My Husband and Veggies

I love vegetables. I grew up eating family dinners that would often consist of a lean protein, a green salad, a steamed vegetable and a fruit. We ate a lot of produce. I actually prefer most of my veggies to be raw or steamed, maybe getting a light seasoning from a little salt and pepper. I truly enjoy the flavor of vegetables (especially broccoli!).

My husband hates vegetables. He grew up in a household where they ate meat and rolls and uh… maybe sometimes a can of corn. Over time he has decided that he likes sweet potatoes, but that’s about as far as he is willing to cheerfully go in terms of vegetable consumption. (And french fries but I will not indulge his attempts at calling those a vegetable.) He’ll eat vegetables because he recognizes their nutritional importance, but at home he makes a big production of how awful he feels they are.

While I like sweet potatoes, I don’t think that we should eat them all the time to fill our vegetable needs. So I’ve decided that I would work through several different vegetable recipes and run them by the husband. Some of them may end up smothered in cheese, which might freak me out a little. Some will hopefully be dressed with healthier herbs and oils. But we’re going to try finding side dishes that can pass my husband’s stringent taste requirements to add to our cooking arsenal.