Making veggies the star, not the obligation

I remember when Jessica Seinfeld wrote a book called Deceptively Delicious, where parents were advised to "hide" the veggies into their meals, so that kids didn't know what they were eating. But that sets a weird precedent, doesn't it? It's posititioning vegetables as enemies right out the gate.

At some point, her kids will be faced with a side of steaming broccoli. If they haven't even been broken in with melted cheese on top, what happens then? Vegetables, when seasoned right, can be delicious. Many people add them to meals as an obligation, and eat them like they are just trying to get through it. It doesn't need to be this way. A little TLC, and every option on the table can be just as zesty as the next.

Mexican food comes to mind when I think of produce kicking things up a notch. While it's true that tacos are as good as the quality of the meat, they would be bland without the traditional Mexican toppings: chopped cilantro, onion, and a squeeze of lime. And don't even get me started on fresh salsa verde. In this case, it's the vegetables and lime that wake up the dish, and give it that vibrant flavor. 

I have a friend who lives on a flower farm in Afton Mountain, outside of Charlottesville. Every year, a few girlfriends gather there for a weekend of thrifting, crafting, and cooking. When we prepared a salad, we didn't just throw together lettuce and the usual suspects. The vegetables in the salad stole the show. We had spicy microgreens, earthy turnips sliced paper thin, and roasted sunflower seeds - this was along with other toppings such as red peppers and cucumbers. But the salad was uncommon, and delicious. Especially since we made the Olivia Wilde break-up dressing (which was really a recipe from Nora Ephron).

That same weekend, we stopped at Dr. Ho's Humble Pie and enjoyed an arugula salad with candied pecans, goat cheese, and roasted beets. Not one bit of that meal felt perfunctory. All this to say, if you are going to heap your plate with veggies, make them count. After all, we do that with carbs. We will pick up a sad cookie and put it back down, saying to ourselves, "Not worth the calories." With vegetables, we don't have that option. We need the nutrients, so let's make them count. Let's make them tasty. 

Sarah shares amazing recipes in her newsletters, and I have creative, easy options here with zuccchini, cucumbers, and mushrooms - to name a few. Vegetables are good for us, so let's make them taste like it.