vegetable issues

[beverlyb30]

My husband is doing the Whole30 with me this time (first time for me was in January) starting today. His favorite vegetables are off-plan (corn and peas).  He does like root vegetables, but I'm afraid it's not enough of a variety (not enough greens?). He hates green beans, asparagus, zucchini and other summer squashes, eggplant. He will tolerate but will not enjoy spinach, chard, kale, etc. He also tolerates bell peppers now - he used to turn his nose up at them, but I can squeeze in a few here and there.

I can sometimes get him to eat a salad (salads for us usually consist of spring mix, cucumbers, red peppers, onion, and shredded carrots).

Last night's dinner had all root vegetables in it (carrots, parsnips, sweet potato with some ground beef). I think the amount of vegetables was good, but was it  too heavy on root vegetables?

For breakfast, we had an egg and sausage (homemade sausage with no sweeteners) casserole with a little spinach and sime mushrooms (he doesn't like mushrooms either but he ate this. He said it need something, though - he's used to putting ketchup on eggs - maybe he's just missing the sweet flavor?

For lunch it was egg salad with 2 leaves of romaine lettuce.

Tonight's dinner is an italian-style chicken (the only vegetables in the meal are onion and diced tomatoes). Is that enough or should I supplement with another vegetable? What goes good with italian chicken that I can get my husband to eat? I have a mediterranean blend but it's heavy on the veggies that he doesn't like.

 

[Tom Denham]

Corn is a grain and peas are a legume.

I hate the way chard and kale tastes the way it is often cooked. Chard and kale needed to be splashed with a vinegar to overcome what is often a musty taste. I like my kale with chopped onions, dried cranberries, and a generous splash of apple cider vinegar. 

I don't like zucchini the way it is often cooked. I like it best turned into noodles or zoodles and served with ground beef and marinara sauce. Or with seared scallops and a sauce made with ghee and fish sauce. 

Root veggies are better than no veggies, although variety is important. Some non-root veggies to try are cabbage either cooked or in a raw slaw or as sauerkraut. Sugar snap peas (technically a legume, but more pod than pea, so allowed in Whole30). 

I find making ketchup too much trouble. You can often find compliant salsa to use in place of ketchup. 

The standard for a meal is, after one or two palm-size portions of protein, to fill the rest of the plate with veggies. I bet you are not filling the plate with onions and diced tomatoes, so that meal is too light on veggies. 

Try walking through the produce department of the grocery store and consider trying everything you have never tried before. Try the same thing in the canned veggie or frozen veggie sections (but check ingredients because many have off plan ingredients with the main veggie). 

[MeadowLily]

[Pandora80]

Do you have a Whole Foods?  They just started carrying the spiralized veggies (zucchini noodles pictured above) ....so very easy.  (We have a spiralizer that works wonders but if you want to skip doing it yourself, if is nice to be able to get them in the store. My kids will eat the zucchini noodles with some sort of sauce...a Whole30 spaghetti and meatballs recipe over those noodles can help with the veggie count. Also, Tessemae makes a compliant ketchup...I haven't tasted it but worth trying.  They sell at Whole Foods but you can order online, too, at Amazon.