How to incorporate more veggies??

LazyBlondeChef

TX_Bluebonnet wrote: »

Thanks so much! Looking forward to trying that dressing once I have all the ingredients on hand.

That miso dressing salad looks delicious with an interesting combination of ingredients. I've never had miso before (just googled it to see what it is), so am thinking I may give that salad a try as well.

Thank you. 🙂

Sure. That's the first time I've bought white miso. I usually have red for ramen soup in the winter.

And I was a little misleading when I said I eyeball it because currently I do weigh/measure everything for logging purposes but I don't have a preconceived idea of how much I plan to use beforehand because it's based on consistency and the flavor I'm looking for. If it's too thick it won't easily mix with the greens.

azuki

im a lazy mofo, i buy frozen veggies and nuke them. top it with cholula and pepper. accompany with any meat

Cheesy567

I’m “energy efficient” aka lazy too @azuki, and a fan of frozen veggies.

Cook once, eat lots works for me too, so I’ll make a big batch of soup in the instant pot, toss in all the veggies I have in the fridge and whatever bagged veggies from the freezer and some meat and broth and seasoning. Portion it out into containers that can go from fridge-freezer-microwave-dishwasher and it saves tons of time and energy for the weeks ahead. Works for chili, minestrone, stew recipes, etc. Go ahead and add in extra veggies. Can always add pureed zucchini (that thickens the broth nicely too for stews) or chopped.

Buying into a CSA, community supported agriculture, is a way to get boxes of fresh produce delivered weekly or every-other week. It’s a surprise, you don’t get much say in what’s in it each week, the farmer’s crop is what determines it. So, you have the adventure of looking up recipes and trying it out.

Maybe you have a friend who likes veggies and is willing to teach you? Once a month you could do dinner together in order to learn new recipes and techniques?

Or, maybe you could pick a veggie of the month at the store? Something you’ve never tried, read about it first, then pick a recipe, but it the next trip and try cooking with it?

dfwesq

Just wanted to share a couple of recipes. This one, for fennel parmigiana, is terrific. I cut way, way back on the cheese, though.

Another good one is tofu braised in tomato sauce. There are several variations on it. Here's a Vietnamese recipe. I make a simplified version by sauteeing some onions and garlic in a skillet, adding a large can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of Rotel tomatoes with chilies, and about half a pound of tofu cut into cubes. Drizzle soy sauce and toasted sesame oil on the tofu to season it a little. You could also bulk up the vegetables by adding chopped fennel, celery, or peppers. Add star anise for flavor, unless you're using fennel in which case you may not need it.

Safari_Gal_

xodreamariexo wrote: »

naomi8888 wrote: »

What are some typical meals that you eat? People may be able to suggest how you can incorporate vegetables into those.

Stuff I cook a lot is spaghetti (the sauce I use says it has a serving of vegetables in each serving of sauce), chicken and dumplings (I usually do potatoes, peas, carrot, and onion in that), pot roast with potatoes and carrots, lasagna, chicken Alfredo with peas, a salad with grilled chicken, avocado, corn, peas, and a little bit it shredded Carrot if I have any. Pretty simple and basic stuff. I live alone so I keep it simple.

@xodreamariexo Hi! Veggie lover here ! 😎💕

Just from the typical dinners you highlighted above..

Some ideas for add ins:

Spaghetti - how about pasta primavera with olive oil, parm and try asparagus, broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini, peas, and tomatoes. Shrooms, yellow squash, artichoke hearts, carrots, and spinach also work!

In red sauce - onions, spinach and a variety of peppers?

Chicken and dumplings- how about switching it up with diced sweet potatoes? Any root veg will work. Rutabega?

Pot roast - pairs well with squash, how about mashed turnips?

Chicken Alfredo - Romanescu or chopped cauliflower? Leeks?

Any of the above dishes could use a variety of veg add ins! Hope that helps a little...

azuki

what’s nice about frozen veg is the variety is actually amazing. organic asparagus, sliced okra, veg blends, shitake mushroom, baby corn, water chestnuts, chopped kale, they’re all there.

rosebarnalice

I've been helping a niece who never met a vegetable she liked experiment with recipes to broaden her food choices in her words "beyond mac and cheese".

Cooked sweet potato, cooked carrots, and peeled and cooked eggplant have all performed well in our experiments to "hide" veggies in pasta sauces, smoothies, and soups.

Riced cauliflower, celery, and avocado got the big thumbs down.

penguinmama87

My favorite trick for greens is to saute with a little bit of butter and garlic (really, a small amount, you don't need much) and season with salt and pepper. I will serve those as a side by themselves, but they're also easy to incorporate into pasta sauces and egg dishes for a boost - I often do that with leftovers to use them up. We do a CSA box where we get a bunch of vegetables every week. Right now we get tons of greens, and though I didn't use to do this I now will eat leftovers with breakfast. It adds maybe 20 calories but wow it's a lot of micronutrients.

Zinka61

This is what I've been obsessing on lately:
Garbanzo Salad
15 ounce, Garbanzo Beans, Canned, mashed
2 tbsp Mayo (regular or vegan)
40 g, Sweet Onion, chopped
1 tablespoon, Lemon Juice
1 T, sweet pickle relish
0.50 tsp, Garlic Powder
0.50 tsp(s), Tamari or soy sauce
0.50 Tsp (5g), Dijon Mustard or other coarse grain mustard
1 tablespoon, White Distilled Vinegar
0.25 tsp, ground, Spices, pepper, black
7.50 g, Large Flake Nutritional Yeast

You mix all that up and then chop up 300 grams of greens (I'm using mostly spinach and romaine and some Asian cruciferous greens like bok choy and you cai sometimes) and mix it into the salad. It makes a huge bowlful of food for only 500-some calories and is a meal in and of itself.

Soup is another way to get lots of veggies in. You can start out with some lentils, onions, and potatoes in water or broth and put in whatever else you have, celery, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, anything you like. Or make a soup with your favorite noodles, maybe some Asian hotpot powder or paste, and add green veggies, mushrooms, bamboo, baby corn, even tomatoes etc to it. Many veggies cook down smaller in soup so they are not as overwhelming to eat as raw for someone who doesn't love them.

I'm also a big fan of roasting. I like frozen Brussels sprouts, halved or broccoli florets mixed with squash cubes ( Delicata, Sweet Dumpling and Kobucha are the sweetest and all have edible skin, so you don't have to peel them, just chop them up) and an apple like Pink Lady, chopped. I roast them on parchment paper in the oven, and they are sweet and savory at the same time. Sliced shiitake mushrooms and edamame is another combo I like, and even frozen, mixed vegetables are completely different roasted than boiled or steamed.

Roasted eggplant mixed into hummus is also delicious with chopped or shredded greens mixed into it.

Sweet potatoes are lovely roasted or even just microwaved, and there are some wonderful Japanese varieties of sweet potatoes that also microwave or roast up beautifully, with sweet, nut-like taste and a drier texture.

If all else fails, almost any veggie is delicious dipped in hummus--Especially bell peppers, baby carrots, bok choy.

Those have been some of my favorite ways to eat veggies over the last year or so.