Saturday Potluck

We need to eat more veggies. For health, but also for the environment.

One of the reasons I started our family garden this year was to get The Peanut to eat more of them, too. I can sneak them into the mix for her, but I have trouble getting her to eat many of them outright — she’s going through a "veggies are yucky" phase at the moment.

When I was a kid, growing them made them magical somehow. I’m hoping this will do the same for her. Otherwise, we’ll just have to keep up the "you eat what we are having" edicts and hope it sinks in somewhere.

I’m trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet these days for a variety of reasons, and it occurred to me that folks might have some yummy faves to share.

So, let’s talk veggies today. Side dishes. Main meals. Salads. Stir-fry. Crockpot. Roasted. Steamed. Kid-friendly? That would be awesome.

There is a whole world of veggie meals out there waiting to be sampled. Would love to know some of your favorites if you have the time to share.

foothillsmike | Saturday May 2, 2009 12:20 pm 1

Well Christy, Tuesday is Cinco de Mayo. I love mexican so I am going to start tomorrow making mexican dishes.

John Anderson | Saturday May 2, 2009 12:51 pm 2

My East Texas grandma was a true farmer-lady. Which is what she used to call herself: A farmer-lady.
Partly, no doubt, it was the soil: The red-clay soil of East Texas. But surely, it was also my grandmother’s touch. The tomatoes she grew in her garden were succulent, with a certain natural saline character that made them irresistible. I don’t think–in fact, I’m sure I haven’t–tasted tomatoes remotely as good anywhere in the world.

Incidentally, she had two magnificent old fig trees that produced–in good years–as fine a fig as ever you’ll taste. These were of the purple variety. I’ve always since believed that it was a fig that tempted Adam and Eve.

demi | Saturday May 2, 2009 01:28 pm 3

In response to foothillsmike @ 1

Hi Mike. Hello? Todays is May 2nd. So, I’m guessing cinco de mayo would be Monday the 5th.
Oh, you probably mean a celebration for that this weekend. Have a bueno bueno one.
Don’t even ask me how much I love Mexican Food.

dakine01 | Saturday May 2, 2009 02:09 pm 4

In response to demi @ 3

Saturday 5/2
Sunday 5/3
Monday 5/4
Tuesday Cinco de Mayo

Rayne | Saturday May 2, 2009 03:55 pm 5

My kids suggest green beans, pea pods, broccoli and carrots.

Daughter — who’s always been a veggie eater — thinks green beans and pea pods are more fun. When she was two years old, she ate every pea pod in the garden. Literally. I never got one out of the garden that year, she picked them and ate them raw, right off the vine.

Son — who’s always been more difficult with vegetables — suggested broccoli steamed, and baby carrots served raw with ranch dip or ranch dressing. (He’s now having a pout because he thinks he’s always been good about veggies…um, no…)

Personally, I think if you ask Peanut to help with veggie prep you’ll find she likes them more. My son wasn’t asked as much as my daughter was, and I think it made a difference. My daughter loved to scrub the veggies. My son does like to peel carrots, and lo, he likes carrots.

One thing you could try is veggie skewers with a selection of veggies, either raw or grilled, ask Peanut to help put them together. Like a salad on a stick, use wood skewers to assemble cherry tomatoes with chunks of cucumber and mozzarella, or kebabs for the grill with zucchini, mushroom caps, peppers. Both my kids love to put these together, although with two kids there are invariably “sword fights” a parent might have to squelch.

Redshift | Saturday May 2, 2009 05:23 pm 6

Ms. Redshift is away, so I just put together a new mostly-veggie meal for dinner. I was thinking I’d try to make a barbecue salad (kinda like the steak salads you can get in fern bars):

1. Make a salad. (Mine was romaine, cucumbers, celery, carrots, and sunflower seeds.)
2. Get out a few forkfuls of the leftover barbecue from your friend who makes really good barbecue.*
3. Warm barbecue in microwave for 30 seconds on 50% power, with a paper towel over it so it doesn’t make a mess.
4. Add barbecue and dressing.

It was quite yummy!

*For advanced cooks who cook from scratch, there may be a few more steps here. <g>

TheOtherWA | Saturday May 2, 2009 07:02 pm 7

Today I had a craving for beets. Roasted 6 rather large ones, and tomorrow I’m making beet risotto from this recipe.

If the Peanut likes risotto, she might go for this.

My favorite grower at the farmer’s market had a late start on their plants, so maybe I’ll have tomatoes in the ground this week. Chives too.

greenwarrior | Saturday May 2, 2009 09:46 pm 8

the beets @7 reminded me of something. if you’ve got a juicer, make carrot juice and add just a little bit of beet. the color is great and it tastes like liquid candy. it’s sooo yummy.

cbl2 | Sunday May 3, 2009 06:57 am 9

during the ‘veggies are icky!’ phase we had some luck with allowing them to dip in plain yogurt – couple drops of non fat milk to make it more dippable

rosalind | Sunday May 3, 2009 05:38 pm 10

Sweet Pea Guacamole – great w/blue corn chips!!

Put 2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 3T Lime Juice, 1/4 bunch cilantro & 2 seeded stemmed serrano chilies into blender & process to a coarse puree.

Add 1 lb thawed frozen peas, 1/4t cumin, 1t salt & puree until smooth.

Transfer to bowl and stir in one quarter of a finely chopped red onion (optional). Adjust seasonings. Serve at room temp.

hs3144 | Tuesday May 5, 2009 05:37 am 11

Just back to the garden a little……I grow a lot of vegetables. A huge variety and at certain points, I am harvesting way too many. Someone told me about an organization that pairs food banks with people that produce excess. Something like Grow Good, but I can’t seem to find anything about it.

Anyone know any more about an organization like this?