How To Make Vegetables More Appealing

Estimated reading time: 18 minutes

Discover new ways to serve and enjoy vegetables without sacrificing taste or appealing presentation. Make mealtime exciting and nutritious!

Make Vegetables Go From Boring To Mouth-Watering

Vegetables get blind-sided, especially by children, not only because of taste, texture, and the visual aspect but also how they are served.

So, why not add color and flavors and include new ways to plate and serve vegetables to your family?

By taking these extra steps, you combat food waste and decrease grocery expenses.

Picky Eaters

When our son was a baby, he couldn’t get enough fruits and vegetables, but he loved them at every meal, even breakfast.

He would eat half an avocado mushed up without a problem, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and so on.

We’re lucky to get cucumber slices into his belly because we think he’s lost his appeal for vegetables.

Perhaps we need to perk them up, so that’s what we’ve done.

Mrs. CBB and I talked about vegetables and his diet and are working on ways to get him excited about healthy eating.

Although he’s almost four, we want him to enjoy a balanced diet.

This includes vegetables and fruits, especially in his lunch for school starting this September.

Now is the perfect time to work on this because it’s summer when loads of Ontario vegetables are in season.

Utilizing the little space we have to grow our little herb garden has encouraged him to participate.

The other day, we had him help pulling garlic scapes even though he didn’t like the smell.

Introducing him to smells is essential, as is visual and textural appeal.

He also got a whiff of fresh mint and fennel and made funny faces, but the introduction was essential.

Just as kids must get healthy foods into their diets, so must adults, and we should lead by example.

Forcing our kids to eat something we won’t touch doesn’t work.

Forcing anyone to eat anything never works and is simply bad parenting.

I came up with a list of ways we enjoy vegetables and how to boost our son’s vegetable appreciation.

Let’s see what we came up with, and I hope you share some of your favorite ways to enjoy vegetables.

Chopping Vegetables

I’m no chef, so turning to professionals when it comes to cooking and preparing certain foods is vital to increasing my cooking knowledge.

About two years ago, Mrs. CBB received a Jamie Oliver Kitchen gadget at Christmas that helped prepare vegetables that looked fancy on the plate.

Not only did it look pretty, but we also wanted to eat more vegetables than usual because humans eat with their eyes.

Some of our favorite cuts of vegetables are spiral, baton, bonnet, Julienne, diced, and chiffonade, which you roll and chop.

An example would be a bunch of basil leaves.

Ways To Cut Vegetables

Here are the different types of cuts that anyone interested in the culinary arts should know from the Culinary Cook.

• Large Dice– The significant dice cuts are primarily used for stews, long-cooking dishes, and mirepoix in stocks.
• Medium Dice– The medium dice cut is derived from the batonnet. The added step is slicing the batonnet to produce cubes.
• Small Dice– The small dice are similar to the brunoise but slightly larger.
• Bruinoise– The Brunoise dice is the most petite dice you can have.
• The Baton– The baton type of cut is the largest stick-cut you can cut.
• The Batonnet– For the Batonnet, we aim for a larger stick-cut.
• Julienne–  The julienne is a type of cut that is stick-shaped and very thin.
• Paysanne–  The paysanne types of cuts are included here to show you that while cubed items are common, sometimes you would prefer a slimmer, flat, square item.
• Chiffonade– The cuts are used when slicing fragile items such as herbs or leafy vegetables such as spinach.

Flavor Vegetables

We start our herb garden in the spring, and you’ll find parsley, basil, chives, spring onions, fennel, and garlic.

Although we don’t have ample space to grow vegetables, we make sure that we are loaded up on herbs to flavor our vegetables, whether we buy them from a local farmer or the grocery store.

Stocking up on oils and acids such as lemons, limes, lemon juice, lime juice, rice vinegar, white vinegar, wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar is a huge must for any home chef.

Ensure your spices are up to date, and keep a working list of what you have and need so your shopping list is up to date.

Other ideas for adding flavors to vegetables might be salsa, mustard, sour cream, cream cheese,, and Greek yogurt.

One thing I hate is running out of something when I’m in the middle of cooking.

This is probably why I always pull out the ingredients before I cook.

Having pantry essentials available offers you a selection if you get caught off guard.

Vegetable Pairing

No one likes to see one vegetable on a plate as that can be uninteresting and simple to push away, especially for children.

Offering a variety of vegetables at meals brightens the plate and opens eaters to the idea of pairing vegetables together for optimal flavor.

For instance, I don’t have tomatoes and lettuce when I make a salad.

I like to add radishes, cucumbers, green and red peppers, red onions, spring onions, fennel, tomato varieties, corn etc.

The idea is to make vegetables exciting and powerful to the eye so that the person eating them will want to dig in and experiment.

Mushrooms and Peppers

When I BBQ steak, having vegetables on the side is a must for a balanced meal.

One of our favorites is garlic-stuffed mushroom caps and grilled peppers—the more, the merrier.

Tomatoes and Cucumbers

A must in our house during the summer is to make organic tomato and cucumber salad with feta cheese and fresh basil mixed in.

A simple vinaigrette of olive oil, wine vinegar, and minced garlic adds enough flavor to the salad.

Fruit and Vegetable Pairing

Not everyone enjoys mixing fruit and vegetables, but that’s the first step if you haven’t tried it.

I was always taught to try something once, and if I didn’t like it, I could move on.

My late father-in-law is not a fan of adding fruit and vegetables, but he sure loved growing both.

Even this year, his fruit trees are blossoming with bright red cherries, apples, pears, plums, and peaches.

Adding fresh halved peaches, strawberries, cherries, and even apples to vegetable salads adds a burst of color and flavor.

Add a protein to your salad, such as tuna, shrimp, legumes, chicken, beef, or turkey, and you have a complete meal.

Another great salad is watermelon salad with added spinach greens or sweet red, yellow and orange peppers.

Garnish Vegetables

We are fans of garnishing vegetables for added texture.

Adding sesame seeds and dried berries such as Gojji, cranberries, blueberries or almonds, cashews, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds also added nutritional value.

What Are Goji Berries?

Over time, people have used goji berries to try to treat many common health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, fever, and age-related eye problems.

Goji berries are eaten raw, cooked, or dried (like raisins) and are used in herbal teas, juices, wines, and medicines.

Some studies using goji berry juice found possible benefits that included a feeling of well being and calmness, better athletic performance and quality of sleep, and weight loss.-

WebMD

One of our other favorites is to use fennel greens instead of throwing them out, which most people do when buying fennel bulbs.

The greens are flavourful and medicinal in helping a squiffy tummy and perfect mixed with hot water as a cup of tea.

Lastly, adding bacon to just about any vegetable is a match made in heaven.

We make this excellent tomato and bacon salad in the summer, and we love it.

Not only does it look delicious and potent, but it’s packed with flavor.

Vegetable Cooking Methods

There are various ways to prepare vegetables that are worth experimenting with.

Below, I will go through some of the most popular ways to cook vegetables.

Air-Fry Veggies

We use an air fryer to make crispy french fries, sweet potato fries, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and peppers.

The best part about owning an air fryer is that it speeds up cooking anything you put into it.

Quick meals are why the air fryer is so appealing and delicious.

I’d suggest investing in one for anyone short of time.

The Cuisinart Microwave and Air Fryer combo is perfect for us.

Roasted Vegetables

You won’t catch the oven on much, if at all, during the summer months, but roasting vegetables is a must in the fall and winter.

A simple sheet pan, extra-virgin olive oil, and spices lend flavors that will allow the natural flavors to expel from your winter vegetables.

Grilled Vegetables

This is my favorite way to enjoy cooked vegetables in the summer, whether on the gas BBQ or the charcoal grill.

We have various grilling pans explicitly made for our grill, and on occasion, frying pans from our kitchen set work just as well.

Please make sure they are oven-safe and there is no plastic.

Sauteed Vegetables

If you’re not ready to turn on the grill, pan-frying your vegetables in butter or other fat will work equally.

Stir-Fried Vegatables

I’m a fan of fried vegetables with bites, which means they aren’t cooked until they are limp.

I like the crisp crunch in my mouth, which means cooking vegetables on high and fast-paced.

If you own a wok, this is the perfect cooking vessel; if not, a frying pan will be a substitute.

Steamed Vegetables

Broccoli, cauliflower, and corn are great vegetables that you can steam until tender, and then add herbs, fats, and other spices to jazz them up.

Some of you may even enjoy a creamy cheese sauce to add a splash of color and flavor to your vegetables fresh from the steamer.

Ways To Serve Vegetables

There’s nothing wrong with having vegetable juice in your diet.

If you own a juicer, you’re in for a surprise with all the delicious summer fruits and vegetables you can combine to make smoothies, juices, or even a frosty.

Use old-fashioned elbow grease or standard methods if a juicer is not within your budget.

• Masticating (also called cold pressed) – utilizes a single gear driven by a motor, slower operation; kneads and grinds items placed in a chute.
• Centrifugal – (also referred to as high-speed juicing) – utilizes a spinning blade that resembles a grated basket, faster operation, quickly grinds items, and discards pulp in a receptacle.
• Triturating – utilizes twin gears; slower operation; often has multiple uses.

Source: Wikipedia

Boost Soup Nutrition

Don’t let any vegetables go to waste. If you can’t use your vegetables on time, consider making a soup with them.

Using vegetables such as onion and carrot peels, celery ends, garlic, and other food scraps to make a vegetable broth paired with any vegetables you have on hand makes a lovely soup.

Add protein or something unique like ricotta balls, mini meatballs, pasta, and seafood to boost appearance.

Stuffed Vegetables

We will do so if we can stuff them, especially peppers, cabbage, eggplants, and zucchini.

Think cabbage rolls, lasagna rolls, stuffed eggplant or lasagna rolls, and stuffed peppers with rice, cous cous, beans, beef, pork, etc.

Adding dimensions to your vegetables will undoubtedly go a long way.

Last night, I also noticed a recipe for taco-stuffed avocado halves.

At first, I laughed at it but then realized the importance of enjoying what we eat with our eyes as much as our mouths.

Get Creative With Dips

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about dipping vegetables is a summer fresh hummus dip, Tzatziki dip, avocado dip, taco dip, and ketchup for my fries.

Fries in our house are not only potatoes; we’ve also used sweet potatoes, rutabaga, beet, and turnip fries.

All are delicious with a bit of salt, but having various dipping sauces also helps jazz up the flavor and the plating.

Making dips is dead easy if you have the ingredients in your kitchen.

In the summer, you will find tons of dips floating in and out of the refrigerator that we use for salads or to dip fresh vegetables.

If eating raw vegetables slows you or your child down, add a heart-healthy dip to make vegetables fun!

Plating Vegetables

Food presentation is essential, especially for the kids who turn their noses up at unpleasant-looking dishes.

We turned a piece of bread with peanut butter on top into a car with banana slices as wheels.

Guess what? Our son loved it and ate it all up.

The same approach to plating food for adults is just as important because if we don’t like what we see, we probably won’t eat it.

Choosing the right plate for a meal is just as important as ensuring the food looks delicious and presentable.

Slopping food on a plate isn’t much of an effort regarding presentation and wanting people to tuck in.

Creating visual appeal by adding textures, colors, and various amounts of food to the plate helps jazz it up.

I mean adding a few radishes, Julienne red and yellow peppers, and mushroom slices but in different group sizes.

Most importantly, don’t put too much food on a plate to look more like a mountain than a meal.

Leaving space is essential for the eater to see what they are eating and to decide what foods to pair together on their fork or spoon.

I also like adding textures and height to my plates because it adds chef appeal.

Restaurant Quality

When you cook at home, plate your food as if eating at a restaurant.

I promise that eating at home will become more appealing than spending money eating out.

If you plan to use garnishes, please ensure they are suitable and edible.

The idea is to keep it clean, sleek, flavourful, textured, and ready to eat!

In conclusion, I hope to report back to you by September to see if any of our vegetable techniques work with our son,

Perhaps we will celebrate a new tradition where we care more about the food we serve, how it’s grown, and its variety.

June Grocery Game Challenge

Please read The Grocery Game Challenge Rules and print the 2018 Schedule, which includes new prizes!

• Last shop May- How to successfully return food to the grocery store
• 10 Best Foods To Bulk Bulk When On Sale – June GGC #1
• The Ultimate Guide To Portion Sizes– June GGC #2

2018 Grocery Shop Results

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2018: $3600 or $300/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year.

Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings or that you would like to track on your own)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $300
• Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $300-$13.63=$286.37
• Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Optimum Points to Spend: 3,200,000
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet -$0
• Checkout51- $1.50

Our Grocery Shop This Week

Total Our-of-Pocket $0

Note: All totals below have already been tax factored into them.

• Total to spend this month: $286.37
• Stockpile budget 2018: $25.00/month
• Stockpile budget used this month: $25.00
• Christmas Reserve Fund: $35/month $210 Saved
• Total coupons used this week: $0
• Total coupons used to date: $1
• Total in-store discounts this week: $0
• Total in-store discounts to date: $116.54
• Total spent this week: $0
• Total spent so far this month: $183.29
• Total over/Under spend this shop:
• Total left to spend for the month: $103.08
• Total Spent To Date 2018: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $323.04+Feb $169.42+March $228.70 + April $337.84+ May $275.79 + June $+July $+August $+September $+ October $+ November $ + December $

Weekly Overview

This week is a no-shop since we still have lots to use up from last week.

Grocery Game Challenge 2018 FAQ’s

• Grocery Game Challenge RULES: Read the rules first, and if you have any questions, email me or comment on this post.
• Does your Grocery Budget include health and beauty, and laundry products?: No, our Grocery Budget does not include items such as shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap, etc. As of 2014 we no longer included such items in our grocery budget, so we could see our actual food numbers at the end of the year to plan accordingly.
• Do you stockpile food? We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be affected by expiration dates or have long expiration dates, but we don’t have so much food any longer, as we found we weren’t eating it fast enough. Stockpiling is still great and is just one way to help cut your budget to save money.
• Best Coupon Apps: Coupons are slowly fading, with mobile coupon apps being the biggest rave. Recently, the popular coupon site Save.ca, which mailed coupons to households, got involved with adding a new mobile Save.ca app, joining forces with the many other coupon apps available.
• What is the Best Flyer App- We use Flipp on our iPhone, so if you want to have all your flyers in one spot, download Flipp from the Apple Store or get it on Google Play.

You’re On Your Way To Grocery Savings

If you’ve just joined The Grocery Game Challenge 2018 get ready to look at your grocery budget by learning;

• Where are you spending money?
• How much money are you spending?
• How much money are you saving every month?

If you want to learn everything I know about grocery shopping in Canada, check out my Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide! 

You’ve made a wise decision to take control of your grocery budget.

Now show me your shops and let’s get saving!

Welcome to The Grocery Game Challenge 2018!

-Mr.CBB

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