My kids aren't the biggest veggie fans either, especially my son, who survives exclusively on carbs. We do pretty well in terms of veggie balance, though we tend to Trojan horse them into sauces, stews, etc. That might be a good strategy for choking down your uninspired, store bought fare.
Hi Tom, I’ve been a pescatarian for about 40 years so fresh sustainable fish and vegetables are very important to me. I do a lot of outdoor then indoor farmers markets and tend to use seasonal veggies. I’m keen on kale and spinach right now. Last night was baked salmon over sliced fennel with kalamata olives and Roma tomatoes.
I try to buy organic( whatever that is in reality!) when in reg grocery stores..
I make lots of soups and throw in all leftovers.. adding “better then bullion’s”mushroom flavored paste.
btw your Mom was right. Isn’t she always?☺️ this was a nice article.
Thanks Laurie. Sounds like you’ve had a lot of practice, and now we’re getting practice too, since we’ve shifted to a veggie-first mindset. I was at Costco and grabbed their big bags of Brussels sprouts and asparagus, that should help. I’m going to look for that mushroom paste--I’m a huge mushroom fan.
I'm interested in the winter months question as well. I've always liked raw vegetables, but everything is so expensive right now, especially in the winter. Unless you're interested in eating baby carrots all year.
We were just getting used to working with the big honking farm carrots, but now it’s back to the babies with us too (since they were out of the big ones at the store). We’ve been slicing up cabbage, using it as a bed for stir fries, and my never-the-same-way-twice Kung Pao sauce makes any veggie wonderful.
Roasted roots! Root veggies last forever in cold storage, which I believe is the fate of most grocery store produce. I gravitate toward the bulk veggie section, where they have beets with the greens still attached (two veggies in one!), and the horse carrots you can cut into circles the size of silver dollars. 😊 And we're big on potatoes right now because they're cheap and my kids will eat them in any form.
I'm making it sound like we eat a lot of vegetables, but we definitely don't eat enough. You've inspired me to do better. And I've always wanted to try a CSA. Maybe this will be the year. 🥬🥕
A beautiful, delicious post, Tom! I've always loved all veg but veg-wise these days I eat almost exclusively green leafy ones and brassicas. I adore making and eating sauerkraut, and there's no snack I enjoy better than peeled Brussels sprouts - I crave them. This is JUST my time of year - sprouts are everywhere right now.
I was very interested to see your two versions of the healthy eating plate - we have similar recommendations over here. My own ideal plate is rather different, actually, given that I'm a diabetic carb-dodger, but it does prioritise veg.
Oh yeah, aren’t Brussels Sprouts great? They’re everywhere here these days too, and I’ve been roasting sprouts and then making a pan of caramelizad onions that I mix in with the sprouts for the last few minutes, and then we do some variation on a balsamic vinegar/mustard/maple syrup drizzle (light on the syrup) ... dang, making my mouth water as we speak. I love sauerkraut, but Sara will not eat it! Drat.
Ooooh, yummy! It's curry night here tonight - I'm making homemade saag paneer, and while Jim's going to be having Bombay potatoes I'm having Bombay sprouts - they're incredible but really easy. They're just cooked sprouts tossed in butter and your favourite blend of curry powder shoved in the oven for 20 minutes - best side dish ever.....
My permanent fixture of a Kilner jar full of sauerkraut on the worktop is known as 'that thing rotting in the kitchen'. Mind you, he's happy to eat my homemade coleslaw, which is very heavy on the kraut! Don't tell him, will you?
Its good advice to eat your veggies. I wish there were more I liked. I love the idea of the box, but am sure I wouldn't like all the veggies. That said, I do like the idea of making the veggie the main meal. Maybe with the veggies I do like, I can start doing this a little.
It’s a hard transition. It was especially odd getting used to all the bitter-tasting greens and how to work with them. Slow roasting really brings out the sweetness--you might start there. And you make a lot of stews, those can soak up the veggies pretty well.
Love it. We’re very similar in our speed limit approach to foliage.
I miss the CSA boxes when we did it one year, but might try again as a supplement to our back garden, which seems mostly successful with lettuces and beans and peas. I miss the meal planning (and frequent internet searching) when faced with a weird looking vegetable.
When I lived in Spain I ate veg and salads every single day. The quality was good and the cost low. Where I live now in France, fruit and veg cost a fortune, and as I live in the city centre and don't have a car, I'm limited to the small supermarkets ("super" they are not), where the veg looks like crap and costs the earth, so when I do eat the green stuff, I usually go for the frozen option. This post has inspired me to at least think about making a bit more of an effort.
I remember the grocery stores my folks went to growing up, the veg selection was rotten compared to the shangri-lah in our grocery store now, but yeah, it pales next to the fresh stuff.
Once you get out of the grocery stores, isn't it fun to discover all the different varieties of vegetables that are out there? Here's my suggestion. Consider eating seasonally. In other words, shift from the fresh stuff flown in from Mexico and places south to eating more winter squashes and root veges. I had an abundance squashes this year, so still we have a variety stored in fridge garage. Sandy also baked, pureed and froze 10 quarts of butternut squash. We'll use it for soup bases and whatever. I'm still picking carrots, parsnips and beets from our garden.
yeah, we've got to figure out the whole winter veg thing. We've got about 10 acorn squash sitting in the basement, but we really screwed the pooch on beets and haven't tried carrots and parsnips. It sure does take a long time to figure out this whole "how to live" business. Somebody ought to make a manual or something.
Tom! I loved this! Thank you for the beautiful photos too. We subscribed to a CSA box when we lived near a farm that did it and had a similar experience cooking with new veggies and making it the star of the table. I miss it so much! We haven’t had anything unusual like that for a while but we do grow our own vegetables and love gardening. It’s a good reminder of the beauty of food. For us, we do preserve the harvest as much as we can and that helps through winter.
Arriving a bit late to this post, I'm afraid! It's a great one, though, and one I really enjoyed as 18 years ago, I - a hamburger-eating, turkey-breast-at-Thanksgiving-picking, let's try the turducken and then pour some more gravy on the potatoes omnivore - married a committed vegetarian and had to rethink everything. Not because I had to, mind, but because I wanted to.
Suddenly, dinner goes from being 'what shall I have with my chicken tonight?' to 'what can I do with this butternut squash?' It was a challenge - but never a bad one. I've always liked most vegetables, but to put them front and centre - and ensure you've got a balanced diet - requires some thought. Which is fun, too.
We've dabbled with veganism - again, it's a challenge to find that that elusive flavour grilled meat (for example) provides using different techniques - but we found can't go without cheese, I'm afraid. Though I did make a convincing 'cheese sauce' using yeast flakes (I have a very understanding family) ...
Thanks for the photos, too - they're great. Almost like ... food porn. And that's a compliment!
I thought they were food porn too Bryan! But it was liking picking up a bundle of food porn every Saturday. And your challenges were exactly what we found. But veganism ... hard one for me too.
My kids aren't the biggest veggie fans either, especially my son, who survives exclusively on carbs. We do pretty well in terms of veggie balance, though we tend to Trojan horse them into sauces, stews, etc. That might be a good strategy for choking down your uninspired, store bought fare.
There’s hope: my kids (now 28 and 30) eat the hell out of the veggies, after a childhood that sounds a lot like your kids. More Mac-and-cheese please!
I really like your hometown posts, Tom!
Hi Tom, I’ve been a pescatarian for about 40 years so fresh sustainable fish and vegetables are very important to me. I do a lot of outdoor then indoor farmers markets and tend to use seasonal veggies. I’m keen on kale and spinach right now. Last night was baked salmon over sliced fennel with kalamata olives and Roma tomatoes.
I try to buy organic( whatever that is in reality!) when in reg grocery stores..
I make lots of soups and throw in all leftovers.. adding “better then bullion’s”mushroom flavored paste.
btw your Mom was right. Isn’t she always?☺️ this was a nice article.
Laurie
Thanks Laurie. Sounds like you’ve had a lot of practice, and now we’re getting practice too, since we’ve shifted to a veggie-first mindset. I was at Costco and grabbed their big bags of Brussels sprouts and asparagus, that should help. I’m going to look for that mushroom paste--I’m a huge mushroom fan.
I'm interested in the winter months question as well. I've always liked raw vegetables, but everything is so expensive right now, especially in the winter. Unless you're interested in eating baby carrots all year.
We were just getting used to working with the big honking farm carrots, but now it’s back to the babies with us too (since they were out of the big ones at the store). We’ve been slicing up cabbage, using it as a bed for stir fries, and my never-the-same-way-twice Kung Pao sauce makes any veggie wonderful.
Roasted roots! Root veggies last forever in cold storage, which I believe is the fate of most grocery store produce. I gravitate toward the bulk veggie section, where they have beets with the greens still attached (two veggies in one!), and the horse carrots you can cut into circles the size of silver dollars. 😊 And we're big on potatoes right now because they're cheap and my kids will eat them in any form.
I'm making it sound like we eat a lot of vegetables, but we definitely don't eat enough. You've inspired me to do better. And I've always wanted to try a CSA. Maybe this will be the year. 🥬🥕
Yeah, roots are great aren’t they? We’ve tried growing beets, but then we got the CSA beets and went all in. We’re confirmed CSA fans now.
A beautiful, delicious post, Tom! I've always loved all veg but veg-wise these days I eat almost exclusively green leafy ones and brassicas. I adore making and eating sauerkraut, and there's no snack I enjoy better than peeled Brussels sprouts - I crave them. This is JUST my time of year - sprouts are everywhere right now.
I was very interested to see your two versions of the healthy eating plate - we have similar recommendations over here. My own ideal plate is rather different, actually, given that I'm a diabetic carb-dodger, but it does prioritise veg.
Oh yeah, aren’t Brussels Sprouts great? They’re everywhere here these days too, and I’ve been roasting sprouts and then making a pan of caramelizad onions that I mix in with the sprouts for the last few minutes, and then we do some variation on a balsamic vinegar/mustard/maple syrup drizzle (light on the syrup) ... dang, making my mouth water as we speak. I love sauerkraut, but Sara will not eat it! Drat.
Ooooh, yummy! It's curry night here tonight - I'm making homemade saag paneer, and while Jim's going to be having Bombay potatoes I'm having Bombay sprouts - they're incredible but really easy. They're just cooked sprouts tossed in butter and your favourite blend of curry powder shoved in the oven for 20 minutes - best side dish ever.....
My permanent fixture of a Kilner jar full of sauerkraut on the worktop is known as 'that thing rotting in the kitchen'. Mind you, he's happy to eat my homemade coleslaw, which is very heavy on the kraut! Don't tell him, will you?
Nice post, Tom. Karen loves the local farm Radicle Roots on Orchard Street ... here's their FB page-- https://www.facebook.com/search/posts/?q=radicle%20roots%20farm -- they are even growing a baby!
I know of Radicle Roots (Alex won’t let me miss them), I should give them a shot--though now Petrina out at Skylight has my loyalty
Its good advice to eat your veggies. I wish there were more I liked. I love the idea of the box, but am sure I wouldn't like all the veggies. That said, I do like the idea of making the veggie the main meal. Maybe with the veggies I do like, I can start doing this a little.
It’s a hard transition. It was especially odd getting used to all the bitter-tasting greens and how to work with them. Slow roasting really brings out the sweetness--you might start there. And you make a lot of stews, those can soak up the veggies pretty well.
Love it. We’re very similar in our speed limit approach to foliage.
I miss the CSA boxes when we did it one year, but might try again as a supplement to our back garden, which seems mostly successful with lettuces and beans and peas. I miss the meal planning (and frequent internet searching) when faced with a weird looking vegetable.
Totally on that last part: what the hell do we do with treviso? And celeriac? It was a fun challenge.
When I lived in Spain I ate veg and salads every single day. The quality was good and the cost low. Where I live now in France, fruit and veg cost a fortune, and as I live in the city centre and don't have a car, I'm limited to the small supermarkets ("super" they are not), where the veg looks like crap and costs the earth, so when I do eat the green stuff, I usually go for the frozen option. This post has inspired me to at least think about making a bit more of an effort.
I remember the grocery stores my folks went to growing up, the veg selection was rotten compared to the shangri-lah in our grocery store now, but yeah, it pales next to the fresh stuff.
Once you get out of the grocery stores, isn't it fun to discover all the different varieties of vegetables that are out there? Here's my suggestion. Consider eating seasonally. In other words, shift from the fresh stuff flown in from Mexico and places south to eating more winter squashes and root veges. I had an abundance squashes this year, so still we have a variety stored in fridge garage. Sandy also baked, pureed and froze 10 quarts of butternut squash. We'll use it for soup bases and whatever. I'm still picking carrots, parsnips and beets from our garden.
yeah, we've got to figure out the whole winter veg thing. We've got about 10 acorn squash sitting in the basement, but we really screwed the pooch on beets and haven't tried carrots and parsnips. It sure does take a long time to figure out this whole "how to live" business. Somebody ought to make a manual or something.
Tom! I loved this! Thank you for the beautiful photos too. We subscribed to a CSA box when we lived near a farm that did it and had a similar experience cooking with new veggies and making it the star of the table. I miss it so much! We haven’t had anything unusual like that for a while but we do grow our own vegetables and love gardening. It’s a good reminder of the beauty of food. For us, we do preserve the harvest as much as we can and that helps through winter.
This one could have been just photos! I bet you can grow (and buy) great veggies in Portugal
Arriving a bit late to this post, I'm afraid! It's a great one, though, and one I really enjoyed as 18 years ago, I - a hamburger-eating, turkey-breast-at-Thanksgiving-picking, let's try the turducken and then pour some more gravy on the potatoes omnivore - married a committed vegetarian and had to rethink everything. Not because I had to, mind, but because I wanted to.
Suddenly, dinner goes from being 'what shall I have with my chicken tonight?' to 'what can I do with this butternut squash?' It was a challenge - but never a bad one. I've always liked most vegetables, but to put them front and centre - and ensure you've got a balanced diet - requires some thought. Which is fun, too.
We've dabbled with veganism - again, it's a challenge to find that that elusive flavour grilled meat (for example) provides using different techniques - but we found can't go without cheese, I'm afraid. Though I did make a convincing 'cheese sauce' using yeast flakes (I have a very understanding family) ...
Thanks for the photos, too - they're great. Almost like ... food porn. And that's a compliment!
I thought they were food porn too Bryan! But it was liking picking up a bundle of food porn every Saturday. And your challenges were exactly what we found. But veganism ... hard one for me too.