Vegetable Of The Week

It doesn't really matter what type of dietary lifestyle you lead, sometimes getting enough vegetables into your diet can be a bit daunting.  Keeping a variety that doesn't bore you to tears can be a challenge as well.  But, thanks to a suggestion from my nutritionist I came up with an idea to help me along.

The piece of advice I was given was to focus on a particular vegetable each week and come up with a variety of ways to prepare that vegetable each time.  Brilliant!  We have since dubbed it "Vegetable Of The Week".

I made a list of our favorite vegetables:

Broccoli - raw, steam, roast, sauté, include in recipes

Green Beans - sauté, roast, include in recipes

Asparagus - steam, sauté, roast

Carrots - raw, steam, roast, sauté, stir fry, include in recipes

Mushrooms - raw, stuffed, sauté, stir fry, include in recipes

Cauliflower - raw, riced, steamed, roasted, include in recipes

Cabbage - raw, steamed, braised, roasted, stir fried, include in recipes

Zucchini - sauté, roast, bake, include in recipes

Yellow Squash - sauté, roast

Each week we pick a vegetable that will be the main focus.  A featured guest at our table, so to speak.  We prepare that veggie two or three different ways and then move on to another one the next week.  It really helps to break up the potential for boredom or monotony and forces us to think of new ways to prepare our food.

Broccoli is one of those veggies that our family really enjoys and is extremely versatile.  We like to toss it in a little olive oil, minced garlic and some salt and pepper and then roast it in the oven until it just starts to crisp a little on the edges.  My oldest can't get enough.  And cream of broccoli soup is sooo good!

Our favorite way to prepare fresh green beans, hands down, has to be sautéing them in olive oil or bacon fat with sliced mushrooms and then finishing them off with a big spoonful of minced garlic and some soy sauce.

Asparagus is good sautéed or roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Or steamed and tossed with butter is fantastic too.

Carrots are awesome raw, steamed or roasted and tossed with butter, salt and pepper, grated or julienned into salads, grated and added to dessert recipes, or as part of a stir fry.

We love to stuff mushrooms, slice them into salads or to add with other veggies, and of course they are excellent as part of a pasta sauce or sautéed with peppers and included in an omelet.

Cabbage is another versatile vegetable that is great raw or cooked.  We use it a lot in a variety of salads as well as steamed and dressed with butter, salt and pepper.  It is also fantastic shredded and added to soups in place of pasta.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash really go well together and I will often slice them up and saute or roast them in olive oil with garlic, basil, salt, pepper and some butter.  Delish!  And of course zucchini is great julienned and used in place of pasta as well as shredded and used in muffins, bread, and Zucchini Bites.  I also diced it up and add it to soups and pasta, slice it and add to lasagna or shred it and add it to meatloaf.

So there are some ideas for you on what you can do with a variety of veggies.  If you have some other ideas please share them in the comments below.  I'm always looking for more ideas.