Jicama is a new vegetable to me . . .

[LJ]

I plan to start posting/reading this forum as I leave Induction. :wave

I mentioned on the Induction forum that I generally hate vegetables, except for the ones not allowed such as corn, peas, carrots, and potatoes. Because of that, I planned to skip rung 1 when I begin OWL on Tuesday.

Some of the posters suggested that I try some new vegetables. Ok, I'm taking their advice. Today I bought jicama and found it to be very potato-like in texture, yet sweet in taste. I looked up it's nutritional content and find it has 11 carbs, 4grams of fiber, and 3 sugars in 1 cup of raw jicama. It does seem rather starchy to me.

I liked the taste. :yikes So far so good with the new veggies. Any other rare finds that I might like when I start my OWL rung 1 on Tuesday?

[Elleth Faewen]

I was a veggie hater too. I found that eating a salad composed of, well, just romaine lettuce or raw spinach worked for me too. The reason it works is because I cover it in blue cheese dressing. It was a little hard to get down at first, but now I eat it without a problem. I also eat onions and carrots, so I add those sometimes too. And having a meat on top helps too. Chicken or steak is great. A ceasar salad with grilled chicken and creamy ceasar dressing.

Another one I found after trying many was snow peas. Steamed, the covered in butter. They are fantastic!

Jicamas are great. You can cook them like french fries and put some seasoned salt on them. Yummy!

The best advice I can give you is to try different veggies. Your taste buds change on this diet, so see what you like and what you don't now.

I'm sure there'll be someone along shortly with more veggies for you to try.

[Roserae]

Have you tried pumpkin? It is a lot like sweet potatoes in my opinion.

Jicama is excellent on the grill for just a minute or so, rub or spray with olive oil, grill, then squeeze some lime and sprinkle with salt.

Do you like fried Okra? Hmmmm, now I can't remember how I made fried okra Atkins-friendly. Not2late, knows...maybe she'll read and reply..if not for you, then for me. ensive

[love2beeamom]

As far as okra goes, I make fried okra all the time. I just cut it up (or buy it frozen already cut) and fry it until crispy... You do have to fry it quite awhile to get it crunchy without the breading though..

What about raw veggies with alot of dip.. or I learned to like broccoli and cauliflower stir fry with a little soy sauce.. Or chopped up celery in my chicken salad.. I too was never a veggie eater, but have learned to like several veggies but mixing them with other things.

[Roserae]

As far as okra goes, I make fried okra all the time. I just cut it up (or buy it frozen already cut) and fry it until crispy... You do have to fry it quite awhile to get it crunchy without the breading though..

That's right...seems I just tossed it in a little egg first, then fried. It was good. Thanks for the memory jog!

[not2late]

Try a new veggie out every week or two. You don't have to buy an entire pound of the stuff, just enough for one or two servings.

You surprized yourself with jicama, you might find other vegetables to your liking as well.

[shadewolf]

i finally found some jicama to try! i had to goto 4 different stores before i found it. i'm going to cook some up with supper tonight who was it that used slices of jicama like sandwhich bread?

[KimberBoh]

Shadewolf,

I saw Emeril do it on the Food Network. He sliced the jicama thin and used it like bread. I've never tried it but it sounds good. But I do LOVE jicama.

[Heidi3]

when I find a nice giant jicama I will slice it very thin and use it for roll up sandwiches...or tacos ...it is really good as a tortilla veggie...also I like to take the small round ones and slice them like crackers for dips and spreads...they are great alone the classic way with fresh lime juice and chile salt!! YUM....pico de gallo!!!....I use a LOT of jicama ...but then I use a lot of veggies..your taste will change I believe as you start finding ways to make them into things you like!....I know I am eating cauliflower now that Nullo taught me to roast it that is the best stuff....

[Barbde]

MMMM that roasted cauliflower is the BOMB baby!!!

[Barbde]

MMMM that roasted cauliflower is the BOMB baby!!!

[sadie147]

As a former veggie hater I can tell you if you keep trying different recipes that include ingredients you like along with the veggie, your taste will change! I still am a 'mild' veggie eater, i prefer veggies that are very mild tasting. cauliflower is great if you smash it up till it's rice like, and then add it to stirfys, it picksup the flavour f what you cook it with! I also agree it's aweome roasted, i sprinkle cheese over it.

Zuchhini is a great veggie for stirfys too, I cut it up in fairly large pieces, it's fairly tasteless. And i've recently discvered cabbage, which i chop up and boil for a few mins just to soften, then fry in a pan with some cooked ground beef and diced veggies. have it with a bit of sour cream and it's just like cabbage rolls!

I miss Jicama, :sadblinky i could only find it at one store here now it's gone..i'm wondering if it's out of season maybe?

[Elizellen]

Another often forgotten one-cup alternative is rhubarb!

Makes a lovely dessert cooked with a little splenda or you could use it as a spread on some flax toast.

[tickletussler]

What is jicama? Is it known by a different name outside the US?

I still haven't worked out what collard and kale are, and it took me ages to work out arugula is also known as rocket in the UK and Australia!

[Elizellen]

It is also called Yam Bean apparently.
A tip to help you discove what the different unknown to you veggies are is to use www.google.com and click on the word 'images' above the search box then search for an image of whatever veggie you are curious about
Here is the results from an images search for Kale http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=kale&hl=en
Collard http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl...&q=collard
and Jicama http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl...=&q=jicama