How to make plain, steamed vegetables more exciting

Eating vegetables are amazing way to stay healthy, lose weight, supply our body with powerful nutrients. In order to avoid too much toxin-intake, it's important to get organic and fresh vegetables as much as possible. Also, to keep in mind a few preparation tips so we can gain the most out of these delicious plant foods. Raw vegetables are living foods that our body can use to cleanse, and nourish the cells. Yet, other preparation choices like steaming, stir-frying, baking and quick boiling are ways to make vegetable dishes nutritious and healthy. Steaming takes 5-10 minutes of cooking green leafy vegetables, 10-20 minutes for root vegetables. It's allowing you to experience their simple flavors in a pure form. The following hints can be applied to all steamed vegetables.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• steaming basket
• pot
• about 2 inches of water
• lid

1. Add 2 bay leaves or 1 teaspoon cumin seeds to the cooking water.

2. Sprinkle cooked greens with toasted pumpkin, sesame, flax or sunflower seeds. Or sprinkle with almonds, walnuts or dried shredded coconut.

3. Sprinkle greens with fresh herbs: mint, dill, basil, parsley, cilantro, scallion.

4. After cooking, add 1 tablespoon olive oil or toasted sesame oil to every 2 cups of greens.

5. Squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice over steamed vegetables.

6. Use tamari soy sauce or umeboshi vinegar to add extra flavor to cooked veggies.

7. After steaming, quickly stir-fry with a pinch of sea salt, olive oil and garlic.

Tips & Warnings

• When you steam root vegetables, keep your eye on them so they don't over-cook. Insert a fork in one to see how soft they are. When the fork goes in too easily, they are over-done.
• For leafy greens, few minutes is enough depending on the thickness of the leaves. Spinach, chard, for example, cook faster, while collard and kale take longer time to steam.