I never enjoyed vegetables but want to eat more...

brighthair

I'm useless at eating veg, particularly as I live on my own - how about putting veg in stuff?I made tomato and veg soup, and put lots of different veg in that and then blended it
Also when I make things like cottage pie, I add extra veg - I've also started mashing carrot and swede in with the potato

CCP

I've never been a great veg fan but I've got better over the past few years, largely by making veg part of my meals - chicken and mushroom pie or spinach and cheese lasagne, for example - rather than having them separately. Roast veg are also very good, as several people have said - there's not many veggies that aren't improved by roasting, imo.

In answer to your most recent question, kale is very good with ginger. If you're a meat eater, then it also goes well with chorizo (I make a kale, chorizo and bean soup which is one of my favourites). I hope you enjoy your stir fry.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Toonie wrote: »

I think I'll have a go at some stirred fried veg tonight to go with the chicken that I'm having. Another problem I have is I'm allergic to garlic, onion and celery (as well as pretty much all fruit apart from bananas, citrus and grapes). So, trying to up my veg intake is to compensate for the lack of vitamins from my allergies.

Would ginger work with kale? I like doing a stir fry with fresh ginger grated on.

Very much so - chilli goes really well with all cabbagey things as well as ginger.

If you can't do garlic or onion (and I'm assuming that chives come under this category)- have you tried asafoetida? It's a spice used by people throughout India who do not consume onion or garlic. I am sure someone will correct me, but I think it's also called Hing (if you get a blank look from the people in the shop).

You could also try chard, pak choi, chinese leaves, broccoli or plain old cabbage.

if you aren't allergic to shellfish, you could use a tiny bit of preserved shrimp (thai ingredient), bake it in foil then crumble over finely shredded stir fried kale - a good substitute for crispy seaweed.

I find that my organic veggie box has made us eat so much more veg in different ways, and it tastes so wonderful too - nothing like supermarket stuff - even the broccoli was crisp and sweet after a week sitting in a bowl of water in the refrigerator!

Toonie

Shellfish is another thing I'm allergic too, the list sometimes seems endless. My boyfriend has only just got home, so looks like we'll have the chicken and stir fry tomorrow night instead, he's already eaten, so I will make myself a big salad with loads of spinach and have some tinned mandarins for afters.

Thanks for all your replies, you guys are great.

Ambersuccubus

asafoetida (yes, it is also hing) is great, but a bit of an acquired taste (and smell!). I am also allergic to onions (although I find I can tolerate moderate amounts of garlic and celery), and hing adds a nice touch to lots of savoury dishes.
For getting more veg into an onion/garlic/shellfsh free diet, see if you can lay your hands on some Hare Krishna cookbooks. They are onion/garlic free veggies, and never do things like just boiling a vegetable, as all food is presented to Krsna before eating, so must be literally fit for a god! I have one paperback I got from one of the guys who accost people in the street, but there must be other ways of getting them, if you're not confident enough to handle the religious types...

patchwork_cat

Not green veg, but do you like pasta sauces? If so I make my own tomato sauce, based on Jamie's 5 veg sauce. It is onions, tomatoes, butternut squash, carrots, tomato puree. I do it in teh slow cooker and then whizz it down. Add italian herbs, garlic, sugar. More tomato than anything else. We have tried it also with peppers and courgettes and I wonder if a couple of parsnips would work. (obviously you just miss out the garlic and onion.) Try experimenting with different flavours. You can also roast the veg and then make puree into a pasta sauce. Can you tolerate leeks? I aslo agree with CCP and brighthair - add veg to dishes.

I find Kale a bit bitter. For some reason I have really gone off 'normal' veg. Carrots just don't taste like they used to. I have decided to get more of my five a day by fruit and soups. veg soup is a good way to get your 5 probably could get all 5 in a bowl or so! 1 portion of veg is 80g and you need 5 different veg every day, it is a good idea to go for different colours to get the full range of vitamins.

ragz_2

Thanks OP, I just came online to look for threads about eating more veg! Can anyone point me in the direction of some older ones please? I realised we barely ever get our 5 a day and I hardly buy any veg...

brighthair

Just a couple of examples for adding veg

my tomato and veg soup had in it - onion, leeks,carrot, tinned tomatoes, chilli, courgette
cottage pie - added peas, sweetcorn, carrot and onion to mince and then carrot, swede and potato on top
lasagne - I either blend or leave it chunky - tomato, onion, carlic, courgette, peppers

Toonie

I do enjoy making stews, especially good at this time of year and I put a lot of vegetables in that (tins of tomatoes, whole swedes and carrots). I don't eat much pasta, again my diet as a child was quite limited and the only carb I really eat are potatoes (can't stand the texture of most other carbs). I will eat fresh egg pasta, but I'll only have around 50g at most, same with noodles.

I've never tried leeks, I always imagined them to fall into the same category as celery and onion for some reason.

Ladyhawk

Toonie wrote: »

I've never tried leeks, I always imagined them to fall into the same category as celery and onion for some reason.

Well, Leeks are alliums (from the same family as onions) so maybe that's why you make the connection. They are much milder though, and yummy on their own or covered in cheese sauce.