Eat your veggies!

This is something I never heard while growing up! The reason is very simple: there was never a discussion in our families about what to eat. The main meal was lunch (around 3 or 3:30 pm when all the family members would be home from school or work). And lunch was mainly a serving of protein, a serving of carbohydrates (rice, pasta and/or bread) and one or more servings of vegetables. Until now if I ask my mother what she wants to eat, her answer is invariably another question: what vegetables do we have?
And vegetables were prepared in a way that nobody would hate, you might not like one kind of vegetables, but not all of them. And my parents never tried to force us to eat the veggies. My mother would ask us to try them once, my father would give us a nudge to try them again, just to make sure, but if you don't like it, that was it.. you would be free to eat the other components of the meal, with some sauce of the veggies over your rice. So we all grew up eating vegetables, with some exceptions: I didn't eat zucchini, my oldest brother also didn't like zucchini and peas, my sister didn't eat okra, and my other brother ate everything.
Since I came to the States, I noticed that there is a whole industry based on how to hide the vegetables in the food of our children, which in my humble opinion is a very bad trend, since a child that is brought up this way will always think that he can go on living without eating vegetables. A child must learn to recognize the vegetables and learn to appreciate them and taste them. If he doesn't like one of them, so be it, there is no harm in that, he will have plenty of other vegetables to eat and like.
We should stop listening to ads claiming that vegetables taste "vegetably", meaning bad, so we have to eat something else, or maybe vegetables hidden under another food.
Also it was so funny when some years ago it was announced that according to a study cooked tomato sauce was very good for us, and the newswoman announcing that concluded that after all pizza was a healthy food and that we should eat more of it because it had a spoonful of tomato sauce!
When I watch how we prepare our vegetables I noticed two trends: 1- we either kill them by boiling them to death, or even for a few minutes to keep them al dente, but still they lose a lot of their vitamins and nutrients in the boiling water; 2- or we kill them again by covering them with cheese, of course to hide the vegetably taste !!
Also grilled or roasted vegetables can be a grown up taste or an acquired taste, that a child may not appreciate as we grownups do.
So what are we to do?
That's easy: I'll try to give here the recipes I grew up with, with a twist. Those are my grandmother recipes, but in a lighter version. As all grandmothers did, she used to cook with lots of butter, I don't.
So lets cook.
GREEN BEANS IN TOMATO SAUCE

This is the basic recipe for vegetables. You can prepare it as a vegetarian dish, or add meat to it. Just a reminder: all ingredients and quantities can be changed according to your taste. Personally I consider onions and garlic as condiments that help bring out the flavor of the food you are preparing, so I don't like to see chunks of onions or big pieces of garlic in my vegetables. This is why when I say "finely chopped" I mean almost liquefied.
- 1/2 lb beef cut in small cubes (optional)
- 1 and 1/2 lb french cut frozen green beans (1 and a half bag)
- 1/2 small onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce
- 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil ( enough to wet the onions)
- salt and pepper to taste

If you are using the meat, mix it with the onions, garlic, salt and pepper and let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the pot you are using to cook the meal. Add the oil and brown the meat over medium high heat. When the beef cubes are browned on all sides, add the tomato sauce, some water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer covered half way through til almost done. You may need to add more liquid if the meat is still tough. Add the frozen beans, bring again to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until the beans are done and the beef fork tender.
This is a good recipe to use a cheap cut of beef, since it will be cooked in sauce until it is very tender, and it will benefit from the taste of the vegetables.
If you prefer to go vegetarian, omit the meat, wet the onion and garlic with the tsp of oil, add salt and pepper, cook until translucent, then add the sauce, stir and add the beans.
TIP 1:
I always buy onions and garlic in bulk. When I have the time, I work them in the food processor until almost liquefied, put the mixture in small resealable bags, or sandwich bags, and freeze them. Make sure that the bags are not overstuffed, so when you need to use the mixture you can easily break the piece you need while still frozen.
TIP 2:
Frozen vegetables are easy to use and are a healthy alternative to fresh vegetables, especially when not in season.

PEAS AND CARROTS IN TOMATO SAUCE

Same as the above. Substitute the green beans with 1 bag (1lb) peas and 1/2 bag peas and carrots.