5 Ways to Make Over Your Veggies
By Joe Wilkes
 Yet another study has
come out touting the benefits of adding more servings of vegetables to your
diet. Vegetables are now believed to be valuable in keeping the brain young. In
the study of 2,000 older Chicagoans, those having two or more servings of
vegetables every day showed significantly less mental decline over five years
than those who didn't. At Beachbody, we've been saying to eat your vegetables
for years. In fact, The Pious Tier on
Michi's Ladder,
Beachbody's nutrition guide, includes most of the vegetables cited in the study
as being especially beneficial. Veggies are loaded with fiber, vitamins,
minerals, and other nutrients, and most have practically no calories. What's
not to like? Well, for many, the taste.
We can all agree that eating veggies is a
good thing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that you eat five to
nine servings each day. The question is how do you choke down those five to
nine servings if you don't care for vegetables? And how can you get your
friends and family, especially kids, to veg out with you at mealtime without
the aid of cheese sauce or a deep fryer? While raw or lightly steamed are
generally the best ways to consume most vegetables, some of us may need to get
a little more creative to get all those servings down the hatch. Here are some
ideas.
 Heal your inner
vegetarian. Many of us are nursing vegetable traumas from
childhood. When I was a young boy, my grandmother gustatorily scarred me with
numerous culinary atrocities involving canned and pickled beets. Soaked in
sugar and vinegar until any structural integrity had dissolved into fluorescent
purple mush, the sickly taste of those beets was forever seared in my memory.
It wasn't until years later that I was served a fresh roasted beet salad, with
beautiful ribbons of gold, red, and violet which bore little resemblance to
those horrible vegetables I politely gagged into my dinner napkin every family
holiday. Now I love hitting the farmers market, finding multihued heirloom
tomatoes, purple cauliflower, exotic Asian vegetables, and all the fresh
versions of the creamed, boiled, or pickled monstrosities I was force-fed as a
kid and swore I would never eat as an adult. It's well worth revisiting the
vegetables you hated as a child and trying new vegetables for the first time.
Often, you might find that it was the preparation you hated and not the food
itself.
 Spice up your
life. It's been suggested that many warmer cultures began
cooking with spices to help camouflage the flavor of meat that was a bit past
its prime. Why not experiment with herbs and spices to give some of the blander
veggies a flavor boost or help out the veggies that have too strong a flavor?
For example, many find brussels sprouts to be less than enchanting in both
appearance (they look like the alien brains from Mars Attacks!) and
flavor (I have heard it remarked that they taste like dirt). Try cutting them
in half lengthwise and roasting or sautéing them with some chicken
broth and curry powder. You'll alter the flavor, color, and texture of the
sprouts without losing any of the nutritive value.
 Mix and match
spices, herbs, and condiments like basil, cayenne pepper, chili powder,
cilantro, cumin, dill, garlic, ginger, horseradish, mustard, oregano, rosemary,
soy sauce, etc. to add flavor without significantly adding calories. Be
creative and experiment with spices that might not immediately come to mind
when you think of certain vegetables. For example, a friend of mine, a master
of microwave cuisine, sprinkles some frozen cauliflower with nutmeg before she
nukes it, with delicious results.
 Soup up your
veggies. One great way to eat veggies whose appearance or
texture might not be the most appealing is to puree them and make soup.
Cauliflower is a prime candidate for the food processor. People who are put off
by its rough appearance and strong flavor can get most of the nutritional value
by having it in soup form. Sauté some cauliflower florets and
other vegetables in some low-fat, low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, then
blend the cauliflower and broth in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Make sure to include the broth you sautéed the cauliflower in, as
it will include many of the nutrients. For thicker soup, blend a boiled potato
into the mix. Or add some nonfat yogurt for a creamier texture. Add other
veggies from Michi's Pious Tier, like onions, leeks, shallots, or garlic for
extra flavor, or throw in a little nonfat Parmesan cheese.
 Don't be
bitter. Among the healthiest of all vegetables are some of
the ones that are the least commonly eatenâthe dark, leafy greens. These
veggies, including kale, chard, rabe, and beet, collard, mustard, and turnip
greens contain more nutrients and fiber than almost any other vegetable, but
their bitter, chalky taste often puts people off. Also when bought in bunches,
it seems almost impossible to get the grit and sand off the leaves, which
doesn't add much to the green experience. To clean the greens, start by
removing the stems. This is easily done by folding the leaf in half, which
should allow the leaf halves to tear off the stem cleanly. Let the leaves soak
in a sink full of cold water, occasionally changing the water until no grit or
dirt is observed. Or, check your produce section; for a little extra money, you
can buy bagged, pre-cut greens which are already washed and ready to cook.
Although we still recommend that you give your greens a thorough rinse before
you prepare them.
 As for the
bitter taste, a common mistake that people make is to steam the greens. This
actually seals in the bitter juices, making the greens taste even worse. The
best way to cook greens is to sauté them in a bit of broth. The
bitterness will disperse in the broth, leaving your greens tasting sweeter.
Adding something acidic, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or white wine while it
is cooking will also cut the bitterness. You can add onion, garlic, or spices
to your sauté, which can improve the flavor and add their own
nutritional benefits. Greens are also terrific additions to soups or
casseroles, but you should blanch the greens for one minute in boiling water
before adding them to the main dish to remove most of the bitterness. Like
coffee, greens can become an acquired taste, and the more you eat them, the
more your palate will become accustomed to, and even enjoy, their unique
flavor.
 Hit the sauce.
Okay, you've tried steaming, sautéing,
pureeing, and the vegetables are still met with silence, or worse, at the
dinner table. It's time to bring out the heavy artilleryâsauce. Now,
we're not talking old standbys like cheese sauce or hollandaise
sauceâthey are delicious, yes, but loaded with fat and calories, which
kind of defeats the purpose of eating vegetables for your health. It's like
taking your cholesterol pill wrapped in bacon. But a quick perusal of the top
two tiers of Michi's Ladder shows that there is hope! There are plenty of
healthy ingredients that can be combined to make some sauces that are delicious
and can add to the nutritional value of your vegetable dish.
 Nonfat yogurt
is a great base for healthy sauces. Try mixing some yogurt with mustard to
taste for a faux hollandaise sauce for asparagus or broccoli. Tofu is another
exceptionally healthy sauce base. My brother gave me a recipe for pureeing soft
tofu with garlic, black pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard
to make a thick and creamy Caesar dressing. (This solves another dietary
dilemma of how to make heart-healthy tofu taste good.) You can double your
servings by using vegetables to make sauce for your other vegetables. Make a
Spanish romesco sauce out of pureed tomatoes, red bell peppers, garlic,
almonds, and olive oilâall ingredients from Michi's top two tiers, which
combine to make a delicious topping for green beans, kale, or spinach. And, if
you don't have time to make an elaborate sauce, just keep some soy sauce,
flavored vinegar, lemon juice, Tabasco, and olive oil on hand, and dress your
veggies with a couple of dashes of whatever you're in the mood for.
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Hopefully, you'll be creatively inspired to
try out some new vegetables and some new methods for preparing them. While this
article focused mostly on stovetop preparations, you may want to dip into the
newsletter archive for articles on "11
Tips for Cooking Out Without Pigging Out" and "10 Simple
Ways to Spruce Up Your Salad" for more ideas on preparing vegetables
Study: Associations of
vegetable and fruit consumption with age-related cognitive change. M. C.
Morris, ScD, D. A. Evans, MD, C. C. Tangney, PhD, J. L. Bienias, ScD and R. S.
Wilson, PhD. From Rush Institute for Healthy Aging (M.C.M., D.A.E., J.L.B.),
Department of Preventive Medicine (M.C.M., J.L.B.), Department of Internal
Medicine (M.C.M., D.A.E.), Department of Clinical Nutrition (C.C.T.), Rush
Alzheimer's Disease Center (R.S.W.), Department of Neurological Sciences
(R.S.W.), and Department of Psychology (R.S.W.), Rush University Medical
Center, Chicago, IL. NEUROLOGY 2006;67:1370-1376. |
