It’s time for another vegetable challenge: version 2.0.
I’m not sure how many of you took part in my first veggie challenge back in October, or at least how many of you aimed to reach the goal of eating 10 different veggies per day. But with the new year, and almost everyone looking to improve their diet one way or another, I think it is a good time to toss a few more veggies into the mix.
Here are a few tips to help you get your veggies in for all three meals per day, plus snacks and even dessert. Yes, you can even hide veggies in desserts! Shhh… don’t tell the kids.
I’m also sharing a recipe for my Thai Style Ginger Peanut Stir-Fry, which can be cooked in just 15 minutes. Add 10-15 minutes for chopping and you have a meal in under half an hour. Make some rice or quinoa and call it dinner.
Thai ginger peanut stir-fry
Why eat a variety of vegetables?
In essence, we should be eating a variety of fresh vegetables to obtain a wide range of nutrients (i.e. vitamins and minerals). Since each vegetable has its own unique nutritional profile and offers unique health benefits, it’s best to mix up your veg factor.
Same goes for eating a variety of fresh fruit, but that’s another post.
So here are my tips to increase your vegetable intake on the daily, from breakfast to dessert.
Breakfast
- try a veggie scramble, either alongside eggs or a tofu scramble for plant-based
- and speaking of eggs, what about a veggie-loaded egg white omelet, frittata, or healthy breakfast burrito?
- like home fries or hash brown potatoes? Turn it into a healthier sweet potato number, and if you are home-frying it, add in some mushrooms, onions and bell peppers; you could even add in some cilantro if that’s your thing
- if you like a sweet vs savory breakfast, add some pumpkin to pancakes, or turn that banana bread or blueberry muffin into pumpkin bread or zucchini muffins (or do a combo of pumpkin-banana or zucchini-banana bread)
- if a cold smoothie or juice is your thing , then the possibilities are endless: for smoothies, you can even steam and freeze cauliflower or zucchini for extra veggie goodness; and raw greens such as spinach and kale always work, just add the veg to any smoothie alongside some berries or banana, plant protein, and raw cacao
Lunch
- salads, salads, and more salads. To bulk up your salads use hearty greens such as kale, romaine and spinach, and chop some seasonal salad veggies and add some super nutrient-dense microgreens or fresh herbs
- and soups! For soups do a veggie loaded bean soup, and/or in place of traditional noodles in your soup do spiraled veggie noodles such as carrot or zucchini
- make a loaded veggie wrap, and/or use collard greens as the “wraps”
- veggie “sushi” rolls, anyone? Usually these are made with nori, quinoa and fresh veggies, and remember the pickled ginger, which counts as a veg, and so does the nori wrapper
- how about a cauliflower crust pizza? Or a use cauliflower rice used in place of traditional rice as a side dish, or for paella or tabbouleh
Stir-fry with organic quinoa makes the meal a complete protein
Dinner
- just like with soup, rather than using traditional noodles in your pasta try veggie spiraled noodles with fresh zucchini or carrots.
- do roasted spaghetti squash noodles instead of wheat spaghetti (or at least do half of each)
- are you a lasagna fan? Try roasted thin pieces of eggplant to use in place of lasagna noodles
- you can add extra veggies to tomato sauce, such as carrots, celery, bell peppers (just puree it if you or the kiddies don’t want chunks of vegetables in your marinara)
- if noodles are a must, buy noodles that have veggies already in them ~ such as spinach pasta, or this lemon thyme fresh linguine, or shiitake rice noodles for Asian dishes; or use pasta made from garbanzo bean flour such as Banza
- make Jerran’s stir-fry recipes (shameless plug, I know)
- doing BBQ? Add some extra veggies to that slaw ~ carrots, shredded kale, scallion and purple cabbage are all great to make “slaw”
- like or love pesto sauce? Add some fresh spinach to the recipe, and herbs count as veggies, too! And they have a ton of health bennies
- make a butternut squash sauce instead of cheese sauce, it goes great over pasta! You can see my recipe for butternut squash pasta here
Snack
- crudites and a healthy dip is always a good way to go
- rather than make a lonely chickpea hummus, add some cooked butternut squash or roasted beets for veggie hummus, otherwise known as hummus 2.0
- kale chips, either store bought or homemade, but homemade are so easy and way better
- if you aren’t avoiding soy for dietary reasons, fresh edamame with lime or roasted dried edamame are a great high-protein snack, just look for organic and/or non-GMO certified
Dessert
- carrot cake (obvi)
- chocolate chip zucchini bars (this counts, right?)
- pumpkin pie (couldn’t help myself!)
- and, sorry avocado lovers, those are actually a fruit, but you can still use avocado in chocolate mousse to add creaminess without unhealthy fats
What is your favorite way to get your veggies in? Leave a comment and let me know! And you can check my Instagram feed for more recipes and food pics.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
|
- 1 tsp avocado oil
- 1 handful fresh green beans ends trimmed
- 1 each red or yellow bell pepper sliced
- 1 cup chopped broccoli florets
- 3 each scallions sliced
- 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 cup carrot ribbons or coarse carrot shreds
- 1 handful fresh baby spinach
- 1 handful fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 each lime juiced
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
Ingredients
|
|
- heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, when hot add oil
- add green beans, sauté 2-3 minutes
- add bell pepper and broccoli florets, sauté about 5 minutes, adding a splash of water as needed if pan dries out
- add scallion and ginger, sauté 2-3 minutes
- add carrot ribbons and snap peas, sauté another 2-3 minutes
- add spinach and cilantro, cook until just wilted
- season veggies with pink salt and black pepper to taste, then squeeze lime juice over and top with peanuts
- *Recipe serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a veggie side dish
- for extra Asian-y flavor add a splash of low-sodium gluten-free organic tamari or soy sauce
- sub coconut aminos for soy/tamari if avoiding soy
- for heat add some chili garlic sauce, sriracha, or red or aleppo pepper flakes
- if you want to add some extra protein, try tofu, edamame or tempeh for vegetarian, or whatever your fave protein is
- you can make carrot “ribbons” with a peeler by peeling the ribbons from the thick end of a carrot
Original recipe created by Jerran Boyer
www.healthnutchefs.com