Wheat bread. Toast. Spread light mayo. Large ripe tomato. Cucumbers if you like (I like.). Slice. Layer. Salt. Pepper. Bliss.

This is the easiest thing in the world, and it's good. I make it all the time. I've also been known to put a handful of baby spinach in the blender with it.

Broccoli Soup by Gordon Ramsay.

Oh, and the handful of baby spinach is raw. The heat of the broccoli cooks it in no time.

Also, read Mark Bittman's blog. He puts up a recipe every day during the week, and they are quite simple, often veggie rich. Check out his 101 Picnic Dishes for some easy ideas.

Do you have a microwave? If so, get thee down to Target and buy one of these. I cook a lot of veggies in the microwave, especially broccoli, cauliflower, carrots. It takes about 7 minutes for a big serving, so is not at all labour-intensive.

And while you're in Target, pick up one of these. Before you use it you have to season it which means oil it, heat it up, wipe it, oil it, heat it, wipe, oil/heat/wipe, which burns a coat of oil onto it, and makes it non-stick. Do this a few times. It might seem like a pain in the arse, but if you don't do this, you'll have a horrid pan that everything sticks to.

Then you can cook grilled zucchini, eggplant, peppers, portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, using just a spray of oil - I use an olive oil spray. They get all those lovely grilly ridge lines on them too.

Also, check out "The Worlds Healthiest Foods". There is a recipe section there, and I've made some of them and they are good.

Roast asparagus: roll asparagus in olive oil and minced garlic, spread in a single layer on a sheet pan, sprinkle with sea salt, put under broiler until browned at the tips. Shave some parmesian or asiago over them before serving. Or dice up a boiled egg and sprinkle over before serving.

Popcorn chickpeas: heat 3tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Add one can of well-drained chickpeas. When chickpeas are darkened and starting to crisp, drain off some of the oil. Add some minced garlic and minced rosemary to the pan and return it to the stovetop for s few minutes until fragrant. Salt and pepper before serving.

Roast crisp cauliflower with capers: Heat your oven to 400. Chop up a head of cauliflower, toss it in a bowl with 3 tablespoons each of olive oil and capers. Salt lightly. Spread in a single layer on a large roasting pan. Cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it's done, it will look slightly burnt. But it's not; it's just crispy and delicious.

Pea and ginger soup: Put 2 cups of shelled fresh peas, 3 tablespoons (or more) of minced fresh ginger, and four cups of stock into a saucepan. Salt and pepper it. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer fifteen minutes. Let cool. Pour it into the blender (working in batches if necessary) and puree it. Reheat it and serve with cheese and crackers.

Is that as simple as you're looking for? I'll keep thinking, if those are along the lines of what you're looking for.

Make a big salad: lettuces, baby spinach leaves, red onion, tomatoes, cukes, walnuts, hard boiled egg, or whatever you like such as feta or olives. Keep it in a big Tupperware bowel and eat from it for three days. Add chicken breast, fish, or shrimp to make a meal if you feel like it.

Get those frozen Bird's Eye pepper stir fry veggies. The kind I get contains onions, red, yellow, and green bell peppers. Add those to egg white omelets. It's good.

Frozen vegetables are good and easy. I love frozen broccoli, peas, and brussels sprouts.

Make a big pot of turkey chili. It's mostly tomatoes and beans with some very lean ground turkey breast. Add diced red bell pepper and shredded carrot for more plants.

I am all about pickling everything lately. I did this dead easy carrot stick pickling, and threw in a couple sliced zucchini from the garden too. So easy, so tasty, and my favorite part is that once you make it, it's just there, you can eat it when you feel like.

I plan to do it with cucumbers and eggplant when(if) they come in this summer, as well as cauliflower and broccoli from the fall garden.

Don't keep it in a bowel though. A bowl should be just fine. :-)

I'm working with a trainer too. She wants me to eat mini meals. I can't rely on creating big elaborate dishes. It's not my personality. More than often I'll eat an apple with a smear of peanut butter or a protein bar and an orange.

Thanks, guys, keep em coming. I have been inspired to at least clean and slice strawberries tonight. Done!

I will try that broccoli soup, although that is way more cooking than I usually do - OMG blender, clean up, etc., but it looks simple and yummy.

I just. . .don't. . .cook!

ej, I like the griller appliance too, but hey, small kitchen. . .appliances don't sit around, have to be taken in and out. I wonder if I could do veggies on the George Foreman Grill. . .

Buy a bag of mixed greens. Put 'em on top of sandwiches.

I try to eat things that don't take any work at all. So.
Curtido:
Chop up a bunch of green cabbage, some green onions, a bit of carrot and part of a chile. Sprinkle liberally with Adobo (I use the cuminized kind). Add in a couple of pinches of whole cumin seeds and a bit less oregano. Toss a small amount of vinegar and water on it (50/50 mix). Eat now, eat later, eat liberally. It's delicious.

Also: keep cherry tomatoes out on the counter. Pop 'em in the mouth. Cucumbers are also really good just to chomp on. Peppers, too! Just wash and crunch.

Green smoothies - a banana with some greens. Tastes great. My personal favorite is half a banana, some mango, a chunk of pineapple, kale, celery, spring greens, and a little broccoli. 100% fruits and vegetables and no cooking.

My favorite two quickie meals in the world are 100% fruits/veggies and don't require any cooking.

Green Energy Soup

1 ripe avo
2 olive-sized pieces of dulse (if you don't have it or don't want it, add salt to taste)
a large handful of salad greens (I always use a spring mix)
pinch of cayenne
pinch of black pepper

Mix it all in a blender with some warm water. Eat. Soooo good.

Molested Kale Salad OMG
I've typed out the recipe twice at AskMe so I'll just link to that. It's really delicious. Even salads and greens haters come back for seconds.

I wonder if I could do veggies on the George Foreman Grill. . .

They'd be great on that.

Boil some pasta (angel hair is nice(. While it's cooking, chop up a nice tomato or two, throw in some minced garlic, a glug of olive oil, a handful of basil (ripped into bite-size pieces), and salt and pepper to taste. Toss with pasta, then garnish with pine nuts and a little parmesan.

The grill is a great idea. Whenever we barbecue we throw whatever vegetables we have around on the grill. Everything is good grilled.

If I were you, I'd also make an easy version of minestrone and freeze a bunch. I love minestrone, but don't often make it because I can't do it the easy way, which I bet you can: get one of those 9 bean mix packages (or 13, or 15 or 7, or whatever you can find) and some frozen (chopped, if possible) Italian vegetables, (or whatever; mixed veggies); cook the beans according to directions, along with some garlic if you like garlic, then throw in the vegetables and some tiny pasta for the last 30-45 minutes or so. You could use beef or chicken broth if you'd like, to cook the beans, or half water, half broth. If you don't like the idea of the time it takes to cook dried beans, you could use canned white beans instead. Be sure to add a little olive oil to your batch, and when you serve it, grate some good parmesan into your bowl... omg, I want this NOW.

oh, hey, look - an actual recipe, with pic. easier.

Also, "Quick, Easy -N- Fast Vegetable Recipes".

Gazpacho is a great way of consuming lots of veggies, pretty easily, in hot weather.

Lots of easy recipes.

Really good with a few beers. . .

I tend to make something and use it throughout the week, for example:

- last week - Boil some broad beans (fava beans) and chopped carrots for 5 minutes, then sweat some chopped onion, garlic and capsicum in butter and a grind of salt for a few minutes until aromatic. Add the carrots and broad beans, chopped zucchini, a chopped chili pepper and three or four big ripe tomatoes, a handful of chopped basil and oregano and another grind of salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Throw in a handful of chopped mushrooms near the end. Throughout the week I had this with rosemary-roasted potatoes and pumpkin (coat with oil, salt and pepper, then into a very hot oven for 40-odd mins), as a sauce for pasta (with parmesan) and with haricot beans, crusty bread and a spinach salad.

- the week before - I made a big Lebanese salad out of a couple of cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, lettuce, mint, parsley and lemon juice. Through the week I had this with felafel, with grilled zucchini and eggplant, with some chickpeas I quickly cooked in tomato and garlic and in a pitta.

- I always have a Nap sauce (onion, garlic sauted in olive oil, add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and simmer, add other veg as desired) with lots of veges frozen in portions, for when I'm lazy (thicken with some more tomato paste and it's good pizza sauce, too), and beans (red and white) and chickpeas frozen in portions.

My best advice is to start getting a CSA box, if you can and if you can afford it. We get seven veg and three fruit (and sometimes bonuses, like a bunch of herbs) for £15 and it's a LOT, and knowing there's more coming forces me to use it (I eat lots of carrots as snacks now, for example) and getting veges I wouldn't ordinarily think of buying makes me seek out new ways of cooking them. Definitely the best step I've made for increasing the number of veges in my diet!

I am totally copying this thread into a word doc!

rainbaby and LoriFL I'm doing the mini meals and weight training too. 25 lbs lighter is the goal - but actually, I dont' care if I weigh the same, as long as the sizes come off.