Sauté Vegetables

Sautéed vegetables are a quick, healthy and colorful dish that can be added to lunch or dinner or even served a la carte. While there are many possible ways to do this, follow these instructions for an easy, hot and nutritious side. Sautéed vegetables can be used in pastas, salads, wraps, quesadillas, or they can even accompany your favorite meat.

Steps

 * 1) Gather the ingredients. Measure and pour the oil or stock into the skillet. Place the skillet on the stove and set the burner to a medium temperature and let it heat up.
 * 2) Cut the vegetables. Dice the tomatoes, mince the onions, and slice the bell peppers. You'll want to have fairly thin pieces if you're in a hurry as thick chunks will take longer to cook.
 * 3) Drop the vegetables into the skillet. To avoid having some vegetables end up overcooked and others end up undercooked, you need you should add the vegetables in reverse order of their cooking times. Alternatively, you can cut smaller pieces of the vegetables that take longer to cook, and larger pieces of those that cook more quickly.
 * 4) *Long cooking times: Carrots, onions, potatoes (especially potatoes)
 * 5) *Medium cooking times: Broccoli, bell peppers
 * 6) *Short cooking times: Mushrooms, tomatoes
 * 7) *Very short cooking times: Spinach and other greens
 * 8) Stir once or twice. Continue to cook until the vegetables are tender (about 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat.
 * 9) Sprinkle with your favorite seasonings, like pepper, thyme, rosemary, and salt.
 * 10) Squeeze a little fresh orange juice on the vegetables if you'd like. Lime also tastes especially scrumptious on vegetables.

Tips

 * Vegetables take different amounts of time to sauté, so experiment with combining and cooking separately.
 * Serve as a side dish to meats, poultry or fish.
 * This dish would taste wonderful served over brown rice.
 * Keep some soy sauce handy, as it tastes great with the vegetables!
 * Outrageous served over toasted cheese on bread.

Warnings

 * Be careful and don't burn yourself! Oil and metal both get extremely hot!
 * Children should cook only with adult supervision.

Things You'll Need

 * A large skillet (cast iron is safer than Teflon)
 * Vegetables of your choice, for example:
 * Mushrooms
 * Tomatoes
 * Bell peppers (green and sweet red)
 * Onions
 * Garlic
 * Carrots
 * Scallions
 * Finely chopped red potatoes
 * A sharp knife
 * A cutting board
 * 2-3 tsp oil
 * Olive or canola oil
 * Various spices
 * Various citrus fruits for squeezing

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Steam Vegetables
 * How to Keep Fresh Vegetables Fresher Longer
 * How to Wash Fruit and Vegetables
 * How to Cook Yellow Rice

Sources and Citations

 * Video: How to Sauté Vegetables from About.com
 * How to Sautee from the Reluctant Gourmet
 * Sauteeing in Wikibooks
 * Sauteed Baby Vegetables recipe from Cooks.com
 * Sauteed Vegetable Recipe from the Food Network
 * Linguine with Chicken and Sauteed Vegetables from allrecipes.com