Eating My Vegetables

I am not the best person to be talking about eating vegetables.  I was never fond of them, with several exceptions, and I probably never will be, either.

Oh, I have my favorites.  Corn, broccoli, corn, red beets, and corn.

Just don't even come near me with lima beans.  Putting one of those monsters into my mouth sets off a gagging event that is just nasty at the dinner table.  As a child, I'd pass my limas one by one from my plate under the table to my brother Bruce.  He seemed to like them and I thought I was getting away with something.

So when I think about those nutritionists and their recommendations as to how many servings of vegetables I should be eating each day, I end up with the conclusion that they must simply be mad.  Crazy.  Loonies.

If I ate all the vegetables in one day that they say I should eat in one day, why that'd be about the size of the pile up there in the header picture.  That's definitely not gonna happen for this gal.

However, I do try.

For example, I know I'm never gonna just gulp down zucchini.  Maaaaaaaybe I could eat some plain zucchini pieces if I had a good dip to slather them in.  But that tastes good and then it's not healthy.

So, I'm on a constant hunt for recipes that help me to eat more vegetables; recipes that are mostly healthy.

Last night I tried a recipe I had found for oven baked zucchini.  I modified it a bit and came up with a tasty way to eat green and yellow zucchini.  This recipe takes a little bit of work, but I knew it was a keeper when I found myself telling myself NOT to keep eating any more.

Baked Zucchini Medallions

In a small bowl, combine the following:

1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
bit of freshly ground black pepper

In another small bowl, put 1/2 cup milk.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and cover a baking sheet with foil.  Spray it with Pam.

Slice up one or two zucchinis into 1/4 inch pieces, dip them in milk, then cover them, both sides, in the crumb mix.

Place in single layer on the baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes until nicely browned and crisp.

I could've eaten the whole plate of these tasty little morsels.  I had used both a green and a yellow zucchini, and both were delicious.  If I ate the whole plateful, would that count as my 27 daily servings?

I can even imagine this recipe extending (with modifications) to the use of those later-in-the-summer-five-inch-in-diameter whopper zucchinis that your gardening neighbors always seem to have in excess. I'd slice them, coat them as above, then top them with some pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.  Zucchini pizzas.  Would we call them Zucc-izzas?  Note to self:  remember this idea.

Oh yeah.  Eatin' my vegetables.