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Slow simmered vegetables with cinnamon and cumin create a flavorful, nutritious side dish that the whole family will love. This dish simmers on the stove while you make your meal and is great as leftovers. 

Now that everyone has recovered from Thanksgiving and thinking about lighter, more nutritious foods, I would share one of my favorite vegetable side dishes with you guys.  These Lebanese Vegetables are inspired by my Lebanese Green Beans which I also love to make. I grew up eating Lebanese Green Beans at my Grandma’s house. I always remember the smell coming from the kitchen when they simmered.

Lebanese Vegetables mixes zucchini, green beans, diced tomatoes, onion, carrots and celery with cumin and cinnamon and is slowly simmered to let the flavors really develop.  The nice thing with this dish is you can modify it to your tastes. If you don’t like zucchini take it out and add cauliflower instead or maybe try adding a yellow squash.

This recipe makes a big pot of vegetables that you can use throughout the week as leftovers. I like to eat it for lunch over rice with a side of pita bread and plain yogurt…filling, nutritious and packed full of flavor.

My kids also love this dish and gobble it up, especially my 10 month old.  The nice thing is that the vegetables are soft and can easily be cut into smaller bite size pieces.

If you are looking for ways to mix up the side dish routine and get your family excited about vegetables this just might be your answer.

Lebanese Vegetables

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Slow simmered vegetables with cinnamon and cumin create a flavorful, nutritious side dish that the whole family will love. This dish simmers on the stove while you make your meal and is great as leftovers.

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Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 sweet onion, chopped into medium slices
• 1 zucchini, cut in slices
• 1-10.8 oz bag of frozen green beans (you can use fresh if you want)
• 1-14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1-8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and sauté until soft. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for two minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes with the lid on the pot but slightly tilted so that air can still escape stirring occasionally.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve warm as a side dish or over rice.

Notes

You can add whatever vegetables you like to this dish: other ideas include yellow squash, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips.
This vegetable dish goes great over rice, as a side dish or paired with turkey.

For more vegetable recipes check out my Eat Your Vegetables Pinterest board!

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