Eat your veggies

Despite the fact that I grew up with a mother who was dedicated to serving us wholesome food, I still am not a huge fan of vegetables. Well, I can be, but they're not high on my list of things I daydream about. I'd much rather read a dessert cookbook than one about veggies. I will admit that I often eat vegetables more out of a sense of obligation to nutrition than for pure love of their taste. Lately we've been trying to increase our veggie intake, and one of the things that's helped is signing up for a company that delivers a bin of assorted organic produce to our home every other week (you can do it weekly, but we don't have that much money for food). Not only is the food fresh, but we get a variety of things that I wouldn't ordinarily buy in the store. Just this last week we've enjoyed kale, fingerling potatoes, spring salad greens, beets, cauliflower, and asparagus--plus I still have two artichokes waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. I've never cooked artichokes before. I was also inspired by this article to feel a little better about the fact that many of my veggie dishes involve olive oil or butter. Mostly olive oil, though. Apparently it's good to add some taste and often the oil will help you want to eat them. Or, in the case of Little Dude and beets, it will at least provide some lubricant for finger painting on your tray: