, which is relatively non-threatening as vegetables go. Perhaps a nice Eggplant Parmesan would go over well? It isn’t traditional turkey and stuffing type fare, but it is still a great dish as well as being familiar to most people. It’s not likely to get the cautious peering over the edge of the dish to see what that weird thing is the vegetarians brought.

Okay, Eggplant Parmesan it is . . . until I change my mind tomorrow.

Are you planning a turkeyless Thanksgiving? Or, at least considering it as an option? With my 22nd year without gobbling a gobbler coming up, I keep being asked by relatives what I am going to bring to our extended family gathering. We always do a potluck or shared meal where everyone brings something. Every category of food has been assigned–except, of course, the meat substitute. And, guess what? I haven’t decided what I want, yet.

For several years my husband and I got a Tofurky Turkey. It’s a loaf with stuffing in the middle. It doesn’t look like a turkey, despite it’s name. But, it is yummy. There is just the loaf or there is a box set with the loaf, gravy and even a “wishbone” made from their vegetarian jerky. It is a good product, but a bit pricey. Recently, for regular meals, we have consumed Quorn roast which is an oblong loaf. It is particularly good with a vegetarian chicken or beef style gravy. There are a few other options for meat substitutes on the shelves at grocery stores as well.

None of these sounds appealing to me this year, however. I truly want something different this year. Perhaps a good curry or some other savory dish. I haven’t decided, yet. I do have about five more days to figure it out, though . . . .

Tempeh (tim-pay) is an excellent source of plant-based protein. This may sound weird, but it is made from fermented soybeans. The beans are still in pieces, having been chopped and then pressed into a patty. The patty is hearty and delicious. It’s a great cold-weather dish. In our house, we like to make BBQ tempeh by sauteing the tempeh in a frying pan and then smothering it with our favorite BBQ sauce. I have also had tempeh reubens as well as other types of sandwiches where the tempeh substitutes for meat.

Tempeh is often available in health food grocery stores. It can even be found cut in strips which are a good alternative for bacon. There are versions of tempeh with different whole grains added, too. Tempeh is usually found in the refrigerated produce section at the store. Give it a try, at least once, to discover a culinary delight.

Soy is an excellent source of protein and can be found in the store in many forms:

• There is soy milk which is a great substitute for milk, particularly if you are lactose intolerant. Some people do have an allergy to soy, so if you are unsure, proceed cautiously at first when adding it into your diet. To really be safe, check with your doctor before adding it to your list of foods you eat.
• Tofu can be really delicious, if cooked properly. The thing to remember is that it doesn’t have flavor of its own, just texture. So, you need to cook it with savory things from which the tofu will get its flavor or spice. More on tofu in another blog.
• Soy nuts are a handy snack. They can be found plain or roasted in most health food stores or larger grocery stores that have health food sections.
• Edamame is raw soy. They come either shelled or unshelled. They can be steamed, boiled, baked, added to soups, stews, salads and any number of dishes.

Check out soy and try adding it into your repertoire of foods as it is delicious and nutritious. I’ll try to have more specific recipes with soy soon.

Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks for those of us in the United States. What will you be having at your celebratory dinner? Have you thought about it, yet? If you are like me, you haven’t given much thought to it. I tend to wait until a day or two before to decide. My mother, on the other hand, starts thinking about it months ahead of time. This year, I am trying to compromise by falling somewhere in the middle of those two time frames.

With that in mind, I thought I would brainstorm a few ideas:

• Smashed potatoes — a heartier version of mashed potatoes. Leave the skins on the potatoes when they are boiled to tenderness. Then, mash them with butter and milk, leaving lots of lumps. The skins and the lumps create multiple textures to the dish. My husband and I like to add roasted garlic in at the mashing stage as well.
• Baked root vegetables — cut up your favorite root vegetables into slices. We like beet, turnip, parsnip, carrot, and various varieties of potato (although if you also make the smashed potatoes, you can skip the potatoes in this dish). Spread oil on a baking sheet, then lay the sliced roots out onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, freshly ground black pepper and, for a fall flair, a bit of cinnamon. Bake at 425 degrees for at least 20 minutes (depending on your oven, you may need to just keep checking them by sticking in a toothpick to see when they are tender).
• Green beans — instead of cooking green beans the old fashioned Southern way (which, yes, is actually my favorite) try them a different way. Buy them fresh, if they are available. Take off just a bit of each end and leave them long. Saute in a frying pan with olive oil and fresh garlic.

Please comment and let us know if you have some good recipes for Thanksgiving vegetable dishes.