Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth – with Vegetables!
Okay, you can stop laughing now. But I discovered an amazing way to overcome cravings for sugars and empty carbs by experimenting with new ways to cook and prepare vegetables. Ha!
Imagine your picky family salivating over Brussels sprouts, spinach or parsnips! Here’s a guide to serving super-healthy local produce that will fill their plates (and bellies) and stifle their cravings for junk foods and pre-packaged meals.
Almost “Candied” – Caramelization
You already know what caramel is – melted sugar. I’ve been cooking for a long time and have sampled cuisines from all corners of the earth, yet caramelization (spelled caramelisation in England) is the one simple cooking technique that gets little mention or attention.
Because many vegetables have a high sugar content, this method is the perfect way to bring out that sweet taste we crave.
An easy process
High-water vegetables like celery and lettuce don’t caramelize well, but dense high-sugar root vegetables and onions do.
You can find a multitude of recipes or instructional videos online about caramelizing vegetable. There are even crock-pot versions of the recipes.
Thanksgiving every week
Cook up a batch of many vegetables every week – and serve them as side-dishes, in soups and in casseroles or freeze for future meals.
Here’s a sampler:
Carrots: Next to beets, carrots are highest in natural sugar content.
Cauliflower: the milder alternative to broccoli, it’s great raw, roasted, mashed with potatoes (“caulipots”) or steamed and sprinkled with paprika.
Corn: think “butter-and-sugar” sweet corn in the summer. But you can steam-and-freeze whole ears for winter meals. ...read the entire article in the May edition of the South Coast Insider at http://issuu.com/coastalmags/docs/sci_may12
