I'm going to start to try and feed my family better food this year and I plan on doing that by incorporating a lot more vegetable dishes in hopes that it can alleviate some of the dependency on starch and meat to fill us up. The only problem is that I only know of a few vegetable recipes and I'm bound to run out of variety within a month or two so I'm hoping to discover a few new ones to check out. What are the best and healthiest vegetable dish recipes you would recommend?
Salad vegetable with low-fat or non-fat dressing if definitely the best for me. Because cooking vegetables actually destroys their nutrient-content, it'd be best to eat them raw. But to eat them raw is less enjoyable than having them coupled with a gourmet dressing. But most of the dressing that are available are just overly sinful that they actually revert the purpose of why your eating vegetables. So, get a non-fat, or - at least - a low-fat one.
Like Ancient Poster mentioned -- you get the best out of your veggies if you eat them raw. However, I don't usually do this. I like salads, but I'd take a nice ratatouille as a side dish any day. Just some chunked up veggies (bell peppers, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, garlic) cooked with herbs and a nut of butter. Tastes amazing! I usually just add veggies to whatever I'm cooking, though. If it goes in the pan, I add veggies. If it goes in the oven, I add veggies. If it's a soup... More veggies!
Green Bean Almondine - there are a number of recipes for this, but basically you blanch the beans if fresh or thaw the beans if frozen, then saute them in some butter and shallots, toss in some toasted slivered almonds and a squeeze of lemon juice, then season to taste with salt and pepper. I'm not sure why this popped into my head too, but there is a recipe from several years ago on Youtube for steamed chicken with vegetables: Log In Even if you weren't making the chicken, but just wanted to prepare the vegetable part, it's fairly simple. You just mix up some chicken broth, soy sauce and garlic salt together, then pour it over some fresh mushrooms, sliced carrots and celery in a bowl or container of some sort, then place the container of vegetables and sauce into a steamer until cooked and tender. Perhaps even toss the veggies in a small amount of corn starch to thicken the sauce (since the recipe calls for tossing the chicken in rice wine and corn starch). Roasted Red Peppers are always delicious to snack on. I love to make huge batches of these when they are on sale. Just roast them until they are black on the outside, place in a paper bag to let them steam for a bit, then peel them under cold water. Pat them dry and toss with some olive oil and fresh garlic, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sometimes I like to just make sandwiches with them on some crusty Italian Bread.
I think it is great to try out different kinds of salad. It is quick to prepare and very tasty and healthy. Also it is one of the cheapest and healthiest food available. I think it is best to try it out and have it for your own benefit I like the hawaian salad the most.
Minimally processed vegetable dishes are generally going to be your best bet for the most nutritious dish. In addition, try to limit the amount of extra ingredients in your dish that do not include vegetables, or other fresh ingredients, as these can add a lot of extra calories. For example, eating a salad is a healthy low calorie dish, however, including dressings high in fat and/or adding bacon bits to the salad can decrease the nutrition value of the dish. Getting used to the pure vegetable flavors can help in eating these foods with only simple cooking techniques. This can include lightly steaming or boiling the vegetables and eating it as a dish with a little salt.
