These tips for cooking vegetables include easy ideas to prepare and cook your veggies, along with great ideas for spicing up various vegetable dishes!
13 Easy Tips For Cooking Vegetables
- Peel broccoli stems. This makes them very tender when you cook them.
- Leftover onion will keep better if the root is left on, so use it from the top down.
- When you have just a few vegetables left from roasted vegetables, don’t toss them. Chop them up and use in some of your favorite casserole, chili, or meatloaf recipes. The roasted taste of the vegetables gives ordinary recipes a refreshing new taste.
- When cooking cauliflower, add 1-2 tsp. of lemon juice or vinegar to the water. It will help keep it whiter.
- When cooking vegetables, always remember to start anything that grows under the ground in cold water (for you city slickers like me, that includes things like potatoes, carrots and beets) and start anything that grows above the ground in boiling water (peas, beans and greens).
- Add 1/2 tsp. of bacon grease or other grease to the water when you boil your sweet potatoes. It will help prevent that hard to remove substance that sticks to the side of the pan. This works when cooking other root vegetables, too. Those are the ones grown under ground. ;-)
- When baking potatoes I like to microwave them for just a couple of minutes. Then I rub butter on them, salt them, wrap them in foil and toss them into the oven.
Creole Green Beans
- Add a tablespoon of cooked onions and a couple of tablespoons of chili sauce to your regular can of green beans for a different twist.
New ways to make peas
- Add a sprinkle of nutmeg and some onions to a can of peas.
- Or crumble up some bacon to put in them along with chopped mushrooms and onion.
Spice up that corn!
- Lightly saute finely chopped green and red bell peppers in butter or margarine and add them to fresh, frozen or canned corn. This is a tasty way to add a fresh flavor to your corn and is also visually appealing. You may want to saute some chopped onions and add them as well, but don’t over-do it with the onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- When cooking vegetables, always remember to start anything that grows under the ground in cold water (for you city slickers like me, that includes things like potatoes, carrots and beets) and start anything that grows above the ground in boiling water (peas, beans and greens).
- When cooking cabbage, add a couple of lids of vinegar to the water to help it retain its color.
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vegetables grown under the ground should be cooked with the lid on.
vegetables grown above the ground should be cooked with the lid off.
that was the one thing my two grandmothers agreed on. One was a city girl the other grew up on the farm.
if you peel the broccoli stems you can use them in salads instead of or combined with celery. Nice crunch and it gets people to eat the great vegetables everyone loves to hate. I use them along with carrots cucumbers carrots in relish plates with dips. Scallions or spring onions are also good for dips.
Left over roasted vegetables make a good sandwich stuffer when using pita pockets, or hoagie buns.
Can you explain why you start certain vegetables in hot water? I want to understand.
I start my corn in cold water and it turns out fine! I guess I start everything in cold water… Most of my vegetables, when steaming them, I start with cold water, put the lid on when it comes to a boil, then turn off the heat and check often to avoid army green broccoli. I’m still trying to train my boys to keep track of the broccoli. I like to steam them to bright green. That’s just right.
Potatoes and yams I steam in the pressure cooker or bake with my meat in the oven. I bake 10 potatoes for dinner. So the microwave doesn’t make sense for us.
One of the main reasons they say to start root veggies in cold water is the fact they are so thick and dense. If you start them in very hot water the outside starts cooking faster and is done sooner then the inside are and starting in cold prevents this where things like beans are thin and small and cook all the way through quickly.
I personally start most things in cold water just out of habit and it seems to work fine. I don’t have to think as much either. : )