25 Apr 5 Delicious Ways to Enjoy Vegetables This Spring
We don’t need a reminder as to why veggies are such an important part of our diet, but actually getting those veggies in remains a challenge for many of us! Spring is the perfect time to revive your efforts to eat more veggies, here are 5 ways you can enjoy vegetables this spring!
1.Always have Pre-Cut Veggies Ready.
Always have veggies cut up for and ready for snacking, salads or side dishes. For example, if you suddenly made a meal for lunch or dinner that does not contain any veggies, you can easily add vegetables by simply stir-frying the pre-cut veggies or consuming them raw like baby carrots or broccoli with some ranch dip. When they are pre-cut it takes away one more barrier to get you to eat more of them, give it a try, you may be surprised just how much more you eat when it’s more convenient to do so!
2.Add Veggies to your Breakfast
Try incorporating veggies into your breakfast! This is possible whether you’re a heavy breakfast person or a smoothie person. You can spruce up your breakfast by adding a handful of leafy greens like kale or spinach or frozen cauliflower to your favorite smoothies.
3.Make Noodles or Wraps Out of Your Veggies
Using vegetables as noodles or wraps has become popular recently, especially for those who want to lessen the carbohydrate load or eliminate gluten from pasta and tortillas. Some vegetables often used as a noodle substitute include butternut squash, sweet potato, beet, cucumber, carrots, radish, and zucchini. If only using the veggie as your noodles seems too ambitious for picky eaters, try mixing ½ spaghetti or your favorite noodles of choice with ½ of the veggie noodle! As for wraps, vegetables commonly used are leafy greens like cabbage and romaine or bibb lettuce.
4.Healthy Chips Alternative
Don’t knock it until you try it! Carrots are often sold pre-cut into chip shapes, but even baby carrots can be enjoyed with your favorite dips or hummus. Broccoli, grape tomatoes and radishes are great options as well!
5.Play Around with Seasonings
With so many varieties of seasoning blends available at the grocery store and various recipes online, there are endless possibilities when it comes to how you can season your veggies to make them appealing to you and your family! Don’t be afraid to get creative with seasonings and even add a little butter or olive oil to add flavor, there are fat soluble vitamins in vegetables that can be better absorbed if consumed with a little bit of fat.
As you can see,veggies don’t need to be boring! Try out these tips mentioned above to incorporate more veggies into your diet this spring and you may be able to create a new healthy habit that lasts all year long!
Maryann Walsh, MFN, RD, CDE
Registered Dietitian/ Consultant