Yummy Vegetable Tray Ideas

By Andrada Plaiderai 

Not once did I hear that vegetables are destined to accompany the meat, the eggs or at least the cheese on your plate. Many ask themselves with disarming sincerity: How can I have a meal without meat? Is that a real meal? Well, vegetable servings can substitute meat, eggs and dairy with great success and will also provide the necessary nutrients for your well-being.

But what about the taste, you may ask. It is very important to have your meal taste really good, so you will feel happy and satisfied with your choice. Let's see how to accomplish this goal.

1. Choose the vegetables with care, so you will have fresh and pleasant smelling products to work with. When you buy any fresh veggies from the market smell and feel them, look closely to their color and avoid anything that seems lifeless or treated with preservatives to endure more. Remember that you will cut it anyway, so you don't need the pepper to look huge, perfect and shiny. The smell will tell you more about the taste of any vegetable. It has to be fresh and strong.

2. Combine different textures. Your taste buds react better if you give them different sizes and textures to work with. Cut some in small slices or bigger chunks, grate or blend others, it really does not matter how you decide to prepare them, if they are mixing tastes and textures to your liking. An example that works for me is to cut small slices of onion, bigger ones of red pepper, grate the carrots and cabbages, chop some garlic and mushrooms and blend some hot pepper with different spices and olive oil. I love to mix all these and spread them on a plate with sliced leaves of lettuce.

3. Always remember the sprouts. In order to really top any meat plate use sprouts to enrich your vegetable serving. These tiny plants are so concentrated in nutrients and flavor that will just blow your mind. Think of them as little bombs of vitamin and micro nutrients that will explode in your mouth and take the vegetable meal to another level altogether. The secret with sprouts is to use more of the mild tasting ones like lettuce, sunflower, broccoli and less of the spicy ones like oregano, onion, leek, mustard and others.

A very important thing to remember with vegetable trays is that you need to eat them fresh. Unlike cooked food, if you let them stay more than a few hours they will lose their taste, nutrients and may even become toxic for you.

Leek and Family - 6 Choices for Health and Flavor

By Sara Lucero Also known as: Ramp or Wild Leek, Poor Man's Asparagus

Likes: Sandy earth, the fridge crisper

Dislikes: His relative anonymity in the United States

Hobbies: Sautéing, roasting and grilling with a little olive oil

Find him: Simmering in soups, flavoring frittatas, adding subtle onion flavor to fish and chicken

Sure, you may have heard of him in passing, his name whispered at the farmer's market or dropped here and there on restaurant menus, but do you really know Leek? He's more subtle and less commonly used than some of his allium cousins to whom he'll introduce; but he has a delicate flavor and rich history that will have you reconsidering his long and leafy greens next time you're shopping at the market or dining out.

Leek, with his delicate flavor, ready abundance and health benefits, has been enjoyed for thousands of years in Europe and has been immortalized as the national emblem of Wales. This humble garden celebrity was even penned into Shakespeare's play, Henry V, in a reference to his prominent Welsh status. No autographs, please.

Leek is a good choice this time of year to help boost immunity with a little vitamin C. He is also a great pick during pregnancy for some added folic acid. On top of that, he has a dose of fiber for a healthy heart and weight. In fact, if you're trying to lose weight, Leek is a natural choice to add flavor and fiber to your meals without a lot of added calories. Leek isn't alone in all these benefits, though. If you're looking for a similar flavor with nutrition in mind, you can also include Leek's many cousins in your diet for their distinctive flavor and health benefits:

Onion - He's the powerful, pungent workhorse of the family, and though he has a tendency to make you cry, his real passion is flavoring your everyday foods while he keeps you healthy. Studies have linked him to everything from reducing the risk of cancer to improving heart health. No wonder he's one of the oldest cultivated plants!

Scallion - If you like just a dash of Onion-like flavor, he's your guy. He has all the same benefits of his cousins, including helping reduce inflammation, and he's a quick and easy addition to any dish with fewer tears.

Shallot - She is the smaller, more delicate and subtle cousin to Onion. Shallot's nutrition is a nice bonus to her flavor in salads, sauces, dips and more.

Garlic - He has a powerful flavor all his own and can help improve blood flow, heart health, and cholesterol levels when you add him to your daily diet.

Chive - She is the herb of the family, small and delicate and often used as just a simple and flavorful garnish. While she does have the same health benefits as her cousins, Chive is more concerned with flavor and presentation.