How to cook vegetables
We all know we need to eat more vegies. But how to cook vegetables? How to go beyond the salads and baked potatoes in restaurants everywhere? First you need the basics: a quality chefs knife, cutting board, and stainless steel pots. A steamer basket is good to have, and you can get a juicer if you wish. Then you need organic and seasonal foods. These really do taste better! As a gardener, I know fresh food tastes the best. Kale is not bitter and is soft when it's fresh. Go to a farmers market and try the seasonal food. Fresh vegies are a treat to eat! Here's How to cook vegetables, 10 ways 1. Juice them: I know it's not really cooking, But it's a good way to prepare vegies. The juices are often based on carrots for sweetness, then add in greens, celery and other vegies. Apples can be juiced, and a touch of ginger adds a kick. I've heard some amazing stories of how juices can heal health conditions and help people lose weight. Now is a good time to juice. Many folks are doing this to upgrade their diet! You can juice to heal various health conditions. This book by Norman Walker will tell you all about it.
2. Raw salad: The best salads start with a leafy green like lettuce, spinach, arugula, or mesclun mix. Romaine lettuce has a nice crunch. Then add in crunchy summer vegetables: cucumber, red radish, bell peppers, carrots, red onions, parsley, basil, garlic, tomato. Make it gourmet with black olives and feta cheese. Yum. Or be different and have a grated carrot and beet salad. Add a high quality salad dressing you make yourself. Here's some salad dressing recipes. 3. Steamed: You will need a bamboo or stainless steel steamer basket. Cut vegies into bite size pieces. Bring water to boil, add on the steamer full of your vegies, and cook 3 to to 10 minutes, depending on how dense your vegies are. Cook for less time to keep them light and crispy, or if it's yams, winter squash or potato, cook well. 4. Boiled: Use this method for leafy greens like collards, kale, mustard greens. Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add in cleaned greens that are torn into bite size pieces, and let boil about 3 minutes. Lift out of the water with a slotted spoon. Serve greens with lemon. You can also boil briefly red radish, daikon radish, carrots, celery and any light, crunchy vegie. 5. Saute-steam: heat up oil in a saucepan, add in bite size vegies. Stir to distribute the oil. Cook until vegies wilt a bit. Add in 1-2 Tbsp of water put the lid on, and let cook until tender-crisp. Works well for broccoli, cauliflower, and those cruciferous vegies. Green beans, too. I like to keep the heat on medium or medium low and add water to steam. This keeps the oil from getting to hot and creating trans fats. If you saute with butter or coconut oil, you don't need to worry so much about heating up the oil. The saturate fats in these oils are good for higher heat cooking. 6. Stir fry: You need a wok and a cooking oil that can take the heat. Prep all the vegies before hand, cut them up thinly, and have them lined up in little bowls. Then heat the wok up with oil to medium high to high heat. Toss in vegies one at a time. Then using a wooden spoon, dance them around your wok! Cook quickly so they are still crisp inside. Using a wok is an art. 7. Puree: Cook starchy vegetables in a bit of water until soft, then blend in a blender with your favorite oil, nut or seed butter, and herbs and spices. Try yams, flax oil and cinnamon. Or carrots and almond butter. Simple comfort food! 8. Baked: Preheat your oven to 375 or more (every oven is different). Cut up vegies and coat with oil. Put in a casserole dish and bake until tender. You can use light vegies like zucchini and bell pepper, or denser vegies like yams, onions, winter squashes. They will cook at different amounts of time. Pierce with a fork to test if it's done. 9. Pressed salad: You cut up vegies thinly, add salt and put a weight on them to press out the water. The salt softens the vegies a bit, they are still crisp. Enzymes are maintained. You can wash off the salt if you like. Fill a salad bowl part way with summer vegies like red radish, cucumber, red peppers, red onions, celery. Tomatoes and lettuce don't work here; they are too moist. Next, add salt, 1-2 tsp or so, and massage it in to the vegies with your hands. Or stir it in. Then add another bowl on top of your salad bowl plus a weight. I add water or another jar for the weight. Let it press for 20 minutes or so. 10. Cultured vegies: aka fermented vegies. Sauerkraut is the most famous cultured vegie, along with Kim chi. It's often made with cabbage, and you can add in carrots or beets. Slice your vegies really thin or grate them. A Cuisinart with a grater blade is perfect for this. Slice about 4 cups of vegies. Then put in a glass quart size mason jar. Leave about 1 inch head room at top of jar. Make a brine made with 1-2 tsp salt mixed in 1 cup of water. Pour over vegies in the jar. Keep the jar out on your counter for 3 to 5 days. Put the jar on a plate or cloth. The live probiotics sometimes cause the brine to leak out. Its alive! Leave out 3 days for summer, 5 days in winter. After 3-5 days, the vegies will have a nice sour tangy taste. Refrigerate. Cultured vegies are good for digestion and full of probiotics and enzymes. 11. Here's one extra tip on how to cook vegetables: pressure cooking. It's usually too strong for vegies, the high heat and pressure would turn most vegies into mush. The exception is beets! Add whole unpeeled beets and water to cover in a pressure cooker. Bring ot high heat, then lower heat and cook about 30 minutes. Then peel the beets, cut and marinate in a nice dressing. Toss on a bed of romaine lettuce with other salad fixins. Add vegies to other dishes: Try spinach added to enchiladas or lasagna, vegies in soups, pureed vegies in a sauce,or my favorite, mushroom and onion gravy.
So that's how to cook vegetables. Have fun experimenting with colors, tastes, herbs, textures from crunchy to comfort food! Mix them with quality oils and herbs and they are delicious. Return from how to cook vegetables to home page For more on how to cook vegetables, Check out my vegie recipes: Carrot recipes, great for snacks Easy guacamole recipes for snacks and parties Kale recipes are super healthy Salsa recipes are fun and spicy! Spinach recipes, cooked and raw
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