Substitute for Vegetables?

The Wild Bunch

Hiya guys

Ever since I was a kid I've never been a fan of them. Trying to sort my diet out and looking for tips?

I can eat potatos without or without jackets, baked beans, and carrots (but only carrots from an Irish Stew).

I quite like lettuce aswell.

Sorry if I sound like a nightmare

Cheers

Mr. CooL ICE

Beans are legumes and really shouldn't be counted as vegetables.

What ways have you tried preparing veg yourself? I find most boiled veg to be boring as hell.

endacl

Best (and only) substitute for vegetables is other vegetables, I'm afraid. Get a nice veggie cookbook and experiment. All tastes are acquired. Just because you didn't acquire a taste for vegetables as a kid doesn't mean you can't now, especially as you don't need mammy explaining how they'll make you grow up big and strong! Try the Happy Pair cookbook to start with. Some lovely stuff in there.

Mars Bar

Herbs and spices are your friend. I like pouring coconut oil over sliced carrot and shaking some chilli powder and paprika over them and putting them in the oven to roast. Same way I do my sweet potato. Yummy!

endacl

Mars Bar wrote: »

Herbs and spices are your friend. I like pouring coconut oil over sliced carrot and shaking some chilli powder and paprika over them and putting them in the oven to roast. Same way I do my sweet potato. Yummy!

Trying that! Although it sounds dangerously like sweeties...

Blacktie.

Mars Bar wrote: »

Herbs and spices are your friend. I like pouring coconut oil over sliced carrot and shaking some chilli powder and paprika over them and putting them in the oven to roast. Same way I do my sweet potato. Yummy!

Do you melt the coconut oil in the microwave? I'd think doing this with coconut oil would use a lot no?

Mars Bar

Blacktie. wrote: »

Do you melt the coconut oil in the microwave? I'd think doing this with coconut oil would use a lot no?

No, I put it on the tray in the oven and then try and spread it around. Then I toss the potatoes/carrots around.
Sometimes I melt it in a small saucepan I have and I pour it over the potatoes in a plastic bowl and shake them around.

The Wild Bunch

endacl wrote: »

Best (and only) substitute for vegetables is other vegetables, I'm afraid. Get a nice veggie cookbook and experiment. All tastes are acquired. Just because you didn't acquire a taste for vegetables as a kid doesn't mean you can't now, especially as you don't need mammy explaining how they'll make you grow up big and strong! Try the Happy Pair cookbook to start with. Some lovely stuff in there.

Just the thought of eating a tomato or a mushroom etc makes me physically I'll I'm afraid. I'm a ridiculously fussy water, I know what I like- it's actually depressing.

I love fruit- would eating more of that help?

orlyice

How do you feel about veg soup? I know someone who, like you hates veg but likes vegetable soup. If you like veg soup you could make huge batches of it and get your veg that way. Freezes ok too.

endacl

The Wild Bunch wrote: »

Just the thought of eating a tomato or a mushroom etc makes me physically I'll I'm afraid. I'm a ridiculously fussy water, I know what I like- it's actually depressing.

I love fruit- would eating more of that help?

Balance. 'Tis all about proportions. Fruit is good. Nothing but fruit is....

... well. Let's just say things may get messy.

Seriously though, I'd imaging your childhood experiences of vegetables is similar to mine, and to many others here. Let's get one thing straight. What your mammy may have boiled to within an inch of recognisability, was not vegetables, in the sense of what can actually be done with vegetables and a little know-how. I didn't come to them with any enthusiasm till my 20s. Now I can't get enough. It's not just a matter of boil them and pop them on a plate. That's not eating vegetables. It's eating bits of plants.

hardCopy

endacl wrote: »

Best (and only) substitute for vegetables is other vegetables, I'm afraid. Get a nice veggie cookbook and experiment. All tastes are acquired. Just because you didn't acquire a taste for vegetables as a kid doesn't mean you can't now, especially as you don't need mammy explaining how they'll make you grow up big and strong! Try the Happy Pair cookbook to start with. Some lovely stuff in there.

+1 for the acquired taste. I was a lifelong veg hater until a couple of years ago. I basically conditioned myself to enjoy them by starting with pitifully small pieces of veg hidden in recipes or served on the side of something I loved.

E.g. finely chopped peppers on a pizza, gradually add more each time you make pizza. Put peas in anything saucy and gradually add more every week. Make oven chips with a mix of potato, carrot, parsnip and sweet potato adjust the proportions as your tastes change.

Eventually you reach a point where you realise you can try just about anything without the same gradual buildup.

RobAMerc

would you consider smoothies ? you can make anything almost unrecognizable in a smoothie.
Also, my mrs did a raw cookery course, some of the stuff ( basically blended veggies etc) are superb. we had a no cook chocolate brownie last week made from avocado coca powder and walnuts, one of the best brownies I've ever had ( and I have had a lot of brownies in a former life ).
the issue is not the veggies, its your lack of ability to disguise them !

MightyMandarin

You could try Greens Powders from myprotein or bulkpowders. They're not ideal for getting your 5 a day and are quite dear but if you really can't eat veggies it might suit you instead.

You can't tell me diced courgettes and aubergines and bell peppers and onions stir fried with chicken and loads of pesto isn't very tasty
Get some recipes and start experimenting
Overboiled tasteless spiceless stuff is yuck but proper veg is great

endacl

bluewolf wrote: »

You can't tell me diced courgettes and aubergines and bell peppers and onions stir fried with chicken and loads of pesto isn't very tasty
Get some recipes and start experimenting
Overboiled tasteless spiceless stuff is yuck but proper veg

Courgettes? Bllleeeuuuggghhhhh!

:pac:

Golaco

bluewolf wrote: »

You can't tell me diced courgettes and aubergines and bell peppers and onions stir fried with chicken and loads of pesto isn't very tasty
Get some recipes and start experimenting
Overboiled tasteless spiceless stuff is yuck but proper veg is great

Pesto + anything = EPICNESS!

Have yet to try it on ice cream but I'm sure it'll work

Greenmachine

bluewolf wrote: »

You can't tell me diced courgettes and aubergines and bell peppers and onions stir fried with chicken and loads of pesto isn't very tasty
Get some recipes and start experimenting
Overboiled tasteless spiceless stuff is yuck but proper veg is great

With you on the bell peppers. Personal will eat most veg. Courgettes is one I won't eat. I have had good aubergine before where it came out nice and crisp. Whenever I have tried to make it, it has been soggy.

Greenmachine

Golaco wrote: »

Pesto + anything = EPICNESS!

Have yet to try it on ice cream but I'm sure it'll work

Forgot about the pesto. I wish I could forget the word.

I need to make lamb/meat - stuffed aubergine
http://www.lovefood.com/images/content/body/Rick%20Stein%20-%20Lamb%20stuffed%20aubergines.jpg

Vegetables in disguise, that is a good place to start.

Do you like tomato sauce on pizza? Perhaps you could make a pizza sauce packed with onions, garlic and tomatoes, and then blend it down. This sauce could be used not just for pizza, but with chicken and pasta, or as a base for a spag bol or curry.

Do you like, as another poster asked, vegetable soup? This is an easy way to get a good portion of vegetables into you every day.

Do you like salsa, guacamole and tortilla chips? You could experiment with making your own dips to your own taste. Again, blending might help with the mouth-feel etc.

Have you ever tried carrot cake, courgette bread, beetroot brownies etc.? When baking yourself a treat why not use one of those recipes to get a vegetable into you at the same time?

What about pumpkin/butternut squash? You can stir canned pumpkin into oats and cook up a nice pumpkin porridge, with brown sugar, milk and cinnamon.

Green smoothies are also great. Make a normal smoothie with juice, banana, yoghurt and whatever fruit, and add a big handful of fresh green spinach. It turns the smoothie bright green but I promise you all you taste is the fruit.

Dial Hard

The Wild Bunch wrote: »

Just the thought of eating a tomato or a mushroom etc makes me physically I'll I'm afraid.

Neither of which are vegetables, it has to be said.

Just because you don't like some veg doesn't mean you're never going to like any of it. I wouldn't particularly relish the thought of sitting down to a big plate of boiled broccoli on its own, for instance, but sautéed in chilli & garlic with a dash of soy sauce? Completely different proposition.

littlenubbin85

I make turnip fries by slicing them like shoe string chips and throwing them in the oven with a bit of salt and paprika! Yum!