Veggie Hater/Island Lover

I am a former picky eater.  And I don't know that I am totally recovered.  If it looks weird (i.e., green, orange, etc.), has an off smell, or is something I have never eaten before...my inner 3-year old goes "ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."  I know, it's horrible.  Well with my running, I have been reading a lot of Runner's World and other running articles and apparently runners are supposed to eat healthy.  I know, right?!  Annoying.

So I have been branching out.  Over the past year, I have added celery, asparagus, carrots, green peppers, red peppers, broccoli, and green beans to my regular eating.  I would on occasion eat this BEFORE.  But like 3 bites, and I would have been done and moving on to the cheese.  I try to eat my 3-4 servings of veggies a day.  Sometimes I don't like it.  Sometimes I choke it down.  Sometimes I repeat to myself "I'm doing something good for my body" like the entire time I am chewing.  Especially for carrots.  I hate carrots.  But every now and then I eat it and it's delicious!  And I sing to myself "This is good for my body!  This is good for my body!"

Being a busy and lazy person, I know if the veggies aren't readily accessible I will totally reach for a cookie because it's fast.  So each weekend I do my bargain shopping where I find the cheapest veggies in the local ads (I check out about 4 of them) and go to Walmart and do their price-match guarantee.  Then I prep!  It only takes about 45 minutes to prep all these veggies and they last all week (sometimes longer if I do, by mistake, reach for a cookie)! 

Veggies ready to prep.  Asparagus, carrots, green beans, red & green peppers, broccoli 

Step 1:  Wash all the veggies.  While this is happening boil water in 2 pots.  (About 1 inch of water in each pot.)
Step 2:  Begin to steam/boil carrots on medium heat.  (I HATE carrots and this is the only way I can eat them!)  I steam the carrots for 35 minutes so they are nice and mushy!
Step 3: Cut the broccoli and begin to steam.  I steam the broccoli for 20 minutes.  

Step 4:  While the broccoli and carrots are on the stove steaming, cut the asparagus woody (the white part) end off.
Step 5:  After putting asparagus on cookie sheet (put parchment paper on it for easy clean-up!), drizzle a little olive oil, and sprinkle salt and pepper.  This time I added Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb---yum!

(Step 5)

Step 6:  Bake asparagus at 350 for 12 minutes.  While this is happening, chop the ends off the green beans.  (This is also typically where I throw in a load of laundry!)  You might also have time to cut the peppers.  I seriously had to look up a video on you-tube for how to cut a pepper!  I cut mine in strips.

Step 7:  Take asparagus out of the oven.  Preheat oven to 425.  **At this point, the broccoli is done so turn the heat off of that.**  Put the asparagus in a container and use the same baking sheet and parchment paper (reduce/reuse/recycle) for the green beans.  Drizzle olive oil, Mrs. Dash, pepper, and salt on the green beans.  Put in oven at 425.  Bake for 10 minutes, then shake the pan and bake for another 5 minutes.

(Step 7)--While these are baking, you can finish up cutting the peppers, begin putting veggies into containers to refrigerate for the week, or cleaning the kitchen.  

Veggies are done!  Ready to reheat for lunches and dinners for the week!

j

The goal is that I would reach for these veggies BEFORE something else.
I might need to wash it down with a Corona too though.  :)  

On a completely unrelated note, I got a kitchen island from IKEA and did a bit of a flip on it!!  Here is what it looked like in the store.

Bekvam Kitchen Cart $59.99 at IKEA

Here is MINE!  My dad stained it with a dark wood and added a towel rod (also from Ikea).  

My dad put the dark wood stain on before even putting it together.  He also added the towel rod.  He then put a clear polyurethane coating on it to protect it from spills.  (Like when your friend spills Corona on it....)

The kitchen with the rockin' island!  

So pretty much it's been super exciting here for me!  I am eating my veggies and enjoying my new island.  :)  I am also a little injured from running so I have been trying to take it easy.  It's REALLY hard to not run, but I know that my knee needs to heal or it will just keep getting worse.  It needs to feel better STAT because I have got a half marathon in like 10 weeks!!

Let me know what you think of my IKEA flip and my veggie prep!  I'd love ideas to streamline it more!