Time pressures are no excuse to skip veggies
by Valerie Dimond

Do you avoid preparing fresh veggies at home because you’re “too busy” to cook them?

“We have this illusion that we don’t have enough time to make vegetables,” said Holly Anne Shelowitz, a nutrition counselor and whole foods chef in Ulster County. “And the irony in that, of course, is that it takes about five minutes to steam some vegetables.”

Wappingers Falls resident Keith Huttemeyer agrees.

“I eat vegetables every day,” said the 27-year old. “Asparagus, carrots — I just steam them basically.”

For convenience, Huttemeyer said he also buys a lot of frozen varieties — about “$35 worth every week” for him and his mom.

“You can get all the frozen vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower that are already cut up,” said Huttemeyer, a manager at a local Taco Bell.

Maryanne Kesting, a registered dietician at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, said frozen vegetables are still nutrient rich. However, choose vegetables packaged without added sauces and sodium.

As for canned vegetables, Shelowitz said to stay away from them if you can.

“If it’s the last thing on the earth, you should eat it — but there’s very little nutritional value left in those,” she said. Instead, “Experiment with the different kinds of squash you’ve never had before. Throw some fresh vegetables in a pot with some lentils and go for a walk and it’s done.”

Kesting said if you do choose to eat canned vegetables, look for those packed in water without added salt and rinse them off in a colander before cooking.

Whatever produce you do choose, it’s important to make the time to eat properly.

“People’s lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to a lot of preparation and planning but it might be worth it to take a couple hours on a weekend and try a couple new recipes and build them in (to your regular diet),” she said.

So, grab a cookbook and explore the possibilities. Here are a couple quick, easy winter recipes from Shelowitz’s cookbook, “Nourishing Ourselves Through the Seasons”.

Sautéed Mixed Greens with Garlic And Red Peppers
1 bunch kale or collard greens; washed and cut into bite-sized pieces.
4-5 cloves garlic chopped and 1 onion cut into half moons.
1 red pepper, seeds removed, cut in strips.
1 tablespoons olive oil.
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari.
1/4 cup water.
1. Sauté garlic/onion/red pepper w/ olive oil until fragrant.
2. Add greens and tamari, stir to mix, then cover 5 minutes.
3. Add water, cover and cook 5-10 minutes until soft.

Squash Chestnut Soup ~ Serves 6
The dried chestnuts add a rich smokey flavor to the squash, making it a perfect cool weather soup.

Cook’s notes: Dried chestnuts are out of the shell, and either sold in a package, or in a jar. The chestnuts in a jar are already soft, so you can skip step 1, and jump to step 2, combining the chestnuts and the squash in your soup pot.

You can find dried chestnuts at Adams Fairacre Farms and at Gallo’s in Woodstock.

1 1/2 cup dried chestnuts.
1 large butternut squash, halved, seeds removed and cut into chunks.
1 onion cut in chunks.
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
Crème freche and fresh-grated nutmeg for garnish.

1. Place dried chestnuts in your soup pot with water to cover and boil 25 minutes. *See cook’s notes.
2. Add squash and onion to the chestnuts, adding water to cover.
3. Bring back to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the chestnuts and squash are very soft, about 30 minutes.
4. Puree with hand blender, garnish each bowl with crème freche and grated nutmeg.

Recipes by Holly Anne Shelowitz, www.nourishingwisdom.com