ways I can get more vegetables in my diet

I've been advised by various doctors that I really need to eat more non-starchy vegetables.

specific recipes

• crudité — broccoli, good cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots — buy separately instead of in a platter (I don't like celery, and I prefer higher-end tomatoes)
• my lunch salads — chopped meat (e.g. chicken strips, real bacon bits, chopped deli ham, hard-boiled eggs), shredded cheese, croutons, baby tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, olives
  • some people add weird types of proteins — steak, Italian sausage, shrimp, tuna, salmon, pepperoni, ground beef patty, even a sunny side up egg
  • ways to add variety:
    • texture variety — crispy fried onions, croutons, tortilla chip strips, sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, sliced almonds, caramelized walnuts, crispy bacon, parmesan crisps, McCormick Salad Toppins Crunchy & Flavorful,
    • flavor variety:
      • salty — olives, crispy fried onions,
      • sour — any salad dressing described as "tangy",
      • sweet — salads w/ fruit, fruity salad dressing,
      • umami — mushrooms, any dressing based on soy sauce,
      • bitter, I hate bitterness
      • spicy — You really should just mix hot sauce into commercial salad dressing yourself (bonus: this allows you to choose your own spiciness level). There's a problem that occurs with creamy (or oily?) salad dressings, as well as with people who use a large amount of salad dressing — these salad dressings end up nullifying the heat level. (see the Mythbusters episode that found that dairy products are best for cooling the heat that's already inside your mouth) It makes sense to scale up the heat along with the amount and type of salad dressing, so it really should just be mixed in with the salad dressing to begin with, instead of including, for example, diced jalapenos in the salad mix.
    • thermal variety — warm chopped meat, cold salads,
    • other variety — onions, mushrooms, broccoli florets, avocado, feta cheese, apples,
• augmenting our home salad kits — baby tomatoes, real bacon bits, croutons, shredded carrot, onions, black olives
• roasted veggies — broccoli, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts
  • TODO: try roasting tomatoes!!
  • TODO: also try roasting garlic!
• soups
  • creamy cauliflower soup — tastes a bit like potato soup, but it isn't very starchy
  • Mexi-stroni soup — a twist on minestrone soup that has more flavor
  • cheesy cream of asparagus soup
  • spinach and tortellini soup
  • lentil spinach soup with turkey sausage
  • Italian [sausage] vegetable soup
  • mushroom barley soup [with beef]
  • ? carrot chowder
  • ? chipotle butternut squash soup
  • ? kale and bean soup
• sauteed peppers and onions — season with minced garlic, spicy pepper flakes, black pepper, oregano, and cajun seasoning
  • can be frozen on a sheet pan, it will keep for three months

skills

• ways to hold and use a knife
• different size cuts [original]
• ways to cut specific veggies
  • various ways to cut onions

how to maximize freshness

• tomatoes
  • uncut — store outside the fridge until ripe, then store in the fridge in an air-tight container for ~2 weeks
    • note, however, that there's a large "never refrigerate" faction [2] [3], because the fridge tends to make the inside mealy
  • cut — make sure the cut side is covered in plastic, refrigerate for 2-3 days
  • tomatoes produce a moderate amount of ethylene gas
• carrots
  • fridge — wrap in a paper towel, store in an air-tight container
  • raw, frozen — slice into coins or julienne, freeze on a sheet pan, and store for 2 months
  • blanched, frozen — store for 12 months
• onions
  • uncut — store outside the fridge, in a well-ventilated container (a mesh bag or a box with holes in it)
  • raw, cut — refrigerate, or freeze for up to 8 months
  • cooked — freeze for up to 3 months
  • thinly-sliced frozen onions don't necessarily need to be thawed before consuming
• bell peppers
  • fridge — store in fridge for 1-2 weeks
  • freezer — slice and freeze on a sheet pan; store for 3-4 months; they don't necessarily need to be thawed before consumption
• broccoli
  • fridge, raw — store loosely-wrapped or in a perforated bag for 3-5 days
  • fridge, cooked — store in an air-tight container for 3-5 days
  • freezer — it must be blanched or steamed first, then freeze on a sheet pan, and store for 6-8 months
• mushrooms
  • fridge — wrap in paper towels, or place in a paper bag or open plastic bag
  • frozen mushrooms often end up soggy, so it's good to cook them right after thawing