Veggies should be at the heart of every meal. The nutrition benefits are undeniable and can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. However, it can be tricky to incorporate greens into your day, especially if you have picky eaters in the household. Fear not – below are five ways to begin sneaking greens into your meals.
Smoothies
One of the easiest ways to sneak veggies into a common smoothie is to turn it green! Simply add a handful of spinach or grseen to your drink before blending and voila! You’ve added a healthy serving of greens into your day. Greens mix well in a Nutribullet or Ninja, but a Vitamix does the best job of blending your greens. When mixed with fruit, the greens are virtually tasteless. In my opinion, green smoothies taste better too because the greens help counter the sweetness of fruit.
Start here for some delicious green smoothie recipes: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/the-best-green-smoothie-recipes/.
Oatmeal
Hot cereal is typically a healthy option for breakfast, but you can make it even better with shredded zucchini, also known as Zoats! Zucchini oats have nice texture and add volume to a dish, and my favorite way to prepare it is as a savory oatmeal with a fried egg on top. If you feel like having breakfast for dinner, savory oatmeal tastes great with sausage, kale, mushrooms, bell peppers, and of course, shredded zucchini!
A simple zoats recipe can be found here: https://detoxinista.com/zucchini-oatmeal/.
Zoodles
This is a crowd pleaser for all ages. Zoodles are kid friendly from start to finish, especially when you make your own with a veggie spiralizer. If you don’t want to make your own, they’re available fresh in the produce section and frozen too! They can serve as a pasta substitute or even a nice side dish.
Click here for different ways to make and cook zucchini noodles: https://downshiftology.com/how-to-make-and-cook-zucchini-noodles-the-most-popular-methods/.
Bread
Zucchini bread is a classic recipe. It’s fairly straight forward to make and is packed with plenty of the green vegetable. Instead of opting for banana bread, consider making zucchini bread. It tastes great with a little butter and is also a nice fulfilling snack.
A classic zucchini recipe can be found here: https://www.thewholesomedish.com/the-best-classic-zucchini-bread/.
Salad Pairings
Sometimes the easiest way to “sneak” greens into your meals is to make sure a salad is paired with your main entrée. For breakfast, I love making a fresh arugula salad with cherry tomatoes and eating it with poached eggs and diced roasted potatoes. Many salads pack well for lunch and many enjoy prepping their salads in jars ahead of time. If you don’t know where to start, a Caesar salad goes well with many dinner dishes and doesn’t require many ingredients: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/classic-caesar-salad.
Beyond recipes, a fun trick to incorporating more greens into your meals is to start a tally and compete with family and friends. Each type of green vegetable is worth one point. For example, if you eat a salad with kale, cucumbers, and tomatoes, you earn two points. If your friend makes a green smoothie with berries, banana, and spinach, they earn one point. Keep track of your points throughout the day to motivate each other to eat more vegetables!
