Simple Ways to Add Veggies to All Your Meals
When I was wanting to improve my diet and my health, I read about twenty different diet books. I tried one diet or way of eating, right after another. OMG!! Would it ever end?!
And then I realized something…. no matter the specific diet (high carb, low fat, no carb, vegetarian, Ayurvedic, etc.) they ALL focused on veggies….
Soooooooooo I started eating ‘normally’ again (albeit much healthier) but no matter what, I just added more veggies to all my meals. Diet dilemmas solved!! And, it was easy peasy which you know I love!!
But you don’t have to distill 20+ diet books’ worth of info because I am here to share a few tips you can use to pack the veggies in to any dish! I challenge you to do this for 1 week and let me know how it goes!
1. Sandwiches – pile on whatever veggies you like: lettuce, spinach, arugula, or another green. Add tomato, onion, cucumbers, sprouts, carrot shreds, sliced radishes…. what are some of your other favorites to add to a sandwich? Instead of mayo, use pesto (without parmesan) or hummus, or smashed avocado (yumm!)
2. Pasta – add grated carrots, diced bell peppers, chopped onions, cubed eggplant, zucchini or other squash to a tomato sauce. Or instead of tomato-based sauce, simply saute veggies (any of these or a combo: onions, broccoli, zucchini, peas, butternut squash) in a little bit of olive oil, top the pasta with veggies, sprinkle on a bit of parmesan cheese. Bonus points: spiralize or thin-slice zucchini or yellow squash instead of pasta!
3. Soups and chili – the sky’s the limit! Add as many veggies as you can. I love to add green beans, celery and zucchini to soup, and carrots and onions and bell peppers (even eggplant) are great in chili.
4. Scrambled eggs and/or omelettes – I love to saute onion, garlic, spinach, and mushrooms to top my eggs, then serve it topped with avocado and tomato.
5. Salads – “Wait,” I hear you saying… “A salad already has veggies!” Well, that’s true, but you can kick it up a notch by adding in even MORE veggies! You can create a salad so filling, it’s an entire meal. I recommend adding broccoli florets, strips of bell pepper, shredded carrot, cucumber, zucchini or yellow squash, green beans, shredded beets (raw or roasted), and edamame (young soy beans – add the bean only, not the pod. You can buy these pre-shelled and frozen).
Really, the sky’s the limit… use your imagination. What’s in season in your local area now? What veggies do you love? Throw them in with whatever you are making!