How much do you vary your veg?

[willbefabulousat26]

When it comes to veg I have my firm favourites! but lately I've been thinking that perhaps it's time I varied my veg choices somewhat. I tend to eat the same type of veg over and over again but I want to make sure I'm getting a wide range of nutrients and would like to try some of the more unusual veg on the list.

So my question is....how many different types of veg from the list do you regularly eat? and do you have any recipe suggestions for trying the more unusual types of veg (artichoke, chicory, fennel, chard etc) ?

Thanks


Artichoke
Asparagus
Eggplant
Beet root
Cabbage
Broccoli
Carrot
Chicory
Celery
Courgette
Cucumber
Leek
Onion
Fennel
Mushrooms
Turnip
French beans
Palm Hearts
Sweet Peppers
Radish
Rhubarb
Pumpkin
Salad
Bean sprouts
Swede
Spinach
Swiss chard
Tomatoes

 

[CaledoniaDreaming]

Hi, I'm definitely more adventurousvaried with my vegetables these days. Whilst I've always liked them I tended to stick to young-family friendly ones! Why don't you try a different one each week and see which you prefer - if anyone had told me ten years ago I'd be loving spinach I would have thought them mad! And I think all squashes are divine, much nicer than potatoes!

 

[Elisheba]

I love pumpkins!

Lately I've been trying all sorts of salads in my PV days: pan di zucchero, radicchio rosso.

I discovered the chinese cabbage... mmmh nice.

 

[samjay123]

I need to try more. I usually stick with the usual. So much variety out there to try broccoli and cabbage never get old for me, I just love them lol

 

[Maintainer]

Good question and good point! As I grow my own, I tend to OD on those ones in the summer (and am still wading my way through last year's carrots (stored in sand) and beans (runners and French ones in jars)... so it seems daft to me to buy too many others.

But I should! (at the moment, I'm in a mushroom phase... LOVE steak + mushrooms, cold cuts of meat served with hot mushrooms and tomatoes...)

 

[Zoesastar]

I bought an aubergine! Never cooked one before but im gonna make moussaka!!

 

[Maintainer]

oooh lovely... I do love aubergine. Let us know how you get on Zoe!

 

[CHRISR]

Im trying to be more adventurous too but difficult if you cant find it to buy. Love celeriac - asda till lady yesterday said she'd never sold one before and asked me what I did with it!
Artichoke hearts (tinned in water) lovely in an omelette or cold in a salad. Fennel or beetroot NO - but would love to try swiss chard. Palm hearts?

 

[ellie1969]

I'm eating a lot of swede / turnip just now as I'm getting it free from neighbouring farmers lol apart from that it's just the usual salad pepper carrots etc

 

[Atropos]

I'm afraid it depends on what's cheapest and freshest - so anything in season+plus anything on offer.

This can make the winter a bit dull - but at the moment I have squashes, swede, onions, cauli, carrots, brocolli, cabbage and sprouts.

Later on I'll add the salad, artichoke, asparagus, green beans, courgettes.

(Mind you - I can't give up tomatoes - even if the price for the sweet-sharp ones is through the roof at the moment.

 

[robinhood]

I eat what's cheap - usually seasonal - I won't pay more than 2€ a kilo for fruit or veg.

Seems to be varied enough though - certainly more so than when I was growing up - there's so much more choice now.

Swiss chard - greens for omelette, boiled and drained stalks tossed in chopped parsley and garlic. Fennel is nice - if you like aniseed taste! Artichoke - I avoid during Dukan because I need a nice vinaigrette to dip the (cooked) leaves (and heart) in. Palm hearts are tasteless to me - husband loves them - ditto vinaigrette though, never done anything else with them. Chichory - par boil, wrap slice of ham round, lay in dish, cover with bechamel sauce and put in oven for a wee while.

 

[jaqys]

I'm quite fussy, dont like root veg cooked, other than parsnips and they are a bit carby for me so avoid Cant stand fennel either, think the smell is enough to put me off.

And as its just me i tend to get 1 or 2 things for the week for evenings and another 1 or 2 for lunch that will last the week.

So for lunch rotate through spinach, celery, cherry toms, cucumber, any random on offer salad.

Evenings Asparagus, broccoli (any type), mushrooms, cauli, kale, peppers(though when a good offer) if theres a marked down bag of cabbage, beansprouts or runner beans.
Plus onions, tinned toms, jalapinos, other pickled veg.

So not at all adventurous, but it dosent get too monotonous because it takes a few weeks to cycle through.

 

[willbefabulousat26]

Some interesting ideas here, thanks!

I might have to visit a greengrocer to see if they have a greater selection than at Tesco.

 

[anjuschka]

My basic veg come in a box delivered to not much choice I have to take what comes. But it makes me vary things, and I try to buy extra veg around that to complement the picture. Try to vary the colours of the veg you eat too.

At the moment my collection is quite wintry, obviously, so this week I'll be rustling up meals with: Leek, Carrot, Swede, Curly Kale (yum!), Red Cabbage, Celeriac, Broccoli. I have a bit of a green cabbage left from last week.

On top of that I buy salady things with the weekly shop, cucmber, lettuse, tomatoes, mushrooms - just had carrot & cucumber for lunch, with tuna.

When it gets warmer I'll go back to Rocket and lettuce from the garden...

Standby's in the freezer are spinach, and peas, corn cobs (both for the kids)

My favourite idea: 'marinated' peppers without the oil: de-seed peppers (any colour though green can be bit bitter) and cut into large pieces, halves or quarters. Pile into microwave dish, cover and zap on high for 5 mintutes. Leave for a bit, stir round to check progress. Zap again. Keep doing this until they are soft, in their own sauce (no need to add water), possibly a total of 15 minutes or more if you have 4 big peppers. Leave to cool. You can then sometime pull off the skins but I'm happy to eat them as-is. I keep them in the fridge for a couple of days to liven up salads when I'm bored with fresh peppers. Also Delicious with cottage cheese, or wrapped around a dollop of seasoned Quark....