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What are your favorite Veggie sides? I am struggling to expand beyond salad and sweet potatoes. Help!


jtota

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I am looking for new ideas for vegetables side dishes. I am used to combining my veggies in to vegan dishes with beans, grains, etc. Not so keen and plain old veg and I have been relying on sweet potatos and salads. Please help!!! Inspire me!

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Salt roasted beets, cubed and tossed with paleo mayo

Zucchini noodles tossed with sliced green olives, capers, and tomato sauce

Mashed butternut squash (with coconut cream, salt, pepper and a bit of allspice)

Non-leafy chopped salads: e.g. asparagus, red peppers and snap peas

I'd like some better ideas for hot veggie side dishes, for sure. I need to go back to my Indian cookbooks and see what can be made without dal...

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massaged kale salad! Wash and trim a bunch of kale and sprinkle a little salt on top. Massage the kale and salt for about 4 minutes with your hands until it has a cooked texture and appearance. I will wilt and soften. Drain accumulated liquid. Add 1/4 chopped red onion, some toasted nuts, a handful of raisins, a cut up avocado, and some olive oil (vinegar too if you're into that).

Another easy way to eat some veggies is cut up a bunch of root veggies (turnips parsnips rutabagas beets) and an onion into equal size pieces about 1/2-1 inch square. Drizzle with coconut oil or ghee (or if you have it saved bacon fat or something like goose or duck fat!) and roast at 400 for 50 minutes to an hour. Add garlic, thyme or other herbs if you'd like. Stir every 15 or 20 minutes. Roast longer if they aren't caramelized yet.

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Caramelize onions in coconut oil or ghee over medium heat.

Chop brussles sprouts into half or quarters, add in along with a dash of salt & pepper and cook until the sprouts have softened and turned a deeper green color. Add some dried cranberries and pecans. Toss with salt and/or cinnamon and serve.

If you think you don't like brussels sprouts, this dish will change your mind. Just be sure that you cook the sprouts long enough, I find that if they're not cooked long enough they taste bitter.

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Roasted carrots are really good (tossed with seasoning and coconut oil, then cooked in the oven). Also, I'm on an eggplant kick. I made (and I can't remember where I saw it) eggplant rounds, I cut a hole in the middle and cracked an egg in there so I am even eating eggplant for breakfast. And asparagus is always an easy fix for me. I toss them with seasoning and olive oil and microwave them until tender (but still a little crunchy). :)

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Thanks for the help everyone! I'm headed to the store this morning to pick up a few things. Gues I'm just going to have to suck it up and eat somethings I don't normally enjoy :mellow: . Who knows, my tastes buds are changing so it will be interesting to see what I like to eat now.

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I ALWAYS have a bowl of cole sallad in my fridge. It's easy, cheap and delicious and goes with most dishes. I just shred the cole finely using a cheese slicer (is that how you say it? English is my third language...). Then I just pour a mixture of olive oil, vinegar and salt & peppar over it. It's so much more delicious than you can imagine. You can keep it for a week. You can serve it to any dish, kids love it too.

Another staple in my fridge is Red onion sallad. Sounds strange, I know... but hear me out. You chop a whole, red onion into "half-moons", rinse the well under water in a swifter (this is an important step as it takes out the strong taste of the onion) and then you press 1-2 limes over the onion, season with salt & peppar and put it sealed in some kind of container into de fridge. Let it rest for minimum an hour, the longer you have it there the better. This will turn the onion pink and this side dish goes PERFECT with fish and seafood. But I put it on everything burgers (paleo of course), omelettes, frittatas, etc. You can also toss in tomatoes to this sallad. I know the do that in some Latin american countries.

Roasted broccoli is also delicious but it has already been mentioned.

I just want you to know that I grew up VERY skeptical to veggies but I've learned to really love them. Don't be afraid to test new things! Best of luck!!

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I love veggies! Here are some recipes I've recently tried and enjoyed:

I received the book Practicla Paleo for Christmas and have already made about 6-7 recipes. Everything is great and there are a 30+ recipes for sides and veggies (recipe list here: http://balancedbites.com/practical-paleo-recipe-nutrition-facts) I also recommend Well Fed, which is currently offered in a Paleo books bundle: http://beta.primal-palate.com/blog/huge-paleo-ebook-bundle-this-week-only/)

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Johnny M - Your roasted root veggies are a win!! Sooooo good. I look at those ugly things all the time when I'm shopping and never buy them. Who'd a thought. They're like secret flavor ninja's :ph34r: hehehe :ph34r: . Anyway . . . kale salad is next on my list along with a few of the others that have been posted. Thanks again!!

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massaged kale salad! Wash and trim a bunch of kale and sprinkle a little salt on top. Massage the kale and salt for about 4 minutes with your hands until it has a cooked texture and appearance. I will wilt and soften. Drain accumulated liquid. Add 1/4 chopped red onion, some toasted nuts, a handful of raisins, a cut up avocado, and some olive oil (vinegar too if you're into that).

Another easy way to eat some veggies is cut up a bunch of root veggies (turnips parsnips rutabagas beets) and an onion into equal size pieces about 1/2-1 inch square. Drizzle with coconut oil or ghee (or if you have it saved bacon fat or something like goose or duck fat!) and roast at 400 for 50 minutes to an hour. Add garlic, thyme or other herbs if you'd like. Stir every 15 or 20 minutes. Roast longer if they aren't caramelized yet.

I never think to have a big container full of roasted root veggies in my fridge. Just started back with my very Paleo personal trainer who has me flip tires so perfect after my 3 days a week sessions with him.

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Thanks for the help everyone! I'm headed to the store this morning to pick up a few things. Gues I'm just going to have to suck it up and eat somethings I don't normally enjoy :mellow: . Who knows, my tastes buds are changing so it will be interesting to see what I like to eat now.

jtota, roasting veggies was the best way for me to try vegetables I don't normally eat. It gives them a slight crunch and brings out the sugar in them which makes them extra tasty! It's seriously addicting!

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Johnny M - Your roasted root veggies are a win!! Sooooo good. I look at those ugly things all the time when I'm shopping and never buy them. Who'd a thought. They're like secret flavor ninja's :ph34r: hehehe :ph34r: . Anyway . . . kale salad is next on my list along with a few of the others that have been posted. Thanks again!!

Awesome! When I bought all those veggies for Christmas the girl at check out kept asking me what each was. I was like uh ...I dunno...a parsni....rutta....err....turnip...umm. It was kinda funny. I'm not a fan of beets either by the way but they taste better roasted!

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I'm on a Swiss chard kick. Fry 4 slices of bacon, chopped. Remove from pan and add crushed or minced garlic to the bacon fat. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Add about 2 TBS lemon juice to the garlic and bacon fat. While the bacon is frying, rinse and shake a bunch of chard. I like the stems, but they are a stronger taste. As a novice, you may want to just use the leaves. Cut them off the stems and chop into 1-2 inch pieces. If using the stems, cut like celery, and add to the pan a few minutes before the leaves, as they take longer to cook through. Add the leaves and saute a few minutes, stirring. Add the bacon back to the pan and continue cooking. You can turn heat to low and cover to finish wilting the leaves.

The salty of the bacon, with the tart of the lemon and the pungency of the garlic is a delicious combination with what otherwise would be plain boring greens.

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1Maryann,

Do you think your recipe would work with kale or spinach. I have a fridge full of that right now.

Can I just say, I love how pretty my shopping cart looks lately with all of the fresh greens and colorful veggies in it. Especially with no ugly boxes and bags in there. :)

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1Maryann,

Do you think your recipe would work with kale or spinach. I have a fridge full of that right now.

Can I just say, I love how pretty my shopping cart looks lately with all of the fresh greens and colorful veggies in it. Especially with no ugly boxes and bags in there.

That recipe would work with any type of greens. :) Spinach is delicate so it will cook in just a minute or two. :)

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1Maryann,

Do you think your recipe would work with kale or spinach. I have a fridge full of that right now.

Can I just say, I love how pretty my shopping cart looks lately with all of the fresh greens and colorful veggies in it. Especially with no ugly boxes and bags in there. :)

Hey jtota! If you have a fridge full of spinach or kale check out my new go-to, quick, and easy side that takes maybe 5 minutes total. I have made it 4 times in the past two days since I first made it :D Here is a link to the recipe on my blog!

Hope you like it!

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Can I just say, I love how pretty my shopping cart looks lately with all of the fresh greens and colorful veggies in it. Especially with no ugly boxes and bags in there. :)

I'm guilty of judging other people's carts that don't look like mine when I'm at the store.

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  • I like doing these oven roasted carrots, but with clarified butter or coconut oil: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-carrots-recipe/index.html
  • Steamed broccoli is a go-to for me, as I use it in a lot of situations where there would ordinarily be a bed of rice (like, I put stir fries over broccoli)
  • Bell peppers and onions stir fried together with salt, fat, a bit of lime juice and some cumin and/or garlic. They're basically fajita veggies, and they're a nice flavorful side.
  • Oven roasted brussels sprouts or broccoli
  • Mixed green salads with sliced up bell peppers, avocado, or whatever
  • Mashed acorn squash with cinnamon and clarified butter
  • Spaghetti squash (I love making this with meatballs and tomato sauce)
  • Summer squash and/or zucchinni sliced really thin and sauteed in oil with salt and pepper
  • Asparagus snapped into 1-2" pieces, sauteed with oil, a TON of minced garlic, salt and papper, and finished with some lemon juice
  • Turnip oven fries (these might be SWYPO for some people, they seem ok for me, because I'm not a big fries person, and these aren't very much like regular potato fries)

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Asparagus, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powdered, then spread out on a baking sheet and roasted (whatever temperature I'm cooking other stuff at, 10-15 minutes)

Cut up a tomato and some garlic, cook in olive oil to get rid of some of the water. Chop a zucchini into little half-circles, put on top, then season with salt and pepper. Put a lid on the pan and let it cook until everything is soft. Eat :)

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Zucchini noodles are awesome (well fed has the best recipe !!)

I haven't roasted veggies in a LONG time- but this thread has changed my mind about that.

Score !!!!

I have tried to make zucchini noodles before and they always turn out mushy. what's the trick?

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