what happens when the veggie is not a favorite?

[coffeesquirrel]

ok i have a question. I'm grooven with the fruit, love the nuts, working on the wheat grass. (not a fav but hey it's worth it) However i am having a prob on the veggie end and all the green leafy stuff. I can walk down to the fruit and hey i'm there filling up. but with the veggies the only reason i ate them in the past was if they where cooked in butter. or smothered in salad dressing or purhaps smothered in cheese. :eek: If i do buy them they rot before i use them because i can't find anything to do with them that appeals to my taste buds. things that i used to think where veggies like tomatoes and avocado's i'm already good with lol. so that leaves me with pretty much no veggies at all. Is this ok? Should i be forcing down something green and leafy? Any idea's? :confused:

[Olive]

For the time being, if you need to smother veggies in (raw) dressing, go for it! Any way you can get more leafy greens in you and other veggies, the better. Another easy way is to put baby spinach, romaine or spring mix in with your smoothies. Makes them a weird color, but they don't change the taste at all. You can also get creative with the salads. I love shredding a bunch of veggies, adding some chopped herbs and a dressing (usually a vinagrette) and eating veggies that way. Let's see . . . oh, using cabbage, chard, collard, or lettuce leaves as a wrap is awesome. I'm having a collard wrap for lunch today actually! You can also "cook" greens in your dehydrator. Just chop them up, add a bit of oil, salt, seasonings and maybe some vinegar and put it in the dehydrator for a few hours. Without a dehydrator, put it in the fridge overnight instead. Hope some of these ideas help!

[coffeesquirrel]

what do you use as dressing?

[tracyinfo]

Olive has some good ideas. I also like to use collard greens as a wrap for just about anything. I have thrown in sauerkraut, mixed vegetables, chopped up olives, "cheese" sauces, salsas, kitchen sink, those type of things, and they work great (for me).

Dressing usually consists of olive oil, some kind of lemon or lime juice (or vinegar), and then some ginger/garlic/tahini/salt/pepper. I have cut up kale and marinated it for about 3 days in some olive oil and lemon juice mixture with some salt (heavy on the lemon juice), set in the refrigerator and let it sit. It comes out wonderful!

Also, try pickling some veggies like mushrooms, pickling cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, etc.. In a jar, throw in either soft veggies or hard veggies (cut up). Then fill about 1/3 to 1/2 way with vinegar, add about 1 tsp salt, fill the rest with water. The softer veggies can marinate in about 2 to 3 days. The harder one take about 5 days.

Good Luck, Tracy

[lvg4him]

I usually make some sort of nut pate and add lots of veggies in there. I usually make Serene's Mexican Cheerizo (from her book Rejuve The Nation). You can add bell pepper and a little bit of squash and it doesn't change the taste too much.

Also you can add celery to everything (even smoothies). Follows proper food combining (if you are doing that) AND it is very alkalinzing (is that the right word to bring your pH in balance?).

Something else I do (because I am like you and don't really care for a lot of veggies, although I do like green leaf lettuce), I shred different veggies (or cut them into very thin slices) and add different raw dressings (sweet and sour, french, thai). I then wrap them in the inner leafs of romaine leaf lettuce (I don't really like the taste of romaine, so I give the outter leaves to our rats who LOVE it, and use the inner ones for my burrito. That way I get an extra green in my.

Alissa's pasta is a great way to get tomatoes AND squash (without overdoing it on the nuts). Try making the pasta with carrots or diakon radish or butternut squash. OR you could thinly slice spinach or collard greens to make noodles.

HTH!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HealthSeekersForum

[MaxMarie]

Tahini makes a great dressing. Plus you can "dress up" your dressing.

Tahini is just ground up sesame seeds with olive oil. I think 4 cups seeds to 1/4-1/2 cup oil.

Taste the ground up seeds before you add the oil. It's YUMMY!! It's what gives your hummus its great flavor. - hummus! That would be good also for dunking your veggies in...

Anyway, so you've got your Tahini. Store it in a nice mason jar. Most Safeway stores still carry those in the baking section. Look up. Tippy top shelf.

Add marinated sun dried tomatoes to your tahini. Or go Italian and add basil and pine nuts. Flavor it up any way you like. Great stuff!

I'm sorry I'm lame with the measurements but I usually just make to taste.

Hummus - soak your garbanzos. If you can, sprout them. I love hummus so much I can't make it to the sprouting part. Grind them up in your food processor. Add your tahini, olive oil, fresh garlic and lemon.

Again, you can add things and flavor it up. Sun dried tomato is good.

[coffeesquirrel]

:D hmm this has given me lots of idea's ... i do adore hummus ... and i do like to dip stuff lol so this could be very good. you guys have come thru as usual many thanks coffeesquirrel oh one more question.. about the pickling.. i like mushroom but i have never liked that raw ones as they are too strong. does pickling change that? or does the dehydrator? because i would love to do some stuffed shrooms but not if they are just like plain raw ones.

[Sweet lips]

There are so many types of mushrooms - you may speaking about the button kind - they kinda remind me of a cold, but marinated, or pickled, and deyhdrated, they are good. Portabella's tase good too marinated and then dehydrated with a nice dressing. I'd try a little package before making the plunge and then if you don't reeeeeaaaaalllllllly like them, share :rolleyes:

[tglasco4]

I am with you coffee, unless there was butter on them and they were cooked, I HATE veggies. But I have come to like a few now that I have been raw awhile. I don't think eating all fruit is a bad thing though. Your body will tell you in time. But since you are just starting out, eat as much fruit as you like and don't worry about other stuff. Right now the point is to stay as raw as possible. I eat my veggies with olive oil and sea salt (cayenne has become a fav recently). It gives them an italian flavor which I like (the olive oil and sea salt that is). Hey, abunch of fruit and nuts with tomatoes and avocado sounds pretty much like my menu:). I also like to use nut pate's on the salad. Gives it a taste like tuna salad, only immensely healthier!!

Peace.

Todd

[heather]

i am a big fan of sneaking veggies in my salad. chop them up really small and use A LOT of vinegar, some olive oil, cayenne and salt. oooh and with some chopped avocado and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds...mmmmmmmm

[RawGranny]

When you are a vegetarian and you don't like veggies you are in trouble. :rolleyes: So what shall we do with you? :confused: You must like some veggies. Give a list of the ones you will eat and maybe some of us can come up with some recipes that you can try. Broccoli maybe?

[caramba]

I grate up carrot, zucchini & cabbage & add to salads. Also baby spinach & rocket. I made some broccoli dips from Alissa's book, which was quite runny & I ended up using it more as a salad dressing. Also someone said (Alissa??) to dehydrate greens & grind them up in a coffee grinder, then add the "Green powder" to smoothies etc. (Doesn't help me as I don't have a dehydrator yet...but am bidding on ebay!)

[coffeesquirrel]

i actually used to eat a lot of veggies on the sad diet but they where all cooked and smothered in butter or cheese and as we all know that's not grooven. and some of the veggies is used to eat cooked like broc and califlower and mushrooms are just too strong raw.

but i do like
corn
lima beans
spinich (my fav salad green)
romaine
pea
green beans
carrots
celery
squash
zuc's
cucumbers
tomatoes (a fruit i know)
and avacado's (also a fruit)
a little bit of onion but not too strong
chives (prob more of an herb but green)
i like sprouts (although the only ones i've had so far is alfalfa & mung)


ok i think this is most of them although i may have missed one or two. Hopefully this helps

[yeahbethany]

If you miss buttered, sauteed veggies, I'd suggest the following:

cut up veggies (such as broccoli or cauliflower). Toss with fresh garlic (or garlic powder), oil (such as coconut, olive, or sesame...coconut is best for buttery taste), and sea salt. Dehydrate to soften and warm.

Its delicious! I do this with broccoli all the time (in fact, I have some in the dehydrator right now!).

[coffeesquirrel]

do the veggies lose there harsh taste?

[yeahbethany]

I think so...that was what got me into raw broccoli!

[tglasco4]

You know yeahbethany........I am going to try that when my juice fast is done. I never thought of using the seasonings like that on the hated raw broccoli. Maybe it will taste better! I think I will also add some tomato and avocado to it hmmmm.....maybe on to something!!

Peace.

Todd

[twinyoga]

I like veggies when they are cut up nice and small, like in a chopped salad. It's more fun to eat and not as strong tasting. Try it.

But, like you, I love fruit so much that I could eat fruit all day!

[levamssg]

Juicing may be a way for you to get your quota of veges. I make a vege juice with tomatoes, green/red peppers, celery, carrot, beetroot, onion. Very much like V8 juice.

If you like a sweeter taste - add a sweet apple (red delicious works well).
I especially love 2 celery/2 carrot/1 apple. There are endless combinations.

Make vege salsa with tomato, red/yellow peppers/ onions/ garlic/ lemon juice; cilantro; hot peppers. Yummy with flax crackers or rolled in a romaine lettuce leaf.

Make vege salad dressing. My fav is tomato, cucumber, red pepper, olive oil, onion, garlic, lemon, basil, oregano. I pour this over cubed avocados or salad greens. I vary the veges for different taste.

[coffeesquirrel]

that is a good idea... once i'm back to foods i'm gonna have to try all this stuff ... i had never thought of veggie salad dressing .. kewl :D