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Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: BlackCurtains on November 05, 2020, 09:12:00 AM

Title: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on November 05, 2020, 09:12:00 AM
I've just bought a bunch of raw vegetables because I've had a huge craving for them. I got cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, red pepper, baby carrots, grape tomatoes and baby butter lettuce! Doesn't that sound SO GOOD? It's totally the wrong time of year for fresh veggies but I don't care :lol:

I'm not actually supposed to eat raw vegetables, it's bad for my gastroparesis, so it's been a while since I had some (other than tomatoes, I always have a few on hand and they're a fruit anyway so :P ). I can always make a salad and I bought some Ranch dip as well. What else could I do?

Do you have a favorite raw veggie dip or seasoning? If I can't eat them all raw in time (or my stomach tells me this was a bad idea) I'll roast them in the oven. But for that I wish I had potatoes too. Aw well. It'll still be good!

Let's talk veggies! What's your favorite salad? I love greek salad with olives and feta! I also love a good pasta salad with olives, tomatoes, and spinach. Ooh, and my grandma's 7 layer salad! I'll have to get the stuff to make those next time.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: LadyAmalthea on November 05, 2020, 10:18:52 AM
I make a hummus wrap. Spread red-pepper hummus (or any kind; that's just my favorite) on a whole wheat tortilla. Sprinkle chopped carrot, bell peppers, and sliced cucumbers (or any veggies), roll up, and slice in half.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: SunPony on November 05, 2020, 10:24:18 AM
Oh, I also love Greek salad!  Mmmm, now I really want to eat one.  I also like massaged kale salad (curly kale rubbed with olive oil and vinegar) with lemon juice, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese.

I recently made tzatziki (sp?) for the first time.  It uses raw cucumber and was pretty easy to make, and delicious.  I dipped pita bread and red peppers in it. I also love eating carrots and peppers with hummus.

Good luck with all those veggies and your stomach!
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Barnacle_lady on November 05, 2020, 10:41:50 AM
You can use them as a dip for cheese fondue :) I do cook the broccoli and cauliflower a bit.

I am also a fan of pasta salad, very easy to make.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: brightberry on November 05, 2020, 12:07:55 PM
I love veggies so much.  Broccoli is really easy to boil and can taste just as fresh when I time it right.  It can be frustrating to miss that window.  Cauliflower is delicious roasted.  Yum.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on November 05, 2020, 12:21:22 PM
Well, my stomach is acting up and my groceries aren't even here yet :( Maybe I can give in to my veggie craving tomorrow...

I make a hummus wrap. Spread red-pepper hummus (or any kind; that's just my favorite) on a whole wheat tortilla. Sprinkle chopped carrot, bell peppers, and sliced cucumbers (or any veggies), roll up, and slice in half.

Oh that sounds good! I didn't think of hummus.

Oh, I also love Greek salad!  Mmmm, now I really want to eat one.  I also like massaged kale salad (curly kale rubbed with olive oil and vinegar) with lemon juice, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese.

I recently made tzatziki (sp?) for the first time.  It uses raw cucumber and was pretty easy to make, and delicious.  I dipped pita bread and red peppers in it. I also love eating carrots and peppers with hummus.

Good luck with all those veggies and your stomach!

Kale is delicious with walnuts and raspberries too. I used to eat about two heads of kale a week until I got really sick. Raw vegetables is the worst thing for gastroparesis (and I'm lacto-ovo-pescatarian = no meat!) so I eat them cooked a lot. Aside from a few, I much prefer raw. It's been a long time since I had anything other than tomatoes. The tzatziki dip sounds delicious! Cucumbers are so refreshing ^.^

Thank you!

Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Taffeta on November 05, 2020, 01:59:25 PM
Humous here too :D Red pepper is my favourite too <3

I eat more vegetables than I do fruit, I can digest them better.

I like mushrooms <3 but I also like cucumber, lettuce, and stuff like courgette, broccoli etc if it's stir fried. Beans and peas too. Love edamame.

Not a fan of tomato except in certain settings but cooked in stuff, that's different.

Only like carrots raw.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: pinkkittywinks on November 05, 2020, 02:02:28 PM
Cauliflower is great steamed, in a stew or curry.

Broccoli makes great soup (broccoli and cheeeeeese soup) and it nice steamed as well.

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower are yummy as well, drizzle in olive oil and season, even add a little chopped chili to spice it up.

Tzatziki is great, I have made my own too :)

Baby carrots are yummy too, give them a good scrub and you shouldn't need to peel them, part boil and roast them with potatoes or sweet potato :) They are also yummy steamed. Baby carrot and lentil soup is great or carrot and coriander soup :)

You can freeze home made soups if you make too much :)

Love pkw xxx
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: banditpony on November 05, 2020, 02:15:45 PM
Cucumbers I like eating with just a pinch of salt. Otherwise, I will pickle it with onions, vinegar, and a pinch of sugar. I'm not sure if that counts as raw anymore.

But with that lettuce... the ONLY thing I do with that kind of lettuce is make lettuce wraps. The lovely thing about lettuce wrap is anything can go in them.

https://simple-veganista.com/garden-salad-lettuce-wraps
(That sauce doesn't seem bad, but I'd probably make a more asian style dipping sauce... or honestly, i'd make a variety. )

The other thing that immediately popped in my head was summer rolls.. they are another thing that literally anything can go into them. Often there is shrimp or pork in them, but the fun thing about summer rolls is literally you can do whatever you want with them. So that can be omitted, if it needs to be all veggie.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-fresh-summer-rolls-with-easy-peanut-dipping-sauce

The wrap seems intimidating, but it's really easy once you get the timing right. I'm sure there are youtube things.

Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on November 06, 2020, 06:38:31 AM
I eat more vegetables than I do fruit, I can digest them better.

I like mushrooms <3 but I also like cucumber, lettuce, and stuff like courgette, broccoli etc if it's stir fried. Beans and peas too. Love edamame.

Most fruits are too sweet for me or the citric acid bothers my stomach. Mushrooms are not food :P I love fresh green beans and snow peas! Not a fan of edamame. I had to look up courgette, we call it zucchini here. I like all squash. I made fresh pumpkin soup one time, with real pumpkin! It was delicious. A little late in the year for that though.

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower are yummy as well, drizzle in olive oil and season, even add a little chopped chili to spice it up.

Tzatziki is great, I have made my own too :)

Baby carrots are yummy too, give them a good scrub and you shouldn't need to peel them, part boil and roast them with potatoes or sweet potato :) They are also yummy steamed. Baby carrot and lentil soup is great or carrot and coriander soup :)

You can freeze home made soups if you make too much :)

Love pkw xxx

Oh hey! I have lentils :D That's a good idea... lentils are good for me. If the veggies don't work out raw, I'll have to roast some and make lentil soup. I love cauliflower, honestly. I like it best raw but also love it steamed and roasted. I also make a vegetable quiche with broccoli, cauliflower, red bell peppers, onions, eggs and cheese. It's amazingly good. Did you know you can make a vegan gravy with carrots, celery and onions? It also makes a great sauce to put over black bean loaf. Mmm, I'm making myself hungry :lol:

But with that lettuce... the ONLY thing I do with that kind of lettuce is make lettuce wraps. The lovely thing about lettuce wrap is anything can go in them.

https://simple-veganista.com/garden-salad-lettuce-wraps
(That sauce doesn't seem bad, but I'd probably make a more asian style dipping sauce... or honestly, i'd make a variety. )

The other thing that immediately popped in my head was summer rolls.. they are another thing that literally anything can go into them. Often there is shrimp or pork in them, but the fun thing about summer rolls is literally you can do whatever you want with them. So that can be omitted, if it needs to be all veggie.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-fresh-summer-rolls-with-easy-peanut-dipping-sauce

The wrap seems intimidating, but it's really easy once you get the timing right. I'm sure there are youtube things.

Oh yeah, definitely going to make some lettuce wraps. I need to get some hummus now for sure. Summer rolls! Publix has a sushi guy that makes stuff fresh every day and he makes those but calls them dragon rolls (or maybe there's a slight difference?) Sometimes they're sprinkled with chopped peanuts, but whatever they are is very similar and delicious. I've never seen that rice paper anywhere. I buy a lot of tofu and wonton wrappers so I think I would have seen it. I know there's an Asian grocery store somewhere, I bet they have them.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: mlp4me on November 10, 2020, 10:19:18 AM
I'd boil them all (except leafy greens). I don't taste food very well, so the mushier the better imo. Oh and douse them with cheese if you're so inclined... lol.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on November 10, 2020, 11:41:00 AM
I ate half the cauliflower raw with dill dip and some of the carrots too. My stomach wasn't happy. The rest of the cauliflower, the broccoli, some onion and one red bell pepper went into a bisquick egg pie. It was delicious! I picked up some baby red potatoes and I'm going to roast those with onion, carrots and the other bell pepper tonight.

I think I got my fill of raw veggies. My stomach just can't handle them.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: banditpony on November 10, 2020, 01:53:25 PM
Mmm. roasting veggies sounds good.

It's tempting me to get my pumpkin out of the basement to roast it.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: dragonfly on December 12, 2020, 05:42:08 PM
Put them in the veggies drawer and forget about them until they go bad ? Ooops...wrong answer?
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Ponybookworm on December 12, 2020, 10:01:38 PM
Chop up, steam, make a simple sauce (or buy one), cook some pasta (Tagliatelle I think but up to you), mix the lot together & serve. The more veggies the better
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Beth3346 on December 14, 2020, 08:03:57 PM
I love veggies too. My husband is on a low sodium diet now so we eat a lot more veggies. but as i get older i like them a lot more.

We usually do rice bowls a few times each week. I usually add sliced red onions and cucumbers. but it would be good with the cucumbers, red peppers and tomatoes. Or roasted broccoli and cauliflower. you can pretty much use whatever you have on hand. we also add a little low sodium soy sauce but you can add any light sauce. You can also add some fish. We usually add roasted salmon. you can even roast the veggies at the same time as the fish.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Marshie on December 14, 2020, 10:29:09 PM
My favorite is the easy way, eating them completely raw! I always felt like raw veggies had stronger and more complex flavors. I have some sugar snap peas with me right now (one of my favorite snacks!)
If I am feeling something different though, I love a good caprese salad or just some hummus and I'm good to go. As for salads, I don't have a real favorite. When I make my own though, I don't use lettuce. I prefer spinach!
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Griffin on December 15, 2020, 03:39:04 AM
I love veggies and cook a lot with them. I'm trying to be more mindful about using seasonal produce but it's hard to avoid buying tomatoes, cucumber or courgettes, bell peppers and lettuce throughout the year! Those are the staple salad and sandwich ingredients I'm used to. Seasonal veggies in the winter would be limited to root vegetables, cabbages & kale, squash/pumpkins, onions... and that's pretty much it. :lol: They make nice salad ingredients (esp. roasted or otherwise cooked) but putting them on sandwiches is more challenging. Doable but weird.

Salads (and sandwiches, wraps etc.) aside, I don't often eat veggies raw... I may snack on some carrots but that's about it, I usually go for fruit. Hummus or other dips are great but even then I mostly just dip carrot and cucumber. I don't like eating broccoli or cauliflower raw although I love to cook with both. Can't stand raw celery either.  :P But some of my favourite ways to eat veggies is cooking them al dente, quickly sautéing them, or pickling them. Take cabbage for example! Traditional Finnish cooking is very bland - we're located in the North with long winters, and this used to be a poor, remote country with not much access to spices and such. Although I like some of our traditional cabbage recipes such as casserole and rolls, some Asian recipes and more modern ways of preparing cabbage have brought a whole new level to how I use this boring ol' vegetable. I now love stir-fried cabbage, and summer cabbage roasted in the oven! Sometimes is pretty fun to think about how our cooking habits have changed compared to the 80s & 90s, for example. So many veggies and exotic fruits which now seem normal to me were simply not available back then. I first tasted fresh pineapple in the 2010s! :shocked:

I'd also like to share this, vegetable kinpira (https://justbento.com/handbook/recipe-collection-side-dishes-and-space-fillers/bento-fillers-forgotten-vegetable-kinpira), a Japanese method which can be applied to almost any crunchy vegetable, including veggie scraps such as broccoli and cabbage stalks! It's an amazing way to reduce waste and tastes so good, and it makes a super quick side dish or quinoa salad ingredient. I can totally recommend the rest of the website too (Just Bento and its sister site Just Hungry) - some great recipes to try even if you're not interested in preparing a real bento box!

// edit for typos
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on December 15, 2020, 11:02:13 AM
Thanks for the suggestions! The other day I had a head of broccoli I wasn't sure what to do with, but I ended up making broccoli cheese soup. It was really good! Way better than store bought.

I've been buying veggies every time I grocery shop and doing different things. I made a simple lentil soup one time (someone in this thread suggested that), man I love lentils. I need to eat them more often. I did a couple pans of different roasted veggies, that's always good. I made cucumber sandwiches one day and cucumber salad. I mashed up two recipes to fit the stuff I had on hand. I'm still eating a lot of onions and tomatoes. Love them! I've got bite sized slices of golden potatoes in the fridge leftover from making creamy potato soup. I think I'll get them crispy in a skillet with some seasoning.

I'd also like to share this, vegetable kinpira (https://justbento.com/handbook/recipe-collection-side-dishes-and-space-fillers/bento-fillers-forgotten-vegetable-kinpira), a Japanese method which can be applied to almost any crunchy vegetable, including veggie scraps such as broccoli and cabbage stalks! It's an amazing way to reduce waste and tastes so good, and it makes a super quick side dish or quinoa salad ingredient. I can totally recommend the rest of the website too (Just Bento and its sister site Just Hungry) - some great recipes to try even if you're not interested in preparing a real bento box!

Oh, that looks good! They have a section for vegetarian recipes too. I've always wanted to try more Japanese food. I can make decent omelet rice but that's about it.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: LadyAmalthea on December 15, 2020, 11:16:59 AM
I made some ranch-turkey-cucumber wraps for my girls recently; I was just trying to use up stuff in the fridge and I got creative. Not something that I would normally choose to eat, since I don't eat poultry except as a last resort, but I took a bite of one to show my toddlers how to eat it (in hopes that they wouldn't pull it apart and dissect it everywhere!) and thought it was so good I made myself one. It would probably also be good with avocado on it, but I didn't make it that way.

Turkey or chicken breast, cold, cut up (I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey)
Cucumber slices or triangles
Cream cheese with ranch powder mixed in (or could use ranch dip or ranch dressing I suppose)
Whole wheat tortillas
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Esbayne on January 05, 2021, 01:30:45 PM
In salads with bleu cheese or vinegarrette dressing, or completely raw with sour cream! (Ranch is okay but I never actively choose to eat it, only if it's the only option)
I'm a veggie fiend, I'd eat salad all day every day if I could, especially if there's also egg or seafood in it...

I do find myself having a harder time eating fruits these days though. I'd eat all fruit, anywhere any time as a kid, but the older I get the more and more my sweet tooth dies. XD
I really stopped liking sweets when I was about 17/18, now I'm not even really too keen on too much fruit, lol.
I don't dislike fruit, I just never have cravings for sweet stuff, and when I'm hungry, sugary-sweet is the last thing I want.

I have a whole box of blueberries in the fridge that I bought the other day to snack on, they're barely touched and I'm sitting here fantasizing about salads... lol.

Though I did have a storebought blueberry salad the other day for breakfast. I say this about, well, a LOT of salads, but I think it was one of the best salads I'd ever had. I was so sad when I finished it. XD
Hadn't ever found one before, haven't found one since. :(
I'd make one myself but it had this really unique blueberry vinegarrette, I don't know if I'd be able to find that easily.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on January 05, 2021, 01:35:27 PM
I'm not too fond of most fruits either because they're often too sweet or hurt my teeth (looking at you, apples). I like bananas, raspberries, green grapes and mango. That's about it ^^;

One of my favorite salads is kale, raspberries and walnuts! It's sooooo good.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Leave a Whisper on January 05, 2021, 02:33:45 PM
Depends on what they are. I like them raw sometimes if its celery or carrots, or stuff to make a salad with. Other then that, I cook it.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Ponybookworm on January 06, 2021, 01:25:41 AM
I'm not too fond of most fruits either because they're often too sweet or hurt my teeth (looking at you, apples). I like bananas, raspberries, green grapes and mango. That's about it ^^;

One of my favorite salads is kale, raspberries and walnuts! It's sooooo good.
Not been able to bite a whole apple since I was 7 due to tooth injury (apple slices I can do, just not the bite into whole thing)
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Thimble on January 06, 2021, 07:28:32 AM
Broccoli or cauliflower: steamed with lavender, then tossed with olive oil snd salt. Besssst, mmmmm. Add some real bacon bits if you have 'em.

Actually, olive oil and lavender is awesome on a lot of veggies.

Otherwise, soup! All the soup. Unless it's hotpot. Or stew. Lol.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Griffin on January 06, 2021, 12:57:59 PM
One of my favorite salads is kale, raspberries and walnuts! It's sooooo good.

Sounds delicious! One of my favourites is crunchy lettuce, cucumber, basil, halloumi, raspberries (or strawberries) and watermelon. It's so good! The sweet berries and crunchy melon & cucumber balance out the saltiness of the halloumi so beautifully. The original recipe has raspberries but I actually prefer using strawberries, although they are sweeter. Strawberries and basil make a great combo! *already dreaming of summer*

For Christmas I made a salad with red cabbage, orange, pomegranate seeds and walnuts, with a simple dressing (olive oil, white vinegar or balsamico, a dash of orange juice, honey, salt & pepper).
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: BlackCurtains on January 08, 2021, 12:59:05 PM
One of my favorite salads is kale, raspberries and walnuts! It's sooooo good.

Sounds delicious! One of my favourites is crunchy lettuce, cucumber, basil, halloumi, raspberries (or strawberries) and watermelon. It's so good! The sweet berries and crunchy melon & cucumber balance out the saltiness of the halloumi so beautifully. The original recipe has raspberries but I actually prefer using strawberries, although they are sweeter. Strawberries and basil make a great combo! *already dreaming of summer*

For Christmas I made a salad with red cabbage, orange, pomegranate seeds and walnuts, with a simple dressing (olive oil, white vinegar or balsamico, a dash of orange juice, honey, salt & pepper).

I had to look up what halloumi is :lookround: That is one interesting sounding salad though! I would try it :biggrin: The other one sound delicious too. I love pomegranate, it's good in everything.



Well, I started dieting (or rather trying to eat healthy and make better choices) and bought myself a Nurtibullet. It should come tomorrow along with some groceries that include a bunch of fresh veggies and frozen fruit :biggrin: I already have some frozen bananas because I like to eat them as is, haha. I think I'll try my kale salad in the Nutribullet first. I might love to eat it fresh but my stomach has a hard time digesting the raw kale.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Leave a Whisper on January 08, 2021, 01:48:47 PM
You guys reminded me to make that yummy squash soup last night.
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Esbayne on January 08, 2021, 03:19:59 PM
Ahhhhhh squash souppp. @_@
I'm like, addicted to the stuff lol.

You can buy it by the carton here from some organic brand, I always buy like 2-3 of butternut squash soup, and 2-3 of their tomato basil, and then eat it all myself over a few days. xD
My bf hates the stuff, so more for me!
Title: Re: What do you do with raw veggies?
Post by: Leave a Whisper on January 08, 2021, 05:23:23 PM
Ahhhhhh squash souppp. @_@
I'm like, addicted to the stuff lol.

You can buy it by the carton here from some organic brand, I always buy like 2-3 of butternut squash soup, and 2-3 of their tomato basil, and then eat it all myself over a few days. xD
My bf hates the stuff, so more for me!

We borrowed our recipe from the Geeky Chef. Its scrummy.

Love tomato soup
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