Best Way To Boil Veggies:Don'T!- Steam 'Em Instead!

["Many of us are big fans of roasted vegetables. Giving them a light glaze of oil and seasoning and submitting them to high heat, their sugars caramelize and their flavor is intensified. But there are many instances when a recipe calls for blanching or boiling a vegetable. In those cases, I have become a major fan of steaming vegetables over blanching or boiling them. Steaming is a much faster method, uses less water and fuel, requires no dangerous boiling water, and is far more nutritional, as the steamed food retains its nutrients rather than discharging them into a pot of water. Only a little water is needed to create steam and it takes a short time to heat that little amount of water to steaming, so you save time and gas or electricity every time you steam!", "I love my inexpensive 2- tiered Chinese aluminum dome-topped steamer which I bought in a Chinatown restaurant supply store. The tiers are flat (think ' 3"" deep cake pan with holes all over the bottom') and they are so space efficient, both for setting over another pot to cool, and for stacked storage.They have an interior diameter of 10"" and hold alot of food in a single layer. They also have a thick sturdy rim around each tier, making it easy to grasp and remove them from the steamer part below them.", "You can improvise a steamer by doubling up two disposable aluminum pans (that you have punctured all over with a skewer tip) and placing them over a cake rack or a water- filled can and into a larger pot with a few inches of water in the bottom, and a tight fitting lid. Or you can use the standby fold-up 'steamer basket', opened up as wide and flat as possible, to hold more food.( The steamer basket is what I use when I'm just steaming broccoli for the two of us.)."]