Now that it's summer, I hate the idea of taking time to cook vegetables. I don't mind it, but when you think of summer, you think potato salad, and cole slaw, that sort of thing. I am worried about my children not getting enough veggies. We eat lots of green salad, but that can get boring after a while too.
How do you get vegetables into your kids during summer? They are pretty good as far as eating veggies, and during the day they snack on carrots, celery, apples and bananas. Dinner is the problem. I am not the type to just steam some broccoli and serve it either.But when it is grill time, no one really pays attention to the veggies.
One thing I do with green beans is I steam them, toss them with some garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chill and serve (or serve warm). But like salad, you can only serve that so many times.
Sauteed zucchini, onions and peppers in olive oil, with a bit of black pepper sprinkled on top, is a summer staple here as well. I also try to cook Aloo Gobi so I get potatoes, garlic, onion, cauliflower, tomatoes, and chick peas in that way. I like to make veggie stews and just add lots of greens to them, especially Kale. Meals such as these and salads carry us through the summer. We don't eat much meat either. Usually flesh foods make up only a small portion of our meals, and not daily. I'd like to do more grilling, but I'd like that to be dh's department. ;) I'm trying to get him to borrow Bobby Flay's book, "Boy Meets Grill." It would be nice to enjoy a meal I didn't have to cook myself.
Soup, containing every vegetable known to mankind, and put through the blender to make them all unrecognizable -- and then frozen into smaller, microwavable portions, so I don`t even have to use the stove.
VEGETABLES YUCKY! No more vegetables! Bleh!!! You always feed us stuff like brocoli and other yucky stuff. And my Crazy Brother doesn't hlp the situation. "Oh Mommy I love your vegetables! Vegetables are the best things in the world! Yummy!"Grrr Irritating... Anyways no one give her any ideas for more vegetables! We get too much already! >:^(
Veggie kabobs on the grill... I made some on Sunday. The night before, chop them into biggish chunks and marinate them in a ziplock bag over night. The next day, stab 'em with a skewer and grill for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally.
For the marinade, I whisk together olive oil, the juice of 2 limes (then toss the lime slices in there too), 3 crushed cloves of garlic, big dashes of pepper, salt, oregano.
Them I use big chunks of red onion, red/yellow/orange bell pepper, baby bella mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow squash. I also put fresh pineapple chunks on between the marinated veggies, but i don't marinate those.
Grilled zuchini is also good. (Sorry Rosey Posey) And there is always corn on the cob. I'll bet even Rosey Posey likes that... :)
V8 juice, or some homemade equivalent, to drink. And whenever I make meatloaf, I always put V8 juice in it instead of ketchup and stuff. Also, I put it in spagghetti sauce. Lots of veggies in there, and the kids never notice a thing.
We grill corn-on-the-cob and my kids love them. Pull back the husks carefully (grip the top, dividing husks & silks into each hand, pull firmly about half-way down. Remove silks only, then put the husks back up. Tie with either kitchen twine or a strip of husk to keep closed, and throw them on the grill. Some people don't do that much -- they soak them in ice water for a half hour, grill them & then remove husks later.
We also do grilled veggie kabobs. My girls like fresh veggies raw with a little yogurt dip (ranch dressing seasonings in drained plain yogurt), but my son doesn't -- he'll only eat baby carrots and steamed sweet peas or green beans.
Here in Nebraska, they serve a sliced cucumber salad, which some folks call "new pickles". Thinly sliced cukes and sweet onion dressed in white vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper and a little dill.
My mom used to give us celery ribs filled with a mixture of cottage cheese and crushed pineapple...mmm, haven't thought about that in years!
My kids have taken a liking to Chard. It is really sweet right now, farm fresh and darn good for them. I saute it with loads of fresh garlic and olive oil,then put a splash of Balsamic in it. For picky kids #2 I pull it out before I add the balsamic and put his in microwaved chicken broth, he likes it in soup, but it's too dang hot to make soup! For picky child #1 I add it to pasta, a pretty quick dinner. For picky kid three, aged 21 months, I tell him these are the leaves mama wants him to eat, not the yucky ones under the car. We are in a CSA, so we get too many vegetables, I feel obligated to eat them all every week. They can be snuck into pretty much anything!
grilled vegetables, yum.
You can also make vege burgers by mixing chopped veges with rice and pureed beans and seasonings. Form into patties and freeze - then when you are grilling throw a few of these patties on the grill too.
I don't have a specific recipe but I could probably find you one.
I have an opposite problem - the one child left at home is a vegetarian who has just recently also given up dairy......