…Or, I’m too lazy to cook the vegetables, but doesn’t that sound sophisticated?!
I first saw the word “crudite platter ” while playing Catch Phrase with friends. None of us, of course, had heard the word before, so we looked it up at dictionary.com. It’s been a favorite word of mine ever since!
What is a crudite platter, you ask? That’s what you serve with dinner when you don’t want to use a microwave, don’t have or don’t feel like using a steamer basket, and still want to have a side of vegetables with dinner. A crudite platter is a plate of raw vegetables with a side to dip into. More choices are fancier, but this went over just fine too:
Ready for dipping in ranch!
And here’s what I served as an appetizer at my son’s birthday party this weekend:
What a beautiful array of colors to tempt our palates! Yes, you can eat green beans raw. If they're fresh, they're crisp and delicious.
My Microwave Story, Part Four
When I was working on avoiding the microwave this winter, I ran into some problems steaming veggies. Sometimes I just forgot until it was too late (I used to do this with the microwave, too, and would just serve the veggie partway through the meal). Sometimes I just didn’t want to get out the pot (my steamer basket only fits in two of my biggest pots, kind of a pain at times). Sometimes both pots were in use for the meal already! (To read more about my microwave story and accept a challenge to analyze your own microwave use, click here.)
Realizing the Power of Raw
Since I was reading so much about nutrition, another great concept I came across was that raw foods are very healthy for us. We as Americans probably should be eating more raw foods. I’m not about to serve (or even sample, most likely) liver pate anytime soon, but I realized raw veggies might just be the answer to my steamer problem. Our family likes them with a little something to dip into, so I allowed myself this “concession”.
Yes, I felt like I was copping out a little. Isn’t dinner supposed to be a HOT meal? It was a great success for me to let that idea go and realize that we liked eating raw veggies, especially if I had a particularly yummy dip for them. My guys are perfectly happy with storebought ranch, but I also found some delicious creamy garlic dips out on the Internet, here and my ranch here.
So I invite you to let go of your perfectionism and skip cooking your veggies tonight for dinner.
Wait – I mean – impress your family by breaking out the “crudite platter” tonight with flair and gusto! It works for me to get real food on our dinner plates!
Whatever your philosophy might be…get more vegetables into your diet any way you can!
Minor Endnote About Raw vs. Cooked
Do keep in mind what we learned in last week’s Food for Thought, that there are a few vegetables (such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and kale) that are better for us cooked. However, unless you have a thyroid or kidney issue, you’re fine eating even these raw every once in a while.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
You might also enjoy:
- How to Use Broccoli Stems
- The Best Scrambled Eggs Ever
- Try this Cauliflower Trick instead of Mashed Potatoes
- Green Smoothies with Kale
- Praying in the Kitchen
- Hand Sanitizers in the Home
Check out more get-your-kids-to-eat-veggies recipes at Life as MOM’s Ultimate Recipe Swap.
What a great title to get people to click over – they want to see what that word means!
Thanks for joining in!
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I’ve been trying to increase the amount of raw fruits and veggies we eat during the day. I’ve been mostly focusing on lunch and snacks, but this would be a great way to include more raw at dinner!
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Lol, I love how you started the post.
It’s all about how you say it.
My favorite vegetable for lazy, um, crudite platters is stems of baby bok choy.
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Katie Reply:
May 13th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
That would definitely be something new for our family. Hmmmm…bok choy? Welcome to Kitchen Stewardship!
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Raw is a great way to go. Chopping is enough work, who needs to cook?
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Yay veggies?
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I love crudite platters. You can also call them hor d’ourves… horz de vowers in my house
I personally don’t digest raw vegetables very well but find that a saturated fat rich dip helps a lot. I like ranch, or blue cheese or a garlic peppercorn dip. Carrots seem to especially be a problem for me, but broccoli too.
You should experiment with different veggies on your platter too. Thin sliced radishes can be fun, green onions, bell peppers, kohlrabi, herbs. Also, you can mix and match fruit too. Citrus slices or berries. Yum!
Since the lettuce is coming up in my garden I’ve been experimenting with salad dressings and having fun trying new things. Some big hits recently are a miso-honey dressing, yogurt pesto dressing and an italian dressing pureed with fresh onion.
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Oh! I also wanted to mention that I rarely use a steamer basket to steam veggies. I just put enough water to barely cover the bottom of a saucepan or skillet, bring to a boil, put in the veggies and put on a lid. Depending on how much water you use it could be a little bit like boiled veggies, but certainly better than no veggies! And great for melting tons of butter over!
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Katie Reply:
May 14th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Alyss, All great points! Welcome to Kitchen Stewardship! Thanks, Katie
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I like crudite platters for lunch.
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You are a great mom. I love feeding my kids healthy foods. Great post, great blog!
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Katie Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 12:41 am
You’re too kind…Welcome! I checked out your blog, and it’s so beautiful! Maybe someday I’ll get that kind of panache around here. For now, I’m just keeping my head above water and my spinach on my header.
Best, Katie
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Well, gosh, why make it just a side dish? In the summer, my family sometimes literally has a crudite platter for dinner! You just need a high-protein dip, such as hummus or spicy peanut sauce or seasoned cottage cheese. Having a couple of different dips to choose from makes it even more fun.
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Katie Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Mmmm…I’m coming to your house for the dip choices! That would be a good Friday night – just-shopped-at-the-Farmer’s-Market kind of dinner! Thanks for dropping by!
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I’m so happy to see I’m not the only one who feels like I’m copping out when I serve raw veggies with dinner! Even though everyone loves them, it just always feels a little wrong.
.-= Samantha´s last blog ..Caramelized Butternut Squash =-.
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learn a bit of something everyday
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I notice your mention of liver pate’ – I always serve mushroom pate’ and it is great! (if you like mushrooms) there are lots of recipes for it on the web or you can use my favorite pre-made, Il Merlano that I get at Amazon, the store is Italian Products USA
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bonus points. knew what crudite meant.
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Real good idea
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When we were ultra poor, crudités and biscuits were a weekly meal. They usually included foraged foods to keep the cost even lower. Now I just garden. The kids forage from fresh growing veggies!
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My son only likes raw vegetables! Which is sometimes a problem when I don’t have anything fresh and the frozen bag will have to do.
One day my son’s friend stopped by and I fed him lunch. When his mom picked him up later, he climbed in the van and then climbed back out to thank me for lunch and said, “Oh yeah, I really liked the broccoli!” Of course his mom’s head snapped in my direction and she had a quizzical look on her face which obviously meant, “What did you do to get my kid to eat broccoli?” My answer, “I served it raw.” She said that she never did but would start!
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My mom often served a veggie platter as part of dinner, and we always added lots of other veggies to our salads. Guess she really knew what she was doing!
Good Peanut Butter is a favorite dip for my kids! I personally love homemade Bleu Cheese dressing. Mmmmmm…
Love your blog- you amaze me! Keep the good stuff comin’! Thanks for all the great info.
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I do this most nights for dinner. It’s AMAZING how many more veggies I can get in my family if I set a pretty plate out while they are hungry. As soon as I get my veggies from the farmers market or store, I chop them up, put them in a bowl and then it takes me all of five minutes to get them on the table when I begin fixing dinner.
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My three girls – 7, 5, 2 – will polish off 2-3 lb of veggies if I serve them before dinner. The nice side bonus is that I get to finish cooking in peace while they munch. No whining “Is it reaaaaady YET?!”
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