9 Simple Ways to Eat More Veggies Daily
By Sandy Schroeder
Even families who love veggies often eat less of them than they should. Breakfast bagels, fast food burgers, tacos, burritos, and pepperoni pizzas get in the way. If you understand the problem, and are looking for ways to make veggies happen at your house, these tips from the kitchen.com may help.
Start with family favorites – If your kids love corn-on-the-cob, or fresh tomatoes and green onions, put those at the top of list and keep adding more favorites with special recipes. One of my best finds was an eggplant dip. All you do is roast a whole eggplant, cool, peel, mash the contents and mix in vinegar, olive oil and garlic. Chill and serve on crackers.
Take your kids to a farmers market – Show them how to find good avocados, choose corn and look for the best celery and carrots. Then pick some good recipes to use everything that you bought.
Let your kids help cook – If your kids are old enough to fix the salad or mix up a veggie dip, getting them involved with dinner will encourage them to eat healthier, too.
Fix veggies for the whole week – Daily cooking is better but cleaning, chopping and roasting a whole batch of green beans, beets, Brussels sprouts and peppers will make them ready to go as you put together soups, meatloaves, and tacos during the week.
Eat salads with every meal – Add veggies to the morning omelet, salads with sandwiches for lunch, and serve another salad with dinner. Keep homemade dressings and bags of pre-washed greens on hand. Then just add your choice of avocado slices, carrots, green onions, beets or peppers.
Drink your vegetables – Juice carrots, greens and beets or make a green smoothie with spinach, apples and berries. Experiment until you get the right combinations.
Cheat a little – Shred carrots into meatloaves, casseroles and soups. Add chopped green pepper to pizzas and slice avocados into salads, sandwiches and tacos. Add vegetables to every dish.
Substitute veggies for crackers – Use green onions, carrot sticks, green pepper slices and cucumber wedges as dips for hummus or sour crème dips.
Use frozen veggies as backup - When your fresh vegetables are gone use frozen peas, green beans, broccoli or carrots for soups, side dishes and casseroles.
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