Looking for vegetable alternatives instead of the usual ho- hum potatoes, corn , gr beans and stuff?

Question

We like different things eg: I'd love to try okra, but have no clue how to prep it. What interesting veggies do you serve your family and how do you prepare them? Thanks for your suggestions!

Answer 1

My 12 year old daughter and I are vegetarian-we have lots of creative recipes. Okra is super easy to fix-you can buy it frozen and battered, but we like it fresh. You just snip off the stem end, and slice the rest. It can be battered and fried, or steamed, used in stews, etc. We make homemade veggie stock and soups. Fondue is fun, with alfredo sauce, and dunkers of steamed rosemary potatoes, brocolli, zuchini, yellow squash, and artichoke hearts. Squash casserole is yummy. Thread some lightly steamed veggies (potato, pearl onion, zuchini, mushroom, yellow squash) on wooden skewers and grill them, after marinading them in olive oil and garlic, salt, and pepper. Green bell peppers stuffed with stir fried rice is good, as is stuffed zuchini and tomato. Mushroom caps, stuffed with the chopped mushroom stems, seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan cheese-run under the broiler to melt the cheese-are super. Pea salad is nice in warm weather. Sorry I don't have recipes, but I tend to just cook on the fly, winging it as I go. I hope this gives you some ideas

Answer 2

This is a decent Okra(bindi in Urdu) Recipie

Bhindi - Fried
Ingredients Instructions
2 cups of cut up Bhindi (okra)
1 small onion
½ tsp. cumin seeds (Zeera)
3-4 Whole dried red chilies
½ tsp. salt (according to taste)
¼ tsp. turmeric (Haldi)
2 tbs. oil
1 tbs. tamarind (Imli) paste - optional (this would be found at an Pakistani or indian store but is not needed)
1 tomato (optional)
Sauté the sliced onion till transparent-light brown.
Add Cumin Seeds (Zeera), salt, Turmeric (Haldi), Bhindi and chilies.
Cover and cook on low heat till soft. Do not add water. (Don’t stir so much otherwise it will breakup).
To check if done, stir. When the sticky texture disappears, it’s done.
Serve with chapati( you can subsititute Arab pocketless pita or even tortilla will work in a pinch. But since most Americans eat vegitables without bread you may not even need this)

Serving: 2 persons


Just a few sugesstions when you cook it cook it on low for a while and put the lid on do not stir at all. But just for a min or so, because you want the center to cook but you don't want it to turn mushy. Then take off the lid and cook until the ends of the okra are browned. As the recipie says, avoid stiring. Mushy okra is nasty. The dried chilli's Don't really make it hot(you can bairly taste them) and I like spicy food so I often add a pinch of red chilli powder. But you should try the recipie first before you add this.


Have fun. Peace.

Answer 3

Acorn Squash

Cut squash in half and clean seeds and pulp out
Pierce squash hollow with fork a few times
Put 2 Tablespoons butter in hollow
Put 1/4 cup brown sugar in hollow
Place on cookie sheet cut side up (of course) and cook in oven 350 for an hour. Test for doneness with fork. This is delicious.

Okra

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups fresh okra, washed, trimmed, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, peeled and sliced into 8 thin wedges
1/4 cup green onions, sliced, white and green
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon leaf thyme, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
PREPARATION:
Prepare all vegetables as indicated and have ready for cooking. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, thyme, salt, and pepper.
Heat oil and butter in a wok or large skillet. Add vegetables and seasoning mixture all at once.

Toss and cook for 5 to 8 minutes. Serves 4.

Answer 4

Try roasting broccoli

Roasting brings out the sugars in vegetables, cooks them to crisp-tender, and lends them a flavor generally not experienced by most people. The trick to roasting vegetables is to do so at very high temperatures for a very short amount of time.

To roast broccoli, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Arrange trimmed broccoli on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil. Roast for 20 minutes, or until fragrant.

Answer 5

Lately, I've been eating snow peas raw with a delicious dip. They are more addictive that potato chips...and better for you.

asparagus is great steamed for about 3-5 minutes,

zuccini is good shredded, sauted, and added to an alfredo sauce and served over pasta

any kind of summer squash sauted with butter, lemon juice, and parm. cheese

any kind of winter squash boiled, mashed, and mixed with butter, milk, brown sugar and spices (cinamon, ginger, allspice, pumpkin pie spice, or whatever you've got)

Kolhorabi (is this the right spelling) steamed like colliflower and served with a little butter and salt

Answer 6

Okra is tough. It tends to get slimey. Try steamed or braised anise (fennel), kohlrabi (cooked or raw), mustard greens (cook like spinach), raw shredded beet root, sweet potatoes (baked, even microwave baked in skins is awesome), or parsnips (cook in butter with no more than a few drops of water). Today's supermarkets have so many choices!

Answer 7

Try asparagus. You can boil it and then top it with salt and parmesan cheese or you can fry it in butter and top it with lime zest.

If you want fried okra, just put it in a ziploc bag with flour, salt and pepper and shake up until the okra is covered and fry in canola oil.

Enjoy!!!

Answer 8

okra is easy. u wash it cut it into 1/3 in round slices cover with corn meal throw it into some hoy oil and cook to golden prown.

also thy squash with butter salt pepper just but in a pan a cd cook on med heat until soft

Answer 9

I serve my family yams a lot. Just rub outside with a little butter and bake in oven like regular potatoes. Great with ribs, steak. chicken, turkey, ham.

Answer 10

One quick easy solution I have found is to buy the frozen bags of stir fry vegs and just steam them. There are lots of different combinations available, they are frozen so they dont go bad. I dot get tired of them because there are always new combinations to try. Cheap, healthy and easy.