I still prefer McDonalds.
Simply put, I am not a health nut. Although, I like to think that I am cognizant of the foods I put into my body, the reality is that I prefer a four-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner. Unfortunately, this isn’t the most sustainable diet.
“After 15 years, those who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice each week compared to less than once a week had gained an extra ten pounds and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes,” stated a report by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
So basically, it’s time that I cut my fast food infatuation.
Since I cannot cook, I recruited my talented boyfriend and personal chef, Alyn Mussleman, to fix up some veggies I have never tried before. His cute dog Rylee also decided to join in on the taste test and give her trusty opinion. Don’t worry, I made sure that the vegetables were safe for her to eat!
Kale & Chard: I have to admit that this wasn’t awful. Not sure how it was cooked, but I know the two veggies were cut up in some fantastic manner and thrown into a pot with some butter and other ingredients to spice things up.
It was like eating a salad, but honestly, a bit better. That’s saying a lot because I hate salad — it’s disappointing. This wasn’t as wretched and depressing as I had expected. Yes, it tasted like the average vegetable, but with an added twist. I think it would pair well with some chicken.
I tried a nibble of raw kale too, but that was absolutely awful. 11/10 do not recommend raw kale.
Rylee didn’t mind this. She didn’t like the raw kale either. She spit it out. But the cooked kale was fine, it just took her a while to chew.
Eggplant: Nope. This was not a fun texture — way too slimy.
Mussleman grilled the eggplant, cut it in half long ways and put steak seasoning and then baked it in the oven for a while.
I can say that the steak seasoning made the dish. It would have been a slimy, sad and oddly unsatisfying dish if it weren’t for the steak seasoning!
This one was Rylee’s favorite. Maybe because it was slimy? Or the steak seasoning? Not sure, she refused to tell me.
Kohlrabi: Surprisingly, I like this one a lot! It was sauteed with some fun seasonings, but even the raw vegetable wasn’t awful. Cooked, the flavor almost reminded me of potatoes — maybe we could make something similar to french fries with it.
It’s hard to describe the raw flavor, but Mussleman described it as tasting “like a turnip and a radish met and had a baby.” Although it wasn’t as dreamy as a McNugget, it did the job!
I would recommend this to anyone. I liked it so much that I even kept one of the kohlrabi plants to see if I could encourage it to grow in some water.
Rylee liked this one a lot too, but not as much as the eggplant.
In the end, if you’re accustomed to junk food, making the switch to healthier options may not be very fun; however, it’s doable. Vegetables aren’t enemy #1, and they’re pretty beneficial in a variety of ways, according to Harvard. Fresh fruits and veggies can lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, can lower blood pressure and help prevent unhealthy weight gain and loss. Maybe, with some hard work, I can become a produce partisan.