What is your favorite vegetable, and how do you make it?

[Sosai X]

I toss some frozen brocolli in the steamer, then add a bit of butter and a generous sprinkle of parmesian cheese.

 

[bicker]

roasted brussel sprouts

this.

 

[npmommie]

oh my goodness soooooo many great yummy ideas
thanks!!! I am going to try roasting, I have roasted asparagus in the past, but haven't really been roasting any other veg, will def try it.
these all sound so good!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Another steamer here. Usually we eat it plain.

I know, not too exciting but we used to drown our stuff in butter or cheese. Not anymore. I actually prefer it plain now.

I have roasted veggies before but it just takes too long and DH does not care for it.

 

[PenguinWaiters]

This is one of my current favorite recipes (from allrecipes).
I could seriously eat the whole thing by myself.
If you are avoiding dairy it is still excellent even without the cheese (which you may notice the directions never tell you what to do with. I have been adding it in during part 1).

Garlic Butternut Squash

Ingredients
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.In a large bowl, combine the parsley, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add squash and toss to coat.
2.Transfer to an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until squash is just tender.

 

[charming23]

I take zucchini, cut it into rounds, and sautee in a pan with a little butter. Once it is cooked through I sqeeze a little lemon juice over it and sprinkle with asiago cheese. Yummy.

 

[Angelrose]

I am on Weight Watchers so this recipe is great.

I steam a big head of cauliflour until really soft. Then I throw it in the food processor with a tablespoon of I can't Believe It's Not Butter Light and one wedge of Laughing Cow or Weight Watchers cheese, and a bit of grated parmesan cheese with pepper and garlic powder. Then just let it process until it looks like mashed potatoes. It tastes like creamed cauliflour but with non of the calories.

I do frozen chopped spinach (drained) with the Laughing Cow cheese, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Tastes like creamed spinach.

 

[clh2]

Green Beans with thyme and Almonds

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Thyme-Green-Beans-with-Almonds/Detail.aspx

We do not add the salt or pepper, just don't find that it is needed. (And we use dried thyme, not fresh so decrease the amount to 1 teaspoon)

This is my 16 YO's favorite veggie, so we make this a lot.

 

[Imzadi]

Thanks, I'm looking for new vegetable recipes, too. Since getting hypothyroidism, I'm not allowed to eat all the vegetables I used to eat: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, soy.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done.

Yes, a nice dark brown is essential. I used to cut them in quarters and shred them apart, so I can make as many leaves as possible a nice crispy dark brown. They are almost like chips. I drizzled on olive oil, S&P, sometimes garlic or chili powder before roasting.

Also love grilled pineapple Grilled Peaches are pretty amazing also.

I also have Oral Allergy Syndrome, I'm allergic to raw fruits, but can have them if they are cooked, as cooking breaks down the enzyme I am allergic to. I never thought about grilling peaches.

I love artichokes. Just cut off the stem and the sharp parts of the leaves, boil them until a leaf pulls out easily, and serve with garlic or lemon butter. My mom used to put sliced garlic in between the leaves as it cooked. I never have, but it still tastes delicious.

I love dipping the leaves in melted butter with dill.

OP, if you don't know how to eat an artichoke, you are suppose suppose to cook them until the leaves pull out easily. Pull a leaf out, dip in herbed butter, turn it over and slide it between your front teeth, drawing the 'meat' off with your bottom teeth.

When you've removed all the leaves, then you an dip the heart in the herbed butter and eat.

 

[Mrs. Darcy]

Have you tried eating fresh uncooked spinach? I eat this all the time instead of lettuce in salads. And I eat it as the veggie with a regular meal (meat and rice/potato/pasta). It's very healthy and tastes good. Leave the long stems on when you eat it because the stem is mostly water and fiber which is also healthy.

 

[bookgirl]

I steam broccoli either stove top or in microwave with sea salt and lemon juice in the steaming liquid. It really brightens the taste of the broccoli with out adding the fat of oil or butter plus it seems to give it a better 'al dente' then boiling or sauteing.

We also love roasted asperagus spears. I prefer fresh but have done it with the bagged stalks they sell in the freezer section. I just toss these with a little eevo (or just give them a spritz from Pam) and salt pepper or seasoning salt. Put them in the oven at 400 till the tips start to look crispy.

Oh and I use raw spinache leafs in my sandwiches instead of lettuce or sometimes a mixture of both.

I make my own soup (broth a protien, then add in veg) so that is a great way to add tons of veggies with out major prep and cooking. If you have some non veg eaters, puree up cooked veggies and add them to soups to hide the chunks of vegtables that might otherwise elecit an automatic no.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Thanks, I'm looking for new vegetable recipes, too. Since getting hypothyroidism, I'm not allowed to eat all the vegetables I used to eat: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, soy.

OT, but I have hypothyroidism too, and my doctor has never recommended avoiding these vegetables. What reason were you given? Thanks!

 

[LuvOrlando]

So many great ideas I've enjoyed reading.

Lately I have been loving sauteing Cannelini beans with garlic then adding and leafy greens like Swiss Chard, Escarole, Broccoli Rabe & Spinach. Some need to be boiled first, but don't let them sit, they get really bitter as they age, if the broccoli rabe begins to show yellow yuck, just skip it and don't let the garlic brown, it gets super bitter. I don't add oil, I just saute in the fluid in the cans.

Portobello mushrooms drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with some flavored bread crumbs are yummy.

Zucchini sliced thin, sauteed then baked with Parmesan on top is very nice.

Roasted red peppers in a bit of olive oil & crushed garlic is a favorite.

Also a sandwich made of tomato and with fresh basil and balsamic vinaigrette, sometimes alone and sometimes with chicken.

One thing no-one has mentioned is soups. I love to either make just the soup with bread if its heavy or add exotic soups to a plain chicken burger dinner and have discovered that fat free 1/2 & 1/2 mixes well with anything that calls for cream, light sour cream, fat free cream cheese & milk do just as well as regular.

This past weekend I made an amazing pot of www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/asparagus-soup-recipe/index.html

Other favorites are:

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Creamy-Tomato-Soup-2

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Potato-Leek-Soup

www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Cauliflower-Soup

All my family needs is a side of home baked bread to gobble it up, I usually get the frozen loaf kind then bake it myself. The only thing the kids won't touch is french onion.

 

[Liberty Belle]

OT, but I have hypothyroidism too, and my doctor has never recommended avoiding these vegetables. What reason were you given? Thanks!

I'm interested, too. Oddly, my hypothyroidism was "cured", but I was never told that, either. And I don't want it to come back!

 

[Imzadi]

OT, but I have hypothyroidism too, and my doctor has never recommended avoiding these vegetables. What reason were you given? Thanks!

I'm interested, too. Oddly, my hypothyroidism was "cured", but I was never told that, either. And I don't want it to come back!

A lot of it depends on your dr. or endocrinologist and whether he believes nutrition plays a part, or if he's the kind who is just going to give a prescription for a synthetic drug and that's the only way to heal/treat hypothyroidism.

I believe nutrition does play a key part. I also have hypoglycemia, so I know what I eat plays a major part in my health. I didn't just want to get an endo who was going to give me a prescription and tell me to come back in 3 months and he'd adjust my meds.

Just as hypoglycemics & diabetics have to monitor their sugar/carbs intake, and people with high blood pressure have to avoid salt, there are many studies which state eating cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, cabbage, bak choy interfere with the thyroid functioning for people with hypothyroidism.

This is just my experience, but it has been making sense to me. I ate ALL of these. I also ate hardly any salt, and the salt I did eat was sea salt, which is devoid of iodine. Iodine deficiency is also a cause of hypothyroidism.

I ate a lot of soy, which also causes problems with hypothyroidism.

I found I have uterine fibroids and fibroidy "girls." (NO! I am not a hypochondriac!) Part of the reason the fibroids are growing is because my Aunt Flo has gotten the size of Jabba the Hut. I am trying to shrink the uterine fibroids so I do my have to get a uterine embolization to have them removed.

Hypothyroidism and Iodine deficiency cause BOTH excessively heavy periods and fibroids.

To me, all those dots in my body are connected. In the last four months, as I changed my diet, included a lot of natural supplements for hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue, including iodine, cut out red meats & soy, (which are high estrogen foods, and I don't need more estrogen down there creating fibroids,) my Aunt Flow, which was lasting for about 20 days, super heavy every day, and I went through a whole bag of the super-extra-heavy, overnight, extra, extra-long Always pads, down to a much healthier 4 heavy days and a few days of spotting. The "girls" seem less bumpy.

My energy level has gone way up. My moods and snarkiness are so-so, depending if I've been regulating all of this, day to day. I just added sublingual Vit B12 to my supplements, and the last of the brain fog is going away!

I really hope I can make my hypothyroidism completely disappear, not just regulate it. If eating different veggies help, I'm all for it. As long as I'm still eating other vegetables I can swap in, I figure I'll be fine. If everything I'm doing is just a placebo, well it's working.

 

[dislaney]

Fresh green beans steamed until just tender-then sauteed with a bit of onions and chopped cherry tomatoes. It's one of our favorites.

 

[Miniefan]

I am on Weight Watchers so this recipe is great.

I steam a big head of cauliflour until really soft. Then I throw it in the food processor with a tablespoon of I can't Believe It's Not Butter Light and one wedge of Laughing Cow or Weight Watchers cheese, and a bit of grated parmesan cheese with pepper and garlic powder. Then just let it process until it looks like mashed potatoes. It tastes like creamed cauliflour but with non of the calories.

I do frozen chopped spinach (drained) with the Laughing Cow cheese, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Tastes like creamed spinach.

I used to make those "faux tatos" when I was hard into the Atkins diet a couple of years ago, I had forgotten about them. They are really tasty.

Kim