Delicious Veggies!

So I was raised on makeshift southern cooking.  It was delicious but not the healthiest of food.  It seems as though I took most of my cooking cues from my mom, and bacon or butter is usually a part of dinner.  When it comes to vegetables, again, it had either butter or bacon.  Seriously, you had to have one or the other at the least.  I still do it to this day because, heck, it makes veggies delicious! But after having Hunter, I have to learn to cook a bit better till I lose some of this baby weight.  So here are a few things I've done...


~Frozen veggies:
The biggest thing is using frozen veggies.  Some people think that you lose nutrients in frozen and canned goods, but frozen may actually be better than fresh.  Veggies are frozen soon after being picked and the nutrients get locked in whereas the grocery store fresh produce sits out losing nutrients till they are consumed.  They may actually lose more than what is lost in the cooking process of frozen.


~Replace butter and bacon with some form of liquid and garlic/onion:
I've been trying low sodium soy sauce or balsamic vinegar.  Balsamic vinegar is a bit hard for me to stomach, but if I use just a bit, the cooking takes away some of that twang.  I also throw in some minced garlic or onion with either one.  With both of these, I've found no need for salt or pepper.


Soy Sauce is great with green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, and cauliflower.
Balsamic is great with carrots, corn, broccoli, and cauliflower.
You can probably interchange all of this, but this has been what I've worked with.


If you are concerned about the price of frozen, I've found that the store brand is on sale often and comparable to canned.


Squash, Zucchini, Carrots
Used fresh or frozen (if fresh, cut into spears)
No liquid!  Just toss with cooking spray and salt and pepper or favorite seasoning, blacken in a skillet and you have a crispy delicious veggie!  (Tony Chacharies (sp?) is great for this!)


Spinach
Yeah, I've got nothing here.  If it's fresh, I like it loaded with italian dressing and parmesean cheese, and if its cooked, i like it with garlic and bacon.  Or creamed with cream cheese and ranch, so I'm just kind of screwed there.