[Andreas]

So lately I have decided to eat more vegetables either for breakfast, lunch, dinner etc and I'm having difficulty finding some easy simple recipes or ways of preparing a meal. Doing google searches will only lead me to websites like buzzfeed which require longer set ups because they use too much bread and tortillas and eggs (basically they try to make every dish look fancy).

I'm not expecting to clap my fingers and make a meal appear on my table but I want to be able to make something simple like broccoli in boiling pot.

So in short this is what I'm looking for:

1) Throw veggies or anything easilly accessible in any supermarket in the pot or frying pan with or without seasoning.
2) Wait until it's finished and then possibly used some butter, cheese or any other easy to access food.
3) If possible add sauces.

My goal is not to bulk up or lose weight but I do want to avoid any recipes with bread and tortilla wraps and kick out my craving for processed foods like chocolate. I have a habit for eating chocolate only during the weekends (in limited amounts but during normal weekdays I feel like I'm using too much willpower resisting and not finding any good alternatives).

Overall I feel like I'm losing too much energy from these kind of foods and I want to make a change.

I'm looking for something similar to this:

Any other food reccommendations like nuts and fruits that don't make you feel a crush afterwards are welcome.

Thanks

[realologist]

Roasted broccoli:

Preheat oven to 450° F
Cut broccoli into floretts
Toss broccoli in olive oil
Spread on cookie sheet
20 mins or until crispy

You can do that with asparagus too.

Another I like to do is roast chicken on a bed of vegetables like broccoli, onion, asparagus, celery, etc. It will take on a lot of the flavor and fat of the chicken.

[RIslander]

If your meal doesn't contain meat it isn't a meal.

[MongolianAbroad]

(01-15-2017 03:49 PM)Andreas Wrote:  

I have a habit for eating chocolate only during the weekends (in limited amounts but during normal weekdays I feel like I'm using too much willpower resisting and not finding any good alternatives).

Overall I feel like I'm losing too much energy from these kind of foods and I want to make a change.

That's cool, I try to do the same with nuts and berries, I aim to eat them only on Sundays, and I only eat them if they have no added sugars or any other chemicals.

As for chocolates and such, I'd like to cut it to zero, but I've got a serious sweet tooth.

I find the best way to control both cravings is to be full as often as possible, by eating high protein meals like salmon, filet mignon, chicken breast, etc., coupled with lots of veggies, and also, by eating fruit fairly frequently, to give my sweet tooth a positive outlet.

It works for me.

[Goldin Boy]

Lentil Tacos(make it one day and save the rest for left overs)
Ingredients
teaspoon canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2-1/2 cups vegetable or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup salsa
12 taco shells(I like to use soft shell)
1-1/2 cups shredded lettuce
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
6 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
(I also like to add taco seasoning to the mix too)

Directions
In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat; saute onion and garlic until tender. Add lentils and seasonings; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until lentils are tender, 25-30 minutes.
Cook, uncovered, until mixture is thickened, 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mash lentils slightly; stir in salsa and heat through. Serve in taco shells. Top with remaining ingredients.

Also, get the Eat to Live cookbook by Dr. Joel Furhman lots of simple recipes in there.

[weambulance]

Could you clarify exactly what you're trying to get out of this dietary change? I can't tell if you're looking for nutritional benefits, trying to find a way to cut out simple carbs by eating a filler meal, or both.

For nutrition I just drink green shakes (spinach + fruit) when I can be bothered to make them.

For staying satiated to avoid wanting to eat simple carbs and junky snacks and things like that, I eat food with lots of animal fat. Bacon, sausage, whole fried eggs with salt, etc. A glass of whole milk can completely nuke my hunger for hours too.

FWIW vegetables are very simple to cook. The most involved part of the recipe is usually the prep, rinsing and cutting them up. There are a number of vegetable dishes I make regularly--I wouldn't call them meals really, they're sides--but it'd be helpful to know more about your exact aim here.

[Andreas]

Quote:

If your meal doesn't contain meat it isn't a meal.

I'm not strictly avoiding meat. I already eat steak once a week, chicken breast, salmon and other kinds of fish. Sometimes I might make some sushi even if it takes me 1-2 hours with all the prepping and kitchen cleaning after that. The point is, I'm not abiding to any rigid diet like vegetarianism or veganism etc

However....

Quote:

For staying satiated to avoid wanting to eat simple carbs and junky snacks and things like that

There are times where I want to avoid the above scenario. While I already feel better for limiting those foods I no longer want to spend willpower to avoid them. Sometimes I just want to throw something in the cooking ware with a bit of seasoning, wait and eat without crashing afterwards.

Quote:

eating high protein meals like salmon, filet mignon, chicken breast, etc., coupled with lots of veggies

I'm currently trying to substitute rice and potatoes with veggies instead and see what happens with my energy levels.

Alright guys, thanks for the suggestions. I have to make my shopping list now.

[IronShark]

Greek Tzatziki or Persian Mast-o-Khiar

- Dice 4 medium size cucumber
- Add some chopped green chilly + 2 crushed garlic cloves
- Add salt + pepper + herbs (mint, ...) you can be creative by herbs
- Add 25ml extra virgin olive oil
- Add 500ml Greek yogurt
- Stir them all together

This is what I made today:

[Ringo]

Your post says vegetarian recipes (as in lentils, hummus), but from what I gather what you are actually asking for is easy and delicious ways to prepare vegetables (roasted peppers, blanched broccoli, etc).

If the latter, I have a very easy system that I use to do all my cooking for the week without spending the day in the kitchen. I like to taste whatever I'm cooking - if I'm eating spinach, I want to taste spinach, not garlic, olive oil, etc. That makes dishes mostly hassle free, cheap, nutritious and delicious.

(1) All vegetables are prepared in one of the 3 ways below:
- Blanched
- Grilled using a large skillet
- Baked

(2) Most of them are prepared with only:
- Olive oil
- Black pepper
- Salt

(3) When I want to switch it up, I'll 99% of time choose from the below:
- Soy sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
- Butter
- Coconut oil
- Oregano
- Fresh basil
- Fresh rosemary
- Fresh thyme
- Onions
- Garlic

Now you just have to combine the method of preparing them (1) with the basic ingredients (2) and/or any novelty ingredient (3) above. You just need to figure out which suits your vegetable best.

Keep in mind: the bigger you chop (or leave) an ingredient, the longer it will take to cook. Likewise, the more you chop your seasonings the stronger they tend to taste on the finished product. Some restrictions apply when using herbs because you don't want them to burn before the vegetable is cooked, but that's for another time.

BAKING: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, eggplant, zucchini, onions, peppers can all be baked in the oven and will taste fantastic with just salt, pepper and olive oil. Rosemary or basil can be added for extra flavor. For a light flavor, you can simply put the leaves on top of the tray, which will steam them along with the vegetables. For a stronger flavor, grind them up with olive oil using a mortar and pestle or food processor and either toss them or apply them with a brush. The smaller and/or thinner you cut the vegetables, the drier and crunchier the will be; the bigger/thicker, the more rich and creamy.

BLANCHING: Carrots, snow peas, green beans, broccoli, caulliflower all do well blanching. If I'm not mistaken the traditional way to blanche is to put the vegetables in a pan with boiling water and keep them there for the time desired. That's how they make the broccoli from the video above. Personally I tend to boil the water in a kettle, pour it over the vegetables in a bowl and cover it. 5-8min tends to be enough, but test accordingly. From there you can drain them and season with salt, pepper and olive oil.

GRLLING: my favorites are peppers, green beans, aspargus and zucchini. Just get the pan red hot, oil it (coconut oil works better because it has a higher smoke point) and fry them up. Again, the size you chop the vegetables will influence the time it takes to cook them. Green beans and aspargus can be grilled whole; peppers I prefer to do 1-2cm strips; zucchini I like to do bigger pieces - either quarter them or make slices cut lengthwise. If it's a bigger vegetable and it's not cooking fast enough, I sometimes cover them with lid and/or add a little water to the frying pan - the water heat up and becomes steam, which helps to cook them faster.

I realize this is all not specific advice, but cooking vegetables doesn't have to be. There's a learning curve of trying different vegetables and seeing what works best with what, but that's part of the fun.

I have access to a farmers market which is where I buy all of my vegetables - if you have access to one, I highly recommend it. I always get whatever is freshest and cheapest, so I constantly get to explore a lot of new ingredients. Still I find that the above pretty much does the trick for almost if not all of them.

[Pollito]

Nopales con huevos

Recipe I came up with. Going off memory as I write this down. You can customize however you want; add cheese at the end, chopped tomatoes when you add the cilantro, whatever.

6 eggs, beaten
bag of pre-cleaned, diced nopales (prickly pear cactus paddles) from the produce section
1 onion
1 jalapeno
1/2 or whole bunch of cilantro, chopped (I love cilantro so I use a whole bunch)
3/4 teaspon ground cumin (vary amount to taste)
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic

Boil a pot of water; dump in nopales and blanch til they just change color from bright green to an olive drab. Strain and rinse with cold tap water to stop the cooking process. They'll release a good amount of mucilaginous slime worse than okra; this is normal.

Chop onions, mince garlic and jalapeno. Fry in olive oil along with nopales in a large pan over medium heat til onions are translucent (don't caramelize) and excess moisture has evaporated; add cumin and cilantro. At this point I like to add a half cup or so of salsa verde for some balanced flavor and salt content. If you don't add salsa, season with salt at this point. Crank heat up to high, stir the mixture around a few times to prevent browning/burning then when the pan is hot add the eggs and scramble for maybe 30 seconds or a minute depending on the size of your pan. Remove from heat and let the residual heat finish the eggs.

Eat with tortillas.

I like to make this after a good leg day; always plan on eating half and saving the rest for the next day, but I usually polish it off in one go.

Also, be prepared to shit like a champ the next day. Nopales are fibrous like none other.

[PapayaTapper]

(01-16-2017 07:03 PM)Pollito Wrote:  

Nopales con huevos

Recipe I came up with. Going off memory as I write this down. You can customize however you want; add cheese at the end, chopped tomatoes when you add the cilantro, whatever.

6 eggs, beaten
bag of pre-cleaned, diced nopales (prickly pear cactus paddles) from the produce section
1 onion
1 jalapeno
1/2 or whole bunch of cilantro, chopped (I love cilantro so I use a whole bunch)
3/4 teaspon ground cumin (vary amount to taste)
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic

Boil a pot of water; dump in nopales and blanch til they just change color from bright green to an olive drab. Strain and rinse with cold tap water to stop the cooking process. They'll release a good amount of mucilaginous slime worse than okra; this is normal.

Chop onions, mince garlic and jalapeno. Fry in olive oil along with nopales in a large pan over medium heat til onions are translucent (don't caramelize) and excess moisture has evaporated; add cumin and cilantro. At this point I like to add a half cup or so of salsa verde for some balanced flavor and salt content. If you don't add salsa, season with salt at this point. Crank heat up to high, stir the mixture around a few times to prevent browning/burning then when the pan is hot add the eggs and scramble for maybe 30 seconds or a minute depending on the size of your pan. Remove from heat and let the residual heat finish the eggs.

Eat with tortillas.

I like to make this after a good leg day; always plan on eating half and saving the rest for the next day, but I usually polish it off in one go.

Also, be prepared to shit like a champ the next day. Nopales are fibrous like none other.

OP is asking for vegetarian recipes. "Huevos" might qualify as bonless chicken but not as a vegetable

Nice recipe though

[Pollito]

(01-16-2017 10:12 PM)PapayaTapper Wrote:  

OP is asking for vegetarian recipes. "Huevos" might qualify as bonless chicken but not as a vegetable

Nice recipe though

Now where did I put that lamb sauce...

[Andreas]

So far I've done mixed veggies in the oven and broccoli in boiling water and there are a few things that I have noticed so far:

I don't feel a sudden energy crash after eating whereas previously I felt sleepy and fatigued whenever I had rice or potatoes.

I feel satiated and very light at the same time.

I've been cheating my body for years

The recipe book that was recommended in this thread should be arriving by Friday. I can't wait to start doing more meals like that.

[kosko]

Find the veggies you like and then build recipes from that.

I like Chinese eggplant so I roast them often or make curry with it.

Roasted cauliflower is good as well, roast with chickpeas and add Mexican seasonings to make tacos.

You can make healthy coleslaw with carrots, golden beets, broccoli stems if you have a processor to grit them fine.

Falafel is good to make as well and you can make wraps with them.

I usually dump a shit ton of veggies into spaghetti sauce (but with meat). Also, lots of veggie pasta dishes you can make.

Spiced lentals are easy to make as well. I eat those with eggs and toast in the mornings or with some rice.

[Andreas]

(01-17-2017 05:44 PM)kosko Wrote:  

I usually dump a shit ton of veggies into spaghetti sauce (but with meat). Also, lots of veggie pasta dishes you can make.

Spiced lentals are easy to make as well. I eat those with eggs and toast in the mornings or with some rice.

Do you put chicken in the spaghetti or just anything you fancy. Up until now I have been putting cheese and ketchup only and I'm looking for alternatives to change that in the future.

Also when you eat rice do you feel any fatigue or do you just go about your day without any significant energy drop. I love rice but I've noticed that it makes me feel sleepy after eating it.

[kosko]

(01-18-2017 06:14 AM)Andreas Wrote:  

(01-17-2017 05:44 PM)kosko Wrote:  

I usually dump a shit ton of veggies into spaghetti sauce (but with meat). Also, lots of veggie pasta dishes you can make.

Spiced lentals are easy to make as well. I eat those with eggs and toast in the mornings or with some rice.

Do you put chicken in the spaghetti or just anything you fancy. Up until now I have been putting cheese and ketchup only, and I'm looking for alternatives to change that in the future.

Also when you eat rice do you feel any fatigue or do you just go about your day without any significant energy drop. I love rice but I've noticed that it makes me feel sleepy after eating it.

For question #1, I use mostly ground chicken with my pasta sauce, it is an excellent substitute for ground beef, and it cooks much quicker. I make a hearty type sauce, though; it would be more of a primavera type sauce to be more accurate for any Italian food snobs. I use sauces like this as a simple way to get lots of veggies in as the density of the vegetables goes down with cooking time and water getting removed.

You can add one full cup+ of all of these:

Tomatoes,
Broccoli (stems, not the floret tops)
carrots (.75 cup to one cup)
Onion (.75 cup)
Celery (.75 cup)
Zucchini
Green bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Yellow Bell pepper
Mushrooms
Eggplant

Make sure they are cut down into small cubes/bits, use a food processor to blitz them up into more smaller pieces to save time if you have one. Sweat them in olive oil the proper order to build flavour with your herbs added and then cook them down with tomato paste, stock (Veggie or Chicken) and a little water for a bit to build your sauce (not too long though if you prefer the still "fresh" taste of the veggies like I do).

If you're not that good at cooking then find a VERY good jar version of this sauce and just add vegetables to it (I still do this method more times than now to cut down on time).

For Canadians I use this:


^ A VERY good and basic sauce with no garbage ingredients. I cheat with this stuff all the time to save time and just add more veggies and some meat. I will extended the sauce with adding a little tomato paste and some water or stock to thin it out.

Over time you will learn the flavour profile and just mimic the ingredients on the jar, and it will teach you how to build up a flavour profile for your personal sauce that you like and fits your tastes.

For Question #2 Yes, I suffer the same issue as you sometimes with rice. What I have learned is to control my portion sizes with rice as my body starts to break it down very quickly and it will give me a glucose burnout from the quick hit of carbs. I always use a small bowl to eat with rice and attempt to cap my servings at around 1-1.5 cup servings. This portion control keeps me from eating too much where magically anything over ~2.25 cups makes me want to take a nap. Also, WHAT you eat the rice with is important. I typically eat rice with a massive stir-fry with lots of veggies, or a curry and this will slow down the carb hits to your system.

I recommend the small bowl trick as it dupes your mind and using a 1 cup scoop to measure out your rice is just a good way to stay mindful and keep track of how much rice takes you to that point where it gives you carb naps. If after my first serving I am still very hungry then (if you eat slow) 15-20mins has passed and then you can easily add in another 1 cup serving as rice and the you will more than likely be full or content after that second serving.

If you want to stop the carb naps, then switch to brown rice, or what I do is eat both (1.5 cup of brown, with .75-1.0 cup white). I don't get carb fatigue with brown rice at all, so I eat that mainly now if I know I am going to be out and about and have no time for carb naps. I also sometimes will take caffeine with a heavy carb meal to help along my system in some cases as well. I have trashed brown rice on RVF before but since I have been out and about more and have no patience for food to slow me down it has been a good switch. I get zero can slow downs from brown rice, so I eat it more times than white rice these days as weekly routines can have me eating at rice 3-4 times a week.