Vegetable Recipes

Fennel, Orange & Apple Salad:

3 bulbs fennel (sliced thin on a mandolin)
5 oranges (segmented)
2 apples (sliced on a mandolin)
1/2 bunch cilantro

Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 lemon (juiced)
1 cup olive oil
2T salt and pepper

Fennel, Orange & Apple Salad:
In a bowl, toss all ingredients.

Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette:
Combine all ingredients and toss!

This tastes great with grilled chicken. Enjoy!

L.; i have 3 sons, they eat all sorts of vegetables, ones that kids love is broccoli with cheese, corn, family is not too fond of peas, spinach from time to time, carrots and ranch dressing, or the vegetable dip is good, broccoli can be eaten with dip too, cauliflower boiled and drained well mashed will taste just like mashed potatoes, add butter just like mashed potatos, fairly good, and you can pass it off as a mashed potatoes fairly easy, they hold alot of water so really drain them good, oh green beans, those are good too, you got those, just serve whatever you want, if they like it, good, if not, sersve it anoter time, see if thye like it them, D. s

One of my favorite recipes that can be done as crisp as you like is the following: zucchini , yellow small squash , sweet onions cut in half; all sliced to desired thickness , fresh basil and parsley, salt, pepper and garlic to taste....Layer and bake @400 for 30-45 min. until desired doneness.
Additional raw vegetables for consideration: sugar snap peas. Oriental pea pods, fresh frozen whole asparagus (w/ fresh rosemary in the steamer) and mini green beans blanched until desired doneness- (both of these can be found at ALDI for a VERY reasonable price). Hope this helps.

When my kids were small the only veggies we had was your normal peas; beans; potatoes & corn. I had tried others but neither my husband or kids wouldn't try anything else. So I bought Green Giant frozen veggies in cheese sauce. All of us, including myself had to try at least a teaspoonful. It got to a point that the kids loved them. So much so that they started to ask for broccoli, cauliflower and brussell sprouts.
Both with and without cheese. I found a recipe for raw
cauliflower cooked in h2o w/lemon juice. Cook until just tender, drain completely then fry in lots of butter until browned. They taste just like popcorn. Just be inventive and all of the family try something you've never had before. I'm now a grandmother & even they like some different things.

A simple one that I have been able to get my 2 1/2 yr old to eat is for aparagus on the grill. I put the cleaned asparagus on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil (very little), salt and pepper. Then I take it off the pan and put it on the grill for 3-5 minutes - rolling/flipping it once. My mother-in-law sometimes roasts it in the oven for 5-10 minutes on the pan.

My husband makes my 18 month old "ants on a log". He spreads peanut butter on a stick of celery and then places raisins on the peanut butter along the celery to resemble ants, hence "ants on a log". It looks fun, tastes good and it is healthy.

Grilling out veggies is really yummy. Zuccini is a good one, cut long and thin, then tossed in olive oil with your favorite spices, or even in italian dressing, then grill until each side has those grill lines on them...sort of high heat because if it's too low, it'll make them mushy.

Swiss chard and/or kale - saute in a little bit of olive oil. When it's cooked, add in a dash of sesame oil and/or soy sauce. Simple, simple, and tasty!

L.,
You can find a lot of fun and tasty (family-style) vegetable recipes on my blog at www.artfulveggie.com. The recipes are not only delicious, healthy, easy to prepare and inexpensive, but tons of fun for kids. Check it out - I'm sure you'll find something that your little one will enjoy.

I add frozen veggies (peas, mixed veggies, and peas& carrots) to already made things - like Ramen noodle soup, a pasta-roni thing, rice-a-roni. Broccoli and peas are nice in something creamy, for picky eaters. (sometimes just cheese sauce from a jar!) I also am a huge fan of the cookbook "deceptively delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld; since I'm already pureeing veggies for my baby, I went ahead and made extra and add it to what we're eating (don't always tell my family) and then feel a little better about them not eating the other stuff on their plates. My 2 year old will eat veggies when offered "dip"...low fat dressing or veggie dip. Sometimes I add food coloring to the dip to make it more appealing to her. Also we love squash baked in the oven with a little butter and brown sugar. Also we enjoy buying "spaghetti squash", then bake it and shred it, then eating it like pasta, with a jar of sauce over it....very yummy and very healthy! Hope that helps!

Both my husband and I love vegetables but my son who is two and a half doesn't have much of a liking for them. I usually cook veggies (zucchini, carrots, fennel, eggplant, peppers) with a couple of stewed tomatoes. Then I put them in a type of blender and add them to couscous. It seems to be one of the only ways he'll eat them. I have also tried to cut up fresh carrots, peppers, celery and bought a yogurt based salad dressing and he seems to like the idea of dipping and eating.
If your child is already eating pasta you could make a mixed vegetable and tomatoe sauce with pasta or else make a vegetarian lasagna.
I also like to make him a veggie frittata. Basically any vegetable you think he would like first cooked and then added to a beated eggs and slowly/lightly fried with little olive oil. I then either cut them up in little pieces and he likes to eat them with toothpicks or else I hide the whole thing in a sandwich with a cheese slice or ricotta.

I will confess this is not my fast vegetable recipe, but when you have the time, this is one of my favorite and it can be refrigerated overnight and reheats well. It's a little sweet, a little salty- good flavor. The prep work is a little time consuming but it is not difficult to make.

Roasted Fall-Vegetable Hash

1/2 pound brussels sprouts, quartered (I use frozen)
1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
3T extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4 pound bacon cut into small, 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 pound sweet onions like Vidalia finely chopped
1 small Granny smith apple peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch dice
10 sage leaves (I just use dried sage)
1 cup apple cider

Preheat oven to 400. On a baking sheet, toss brussels sprouts and squash with 2T olive oil and season with salt and pepper, roast the veggies for about 20 min.

In a large deep skillet, heat remaining 1T olive oil. Add bacon and cook till crisp. Add onions and cook till browned. Stir in apple and cook until it starts to soften- about 2 min. Gentle stir in (or else brussels sprouts fall apart- which can be a good thing if you are trying to hid them), squash, and sage, then pour in the cider. Simmer over moderately high heat until cider is almost evaporated- about 10 min. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When my son was in that in-between baby food and grown-up-table food stage, between 1 and 2-1/2, I bought a tiny food processor at Target and course-ground frozen veggies, one portion at a time: broccoli, green beans, peas, etc. (Literally straight from the freezer.) Then just throw it in the micro w/a tiny bit of water and heat to steaming. It was a great happy medium in terms of texture - pre-chewed enough so he could eat it, without having to resort to canned or otherwise over-cooked.

This doesn't help w/your husband much, but you might be able to do more elaborate things for your grown-up veggies that your toddler won't enjoy, sauces and such that will make it more interesting for your husband. Good luck!

Check your grocery store's freezer veggies. They have all sorts of different combos of veggies and sauces that are in ready to microwave bags or trays. My fiancee was a difficult one to get to eat his veggies and after trying some of these, he can't get enough! And if you find them too expensive, then maybe you can at least get some ideas of how to flavor different veggies. Also, try some online recipe sights such as Allrecipes.com or epicurious.com to get some ideas and recipes to try out. One thing we did when I was working as a sous chef was sprinkle the veggies with a seasoning called oregenata. I'm including the recipe for anyone that wants it. It also makes and awesome breading for chicken or pork, and tops potatoes or salads...the uses are almost endless!

Use a food processor to combine the following:

* 2-3 cups dried bread (you can use packaged bread crumbs, croutons, or toast bread in the oven to get it dry and golden)
* Oregano, we prefered fresh, but dried works just as well. If using fresh, I'd say about 2 Tbls, if using dried, you'll probably want more.
* Seasoned salt and pepper to taste.
*Zest of one lemon

What we did was combine these items in the food processor until finely ground. Take a little taste and see what you think it needs more of and add some. If the flavor is too strong add more bread, etc.

Then you SLOWLY pour in olive oil while pulsing the processor to combine the oil in. You're looking for something close to a grahm cracker or cookie pie crust consistancy (it should form loose balls if you squeeze it but break apart easily).

To use it as a breading, dip your meat in an egg wash then roll it in the oreganata and pan fry or bake.

When we used it on veggies, we'd also squeeze the juice of the lemon we zested onto the veggies after we sprinkled on the oreganata.

To store, refrigerate in an airtight container or zip lock bag. It should stay fresh for a week to two weeks (it's the fresh lemon you have to worry about).

Hope these ideas help you out.

Good luck with your veggies!