After years (decades really) of teaching people how to cook, I know for sure that most times when people say they don’t like vegetables, it’s because all they know is the over steamed wimpy kind that has had all the flavor sucked out of them. Or maybe they’ve never tasted vegetables picked at the height of freshness from the garden and simply prepared. So I’ve put together a series of recipes, that will fool the veggie hater into loving them. And then maybe, just maybe they’ll be willing to eat them undisguised in all they’re natural splendor…someday.

This first recipe is for quesadillas from What Jessica Baked Next and I choose it because the veggies are cut small and roasted bringing out their amazing flavor…and then served up in a quesadilla with lots of Mexican cheese. Who wouldn’t love this.

Another way to serve veggies that almost everyone loves is tempura! A good tempura batter will result in crispy coated vegetables that are so fun to dip in soy sauce. Food & Wine does a great job of breaking down how to cook a variety of vegetables in these super crispy tempura recipes.

I grew up with my mother showing me how to make zucchini fritters and since then I’ve made them and all kinds of veggie ones many many times. I’m currently working on a a recipe for  brussel sprout and carrot fritters (which my mother would laugh at me for since zucchini was the only ones she would make) which came out delicious, but in the meantime, I found this delightful recipe for zucchini and carrot fritters from Just a Taste.

And then of course there’s veggie chips. Recipes and cooking times and oven settings will vary, usually between a slow roast of 200 degrees F and 300…but much depends on the vegetables themselves; the sugar and water content. So I found this tutorial From Delicious Obsessions very helpful. And here’s the recipe for my seasoned sweet potato chips I made just the other day.

And finally, this series would be complete without a recipe for frittatas, which are abundant by so many food bloggers, including me. I’m a master at making frittatas, having featured them on my restaurant menu for 10 years as well as demoed them for a variety of private and public clients and you’ll find a number of them on my site. Just add frittata in the search bar and they’ll come up. But for this series, I wanted to feature something more fun…mini frittatas made in muffin tins. 

I hope you’ll enjoy this top 5 series and go onto add more of your favorites to the collection. And now, I’ll leave you with this to chew on.