As most of you know we have been on a clean eating adventure at my house. What does clean eating mean? It means we have cut out all processed food. All dairy. All sugar. All grains. That leaves us mostly with meats and vegetables. Our new favorite foods have become vegetables.
We have developed a love for oven roasted sweet potatoes. I love to coat them with Ghee (a butter substitute) and then different spices. The one in the oven right now is McCormick's Chinese Five Spice. It is a blend of anise,cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger. Gives a nice sweet, spicy flavor.
You can read about our adventures here on my other blog: Our Adventures into Whole 30 and Beyond
We have eaten roasted asparagus and sautéed zucchini. Boiled cabbage, yum! Roasted white potatoes. California blend : broccoli, cauliflower, carrots is another favorite of ours. I like all of them, also, roasted in the oven with salt and pepper or garlic salt. A squeeze of lemon is good just before serving.
I am keeping raw celery, carrots, and cauliflower in my beautiful blue mason jars sitting on the refrigerator shelf. Just ready for those times when a kid (or a granny) is really needing something to munch on.
I have tried a variety of lettuces. My favorite to wrap around a meatball and turn it into a sub sandwich has been romaine lettuce. We also use leaf lettuce and iceberg lettuce for salads.Both of my teens have found they really don't 'hate' onions as much as they thought they did. Especially little white onions cooked in their beef stew. Delightful. And chopped up fine in their egg fritatta's. Without the onions and garlic for flavor they wouldn't be as good.
Who knows, I might get them ready to taste a rutabaga or a eggplant before this is over. What are your favorite vegetables? Do you eat the same ones over and over. Or do you get adventurous?
I'm wondering how you all are doing on the program. Was it hard to give up dairy, sugar, grains? I can't imagine it, but I bet you will feel better.
ReplyDeleteI like many veggies. I eat a lot of salads. Unfortunately, I can't eat onions or garlic or peppers. The Chinese Five spice
blend sounds delicious.
Dairy seems to be the one we are missing the most. I bought a gallon of milk yesterday for the kids. I don't drink milk anyway so that won't mess up my plan. I told them they could be strict, or not, it depended on them. I have found in the past that dairy does cause me some stomach issues. I miss my French vanilla coffee creamer the most!! I have enjoyed the Five Spice blend!!
DeleteWe don't do nearly as well as we should with vegetables in our house but now that we're into spring there will be more options available. Good luck with your clean eating.
ReplyDelete@WeekendsinMaine
Weekends in Maine
That is one of the main things I love about spring and summer...the increase in lovely vegetables!!
DeleteEggplant is so good! Haven't had it in a bit, but always so tasty (of course we probably don't make it the right way for the Whole 30 way of eating :)
ReplyDeleteI love pretty much all veggies; have to be careful a bit with onions if they are raw (heartburn) but cooked they don't seem to bother me. Grilling on the BBQ is great for zucchini and asparagus!
betty
Not many of the recipes I have found support Whole 30 when it comes to eggplant. I will spring it on them after our challenge is over. Raw onions cause me to have heartburn too. But I still eat them and then use Tums!!
Deletethose sweet potatoes sound delicious
ReplyDeleteThey were Denise!
DeleteYum! I just had one of my favorite veggies last night with dinner: fresh asparagus with a splash of lemon juice. I love vegetables, much more than fruit. I like roasted vegetables especially and am now hungry for roasted brussel sprouts.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you guys are eating clean. Sounds very healthy. Almost sounds like the Atkins diet with all the protein and veggies. I need to get back on that...
Michele at Angels Bark
We love fresh asparagus here too!! I tried roasted Brussels sprouts once. They were horrible. I went back to buying the frozen ones. I wonder where I went wrong. I never thought of it being a lot like the Atkins diet. But you are right!!
DeleteHi Paula - I've always been adventurous with veggies - and I try to eat in season ... now asparagus has arrived I shall enjoy that for the next few weeks; I eat spinach, brussells, any veg ... and have a salad everyday and always some fruit around ...
ReplyDeleteIt's so good you're getting the grand-kids to enjoy their veggie ... they'll be so grateful later on ... cheers Hilary
I have been incorporating spinach into our Egg Fritattas. The kids love it. And fresh spinach in salad greens!! My grandkids will eat most anything. They always have! I am lucky to not have picky kids.
DeleteWe're pretty good with vegetables and could probably cope without sugar if we could use a substitute but going without dairy would be realy hard. But we eat a lot of fresh stuff and avoid prepared food as much as we can. You definitely need to use things like garlic, onion and spices though to add variety. Sounds like you're keeping it interesting which is half the battle with any sort of diet.
ReplyDeleteBeing without dairy has what we have found to be the hardest. The plan doesn't allow for sugar substitutes. And I don't care for them, anyway. I am going to try to not change our menus much for the remainder of the challenge. Then we will see where we want to go with this.
DeleteI've always favored veggies, but never really liked broccoli unless it was covered in cheese. Then I found a recipe for roasted garlic. My husband and I eat it like popcorn (only in smaller portions).
ReplyDeleteToss your cut-up florets into a gallon ziploc, with a little EVOO and seasonings to taste. (we use celery salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, a grinding of italian seasoning, black pepper.) Zip it shut and shake it all up - I shake several times, after adding each seasoning. Spread out on a cookie-sheet and bake 10 minutes at 400. Boom.
(after spreading on the cookie-sheet, I sprinkle a tiny bit of turmeric, too. It's such a miracle spice, I try to add it whenever possible.)
Thank you for this recipe. I am going to try it on Wednesday this week. Sounds yummy. We love broccoli here but the kids do miss the cheese!!
DeleteI only like a few veggies. I like lettuce, raw celery, raw carrots , mushrooms , green beans , corn and potatoes. That's pretty much it.
ReplyDeleteOh Holli!! You need to spread your wings! LOL. My ex-dil, when I first met her, would only eat corn and mashed potatoes. Now she is into vegetables and has taught Paige to like a lot of things most kids don't like!
DeleteI love a Romaine salad with tomatoes on top! One of my favorite lunches! I like most vegetables, Asparagus roasted is wonderful! WE do corn and green beans and peas the most. I make green beans with a bit of bacon green onion and a dash of vinegar and salt and pepper! :)
ReplyDeleteI rarely ever eat green beans unless it is in Green Bean Soup. A favorite at our house. However, due to the cream, it won't be allowed on Whole 30. Corn isn't allowed either since it is a grain. But we have found lots of vegetables we do like!
DeleteGrill or roast that eggplant until caramelized and I am sure they will love it. I can't think of a veggie I don't like.
ReplyDeleteI will give that a try Wendy!
DeleteThat 5-spice blend sounds wonderful! Only in the last few years have I dared to experiment w/ herbs and spices ... and what an eye-opener!
ReplyDeleteIt's already far too hot to consider turning on the oven. But I love when Tom does fresh asparagus on the grill w/ a little olive oil and garlic. I'm also a fan of romaine and broccoli ... anything green except those nasty brussel sprouts.
LOL! We love Brussels spouts. All the kiddos too! Especially Harley. I practically cook an entire bag just for her. It is pretty warm here too. I still turn on the over and lower the thermostat! I am not very energy efficient here!! My electric bill shows it too!
DeleteNever been a big vegetable fan. I'm surprised you got the kiddos to go along with this.
ReplyDeleteThese kids have liked all vegetables since they were born. We introduced them young. Kids only hate vegetables when their parents do. Usually!!
DeleteLove sweet potatoes. I like to bake them (like traditional white baked potatoes). They take a little longer, but they so much tastier (in my opinion). ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd healthier!
My all-time fav has always been green beans: fresh, frozen or canned, doesn't matter! Radishes, celery, and cukes for work snacks. I have an aromatic combo I really like: diced fennel, leeks, and celery lightly sauteed or sweated. Swiss chard and spinach blended soup in the refrig right now. Kale, Romaine, and arugula! Love the root veggies, too.
ReplyDeleteI have never been that big a fan of green beans. I will eat them but just not my first choice in a vegetable! All the rest you described sounds wonderful!
DeleteWe tend to eat the same ones... broccoli, carrots, asparagus, peas... and sale, hot leaves like watercress, and soft salad leaves as all, bell red and yellow peppers, onion, cucumber, celery, radish, tomatoes, sugar snap pea and mange tout, oh, lots of thing, I guess we are more adventurers with salad! ~Liz http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com
ReplyDeleteYes, we also love all kinds of bell peppers!
DeleteI love asparagus. My family loves roasted Brussels sprouts and I make them for all the fall dinners. I try to limit the salads I eat because my tummy has decided it doesn't like processing raw veggies. My 2-year old grandson loves chewing on red bell peppers.
ReplyDeleteI think getting kids used to vegetables when they are young is the wisest thing a parent can do. But it doesn't help is the parent is the picky one!!
DeleteI'm a huge veggie lover--especially roasted veggies--especially asparagus! This post made me hungry. :)
ReplyDeleteMakes me hungry too!!
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