Do the vegetables in Bolannaise ‘count’ ?

[FollowYourOwnNorthStar]

I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to get more vegetables into my day, and one way has been adding more vegetables to stews and things like bolannaise.

Leave aside what exactly should go in a bolannaise sauce (another recent thread!) the vegetables I put in are grated onions, carrots and zucchini, then chopped garlic, baby spinach leaves, mushrooms and any tomatoes if I have them (always used tinned tomatoes too).

In doing so I reduce the mince/meat required for each person, so from a health perspective I thought I was making the meal healthy twice - less meat per serve and more vegetables. (It tastes delicious too!)

However my sister thinks that vegetables like this don’t ‘count’. That by grating and cooking them down so much, their nutritional value is pretty low and, whilst still an ok healthy meal, it’s not as good as I think.

I’ve tried to google the answer, but opinions are divided about eating vegetables cooked or raw with a case made for both sides or in favour of some but not others.

What does everyone else think?

"I have sat here all day waiting"

I have been sitting here all day (and continue to do so)

I sat here all all day (but am no longer doing so)

Iirc.

YABU just by calling Courgette, zucchini.
Bloody hell!!!! Posters are ridiculous, petty and love making assumptions on MN!!!

I love that this is now about ‘sat’ rather than veg.

Personally, I’d say I was sitting. My (Northern English) BF says I was sat all the time, and every time I think, ‘sitting. It’s sitting’. But I don’t say anything because it’s unnecessary and I don’t have a leg to stand on in objecting to regional colloquialisms. It’s just mine are from a different region.

How on earth has this thread created comments that are being pulled by Mumsnet?
Because some people like being spiteful twats and like trying to mock or humiliate others.
They wouldnt say half the things they type if they came face to face with the person.

Yes I think you're right. I have been sitting / I was sitting is more natural than I have been sat or I was sat. So a state again, just a continuous one. I was just wondering what the past participle would be, and I think it must be sat. Sit/sat/sat. It wouldn't be seated, if anything it would be sitted, but that's not a word.

I just think we don't use it in the present perfect (I have written, I have gone, I have been etc) but English people have a tendency to misuse irregular past tenses anyway colloquially - see "I done that" (rather than I have done that) or "I've drank all of it" rather than "I've drunk all of it" so it might be that "I was sat on the bed" seems wrong even though technically there's nothing grammatically wrong with the sentence.

Seated must be the past tense of the verb to seat - as in "This table seats four". It's a passive use rather than an active one. The table/ride/bus seats the people so the people are seated at the table/on the bus. Rather than the person sits, which is intransitive, it doesn't take an object. You have to sit AT the table or sit ON the chair, you can't sit the table or sit the chair. But a waiter can seat the patrons, because it's a passive action on behalf of the people doing the sitting.

@Zbag I'm so glad you picked up on that too, the most bizarre response! I still can't work out if it was meant to be patronising or educational. Not only will I teach you to spell, I'll introduce to to the world. Only on mn!

I've never seen bolognese spelt like mayonnaise before.

Well yes sure but for example take the verb drink.

I drink ten cups of tea a day (present form/generalised, routine etc)

I drank a cup of tea (past form/single, completed action)

I have drunk my tea, and need another cup (past participle/perfect tense)

I have been drinking tea all day also works but it's a different tense entirely. It's the past form of "I'm drinking my tea at the moment" essentially.

Be sure to include that in your autobiography @noonarna

I've never seen bolognese spelt like mayonnaise before

Big whoop,it was probably an auto correct mix up ,my phone makes me out to be someone who has never spoken the English language in their life.

BertieBotts In relation to your other two examples, I would always say the latter, eg: “I have done that” or “I’ve drunk all of it”.

But yes, they are examples of other expressions I had noticed on MumsNet and noted as different to the way we speak/write here.

At this point I think we are all having a giggle at the spelling, including the OP. No maliciousness intended in my comment!

OP, if you are putting a lot of pasta with your sauce, it's going to be very high calorie either way. Pasta is incredibly dense in calories (hard day for me when I realised just how much!), so definitely consider that if you are trying to eat more healthily.

I thought bolognaise was the French spelling.

Of course they count! I put finely chopped carrots and mixed peppers in mine too.

Bollocks

I think you mean bollocknaise.

geekone don't be a tit. They are known as zucchini in many parts of the world.

I just spell it spag bol and be done with it

Courgetti -is lovely with bolognaise / Bolognese. No steaming it just spiralised or grated.

“Because some people like being spiteful twats and like trying to mock or humiliate others.”

Sadly not. The disingenuous “what on earth could the OP possibly mean?” posts remain. Some of those calling them out have gone.

Now. About cooking eggplant..........

Now. About cooking eggplant....
I always slow roast first.
I make a fabulous Baba Ganush!

Yes they count. It literally says you can add them to sauces on the NHS website:

"Fruit and vegetables don't have to be fresh to count as a portion. Nor do they have to be eaten on their own: they also count if they're part of a meal or dish."

And later, in a list of what counts:

"Fruit and vegetables cooked in dishes such as soups, stews or pasta."

www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-what-counts/

YAallBU for putting vegetables in bolognese

As others have said, yes they count but remember serving sizes.
For a rule of thumb 75g of veg is 1 serving. If the sauce is divided by 4 but there is , for example, only 75g of veg that wouldn't count as 1 portion per person.you need to increase it per portion size and also be aware how many different types of veg you put in. I believe, although happy to be told I'm wrong, that you should only count a veg or fruit once in the day even if you have it more than once.