Eating veg

Can everyone share their veg-eating (salads, steamed, fried etc) recipes with me? Pregnant and need to eat lots of veg but tired of my usual salads at home (leaves, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers with balsamic + oil or mustard vinaigrette), or even stir-fried chinese veg as can't take garlic due to nausea...

Please help !!

mixed vegetable soups are good - any combination really;

for the salad try adding avocado as well - so good for you! leave garlic out of the stir-fry?


I sometimes steam some greens - like beans, mange tout, asparagus and then fry bits of bacon until crisp and mix all together as a side dish.

Roasting vegetables is a great way to get your 5 a day - you can use lots of different types - squash, aubergines, peppers, sweet potatoes, courgettes, carrots, onions, tomatoes etc - if you do a huge batch, you can liquefy what you don't eat into an amazing soup (which freezes really well). You can use them on their own, stirred into pasta, with cous cous, with salad or make a vegetable lasagna.


Soups are another good way to up your vegetable intake if you make your own. Plus you can vary the type and texture so easily (minted pea, carrot and coriander, tomato, pumpkin, split pea and vegetable, leek and potato, cream of mushroom etc) and again they freeze well for those evenings when you just can't be bother to cook.


I've got a veg lasagna and a tomato soup recipe to hand if you want a link.

You can always add all or some of these ingredients to your salads:


- whole sweet corn kernels

- sliced red onion

- avocado

- marinated artichoke hearts

- mushrooms (fresh or roasted)

- olives

- sliced hard boiled egg or soft boiled if you're allowed (peeled, then broken in half so the yolk dribbles over the salad...YUM)

- poached asparagus


Or even add some protein and make it a complete meal with pan-fried shrimp, roasted chicken, grilled smoked duck breast, poached salmon (flaked), flaked canned tuna, or thinly sliced seared steak.


For dressing, when I get bored of oil and balsamic or the bottled dressings, I make my own mustard dressing with:


- a teaspoon of Dijon mustard

- a tablespoon red vinegar

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1/5 teaspoon of white sugar

- salt and pepper to taste

- small squeeze of fresh lemon juice if you have it, don't worry if you don't


As for Chinese stir-fry, you can substitute garlic with ginger. Just toast the ginger in some hot oil before you throw in all your other veges. Season with soy, salt, pepper, splash of sesame seed oil, sprinkle of sugar and a splash of rice wine. To thicken the sauce, add a little oyster sauce (about a teaspoon), mixed in a few tablespoons of cold water with a teaspoon of corn starch. Add this mixture a little at a time to the vege until you get a consistency of sauce that you like. Then dish up!


Also an idea would be to snack on fresh veges. Make a platter of raw broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, celery, and baby corn and have them as they are or with your favourite dip.

Soup would be my suggestion. Or trawl through the suggestions here:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections

Fantastic, Thanks SO much everyone!! AimeeJ, can you send me the link please?

Just to add - I just found out that I can also add cheese (baked if unpasteurised) to salads too, which I somehow had not thought before.... (apart from Greek salad)

You can also find some great tasting & easy to cook Indian vegetarian recipes on the net.

I tried this salad in Chinese restaurant, it's great. And looks like easy to make too.

http://beautiful-in-life.blogspot.com/2008/11/kalimeris-indica-tofu-salad.html

I like to add grilled mushrooms to my salads, the large, portabello ones work best and can be done easily in a small toaster oven.


Grill with a little spray oil for 5-7 minutes then top with cheese - feta is good, goats cheese is yum, and my favourite is blue cheese - but you should avoid whilst preggers.

I love fresh baby spinach ,chopped rough along with Tomatoes , avocados , mangoes ,pine nuts and a thousand island dressing made of beaten yoghurt and tomato ketchup mixed with some herbs .If I have fresh dill , i sprinkle some on top .ENJOY!!!!!!!!