Skip to main content
Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

This story is free to read.

Turning weeknight veggies into something special

Serving a couple of vegetables every night at dinner is a great strategy for families with picky-eaters.

Offering young kids a choice (“Would you like green beans or parsnips or both tonight?”) gives them a small but important sense of efficacy, while also helping to demystify ingredients that are served (non-threateningly) at the table. And for the rest of us, eating a couple of vegetables with each meal is a great opportunity to get in the variety of nutrients that keeps us healthy.

But two vegetables a night adds up quickly, and we can find ourselves a little lost for creative preparations, especially when time is short.

A great way to cook veggies quickly, even thicker root veggies, is the pan-sauté/steam method. It’s quick and melds the best of sautéing to a little fat and flavor and steaming for speedy cooking without bland boiling.

Start by adding a little fat to a sauté pan. Coconut oil is an excellent choice for its healthy benefits and the slightly nutty and exotic notes it adds the veggies, but any neutral oil will do.