One of the things I love best about summer is the abundance of fresh, flavorful vegetables (I realize I sound a little like an ad for the Vegetable Council of America, but bear with me). Often, I'll make an entire meal out of a big plate of grilled zucchini, roasted asparagus or even just sliced tomatoes, sprinkled with salt. Yesterday, I steamed up a pound of green beans for lunch and ate the whole thing. I let them cook until they were tender, but had just a little bit of crispness left and then drained them. Keeping them in the pot in which I had done the cooking, I added a small pat of butter (no more than I could in good conscience eat in one sitting), and a sprinkling of salt, pepper and garlic powder (sometimes it just hits the spot).
The thing I love about have a big plate of veg for lunch is that it feels so indulgent. I love that I can eat as much as I want and not have to share them with anyone. In the matter of full disclosure, I should probably say that I come from a family in which the leftovers we battle over after Thanksgiving and Christmas are the green beans with toasted almonds and the roasted brussel sprouts with toasted walnuts (we like our veggies with nuts around the holidays). Oh, and I am not a vegetarian. I can and do go for the animal protein almost daily. I just like my veggies too.
I write this to find out, are there others of you out there like me? Those who eat their salads out of serving bowls and get defensive when someone enters the room with a fork and a hungry look in their eye. Who think nothing of sauteeing a pound of spinach and calling it dinner. Who make the grilled veggies their main course and don't understand when friends invite them over for dinner and serve nothing but meat and starches. Vegetable lovers of the world, unite!
Cheese Course: Brebis Pardou
A transcendent summer tomato salad
Sliced bread turns 80 today
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-04-2007 @ 11:39AM
leavesofjoy said...
I'm with you on that one- I eat meat, too, but I gotta have my veggies. Ever since I was a kid (the "weirdest kid in the world" according to Mom) I have loved broccoli especially much.
Sometimes I go on a "broccoli bender" and eat whole heads of it for dinner, just steamed a bit with butter and lemon. Yummmmmmm!!!
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8-04-2007 @ 11:59AM
John M said...
"no more than I could in good conscious eat in one sitting"
Conscious is pretty much the only way you can eat, surely?!
(You actually mean 'in good conscience')
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8-04-2007 @ 1:08PM
dust said...
I try to include some starch or maybe an egg, otherwise I'll be right back where I started in half an hour.
I've never been big on fruit, but lately I've been obsessing about it, and I think I may need to figure out how to make a meal out of cherries or peaches without too much cooking involved. Fresh salsa maybe?
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8-04-2007 @ 2:19PM
MJ said...
I too am a veggie lover.......Love my brocolli steamed tender but not too cooked dressed with butter, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cabbage, shredded cooked until soft but crisp in a little bacon drippings and onions with chopped bacon on top when served. I also love rutabaga, dont think im spelling this right, its like a turnip only orange, sweet and bitter. Lastly turnips sliced in rounds and cooked tender drains and add butter and lots of black pepper. Making myself hungry now....LOL ...got carried away~
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8-04-2007 @ 2:27PM
marquisem said...
Count me in too....I just got back from a pick-your-own farm and had to make myself NOT eat cukes and tomatoes for lunch (although they WERE a significant part).
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8-04-2007 @ 4:04PM
Marisa McClellan said...
John, thanks for the typo correction. I wrote this post late last night, and apparently I wasn't too sharp with the proofreading skills at that hour.
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8-04-2007 @ 8:54PM
Janis said...
I in this "veggie" club---daily ritual for me!
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8-04-2007 @ 9:33PM
Emily Booth said...
Yes! You are me!
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8-05-2007 @ 1:22AM
Silver_Potato said...
I love Kale, it goes with everything!
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8-05-2007 @ 3:52PM
Irina said...
Oh yes, me and my whole family (husband, three teenaged daughters). Especially when we eat asparagus or artichokes we don't usually have more than a token egg or bit of meat with it, and sometimes nothing at all, just the glorious vegetables. We're Orthodox and half the days of the year are meatless anyway-- makes one very resourceful!
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8-05-2007 @ 5:42PM
Andrea said...
Totally. Breakfast yesterday was leftover grilled veggies drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fleur de sel, pepper and goat cheese. When the vegetables were finished I combined what was left of the cheese, oil and vinegar and spread it on a half bagel.
I enjoy big salads with seeds, nuts and cheese and can happily eat one vegetable as a meal. It helps that I don't have a big appetite and I don't cook for anyone else- and eating this healthy allows me to eat more ice cream without a trace of remorse.
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8-07-2007 @ 2:55PM
Lindsay said...
We have a garden and every summer my mom, sister and I fight over the tomatoes especially. My little sister almost got forked by my grandma when she came over and had to spread the tomatoes even more. We eat tons of other veggies, but tomatoes seem to cause the biggest excitement around my house.
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8-10-2007 @ 11:53PM
emily said...
I am exactly the same way! I have been known to eat directly out of a bag of prewashed lettuce and to carry boxes of cherry tomatoes in my purse. I also once cut an English cucumber right down the middle, sprinkled some salt on it, and ate both halves like giant foot-and-a-half long hot dogs for lunch.
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