Using Veggies in Daily Meals

I'm just going to start this off by saying how much I love food. I mean, what's there not to love? It tastes good, it smells good, it keeps you from getting a headache, it quiets children, it keeps you alive... I could go on. But the point is, there are all sorts of food or things that pass as food. This may sound bad, but whenever I need to feel superior (read: whenever I feel like I am an ineffectual mother or wife), I go to the grocery store and as I'm checking out, I compare my shopping cart with that of the person in front of me. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Now I don't mean to bash folks who eat prepared foods, packaged foods, pop, cheezits, or whathaveyou. Maybe that's how they were raised. Or maybe that's all they have time for. Or maybe that's just how they roll. It's fine. But food is not something you want to mess with. I honestly believe that this country's chronic state of disease is due to our diet. However, I think that as much as people would like to eat healthily, they don't know how to. Another misconception people have is that healthy food is hard to prepare. In a culture of fast food and microwave meals, it sounds like a lot of work to chop veggies or bake chicken. The purpose of this post is to share my small attempt to feed my family in a healthy manner.

Veggies:
You know you probably don't eat enough of them. In fact, I doubt you could ever eat too many. (I say that because I don't really want to eat them because I don't really like to eat them). So here's a start. There are some vegetables that are pretty worthless when it comes to nutritional value. Iceburg lettuce and white mushrooms are two that come to mind. Why eat them if they don't do anything for you? Instead, buy those organic spring mixes or romaine lettuce.

Dark, leafy greens are very good for you, especially you women. High in iron and I can't remember what else, but take it from my mom... "They're good for you!" When buying them, here are a few thoughts. Swiss chard is yummy. Kale is yummy (or can be). Collards are decent. Mustard greens are nasty! I have not found a way to make those taste palatable. Spinach is good, too, but best in salads. The main problem with veggies, for me anyhow, is preparation time. To save time, what I do is buy a bunch of leafy greens once a week, take them home and wash them right away. Fill your sink with warm water and about half a cup of vinegar. Let them soak and then rinse. Put them in your dish tray to dry. When they are mostly dry, chop them into 1 inch slices. With kale and collards, I slice out the stem and then chop the leafy parts. Buy gallon size ziplock bags and fill them up with the greens. Refridgerate. They will last about one and a half weeks. To cook them, I simply put a few hand fulls into a large frying pan. Then I add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I cover the pan and let it steam on medium high until the greens turn bright green and shrink to about 1/4 of their normal size. With swiss chard, you might cook it longer to cook the stems. As for taste, let's just leave it at the fact that my husband eats them. :)

Nutritionists will tell you to eat "the rainbow of vegetables." Translate: eat a variety of different colored veggies. Along those lines, I add carrots, zucchini and yellow squash. These taste wonderful when stir-fried with onions and garlic. These also can be washed and chopped ahead of time and refridgerated for over a week.

Both onions and garlic have wonderful immune-system boosting effects. They also make any dish taste and smell good. (Maybe not desserts, however.) Add them to any dinner dish and you won't regret it (unless you eat garlic and your hubbie opts out... that could be problematic).

Squashes - butternut and acorn - are also very good for you. They're very easy to prepare and my 20 month old daughter loves them. If you want to keep your meals on the lower-carb end, they are a great way to eat healthy carbs. For both, I wash the skins, then split them open and scoop out the seeds. Then I put them in a greased (olive oil) casserole dish with the bowl of the squash facing up. I put a dab of butter or coconut oil in the center, then sprinkle some salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake this in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until they are soft and yum! You can also fill the squash with apple sauce, or chopped apples and cranberries.

What this all boils down to is that I don't like spending all day preparing a meal. I like to start about half an hour before we eat (an hour for dinner). If you prewash and chop your veggies, you can incorporate vegetables into all meals, cook time being about 10 minutes. It's amazing what salt, pepper, oil and vinegar will do.