Continuing from yesterday's post . . .
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Can we discuss different ways we have found to incorporate more fruits and vegetables each day?
I thought through some of the things that have been helping me to increase my own intake. Here's what's been helping me:
- preparing vegetables in a variety of ways -- steamed, pureed, oven-roasted, grilled. Changing up how I prepare the veggies keeps me interested in eating them.
- using different sources of pureed fruits and vegetables -- baby food, canned pumpkin, applesauce, tomato paste/sauce, canned vegetables to be pureed at home.
- I use my food processor, immersion blender and pitcher blender regularly. Each appliance has it's best use. The immersion blender is great for soups, sauces, and gravies. The food processor is my best appliance for thicker purees, like hummus and cooked vegetables. The pitcher blender is what I use for smoothies, with lots of expansion room and a lid to prevent splatters.
- To any dish with a smooth, pureed, or creamy texture, I add pureed or powdered fruits or vegetables. This would be soups, gravies, sauces (cheese sauce for mac and cheese), smoothies, dips/hummus.
- Baby food fruits or vegetables can be used in place of some of the fats in baking.
- Dips can be made healthier by adding a spoonful of pureed carrots, squash, or spinach to the sour cream base.
- In the afternoon, when I might have a cup of tea or coffee, if I haven't had enough produce that day, I "drink" a cup of vegetable soup instead.
- I add vegetable powder or pureed vegetables to many dessert items. Chocolate and cocoa powder can hide a few tablespoons of pureed spinach or carrots. Cinnamon and other sweet spices can hide the taste of pumpkin, carrots, yams, and zucchini.
- Also, I choose fruit or vegetable-based desserts often.
- Pureed vegetables are great to help thicken the broth in soups.
- I try to include a vegetable (or fruit we eat as a veggie) with breakfast. For example, if having an egg for breakfast, I add a grilled tomato on the side. I add a spoonful of pureed pumpkin or carrot to hot cereal, yogurt, or smoothies. I spread toast with avocado instead of butter, when in season.
- Grated fresh carrot or apple can be mixed into peanut butter.
- Bean spreads with pureed veggies added make nice sandwich spreads.
- When making sandwiches, I'm liberal with the addition of vegetables -- roasted sliced veggies, chopped fresh greens, and sliced tomatoes. Grilled sliced eggplant is almost meaty on a bean-spread sandwich.
- I try not to think of it as 5+ large piles of fruits or vegetables. Instead, I think in terms of small amounts of fruits and vegetables many, many times per day.
- We top rice, potatoes, pasta, and vegetables with dips, salsas, and pestos instead of butter or gravy.
- I sometimes use vegetables as the base for pasta sauce.
If you're just starting to increase your fruits and vegetables, do so gradually. I've gotten too enthusiastic in this area before and paid for it with terrible digestive pain.
The tastiest thing I've made this week that had extra veggies added was hummus with some leafy greens pureed into the garbanzo beans.
How about you? What are your best ways to sneak in a few extra fruits or veggies? What's been your tastiest extra veggie creation?
