Easy Ways to Get More Vegetables in Your Cooking

Healthy Food Choices

Eat Your Vegetables

There so many easy ways to get more vegetables in your cooking. I’m always shocked when people tell me they don’t eat and/or like veggies. I absolutely love veggies and can’t understand why others don’t share that same love for them. Regardless of whether you like vegetables or not, you know you should eat more green vegetables.

Eating a salad and calling that “eating vegetables” will not cut it. Eating a plentiful amount of healthy greens every day is one of the top ways to stay healthy, feel great, and ward off ailments. Healthy, nutritious foods are definitely medicine. Here are some other options and easy ways to help you get more vegetables into your cooking.

Ways to Include More Green Veggies in Your Meals: 

1. Try these techniques to use vegetables in pasta dishes:

• Cook regular pasta and simply add healthy vegetables to it. Zucchini, squash, peppers, broccoli, and spinach are some delicious vegetables to include in your pasta. They go well with pasta and really enhance the dish.  Don’t like those options?  Just keep trying different veggies until you find some that work for you.  All of these healthy veggies taste great whether raw, steamed, or sautéed in healthy oils.

• Make pasta noodles out of vegetables. A spiralizer can help you make thin strips out of sweet potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, and more. It doesn’t get much healthier than using vegetables as your noodle base! If you don’t have a spiralizer, then you can cut veggies into thin slices or strips with a knife. Using spiralizer is your best bet if you don’t have a lot of time or don’t particularly enjoy cooking.  You can also purchase spiral vegetables at the store. Unfortunately, convenience comes at a cost.  Have you seen the price of already done spirals?  Not cheap.

2. Use soups, and sauces. This method may work well for all the picky eaters or children who aren’t adventurous eaters. You’ll need a blender or mixer to puree the veggies to hide them in sauces.

• Consider the types of veggies you can puree: tomatoes, squash, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and others.

3. Meatballs, pizza, and pot pies. You can hide veggies in all three of these foods.

• The key is to add them to the mix before cooking. You can puree the veggies, so they’re easier to mix. Once they’re cooked, it’s usually impossible to see or taste the veggies.

4. Don’t forget wraps and sandwiches. Make veggies your base instead of bread when making sandwiches and wraps.

• Use lettuce as a wrap for a different take on a burrito or taco. I love cooking ground turkey, mixing in seasoning and herbs, and putting the mixture in some lettuce and wrapping it all up. Yummy!

• Another option is to use a thick leaf of lettuce or kale instead of bread for a sandwich. You can stack your tomatoes, cheese, meat, and other items on top.

5. Bring a casserole to life and try something different by adding green veggies.

• Adding veggies helps make casseroles look more pleasing with a variety of colors and have more flavor. Experiment with different vegetables and flavors to figure out what works best for you.

6. This is my favorite way to “get em in.” Blending a variety of fruits and veggies makes for a healthy and tasty treat.  I usually use a base of frozen wild blueberries and bananas and then mix in green vegetables for a variety of tastes.

• Kale, spinach and other green veggies go well with bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and apples.
• Check out the Ultimate Plant-Based Recipe Collection, where you will find 58 delicious and easy-to-make meals.

Green Veggies Have a Multiple of Health Advantages 

Green veggies contain large amounts of fiber and vitamins. If you’re struggling with eating healthy, consider using veggies in new ways. Your health will improve significantly and you may even find you actually do like vegetables.

Be happy. Be healthy. Be OrganicallYou!