Last week I wrote about my problems with vegetables. Via comments and e-mail, readers shared several tips for coming to terms with the foods I dislike. One common refrain was, “I didn’t like X vegetable until I tasted it prepared in Y fashion.” I’ll have to start trying veggies prepared in different ways. (After all, I did used to hate spinach before I discovered that, shockingly, it was good raw.)
I’ve been sick for the past couple of days, and that’s made a couple of crazy things happen. I’ve actually applied two other reader tips!
Just do it
Some GFS readers encouraged me to just eat the damn vegetables. This might seem like lame advice to some, but it’s actually not bad. (Once during one of our phone-based training sessions, Lauren was tired of hearing me whine. Just solve the problem,” she said. I thought this was good enough advice to jot down on a sticky note that I keep at my desk.)
Last night, Kris offered me some acorn squash and roasted golden beets for dinner. She was just kidding around but I said, “Sure.” She did a double-take. “Are you my husband?” she asked. I smiled wanly.
I tried the squash but did not like the texture or the taste. It was mushy, and not in a good way. Plus I didn’t like the balsamic vinegar Kris had drizzled on it. Strike one.
But — gasp — I liked the beets. They had the consistency of potatoes, and they tasted like the earth. I could eat them again.
Eat what you like
Tonight I took another piece of reader advice to heart: eat the fruits and vegetables that you like.
“You know what I’m hungry for?” I asked Kris. She shook her head. “Watermelon,” I said. “I have an intense craving for watermelon.”
We don’t have watermelon in Oregon in late October. We do, however, have grapes — luscious purple Concord grapes.
I’ve always claimed that blackberries are my favorite fruit (followed closely by watermelon), but now I know that’s not true. During the last two weeks, I’ve discovered that I’m crazy for Concords. I love to suck the meat and juice from the skin, tasting the sweet-tart juice (like liquid summer!), extract the seeds with my tongue, and then slurp the grape down like an oyster.
So tonight, instead of watermelon, I ate an orange and a bunch of grapes.
Not the end of the world
I still feel sick. I have a mild fever (99.5 — my normal body temp is 98.2), and am exhausted. I can’t focus on anything but my book (The Godfather). But who knows? If I’m sick long enough, I may even begin eating broccoli!
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I’m both an avid cook AND a bit of a vegetable-phobe (my impoverished childhood involved LOTS of awful canned vegetables, yick). Don’t know if you have tried this, but I recently discovered that just about ANY vegetable — even onions, believe it or not — tastes amazing roasted. Including broccoli. You just cut up the vegetable (it can be a mixture of vegetables, usually we just use whatever is lying around), toss it in a small amount of olive oil w/salt and pepper, spread it onto a cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan, and pop it into a 450 degree oven. Time to cook varies on what you’ve got in there, but it’s usually half an hour or so. Crispy roasty vegetably goodness. Even my toddlers eat it.
I’m probably not the best person to comment on this because I adore vegetables of most kinds (except roasted beets, funny enough!). I will say that Lauren’s advice to “just solve the problem” is spot on. In many matters of health, fitness, and progress of any kind, there’s often a certain element of grinning and bearing it. Sad bad true.
And Jadzia is right – almost anything tastes good roasted. Here is an amazing combo for you: cherry tomatoes, red romano peppers, eggplant, who cloves of garlic, a few hot red peppers. Toss with lots of olive oil, a few sprigs or thyme, salt and pepper. Roast for 45 mins or so. Serve with crusty bread. It’s AMAZING!
I’ll say it again: “Goddess Salad Dressing” from Trader Joes. You may start eating ANYTHING under this sauce
I used to despise broccoli.
Then I started eating it dipped in a variety of things.
Salad dressings of all sorts, cheese, even BBQ sauce.
I realize that I was originally using it as a vessel to eat these things that I can’t really justifiably eat as standalone. Trust me, your wife looks at you funny if you try to chug BBQ sauce.
But then I grew a positive association.
Now, I find that I often go for the broccoli when offered a veggie platter, even if there’s no dips or anything. I’ve grown to like it.
I’ve tried to do similar with fish, but I just can’t stomach it. At least I managed to pick up one healthy food, I suppose.
+1 on roasted Broccoli. I hate veggies. I called my mother and told her I had eaten broccoli prepared this way and her mouth just dropped. I was a notorious as a kid for not eating my veggies.
I use frozen broccoli, lay it out in a roasting pan, crush some garlic, add crushed red pepper, olive oil, and a little lemon juice. Roast at 425 until you start seeing browned bits, stir it up a little bit and cook for another 5 minutes.
It turns out nice and soft, not too crisp at all and has lots of flavor. I too am a textural eater. It’s the wet crunch of things, like an onion, that gets to me! None of that when you roast broccoli!
Be sure to be open-minded. There were a lot of things I didn’t eat growing up because I was a picky eater. I had been turning them down so long I realized in some cases it had been years since I’d even tried them. When I did, I found a lot of my tastes had changed, and now I love a bunch of foods I thought I hated, including squash, green beans, black beans, asparagus, etc.
Also, be sure to try a lot of vegetables grilled. Squash and zucchini (not your favorites, I know) are delicious grilled so I think you should try them that way before you give up on them completely. So is asparagus, but I think you already like it.
I wonder if it is the roasting or the olive oil — roasting is a pretty energy intensive (especially the whole oven for just two people) kind of cooking, so I tend to avoid it. But, I find a light saute in olive oil has the same effect in terms of taste….
Glad to hear you are trying new things. Try find a vegetarian restaurant. You’d be amazed at how good some of their dishes are.
Try broiling cauliflower with spray butter on it till its golden – tastes completely different than steaming!
And dont forget you can puree stuff and mix it in if you have a hard time with textures!
p.s.
Half an accorn squash filled with a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a little butter before baking ….mmmmm…..
Roasted beets… that’s funny. I used to despise beets, but have become such a fan of roasted beets that I actually crave ‘em sometimes. I’ll eat a salad, but I’ve not been a huge fan of the lots-of-lettuce salad approach; when I realized I could combine lots of “heavy” items and call it a salad, I was beyond thrilled. Roasted beets, green peas, maybe some garbanzos and a sprinkling of nuts–yum!
@ elisabeth: the roasting definitely makes a difference, not just the olive oil. But you’re right, it takes a lot of energy. That’s why I try to economize by multitasking the roasting. I’ll roast up a couple eggplant (for babaganouj) at the same time I’m baking a couple potatoes (to serve along a quick fish dinner in a day or two), roasting some garlic (to spread on bread later in the week), roasting some beets (to add to salads through the week), etc. Once you’ve got it all roasted, the veg will usually keep well for a week in the fridge and it’s a snap to heat in the microwave to serve along other foods quickly on a busy weeknight…
Oh and JD, just because you didn’t like the texture of the acorn squash, don’t write off all squash. Roasted chunks of butternut are a totally different experience (more potato-like) as is a roasted spaghetti squash (not quite spaghetti, but a nice juicy-crunchy texture that’s really yummy sprinkled with an herb mix and some high-flavor cheese like romano.)
I like veggies but squash is gross. Completely and totally gross. I had to have The Man puree it when I made it as baby food because is made me gag.
Beets pretty gross, not as a gross as squash.
I love veggies and have no tips for you. Sorry.
Spinach, another vegetable you mention that people always over cook and then it tastes terrible.
Try Different types of Vegetable Soups. — Good for sickness, and good for health. (I love a good minestrone)
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