When you are cooking every day you might run out of interesting recipes. These days markets offer a huge variety of vegetables. Among them are vegetables that you have never tried or considered to try. Sometimes I want to eat something new but have no ideas how to cook it, or serve it, or store it. Well, sometimes it worth to spend some time and find out. It may be very surprising to discover that you can change the flavor simply by cutting and cooking vegetables in a different way. Did you know, for example, that you can add extra sweetness to the carrot by cutting them in small pieces and frying in a pan with a spoon of both butter and water? Do you want less oil in your eggplants? Easy - just grill them and you will get rich, caramel-like taste.
Because of this variety of vegetables it is very important to plan your menu before you go to the market. First of all, you need to know how to choose fresh vegetables. Then you might want to learn what vegetables can be prepared and served together. Usually vegetables are served hot or warm, so you cannot cook them ahead of time, so you might need some extra time before serving a meal. The best to manage this problem is to pre-cook vegetables. It easy to do to almost all vegetables no matter how you do it - cut them in small pieces, or big chunks, or even to cook the whole vegetable. Just cook them in boiled water, but make sure to stop cooking as they begin to feel tender when pierced with a fork. Then drain them and put into cold water; drain again and store.
If you need to serve them warm, you can melt a butter and then add pre-cooked vegetables. Stir and mix them until hot. Another way to reheat vegetables is to plunge them into a simmering water and let them stand for a while. But if you have a upcoming party, think of the vegetable recipes that taste best at room temperature or chilled.
For those who are watching calories or cholesterol it is possible to make vegetables taste good without butter, oil or spices. Cook you favorite vegetables with care and not overcook them, it might have undesirable effect on the taste.
Another method of cooking for dieters is stir frying of meat and vegetables. Use a big frying pan or wok over a high heat and vegetables will cook quickly while retaining their natural color and flavor. Once you learn how to do stir-frying, you will figure out what flavors you want to add and what combinations you like the best.
More and more often people of all ages consider eating fresh, raw vegetables. Delicious party appetizers may be appreciated by your guests. that even dieters can appreciate. You can serve raw vegetables as a salad or as a basket with different whole raw vegetables. Add fat free sauce or law-calorie dressing and you will be amazed how many people enjoy them!
Below you can find vegetables that are delicious when eating them raw.
Baby carrots -just serve them with any kind of your favorite dip.
Cabbage - cut in half. Break off chunks to eat.
Cauliflower - cut out core. Break off flowerettes to eat.
Cherry tomatoes - dip with stems.
Green beans - snap off ends and remove string.
Green peppers - cut vertically down to stem in 8-12 section.
Mushrooms - trim stem ends. Eat small mushrooms whole. Cut large into 6 pieces.
Radish - cut off root end but leave some leaves for dipping.
Turnip - peel and cut, add some sauce or dip and serve.