My mother was never much of a cook and neither was I. Cooking is one of the things I retired from when Dave retired from his day job. But Dave doesn’t enjoy cooking either and eating mostly restaurant or frozen dinner meals has not made me healthy. So I am trying, within my limited physical capabilities, to learn to cook healthful foods. I have been reading and saving many recipes for making vegetables then trying to figure out how on earth I’m going to be able to do all that prep work.
One of the challenges I face is that neither Dave nor I have ever been particularly fond of vegetables. We pretty much stick to frozen broccoli, carrots, and green beans. But, I crave variety. So, I’m working on a theory of how to meet both of those preferences.
Here’s my theory. Start by cleaning out all the old spices in my cupboard. We did that three years ago but I’ve been told spices only keep their full flavor for a year so we should probably do it again. Then we should buy the smallest containers we can of these spices: onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, dill weed, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and whatever else appeals when I get to the spice section of the store. We should also buy a small bottle of sesame oil.
The recipe for vegetables then goes something like this. Steam a cup of vegetables until just tender crisp. Melt a tablespoon of butter and add a teaspoon or so of one of the above flavorings. Toss the vegetables in the butter and serve. That would give us eight different flavors of each vegetable. Multiply that times the three types of vegetables and you get nearly a different flavor each day for a month. Once we learn which flavorings we like most we can start combining flavors. I already know I like onion with dill. And I like garlic on most anything. But having only a small container of each of those will help me remember to also use the other flavors to help keep me out of a rut.
What do you think? Does this sound like it should work?
TTYL,
Linda
ps. I just remembered that some of the recipes I’ve been researching used lemon juice or orange juice as a flavoring. Now I have more than a flavor per day. Orange/cinnamon carrots sounds good to me. Lemon/garlic is popular. I think I may be on to something here.
Oh! microwave Ovens and vegetables make cooking a joy. I, personally, am not a big fan of Carrots (too unhealthy) and only marginally accept String Beans for the same reason. Broccoli, however, is one of my favorites along with Cauliflower (the Potato substitute vegetable). I would, also, go for the bottled Minced Garlic (found in all Vegetable Departments — Wal Mart, for instance) instead of the dehydrated versions. Butter is good… particularly if it it is something like Kerrygold’s Pure Irish Butter — the more the better.
Now, that I think on it. Raw Mushrooms filled with Cream Cheese is pretty easy to “cook.” And need I mention Avocados again? And Mexican Crema (Agria) is perfect with anything.
Oh! And Cabbage… even if it is the fermented kind (Sauerkraut or Kimchi). Yummy. Lettuce covered in Ranch Dressing or Oil & Vinegar, too, for that matter. Tomatoes are good without cooking.
Lemon juice or orange juice are excellent on asparagus. Did you try to grill your veggies! We marinade them and the place them on the grill for a few minutes. Not to long or they will become soggy. Good luck with your vegetable adventure.
Asparagus grilled with a little oil and salt and pepper is good too, if you can find some fresh stalks that aren’t the size of the redwoods! 🙂