Getting Enough Veggies!

Surely you don't hate EVERY veggie? How have you tried them? Frozen, canned, roasted, in soups? I used to hate veggies too, but my mom only bought the canned stuff... now I can't say I love them, but I tolerate them, and frankly they are very filling for the calories so I make sure to eat them.

I love Green Giant steamers, even if the sauce stuff is probably not the 'healthiest', I love them roasted, I love mashed cauliflower (or cauliflower anything really), I love making soups... I easily get 5+ servings of veggies a day that way.

Sneak finely chopped spinach into meatballs, casseroles and marinara sauces. Add grated carrots to casseroles. Make mashed potatoes with half potatoes, half cauliflower. Add chopped onions to practically any sauce. If vegetables are really all gross and disgusting to you, how about fruit? If you absolutely can't stand the idea of veggies being a part of your daily diet for the rest of your life, try making your peace with fruit and making sure you get vitamins from them.

What about wraps? Lunch for example today was 1/2 turkey burger, spinach, sprouts, avocado, onion, and a little cheese. I got like 2 cups of spinach and 1/2 cup of sprouts in there like it was nothing.

Or put them in your smoothies. You can cover the taste of spinach easily in a smoothie and carrots add a nice sweetness.

Or soups.

Cauliflower, onion, zucchini and carrots super finely chopped can all hide very easily in a meatloaf. Sauteed cabbage, carrots, onions with ground pork, garlic powder, soy sauce or balsamic vinegar will give you a chinese egg roll substitute just make sure to top with the crunch of french fried onions or chinese noodles.
Spaghetti sauce is another fantastic way to hide veggies.
Mushrooms are often disliked by many but if you use fresh and chop them small and cook with your ground meat you'll often times never know they exist.

Basically just start trying new things, you're bound to find something you like. I didn't discover until 2 years ago I liked FRESH green beans, hated them as a kid but now I can't do canned. Sweet potatoes were like that too, can't stand them sweet (like with marshmallows) but give them to me just baked and I'm in heaven no butter, no seasonings just plain.

In many ways, vegetables are the most important food humans eat. There are so many different ones and different ways to cook them that saying one "hates vegetables" means it's likely the person has only eaten a few of them and those cooked in very limited ways. Get adventurous. Yes, on occasion, your garbage disposal may have a hearty meal but a lot of times you'll find some really yummy foods to enjoy.

I enjoy putting info about cooking in my blog. Maybe you'll find this suggestion for saucing green beans tasty. The easiest way to start is to get a microwave-in-bag frozen package of green beans and follow the directions on it. Then just sauce those green beans. The resulting dish bears NO resemblance to canned or Southern-style green beans, which, to my mind, are disgusting. We all have some veggies we like and others we don't.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/HeidiCooksSupper/view/decadently-sauce-those-veggies-695403

I love veggies, especially roasted or sauteed in garlic. I also take frozen chopped spinach or kale and add it to omelettes, quesadillas, wraps, stir fry, soups, pasta, rice pilafs, whatever you want. Good way to sneak it in without affecting the flavour too much

In addition to many of the ways that others have noted they use veggies, I like to make:

Breakfast
--crustless quiche (whatever veggies and/or cheese and/or veggie sausage/ham, etc.)
--strata (layered and baked whole-wheat bread, eggs/eggbeaters, a variety of veggies, and veggie sausage/ham, etc.
--muffins and breads made with pumpkin, butternut squash, zucchini, and/or carrots, etc.
(these make good snacks too)

Lunch/Dinner
--vegetable fried rice (more veggies than rice and just enough oil to keep it from sticking to the pan),
--whole-wheat pizza with veggies (sometimes using a light Alfredo sauce as an alternative to red sauce and cheese or topped with roasted chard, onion, corn, and feta when I want a change of pace),
--colcannon (an Irish dish made with potatoes and cabbage),
--"lasagna" made without noodles (layers of eggplant, spinach, cheese, and red sauce),
-- "spaghetti" made without noodles (spaghetti squash with a variety of toppings (chicken sausage, red sauce, ricotta, and other veggies mixed in e.g., spinach, onions, mushrooms)
--tuna salad (mix in various veggies depending if I make a hot or cold salad - including peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers,onions)
--Indian food - there are many excellent vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine.

Dessert
--crustless pumpkin pie
--rice pudding with shredded carrots and raisins

The possibilities are limitless!