In Carlene Thomas’ experience, two types of people ask her advice as a dietitian about the healthiest way to prepare vegetables.

Those looking to improve their diet are curious about how different cooking methods affect nutritional content. Others wonder how best to work more vegetables into their diet in general.

The simplest version of her answer to both groups is: The best vegetables are the ones you actually want to eat.

“A lot of people engage in aspirational vegetable shopping” without actually using them, said Thomas, of Leesburg, Va. In that case, “It doesn’t matter how you cook them, because if they’re going in the trash, they’re not in your body.”

As we cook during the winter, we tend to rely on comfort foods. But that doesn’t mean we need to take an ascetic approach to cooking or a retreat into plain, ho-hum fare.

Restaurant chefs know that just a pinch of this or a splash of that can lift the simplest dish into spectacular territory. The key is in balancing flavors and textures by zhuzhing up bland foods or bridging contrasting tastes with a neutral ingredient.