How to eat more veggies?

I'm looking for ideas about how to eat more veggies. How do you make eating veggies interesting?

Replies

  • abickford82
    abickford82 Posts: 207
    I just...eat them!?! Add a couple more servings to each meal, or juice them. It's really not that hard. If you don't have a juicer, I'd add them to a protein shake. Spinach blends well with vanilla protein powder.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    I've never met a roasted vegetable I didn't like. Seriously, roasted carrots are fantastic. Same with cauliflower and broccoli. Brussels sprouts, eggplant, green beans, peppers. You can even roast cabbage wedges, kale, beets. Cut into small pieces, coat with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, and roast in a 400-425 degree oven until fork tender and a little caramelized. (25-35 minutes depending on the size and quantity).

    I also put vegetables into my recipes even if they don't call for them. Spaghetti in our house is made with red pepper and spinach in addition to tomato sauce, sometimes grated carrots too. Quesadillas have veggie fillings. Tonight I'm making an Asian honey hoisin chicken that will be tossed with soba noodles and kale. Meatloaf usually gets grated carrots added. Throw them in everywhere they fit.
  • Juliane_
    Juliane_ Posts: 373 Member
    The roasting tips are very helpful thank you
  • Also, blending them into soups and sauces is a great deal. You can make a sauce out of your daily servings!
  • Joocey
    Joocey Posts: 115 Member
    I just mix it all up with my rice so... you can't avoid them. :smile:

    (By that I mean, you -can- avoid them but it would take tremendous effort to do so.)
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    V8 spicy
    V8 juices with fruits and veggies
    barilla makes a pasta with vegetables in it
    make a pizza and stash some vegetables on it
    smoothies
    wrap things in bacon and cook it....i like asparagus that way
    pasta sauce
    dredge in panko and fry (green beans...soooooo good)
    season the hell out of em.....i like using simmering sauces (curries and vindaloos and jalfrezis, oh my!)


    that said, you dont NEED vegetables....take a multivitamin. :flowerforyou:
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Breakfast- add spinach or mushrooms to scrambled egg.
    Linchpin- base around veg soup or salad
    Dinner- add veg to pasta sauce, or stir fry, or curry. Or the famous cauliflower pizza base!
    Snacks- carrot sticks with humous, celery sticks and peanut butter, cherry tomatoes, aubergine dip
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    Today for lunch I had:
    2 servings of Pacific Organic Butternut Squash Soup,
    Heated up with Cascadian Farms Organic Chinese mix veggies and
    a rinsed off can of Goya butter beans and
    a squirt of Sriacha sauce!

    Easy and vegelicious and filling lunch for under 600 calories!
  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
    Smoothies are a good way to get in a bunch of veggies, especially if you don't particularly like veggies, because you can at least partially hide their flavor with fruits and other things.

    I never used to eat many veggies, but I forced myself by bringing a cup of broccoli or cauliflower to work in place of potato chips. Then I added a cup of carrots. I kept adding one thing at a time, and in the process, started to like the taste. Note, I like raw veggies. Cooked veggies are okay if done right, but more times than not I prefer them raw.

    Now I'm at the point where I really like veggies, provided that they're mixed in with something else. In other words, I like salads. Today's salad (copied from today's lunch diary):

    Kale - Raw, 1 cup, chopped
    Snow Peas/Pea Pods, 1/2 cup
    Carrots - Raw, 0.5 cup, chopped
    Sunset - Gourmet Medley Tomatoes
    Tyson - Grilled & Ready Grilled Chicken Breast Tenderloins, 6 oz.
    Pennsylvania Apples - Large Golden Delicious Apple, 1 apple
    Fruit - Pear Bartlett - Raw - Medium, 1 pear
    Bob's Red Mill - Black Chia Seeds Whole, 1 Tbsp
    Bob's Red Mill - Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal (W/est. Potassium), 2 Tbsp
    Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein - Organic Shelled Hemp Seed, 1 Tablespoons
    Famous Dave's - Sweet and Spicy Pickle Spear, 3 spear

    That's an 857 calorie salad with 62 grams of protein. It weighs a little over 3 pounds. (I've been meaning to weigh one of my salads and I finally remembered to do it this morning.) I only got through half of it at lunch. I'll be eating the rest of it for dinner tonight.

    In short, mix your veggies with other things you like. The contrasts in taste and texture can make for some great combos.
  • Alsvic
    Alsvic Posts: 93 Member
    +1 on the roasted

    Spray with a Msito with olive oil then salt and pepper Or Spray with olive oil then sprinkle with panko bread crumbs Garlic and parmesan cheese salt and pepper. Be carful though you will need to make several pounds of vegetables as this could easily become your new comfort food of choice.

    Of course I also eat raw vegetables at lunch every day. I usually have a small container with two tablespoons of Light dressing to dip the vegetables in, I have also used balsamic or red wine vinegar and sprinkled that on raw vegetables.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
    +1 on the V8 recommendation, it's how I started eating them. Now I can't get enough! V8 Hot and SPicy Low Sodium is my breakfast of choice.

    Play with spices. Do REALLY small servings to see if you like what you are trying before wasting a lot. Roasting is a great method.

    If you have a salt tooth, try balsamic vinegar. I use it all the time. Tastes salty but no sodium.
  • sosmerc
    sosmerc Posts: 13 Member
    I really enjoy my "vodka salad"......V8 (low sodium), 2 cocktail onions, 2 green olives, touch of Worcester sauce , mrs dash seasoning,
    pickled bean or pickled asparagus and finally, 1 ounce of Barnett's lime flavored vodka. Not only is this a great way to get some veggies, but it is filling !
  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
    cooked cauliflower, mix with sauteed garlic and throw in blender.. now you have "alfredo" sauce, or substitute for "cream of" soup to mix in a casserole with rice, pasta or quinoa (plus more veggies!)
  • subsonicbassist
    subsonicbassist Posts: 117 Member
    V8 spicy
    V8 juices with fruits and veggies
    barilla makes a pasta with vegetables in it
    make a pizza and stash some vegetables on it
    smoothies
    wrap things in bacon and cook it....i like asparagus that way
    pasta sauce
    dredge in panko and fry (green beans...soooooo good)
    season the hell out of em.....i like using simmering sauces (curries and vindaloos and jalfrezis, oh my!)

    God I miss V8 Spicy... need to get my hands on some!!!
    that said, you dont NEED vegetables....take a multivitamin. :flowerforyou:
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
    Prepare them better... no over-boiling unless you're making puree.
    Roasting and grilling can be yummy.
    Eat them with other things you like. I like mac&cheese or toasted cheese better when they have tomatoes and sometimes a few leaves of fresh spinach. This works for many sandwiches... they are more filling and can taste better with some additional vegetables (and maybe some mustard).
    Vegetables add flavor and texture to soups and lasagna.
    Use spices.
    Cinnamon on sweet potatoes. Basil with tomatoes or mushrooms. Rosemary baked with potatoes, carrots and parsnips.
    Instead of a salad with the same old 2-4 ingredients, try adding some others -- avocado, pine nuts, mixed greens, cherries, very thinly sliced radishes, zucchini, pickles, salsa.
    Speaking of which, vegetable salsa goes well with many things -- use it as a sauce when baking chicken -- the chicken is moist and it adds flavor.
    Chop up a cauliflower or head of cabbage and cook it in an Indian curry sauce.
    If steamed or boiled vegetables are too bland (I often think so) add pepper or lightly sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Some miso can also be good -- put it may add more salt then you want.
    Try some vegetables you've never had before. Sometimes it takes a second or third taste to get used to something. So if you're not sure, you may want to try it again, but if you hate it, move on, there are plenty more vegetables.
    Try different varieties of the same vegetable -- not all potatoes, squash, etc. are the same.
    Eggplant is good breaded and baked, eggplant ratatouille or casseroles.
    Casseroles, stews or jambalaya are good places to add vegetables. Okra can make a great thickener, but I hear it can be tricky to cook well.
    Look on vegetarian and other recipe sites for recipes that look yummy. Try them.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    I'm looking for ideas about how to eat more veggies. How do you make eating veggies interesting?


    Roasting, sauteeing, steaming, adding to soups, in a salad, blending for soups..... there are many great ways.
  • I don't have a problem at all with vegetables, and I find it pretty easy to cook and eat them. There are two very simple recipes I tend to make:

    Mashed sweet potatoes with spinach: Boil the sweet potatoes with the spinach, then mash the sweet potatoes, add the spinach, salt, pepper or your favorite seasonings.

    Mashed Cauliflower with cottage cheese and peanut butter (may sound disgusting, but it's actually pretty darn good).

    Either way, I like to just eat them plain. You know, boiled broccoli, tomato salads, raw carrots...

    You can always make fruit and vegetable smoothies as well.
  • beaches222
    beaches222 Posts: 437 Member
    bump
  • Leave the dirt and the pesticides on them it adds flavor.
  • willnorton
    willnorton Posts: 995 Member
    I agree with SKULL......

    drink V-8...

    they have many flavors...... you can actually drink it hot....its good on a cold night!


    "I COULD HAVE HAD A V-8 !"
  • zeal26
    zeal26 Posts: 602 Member
    Vegetable soup! Get some of any veg you have at hand and some herbs/pepper/salt, simmer it all in a pot of stock for 30 minutes and blend. Yummy, nutritious, low cal and you get a lot of servings.

    I really like Skinny Taste's Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese, and you could add cauliflower to that too.

    Other than that, I just found some veg that I like and figured out how I like them cooked. I enjoy boiled carrots, peas, sweetcorn and broccoli, chopped up small and boiled together. Make dinners that you can chuck lots of veg into, for example spaghetti bolognaise, casseroles, stir fry, risotto, omlettes.
  • Ideabaker
    Ideabaker Posts: 531 Member
    cooked cauliflower, mix with sauteed garlic and throw in blender.. now you have "alfredo" sauce, or substitute for "cream of" soup to mix in a casserole with rice, pasta or quinoa (plus more veggies!)

    Cant wait to try the substitution of the cauliflower for "cream of" soups... casseroles, here I come! Thanks for sharing.
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    Juice them, blend them, roast them, stir fry 'em, put them in a soup, cut 'em up and load them into my salad, or just eat them raw, or raw and dipped in no-oil hummus.
  • dirtmagnets
    dirtmagnets Posts: 116 Member
    I never make a smoothie that doesn't have a big handful of spinach thrown in. Spinach is also yummy in scrambled eggs or tossed on just about any sandwich. Jicama is a great tasty replacement for tortilla chips with any dip.
    I'm also fourthing? fifthing? (I lost count) the roasting idea, though. I made a batch that covers a cookie sheet every few days. Turn the oven on really high, chop up a variety of veggies, throw them on the cookie sheet with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and a shake of salt, pepper, or whatever other spices...I love garlic, ginger, or cayenne sometimes, and pop them in the oven until they're fork-tender and just starting to get browned on the edges. Vary the veggies each time. I just finished a batch of broccoli, cauliflower, jicama, red bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash yesterday, and immediately threw a new batch with butternut squash, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and sugar snap peas into the oven. I made seven cups, thinking it would last through the weekend...but it's been so tasty that I've eaten three cups today.
  • Liquid dinner eh?
  • missylectro
    missylectro Posts: 448 Member
    cooked cauliflower, mix with sauteed garlic and throw in blender.. now you have "alfredo" sauce, or substitute for "cream of" soup to mix in a casserole with rice, pasta or quinoa (plus more veggies!)
    Wow genius!
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
    1) Substitute spinach for iceberg lettuce on sandwiches.
    2) Add a bit of chopped spinach to scrambled eggs.
    3) Add some canned pumpkin (PURE pumpkin.not pumpkin pie filling) to chili (I've done this with no effect on flavor)
    4) Add fiber to your brownies by adding a can of rinsed black beans pureed with a cup of water. This will replace the oil leaving you with a moist lower-cal higher-fiber brownie.
    5) You might also look for the SNEAKY CHEF book at your library and one written by Jessica Seinfeld on how to "hide" vegetables in your food using purees. I can't vouch for how good the recipes are though..we own the book but still meaning to try 'em out as I'm not good at making/freezing lots of purees in advance as the book suggests.
  • GeminiFitness1
    GeminiFitness1 Posts: 63 Member
    you need to prepare them with something different for example kale is great with garlic and olive oil. Also it is great with onions. Can make broccoli with a vinaigrette sauce by adding Italian dressing.
  • KeepGoingKylene
    KeepGoingKylene Posts: 432 Member
    cooked cauliflower, mix with sauteed garlic and throw in blender.. now you have "alfredo" sauce, or substitute for "cream of" soup to mix in a casserole with rice, pasta or quinoa (plus more veggies!)

    Cant wait to try the substitution of the cauliflower for "cream of" soups... casseroles, here I come! Thanks for sharing.

    Agreed, I am pretty stoked to try this, thanks!