 While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday. Vegetables are dirt candy - so dig in. June 17 is National Eat Your Vegetables Day! It’s one of those things in life that we should just accept: toast will always fall to the floor buttered side down, and mom is usually right - especially when she tells you to eat your vegetables. It’s unclear what happens childhood and adulthood to change our minds about vegetables, but boy, should it happen sooner. Sure, there are some vegetables that we’ll never develop a taste for, but for the most part, they're quite tasty. Vegetables can add texture, sweetness, or freshness to a dish, and don't require that much work. Nature's bounty should be treated with respect, so forget boiling them until they’ve lost all the color and become mushy beyond recognition. Try blanching them for a minute in boiling water and shocking them in an ice bath, or (gasp!) serving them raw. Heartier veggies can be roasted for extra flavor - think sweet potatoes or butternut squash. Not only are grocery stores stocked with the standards – squash, peas, cauliflower, etc. – these days, new and exciting veggies popping up all over the place. Kohlrabi looks a bit like it came from another planet, but it makes a great crunchy addition to any salad. Celeriac is a great alternative to a potato, and a good source of dietary fiber. Even greens like bok choy are readily available at your local grocery store. All of them are begging to help you experiment with something new and exciting. It’d be a shame not to heed that call. What’s your favorite or least favorite vegetable? Let us know in the comments below. Previously: |
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I used to loathe brussels sprouts and lima beans. I now love them both; they have to be prepared right, and those canned lima beans will never be anything but evil.
Favorite veggies: artichokes, eggplant, okra (yeah, the slime is fine), cukes, delicata squash, roaming odd corners of my farrmer's market...
I will eat any veggie if prepared right. I don't like egplant very much. It is the texture though, not the taste.
Tomatoes and cauliflower are the only two vegetables I can't stand....
I enjoy pretty much all vegetables known to man, except for two that make it difficult to enjoy Mexican food –
Peppers and onions. Which is a shame, having grown up in Southern California. Just about all others I enjoy, but those two never grew on me
I'm not a fan of peppers or onions either. Maybe they never grew on you because you bathe regularly. ^_^
baby peas and broccoli are my favorites but I like pretty much all veggies except rutabaga and beets
Broccoli and green peppers are my personal fav! I learned to eat broccoli by way of broccoli casserole but now I'll eat it cooked or raw.
Kohlrabi is also the secret ingredient for the world's best chicken soup – see, now that's my heirloom family recipe for you!
Yup, my Pops puts a little cabbage in his homemade chicken soup. Devine.