Vivacious Variety: Vegetables and More Vegetables

Here is a delicious and substantial salad you can have as a side dish to supplement meals, or as a snack when those late night munchies hit. Vegetables balance meals to the alkaline side and contribute vitamins, minerals, fiber. You will find you can use this basic recipe with all sorts of variations.

1 large or 2 small zucchini
1 red bell pepper
4 medium or 2 large kale leaves
1 green onion
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
juice of 1/2 lime
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Chop the vegetables in to large pieces (Chopping for a food processor should take only a moment - you just want to get the pieces to a manageable size. For example, cut the zucchini into 4 pieces, the bell pepper into 4-6 pieces.)
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse about 10 times - or until the veggies are of a uniform size.  I prefer chunky chunks, though some folks like closer to salsa sized bits.

Variation suggestions: Use snap peas, snow peas, green beans, celery, save your broccoli stems - peel them and add to the melange. Add parsley, watercress, or cilantro. Use fresh herbs: thyme, basil, dill or oregano.

Having a simple basic recipe that you can change up to keep variety in your meals helps stay healthy and stimulated.

Veggie Love

We all hear that we must eat more vegetables, but most of us find them a boring prospect. For a long time now I have also heard that it is not good to eat heated oil. I ignored this possibility, blissfully enjoying my sauteed greens. I have cooked for years with oil, but am now finding ways to avoid doing so. I found a way to cook yummy veggies without heating oil (I was never big on plain old steamed veggies):

You can use a steamer, but I prefer the following method:

I use a large (12 inch is good) cast iron skillet. These are perfect for some kinds of high heat cooking, quick cooking, and beginner cooks, because they are very durable in high heat. (thorough info about cast iron pans I found a random lid that fit well.
For kale, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, sweet peas 1/4 onion sliced very thin adds a nice flavor.
For consistent results, I have found that it is best not to overfill the pan.

I get the empty pan good and hot, but not too hot where it starts smoking. Then I transfer all veg quickly into the hot pan. It appears to me that the pan cools a little from the addition of the veggies. After pouring a mere 2 tbsp water over the vegetables I quickly close the lid. The idea is to steam the veggies quickly. The pan needs to be hot enough that a small amount of water should turn to steam.

After about 1 minute, I open the pan, stir and add another tbsp water, close again and wait one more minute.

At this point the veggies are still bright green, but cooked enough to eat, and I transfer them to a large bowl, toss with olive oil and a good quality salt a little ground pepper, and serve.

I made up this method in my insular little kitchen world — would love to hear feedback from readers.