The Salad Days

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the salad days in my new home sweet home… but I’ve also been enjoying some delicious salads, courtesy of Stillman’s Farm veggies.  

This salad contained:

• lettuce
• cucumbers
• colorful peppers (purple, green red)
• toasted almond slices
• German green tomatoes
• Country Hen eggs
• Apple Barn lemon poppy seed dressing

Lots o’ Yum!!

Tim roasted some Yukon, red, and purple Peruvian potatoes with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper for 45 minutes. These were like little slices of potato heaven!

We rounded out the meal with summer’s last ears of corn.

I recently read a healthy living blog in which the blogger stated that she actually hates vegetables. I commented that until we make veggies taste good, of course we won’t like them! I work with preschoolers on a day-to-day basis, and realize that unless we make them colorful, appealing, and tasty, they will not eat them. As adults, we need to do the same thing.

Here are some hints to make vegetables taste good:

• Whenever possible, choose fresh and in season over canned or frozen.
• For most vegetables, roasting really brings out the flavor. Roasted root vegetables will take anywhere from 30-45 minutes, where more delicate vegetables like kale, broccoli, or cauliflower takes about 10-15 minutes. Always toss your roasted veggies with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Experiment with other spices like rosemary or dill, too!
• Be a big dipper! Choose your favorite dip to dunk raw veggie sticks (carrots, celery, peppers, jicama) in! At the school where I work, we choose low-fat Ranch dressing. Personally, I like a cucumber dill yogurt dressing for my dipping pleasure.
• Add vegetables to your favorite dishes. Add slices or shredded zucchini to lasagna, shredded carrots to tomato sauce, or onions and peppers to soups.

Question of the Day: How do you make your vegetables taste good?

Happy Weekend!