8 Vegetables You’ll Want to Get Familiar With
Are you sick of me discussing food & vegetables? Because I’m not done yet, & if you stay on board I think your tummy will be happy to hear from me. I’ve discovered the worldwide variety of vegetables. & I’m sharing.
What happened was… I started eating too many cookies. I’m not kidding. I was eating cookies every day & a lot of them. They bring me joy. Listen to me, I’m obsessed w every single part of a cookie. The melty chocolate, the comfort of a soft bite, the delicious hint of peanut butter or sugar. The way the dough tastes, the house smells, & the treat satisfies. But, summer is coming & I had to clean this habit up. I knew cookies couldn’t be my only joy. I needed to spend more time in the PRODUCE department.
The produce department is the most important section of the grocery store! Whatever you find came from the EARTH. Like a freaking miracle. Before it gets manipulated into flours, pastas or stored in cans & bags – the produce section is fresh from the dirt of our mother fucking beautiful earth. It became my mission to get familiar with all the cracks & crevices of the produce section.
Have you ever heard someone say you should eat the colors of the rainbow? They’re referring to the colors of vegetables. “Each color in fruits and vegetables is caused by specific phytonutrients, which are natural chemicals that help protect plants from germs, bugs, the sun’s harmful rays, and other threats. And each color indicates an abundance of specific nutrients… 8 out of 10 people in the US are falling short in virtually every color category of phytonutrients“ (via) We want ALL the nutrients!
I read this good tip somewhere: every week, try to add one NEW vegetable to your grocery cart for the week. A bright new color & flavor. I think that’s a great idea, challenge accepted.
8 Vegetables You’ll Want To Get Familiar With
Beets:
My favorite discovery so far. I’ve avoided beets my entire life because I can’t figure them out. They’re a gorgeous deep pink & look as though they should be a tasty sweet treat. Yet, they’re a vegetable. & taste like one. They’re bought rock hard, which has always been my excuse as to figure out how to cook & eat them. Well no more excuses, I googled it & found my answers. I chop off the long leaves leaving just the beet, thoroughly rinse the skin & steam the beat for 30 minutes. Beware, beets come in different sizes so the amount of time you have to steam them can vary greatly, just keep an eye on it. When it’s done, I slice or peel off the skin. Then, I chop the beet into cubes, eat plain w salt or put it in a very leafy salad. OMG it’s SO GOOD! (Literally salivating while I’m typing, I’m hungry.)
Microgreens:
Small but mighty! I’ve always ignored Microgreens or sprouts in the grocery store because I never understood their significance. They’re so small, how major can they possibly be? Welp, they are. In the spirit of diversifying my diet, I started mixing in Microgreens to all my salads or to top a rice bowl & although small they make a significant difference.
Butter Lettuce:
I’ve also tried diversifying my salads. No more plain romaine. How can I make the best tasting, nutrient filled simple salad, that doesn’t fill me up too much but satisfies my hunger needs. Enter, butter lettuce. I’ve found this veggie still growing with the roots attached & packaged for me to eat. I’m obsessed. I’ve been mixing this leafy green w a red leaf lettuce, micro greens, green onions, salt, pepper, olive oil, and beets. It’s DELICIOUS. I don’t typically buy already washed & chopped mixed salads or lettuce. I prefer buying the fresh, organic varieties of lettuce that I like & mix them together myself. That way I really have control over the flavor & leaf. (Must Have: salad spinner)
Yellow Squash:
Squash is another thing I’ve always avoided because it doesn’t look like it’ll taste good. My experiences eating squash at a restaurant haven’t been good. It’s always so freaking mushy, flavorless & honestly gross. I finally decided to make my own, because I tend to like my own cooking better anyway. I can make it however I want to make it. What I’ve been doing w yellow squash is rinsing the skin, slicing thick pieces, cutting them in half, then slowly saute in olive oil over medium heat until I’m satisfied. I sometimes add garlic or salt & pepper while it’s cooking. This way, it’s not too mushy. I’ve been LOVING it, is an understatement.
Red Radish:
Radishes are physically pretty with a hot pink exterior on a contrasting stark white interior. I figured it was time to start eating them. The cool thing about them? They’re diverse, eat them either raw or cooked. Here’s what I do, I buy a bunch, wash the skins thoroughly, then chop them up & saute them into whatever veggie mix I’m making. As I would with garlic or onions. OR, I slice them very thin & add them raw to my salads.
Broccolini:
I’ve recently heard all the rage w nutrients in Broccolini so I searched the produce section until I found them. That’s the key, find every section of the produce area of the grocery store. Don’t walk over to your typical veggies & stop there. Broaden your scope. Broccolini usually comes with a long stem & it looks a lot thinner & smaller than a typical broccoli head. SO, I treat broccolini the same way I treat broccoli. Recently, I’ve been sautéing a few pieces into a veggie mix. And I absolutely eat the steams, they can be sautéed the same way the flower can & they’re just as delicious.
Red Cabbage:
I’ve eaten raw cabbage before so this isn’t necessarily a new veggie, but it’s never been a common ingredient. The only way I’ve used it before is raw, in a salad. Recently, I chop it into thin pieces & slowly saute it over medium heat w olive oil, salt & pepper. I’ll sometimes add garlic, broccolini or any other veggies I have on hand. You could also through ground turkey in the mix too! Cabbage is such a nice base for a veggie bowl.
Celery:
No, celery is most definitely not new around here. Between the rage of celery juice, & the treat of celery dipped in hummus, you’d think we’d seen enough out of this beautiful veggie. You’re wrong. I figured out celery’s biggest secret – it’s spicy. Remember when I bought celery salt? I always thought my dishes seemed spicier when I was using it but couldn’t connect the dots. I’ve also seen celery in organic beef sticks & could never figure out why. Now I know, because it’s SPICEY! Try sautéing celery & adding it to any dish you’re making, watch the dish start kicking! It all made sense after my first time sautéing celery & now I can’t get enough of the flavor upgrade sautéed celery brings to the meal. This is an absolute MUST DO from now on.
With summer here, veggies just seem to fall in line with the vibration. Right? There’s something about grilling & pool time that makes colorful veggies appealing & more desirable.
I haven’t always been a fan either, trust me when I say everything on this list was very recently a scary & annoying addition to my diet that felt like too much work. But, I pushed all my weird excuses out of the way, put the new ingredients in my shopping cart, and I’m so glad I did because they taste good!
Have you learned about any veggies?? Let me know if there’s a vegetable that I missed or one from my list that you’re going to try!
See you later, love you!
be thoughtful
Xx