I LOVE broccoli, I LOVE red pepper. Low fat ranch on them is divine.

That being said, I'm sick and tired of the same veggies, and I can't eat carrots because of my braces. Does anyone have any ideas for some healthy veggie snacks that I might have with a sandwich for lunch?

Do you like Aubergines? [ eggplant ]
I slice them thick, sprinkle salt and leave them covered to sweat. then rinse them out sprinkle pepper and balsamic vinegar and just a wee bit of olive oil. I then sear them in a pan or grill them till brown. Yum!

Or I cut up zuchhini, baby corn, green beans onions and green or red or yellow pepper. I just toss it in a hot pan or wok with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. I stir this around on high heat for a few minutes and eat.

As a special treat, I dice any vegetable I can find and steam it. I then pour coconut milk over it and bring it to boil with a couple of hot chilli peppers and salt. Tastes like an unusual veggie stew. You can also add cooked chicken and boiled potatoes to it for a one-pot meal. Grate some nutmeg on it for flavour.

To make a yummy veggie filling for sandwiches, saute chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes in a tiny amount of olive oil with salt, paprika powder , pepper and oregano. when the veggies go soft add canned tomatoes or tomato puree and cook till thick. Spread inside the sandwich with fresh basil and lettuce and a slice of low fat cheese. You can add any cooked meat of your choice.

I also saute chopped leeks and celery in olive oil [ very little ]. I then add spinach [ you can use the canned variety ] ,salt and pepper and pour in some skim milk. I also make a paste with a tsp of cornflour and a little water and add it to the spinach when it boils you get a thick creamy side dish. You can pour this over poached eggs or cooked chicken or fish, garnish with a little low fat grated cheese and any hot sauce and eat it as a complete meal.

One of my new favorite snacks is yellow, red, and orange bell peppers. They are surprisingly sweet!

I hope that this thread stays alive. I need to have 5 cups of veggies per day and I would love some ideas.

I always make extra veggies with supper to take in my lunch box.

Snap peas and snow peas are good veggies for raw munching.

Cucumber spears are good for dipping in ranch dressing or tahini.

I break up a head of cauliflower into florets, steam it, sprinkle generously with lemon pepper, and drizzle olive oil lightly over it. Good either hot or cold for lunch the next day.

Bok or mei choy stir-fried with shitake mushrooms, grated ginger, garlic, and soy sauce are good the next day.

Summer squash (zucchini, crookneck, sunburst) stir-fried in a little olive oil with Italian herbs or herbes de Provence are good the next day.

You can make up a big marinated salad and eat it over the course of a week. My favorites are cucumber salads and cole slaw in a raspberry vinaigrette.

In the summer, you can slice tomatoes paper thin and layer with chopped basil.

Dude, I forgot how many different kinds of veggies there are...

I'm trying the snap pea thing and the cucumber thing this week, for sure. The cauliflower and onion ideas sound really good, I gotta learn to cook, so...I guess I better start now!

there's one rule with veggies.steam everything.
been a vegetarian for 17 years.

i'm irish so the next bit is obvious.

eat potatoes. solid food.can be eaten hot or cold,with or without dressing,with or without salt and will fill you up.

snap peas or peas in a pod.you can eat them all day when you get used to them.

like the irish like spuds the polish love cabbage. shredded with a bit of vinegar and you'll be eating bowls of it.it has side effects thou..

they mightn't be the best for weight loss but beans and pulses are healthy food and quite tasty.

chickpeas are lovely.and kidney beans have a great taste.they go well together in mexican food.add the spice and away you go

i spend a lot of time with heavy meat eaters.they dont understand that veg taste great when you are use to them.

heather seems to be able to cook so she may have more receipes.i'm a man and can't really cook either.my steamer on the other hand is a great cook.add water ,boil. thats it!!

I had a yellow pepper for the 1st time in my life on Sunday. They're are so sweet and delicious. How ignorant of me.

I would suggest going to a nice whole food/raw food store and challenging yourself to buy 3 new vegetables that you NEVER ate before OR ate and didn't like. Find a good recipe and go for it!

Sounds like so much fun, that's what I'll do for my Monday treat when the family is over.

Or a farmer's market if you have one. We had a summer/fall run on heirloom tomatoes this year that were bliss.

I'm a big fan of greens, collards, chard, lightly steamed with seasoned vinegar. Strip the leaves from the stems, chop a bit, throw in a hot pan while still wet, turn the heat down and cover for a few minutes. You can also clean the ends and chop the stems and throw in the pan as well. Maybe an acquired taste but I like them. Kale is good too, stands up well in soups, good with black-eye peas. Maybe not a nibble type food but there it is.

Oh, and then there's jicama, peeled and sliced like French fries. Google it.

Raw beets, cut into carrot-stick-sized sticks, are surprisingly tasty, as are raw turnips. I know I was surprised, anyway.

Can you have/do you like celery? Celery dipped in hummus is great (and you get chickpeas in the hummus, too). My basic hummus recipe is 2 cans of small chickpeas (undrained), 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste), 1 tbsp lemon juice, 4 cloves of garlic (more or less, depending on how much you like), 1/4 tsp red pepper, 1/4 tsp salt--just throw all this in your food processor (or blender, if, like me, you don't have a food processor) and blend until smooth. Top with a bit of olive oil, if you like. This makes a good bit of hummus, and you can keep it in the fridge for at least a week and munch on it with celery sticks or pita chips.

Don't think of vegetables as an also-ran or filler food. Make your vegetables the centerpiece of your meals. Put your taste explosions and excitement into your vegetable dishes.

Buy the best, in-season vegetables you can afford. Get vegetables that glow with freshness, color, and flavor. Eat raw or cook gently.

Packaged green mixes can make instant salad. Get an organic herb salad or baby green or cole slaw mix. Wash, spin dry in a salad spinner if you have one, put in a bowl with a touch of dressing and eat. I often eat greens just plain, or dress them with a little salt and pepper, some herbs, and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice.

Vary the salad by adding things like diced red bell pepper, chopped red onions, sliced green onions, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrot, shredded jicama, sliced radishes, sliced cucumbers, bits of orange, dried cranberries, dulse, fresh basil, cilantro, parsley, etc. For a really special salad, add marinated vegetables: mushrooms, red onions, summer squash, cauliflower, green beans, etc.

Turn a salad into a meal by adding nuts, seeds, a little chicken, ground turkey, some turkey, cheese, or cooked egg.

I try to eat vegetables, preferably green, with every meal.

Go to the herb section and pick up a few different herb mixes that appeal to you. Try dressing up lightly steamed veggies with the herb mixes. Get a nice selection of vinegars, too, and feel free to experiment with your veggies.

Get a good wok and try your hand at stir-frying. You don't need to use much (or any) oil if you are willing to add a few drops of liquid if things get too dry.

Vegetarian cookbooks usually have lots of good recipes starring vegetables. I have a couple of vegetable cookbooks from Shepherd's Seeds that have great recipes for fresh, organic veggies like the ones you can get at the farmer's market.

I don't know if someone already posted this, but how about Edamame? If you put salt on the outside and then you get the beans out of the inside, it tastes so good! I could eat them for a long time. They kinda fun to eat as well.

I'm also vegetarian and one of my favorite raw munchies is mushrooms. I know, not a vegetable, but so delicious. Also love cauliflower and whole raw carrots. There is a frozen brand of vegetables that steams in the bag in the microwave. They are a little more expensive, but nice if you don't have a steamer or the time to wait. I like the cut green beans.

Oh and I love raw kohlrabi occasionally with a dash of salt (if I'm in need of it).

There are plenty of others I enjoy. Beets. Tomato raw.

I really get a kick out of red and green bell peppers and any kind of hummus. Someone up the page even posted their own hummus recipe!

The first thing to be my saving grace has been a cookbook by MOOSEWOOD RESTAURANTS. The book is awesome because it contains fast, vegetarian, healthy, culturally varied recipes that really really taste sooo good. Each recipe has a calorie listing and recommendations on what to combine it with, and the back of the book is full of tips for people who are new at cooking and might need some help organizing their food shopping.

You can find them on amazon.

My fav is cherry tomatos or cucumber sticks sprinkled with a little Herbamare.

Hi all!

just joined traineo today.

great to see so many interesting vegetable recipes!!

one of my favourite recipes is lightly-roasted cherry tomatoes:
heat one tsp of olive oil in a pan. add finely chopped garlic, cilantro and wait till garlic becomes slightly golden (garlic cooks very very quickly, so be careful it doesnt burn) and add the cherry tomatoes.
these need to cook only till the skins split and the tomatoes are half-cooked. the half squishy/half firm texture makes this recipe unique.
stir occasionally to cook evenly. add salt and red pepper to taste.

tastes delicious with indian rotis or even plain bread!

do try it and let me know if you liked it...

Try peeling a jicama and eating it raw. Lots of fiber, not many calories, very filling.

Baby spinach. I cut it up in smaller pieces and put a little fat free ranch dressing on it. I take this to work for a snack

Another good dip for veggies is hummus.

Hummus works great with any of the following veggies:

* peppers
* cucumbers
* onions
* carrots
* celery

...and much much more

I have now compiled my new grocery list for this week with thanks to this thread. Wonderful thread.

I LOVE Becel butter spray on all my veggies as it has zero calories--zero! And it tastes just like butter It's technically a cooking spray, but I spritz' it on just about all my favourite low cal snacks: Broccoli, popcorn, steamed carrots, ect.

Kelly: I would look more into that butter spray. I say this because, "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter," spray says zero all over the label, but the bottle in itself contains over 900 calories.... nobody stops at one spray.

Oh! Thank you for the reply Tricia And for the tip, I'm going to go look into it right now. The Becel website should give me some insight. Now I'm a bit worried *bites nails*