Incorporating Veggies

cassieeleigh16

As a hater of all leafy greens (I hated them as a child, too, but never really took up on super junk food either), I'm trying to find creative ways to incorporate things like kale, spinach, broccoli, and other greens into my food intake. Any suggestions?

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

You don't have to eat them if you don't like them. You can google foods you do like to get the same nutrients.

punkrockgoth

It depends on what you like. You can throw spinach in chilli or stir fry or vegetable soup if you like any of those things. You can try to follow up leafy greens with something you like.

For example, I tend to be anemic, so every couple of weeks, I need to eat chicken livers. I don't particularly enjoy this, but I do know that I get to eat a piece of chocolate if I get through the chicken livers.

I hated oatmeal when I started, but found ways to make it slightly tolerable, such as maple syrup, added nuts, stuff like that. As the time has passed, I've slowly reduced the amount of maple syrup and stuff and now I can tolerate oatmeal. I'll probably never get truly excited about it, but now I can eat it without wanting to gag.

I hope this helps.

lseed87

In smoothies

As a side dish with protein and a carb

Spinach pizza

Food process them to not think of the texture?

Rice, chicken, broccoli, carrots bowl

Stir fry

Supplements could help

miryamch420

I love spinach with mushrooms and cream as a side dish. When at home, I replace the cream with a bit of coconut milk. Also yummy.
Otherwise, soups are the way to go. Throw you elected leafy green with a potato, an onion and vegetable stock. You can top it with a little olive oil and some pumpkin/sunflower seeds. It changes everything.

cassieeleigh16

Thanks guys!

KDar1988

I make a smoothie with spinach, protein powder, almond milk and a little pineapple. It turns out a pretty green color and tastes pretty good too!

DancingMoosie

I blend kale or spinach into spaghetti sauce...Other than blending, you can chop veggies really tiny and add them into almost anything(casseroles, stir fry, Hamburger Helper, etc.)

BeeRaineRo411

I'm a huge fan of smoothies with a lot of kale or spinach, enough to alter the taste. But for my children I put in enough to benefit them but still leave the taste hidden. Also, I almost always shred veggies and put them into other foods. Even sweet treats that I bake for others. They are never the wiser, and I feel good that there was broccoli/spinach/zucchini in that muffin they just ate!

hopeandtheabsurd

When cooked, the volume of leafy greens goes down a LOT, so incorporating into sauces (or just powering through and eating them) is easier. I will take greens, lightly pan saute them, and eat them with steak or grilled onions, something with a strong flavor to compete with the greens.

For broccoli, have you tried it roasted? That changes the texture/flavor enough to make it more palatable to some.

There is also benefit to giving foods a solid try, and by solid try I mean 15-50 different exposures. Most people are not willing to do that, but it is possible to "learn" to like foods. Using this method, I can tolerate cilantro now, I never woulda thunk it. Still working on swiss chard.

UG77

I'm working on incorporating a lot more vegetables into my diet and it is a work in progress. I've stuck with it before and over time it gets easier. One of the things that make it easier for me is masking it. There are a lot of soups/stew recipes out there as well as a surprisingly tolerable vegetarian chili recipe.

http://homestead-and-survival.com/how-to-make-dr-fuhrmans-easy-3-bean-vegetable-chili/

niamibunni

Smoothies are a good way to hide them. Just make sure you aren't turning the smoothie into dessert with all the fruit and nut/seed butter options out there.

Carrots, spinach, zucchini, onions, and peppers put into a food processor, then mixed into meatloaf. Use dried onion and ground flax in place of bread crumbs and it's a decent meal. I eat leftovers for breakfast too. nom!

Cut up a chicken breast, season and cook in a pan with diced garlic and onions. Then add chopped baby spinach. Serve on a baked sweet potato. This is a super fast meal that I make often. I use the Bragg Sprinkle Seasoning on the chicken.

Asparagus tossed (or sprayed) with olive oil and then roasted until a little crunchy is sooo much more appealing to me than steamed.

Mini breakfast frittatas work well for all meals and is a good way to disguise extra veggies. You can make a large Frittata as well.

amgreenwell

kale: put it in a smoothie and you'll never know the difference except for the green color
spinach: put it in spaghetti and other pastas, rice dishes or anything you can flavor up with other ingredients
broccoli: put it in casseroles and make sure you steam it well first, that way you won't get the crunchiness (although as a lover of the stuff the crunchiness rocks)

cherrie_mcburney

Use a little ghee in your pan and stir-fry up veggies like cauliflower (I put mine in a blender and make it like rice) with some green onions, portabella mushrooms (so meaty - yum!) and top with an egg if you like! I find the more veggies I eat (with a little meat and a little fruit) the leaner I am and the better I feel!

GsKiki

Most of it you can chop up in thin strips and then mix in your salads.
Some of the leafy greens you can also mix in soups, pasta and different sauces.
Another good way of preparing kale and spinach is to cook it with potatoes and a little bit of garlic, serve with some nice fish.

AmazonMayan

If you hate greens then kale might be too much for you. I absolutely LOVE greens but hate kale.

Spinach is a very mild tasting green that is very nutritious. It's easy to hide in foods either raw or cooked - I only buy it raw and cook it myself. I don't know what they do to the canned and frozen to create the monstrosity that it is, but I never get that awfulness if I start with raw lol. I mix it into spaghetti sauces, top potatoes with some that I lightly wilt in a saucepan with some roasted garlic. It's very easy to hide in smoothies (I taste kale in smoothies but not spinach).

It's good to use as a green mixed into fresh salads. Keep in mind a salad doesn't have to be a big amount of greens with a little bit of toppings. You can mix up chunks of either raw or roasted veg you like and have a cup chopped raw spinach mixed into it then top with a low cal vinaigrette or dressing you like.

Roast broccoli is very different from fresh or steamed. It's very good if it's cooked with garlic. You could roast some of both then puree it in a blender and make a soup of course with salt, pepper and maybe bell pepper or spicy pepper and tomato, etc.

dubird

There's nothing saying your veggies HAVE to be leafy greens. There are benefits to them, but if you hate leafy greens, get your nutrients other ways.

If you're like me and don't like veggies at all, you'll have to experiment to find something you can eat. Most of my veggies are salads with baby spinach, carrots and peas. I've tried roasting them, grilling them, cooking with various things, and I just don't like most veggies. I found a way of cooking carrots that I actually like and not just accept, and sweet peas don't actually taste like much so I'm ok with them. And leafy greens with mild flavors function more as a vehicle to get tasty salad parts to my mouth. XD But the point is, I do eat them, even if I'm eating a very limited selection.

About all I can advise is to look for unusual ways to cook them. Avoid canned veggies unless you have NO other choice. Frozen works well because they last longer. You might look through your grocery's freezer section to find frozen veggie sides. I know of several like buffalo cauliflower and ranch broccoli, as well as seasoned mixes that aren't too bad. Try getting a bag of something like that and see if you like it.

kommodevaran

Good thing you're an adult now
I use kale in salad, with olive oil/vinegar, spinach in blended soup, broccoli raw.

Try to get a variety - look for different colors - red beets, orange carrots, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, yellow squash/zucchini and peppers, purple eggplant/aubergine. Try a new vegetable every week. Vegetables are diverse and versatile, and can be eaten with or without meat. You can make stirfry, soups, chilis, burritos, omelets, add to pasta, pizza, meatloaf, eat with dip/hummus/nut butters - just google recipes [ingredient+recipe].

Big_Jim_86

Sometime I will use a food processor to make vegetable purees to add to sauces, soups, or baked goods. It is a great way to sneak spinach past a child as well.

tryasimighty

Cauli-rice is amazing and you can do it with broccolli too. I blitz it in food processor add seasonings of choice and drizzle of olive oil, bake in hot oven 10-15 minutes shaking and turning once or twice, unbelievably delicious!

Sarahb29

When I drank smoothies I liked adding 1 banana, juice and random other fruit plus as much spinach I could stuff into the blender. It looks awful (usually looks brown) but tastes good. Banana hides the taste of almost ANYTHING!

You can also hide green veggies in spaghetti meat sauce, chili's, omelettes etc. Anything with loads of spices.

I second the cauliflower rice idea, I had some today, although it's a bit difficult to make when you're first starting out.

curvy_gamer_loses

Try cooking them in different ways. Kale chips, steamed veggies, smoothies, chop them up tiny and put it in pasta sauce or throw em in omelets.

RoxieDawn

I refuse to drink veggies. I will not mix them in a blender.. that is just nasty.

I eat 4 cups of veggies a day. I stir fry veggies almost every night, rather it be with chicken for fajita night or squash and onions sautéed in a pan, stuff peppers, sauté cauliflower broccoli and carrots, or boil carrots, make salads, or veggie casserole zucchini tomatoes and onions, steam broccoli, crockpot with potatoes/carrots/onions, celery and beef for pot roast. And the celery is great with peanut butter on it or cream cheese.

And kale is nasty and is outlawed in my house. I made a soup with it in it, and it not only looked nasty, the texture was nasty and did not do anything for tasted of the soup. The next night tried a salad and it was like over peppered tough to chew lettuce.

Get creative with your veggies and spice them up with garlic, use onions and different spices.

Sarahb29

To each their own Gia Kale chips with a little salt and garlic are delicious! Roasted veggies are great too.

ottermotorcycle

Do some searching for uses for cauliflower and zucchini. Pizza crust. Chips. Mashed "potatoes." Grilled cheese. It sounds so incredible, I really can't wait for these things to be in season again.

I just made a corn and black bean "meatloaf" that honestly would have been even better with spinach, onion and peppers, but I didn't have those (woe). Broccoli and cheese is an A+ low-carb snack and you can even make it into a nugget (pulse in food processor with enough egg to hold together, roll in breadcrumbs, bake or fry.)