Eat Your Kale! Part Two

Ta da!  I bring you the follow-up to my Ode to Veggie Buying post, Veggie recipes! Coming atcha.  These are some of my favorite ways to sneak veggies into my days, so I'm not just using steamfresh bags over and over and over, boring myself (and my tastebuds) to tears.  Some of them are pretty darn simple, but worth mentioning.  So, without further adieu, here be my top 8 Veggie-getter-inners.  Enjoy!

1.  Leafy greens blended into a morning (or anytime) smoothie, particularly spinach.  Say what??  Oh yes, a favorite trick from Jackie Warner that I have latched onto, I blend up a handful of spinach with berries, milk, ice, and protein powder for a kickass shake that delivers an awesome nutrient punch.  You really don't taste them and it doesn't turn the shake green.  Much.  Be bold.  Give it a whirl.  Literally.

2.  Roasted vegetables.  This is a standby favorite for me and Ed.  Chop up peppers, onions, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, any non-starchy veggie!  Spray with Pam cooking spray, and lots of garlic and all the excellent Mrs. Dash salt-free flavors, and broil.  Though be forewarned - I hope you have built up your fiber intake like we discussed!  Poor Ed - I fed him a large serving of roasted veggies one evening last year and the kid was.. indisposed for a good portion of the night.  But if your body's prepared, rroasting veggies can give them an awesome texture (crispy on the outside, creamier on the inside), and more pronounced flavor.  You can mix them in with rice, or soup, or served cold on salad, or just on their own.  My best tip: bake first, then broil.  This softens the veggies up before browning, especially eggplant.  Do your best to not add salt.  Think:  Mrs. Dash Mrs. Dash Mrs. Dash.

3.  Sick of spinach salad?  Try wilted leafy greens. Toss that bag of spinach or arugula or kale right into the saute pan with some fresh garlic and Pam cooking spray.  You get different nutrients from cooked spinach than you do from fresh.  (When you cook it, you partially break down some cell walls and some nutrients are more available for your body to soak them up.)  Wilted greens are great mixed in with whole wheat pasta, or as a serving bed for grilled meats. 

4.  Kale chips.  WHAT a discovery!  I found a recipe for baking crispy chips out of kale - all you do is trim away the tough stalks and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces.  Spray with Pam, sprinkle with pepper and garlic powder, and bake at about 350 degrees fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes until the edges start to brown.  They get crispy and satisfy that salty potato chip craving.  It's quite amazing.

5.  Serve your rice or meat dish inside a stuffed pepper.  It's like putting chowder in a soup bowl in San Francisco, except you are adding fiber, Vitamin C for very low calories.  And talk about presentation points!  You will be cooking Iron Chef-style in your very own home.  See this great recipe here.

6.  As previously mentioned, bulk up soups with added veggies.  Even if it's a vegetable soup to begin with, volumize that sucker with big chunks of fresh, sauteed, or roasted zucchini, onions, or mushrooms.  (Thank you, Dr. Barbara Rolls for your awesome research. Let's Go Penn State!) You can increase the satiety (fullness) you feel after the meal and improve the overall nutritional profile of your meal by adding veggies.

7.  Veggie omelets.  Bits of leftover broccoli in the fridge?  A quarter of an onion hiding in your crisper?  Chop those babies up and toss them in a veggie white omelet.  Very low-cal, high in protein, a veggie omelet is a great snack to use up extra veggies which might otherwise get tossed into the garbage. 

8.  Make veggies fun!  Recently we had a party at our place, and I wanted to have some healthy options out there for my guests.  I made doctored-up chicken salad with cut veggies, and fresh cooked shrimp, but I wanted more veggies!  But you can only display so many baby carrots and cucumber  slices.  Enter the idea of veggie kebabs! (Pic at Left)  I got some bamboo skewers and slid on chunks or red and green peppers and grape tomatoes, alternated with kalamata olives and cubes of low-sodium cheese.  It was pretty, colorful and fun, and even Ed's fellow big muscley-manly-man friends were grabbing a skewer of veggies to snack on.  (I can't be held responsible for the cupcakes in the background.)  It was a nice way to add pizzazz to a crudite (raw veggie appetizer) plate.

So yes, they may be simple sneaks, but these little tricks are mighty!  Try a different tactic each day this week and watch your inatke reach that 5 cups-a-day recommendation in no time.  Happy experimenting!