How to incorporate more veggies??

Stir fry with meat of your choice, bok choy, snap or snow peas, onion, mushrooms, etc.

Quick sauté of baby spinach, baby kale, baby protein greens, etc

I'm a bit lazy and buy organic Caesar, slaw and chopped salad kits because they have a mix of greens in them and to buy all the different vegetables would be too much volume and they'd go bad before I'd have a chance to use them. The primary reason I get organic is the dressings tend to have less garbage in them than non-organic but if you don't mind that there are plenty of those to choose from.

Spiralize (or julienne) zucchini and use in place of pasta with a meat sauce.

Oven roasted Brussels sprouts are pretty good. Give them a light coat of olive oil and roast in the oven.

Vegetables can be boring so look for recipes where you add just one or two things. For example I might add a little lemon juice and slivered almonds to sautéed green beans or asparagus. Or cook Brussels sprouts with a piece or two of sliced up bacon. Dip raw vegetables (celery, cucumber, carrots, etc) in hummus or a yogurt dip.

Buy already shredded cabbage/carrot slaw mix and add a dressing of your choice. I like to Asian it up with sesame oil, cider vinegar and a little peanut butter. But you can just add mayo. I sometimes use Primal Kitchen chipotle lime avocado mayo. Makes it a little spicy but flavorful.

I used to make pasta and throw in baby spinach at the last minute of cooking and then drain the whole thing together adding a little grated parm (or feta) and tomatoes.

One of my tricks is my dehydrator.
Sliced thin and dehydrated? Tomatoes are great!
Dehydrated cucumber slices are good, too.
Others I have tried are string beans, spinach, even yellow onions are delicious when diced coarsely and dehydrated to a crunch.

Just be sure to have something to drink when you snack on them. Too much fiber and not enough water is an excellent cork where you really don’t want a cork.

I love dipping fresh veggies in hummus or lite ranch dressing. I'll add a variety of veggies to my omelets, such as spinach, onions, green peppers, mushrooms. I also will heat up a veggie burger and slather it with those same veggies, sometimes a little avocado. Minestrone soups are great for adding tons of veggies! Lately my breakfast has been a huge green salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms(and whatever else I have on hand).
Sweet potato fries are good.
Lots of foods are great for sneaking veggies in to it, all kinds of casseroles and soups. If you like smoothies throw in spinach. My sister made a smoothie using a whole pack of fresh spinach and she said you'd never know it was in there. Just mix in with lots of fruits such as blueberries, banana, and strawberries.

LazyBlondeChef wrote: »

Buy already shredded cabbage/carrot slaw mix and add a dressing of your choice. I like to Asian it up with sesame oil, cider vinegar and a little peanut butter. But you can just add mayo. I sometimes use Primal Kitchen chipotle lime avocado mayo. Makes it a little spicy but flavorful.

I'd like to try the sesame oil, cider vinegar, peanut butter dressing. Can you please provide the ratios or recipe?

Add some to your smoothies. A handful of spinach makes no difference to the taste. And I love rhubarb in my smoothies.

TX_Bluebonnet wrote: »

LazyBlondeChef wrote: »

Buy already shredded cabbage/carrot slaw mix and add a dressing of your choice. I like to Asian it up with sesame oil, cider vinegar and a little peanut butter. But you can just add mayo. I sometimes use Primal Kitchen chipotle lime avocado mayo. Makes it a little spicy but flavorful.

I'd like to try the sesame oil, cider vinegar, peanut butter dressing. Can you please provide the ratios or recipe?

I tend to eyeball things but maybe 1/4 cup peanut butter and a tbsp each of sesame oil and vinegar. Then taste and adjust as you like.

This white miso dressing was quite delicious so if you have all the ingredients give it a try.
https://www.loveandlemons.com/asian-slaw/

You can have half baked soupy vegetables with some black pepper salt and salt to make it taste better. Half bakes veggies holds the nutrients intact that are crucial for our body.

Green smoothies are great. The trick is balancing the vegetables with something sweet and, for me, low carb. Ocean Spray makes a 5-calorie cranberry juice blend that I like. So I use five ounces of that, an ounce of greens (spinach, kale, anything darker than iceberg), and then whatever I have. I like to add half a jalapeño for a flavor boost. I've added any of these: mandarin orange, chopped onion, carrots, tomato, chia seed, avocado. I try for at least four vegetables. You either need a very good blender or a lot of patience. You will probably have to mash everything down a few times to get it going. It's kind of a project, but really tasty. It makes about two cups after you rinse out the blender with a little water and stir that in. Raw food is (usually) the best way to get the most nutrients out of your vegetables. If you don't add banana or a high carb fruit your overall carbohydrate count will be fairly low but solid on fiber.

Pro tip: rinse out your blender, fill it about half full of warm water and one or two drops of dish soap, then turn it back on for just a few seconds. Your blades will clean themselves and you just have to wipe down the sides and lid, and rinse.

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.

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?

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...

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.

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.