How to Sneak in More Healthy Veggies into Your Holiday Meals
Hey Angels and Alphas,
Have you ever had trouble getting your family to focus on nutrition and eat more veggies? If trying to get your family to eat more veggies is on your winter to-do list, today, you’re going to learn how to do exactly that.
While sneaking in veggies may seem rather, well, sneaky, this strategy has nothing to do with “tricking” anyone into eating more veggies.
But if you slowly and consistently increase your family’s exposure to more plant foods and then set an example through modeling behavior (or in other words, practicing what you preach,) you can definitely succeed.
That being said, sometimes, it can be pretty tough to add new (or more) veggies to your menu – especially if you’re going to go up against kids!
That’s why below, we’ve explored a few proven strategies for adding more veggies into some of your favorite family recipes.
#1 DOUBLING UP ON YOUR VEGGIES
Doubling up is one of the best ways you can go about sneaking in more veggies into your meals – simply double the veggies already in the dish. This works surprisingly well in pasta, soups, stews, and even casseroles. If you’re making a dish that will call for 1 cup of greens, add 2.
And here’s another thing you can do – if your favorite grilled chicken with zucchini-asparagus has about 4 cups of zucchini to 2 cups of asparagus, you could bump up the amount of the veggies so they equal 1 cup of cooked veggies for every serving. Play around with the ratios of your meals and you’ll find very creative ways in which you can increase the veggie ratio.
#2 JUST SHRED IT AND THROW IT IN
It’s very easy to add finely diced or shredded veggies to your family favorites. Carrots and celery can be easy to hide in a lot of meat dishes, and so can a lot of root veggies.
When you’re roasting potatoes, add turnips or parsnips to your sheet pan and mix in some diced butternut squash. If your dish is going to need an extra sauce, try a plant-based gravy. Steamed carrots and sweet potatoes go pretty well in muffins, breads, waffles, and pancakes. Diced butternut squash can go well in chili. The possibilities are endless!
#3 TRY VEGGIE ALTERNATIVES OF PASTA AND RICE
You can sometimes find that veggies are basically masquerading as rice or pasta in the frozen food aisle at your local grocery store. Broccoli, sweet potato, and cauliflower rice are all tasty, easy substitutions for rice that is stir-fry or in buddha bowls. Try it in burritos, tacos, pasta dishes, it goes well everywhere.
And here’s another tip: you can try spaghetti squash if you’re looking for an alternative to pasta. It can taste just as well but have a richer nutrient profile than traditional pasta.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS…
From your pastas and soups to pizzas, there is always a way to add more vegetables to just about every meal you cook. And while you’re getting your family to eat more plants is a great win for everyone’s health, it can definitely feel like a challenge you need a plan and strategy for – especially if you’re dealing with picky eaters.
But with a little creative thinking, you can start reworking some of your favorite old meals into veggie-rich alternatives that will be absolutely delicious, nutritious, and beneficial to your family’s health.
Try doubling up, cutting down your veggies and throwing them in your meals, or simply going for veggie alternatives of the more popular carbohydrate options, and you’ll go a long way toward encouraging a more plant-based lifestyle in your household.
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