People tend to overcook their veggies. But let's be honest, mushy veggies are disgusting! AND they're not good for you anymore once you've overcooked them. The longer they cook, the more nutrients they loose! Different veggies cook for a different amount of time, and it's very possible that it is much shorter than you would expect! So, the key to cooking delicious veggies is to know how long to steam them! Knowing what seasonings to add doesn't hurt either :).
Steamed Veggies
How to:
Cook Broccoli
You can simply place the broccoli in lightly salted water and boil for approximately 3 minutes. You can also put them in a steamer and cook for about 4 1/2 minutes. The way to know if broccoli is done is when the color changes to a very bright, lime green color. They will still be fairly crisp, but tender enough to easily stick a fork through.
Toppings that taste good on broccoli are salt and pepper, lemon pepper, garlic and Parmesan cheese, or a simple cheese sauce.
Cook Green Beans
Green beans are a lot like broccoli. You can either boil them or steam them for about 3-5 minutes. They will also turn a much brighter, lime green color when they're ready to eat! And they will be much like the broccoli in texture- fairly crisp, but tender enough to easily stick a fork through.
Toppings that taste good on green beans are salt and pepper, or dried cranberries.
Cook Carrots
Carrots are very different from broccoli or green beans. You cook them much longer, about 10 minutes. You can boil them or fry them up in butter. The color will also brighten and the texture will change to be slightly crisp but soft enough to stick a fork through.
Toppings that taste good are butter and brown sugar or butter and dill.
Cook Squash and Zucchini
There are a LOT of different ways to cook zucchini, but if you want to eat it the healthiest way that still tastes good, just steam them. Zucchini has a short steaming time, about 3-5 minutes. You don't want them to be super mushy, they should still be crisp but softened a bit. You can also fry them up in butter and seasonings or back them. You will want to slice the squash. Cooking a whole squash would generally NOT be a good idea :). The texture should be fairly similar no matter how you cook them. The color won't change very much with squash.
Toppings that taste good are salt and pepper, garlic, basil, Parmesan cheese, or a cheese sauce.
Make a simple cheese sauce
Ingredients:
- 4 T. butter
- 4 T. flour
- 2 c milk
- 2 c grated cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
Directions:
- Start by making a basic white sauce. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour slowly, stir in completely.
- Let simmer about 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of milk. Stir slowly for about 10 minutes, until thickens.
- Once the white sauce has thickened add salt and pepper to taste. Add grated cheese. Stir until completely melted in.
