Incorporating more vegetables into your diet is essential because it is important to have enough fiber in your daily diet. Vegetables also have very important nutrients and vitamins. Due to lack of time or maybe circumstances most of us are not eating enough vegetable servings. The best way is to add at least some vegetables to your every meal. But sometimes kids and even adults avoid eating vegetables as they do not like the taste of certain vegetables. In this scenario, you need to be more creative to add more vegetables to your meals. Here are some ideas for you to add vegetables to all your meals.
Breakfast Ideas
Upma/ Poha/ Savory Oats
While making poha or upma or savory oats, try to add finely chopped vegetables such as carrots, onion, bell pepper, peas, and cauliflower. When you finely chop the vegetables, then each bite will have less quantity of the veggie and it will not disturb the taste much.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches can be so versatile and thus it has more scope for adding vegetables. Cut them into thin slices or chop them finely then add any healthy spread of your choice and the sandwich is ready. A few of the veggies that you can add to your sandwich as raw are cucumber, onion, bell pepper, tomato, latus, zucchini, and blanched spinach.
Omelete/ Uthappam/ Chila
I have already shared the idea of finely chopped veggies, which is the backbone of most of the ideas here. Grate or chop (depending upon the veggie) the vegetables and mix them with the batter of omelete, chila, and uthappam or just sprinkle them over the top while cooking it. I usually grate the vegetables which take longer time to cook, like carrots.
Tip: You can make scrambled eggs with vegetables.
Lunch/ Dinner Ideas
Sauces and Gravy
We all use a lot of sauces and gravy in our cooking. In red gravy or sauces, one can add mashed carrot or roasted bell pepper paste. In green curries or gravy, you can add a small quantity of green leafy veggie paste.
Rice/ Noodle/ Lasagna
While making noodles, different fried or herbed rice you can add diced or chopped vegetables along with some chicken, eggs, or cottage cheese. Another way to cut on cubs and add vegetables is, instead of regular noodles or lasagna sheets use vegetables as noodles and lasagna sheets. Zucchini and carrot can be used as noodle replacer. Thin slices of zucchini and Bringle can be used as a lasagna sheet. Rice can be replaced with grated cauliflower.
Wraps
You can use raw latus leaf or steamed cabbage leaf as the wrap instead of a tortilla. Again, adding more veggies to the filling of the wrap is a good idea.
Snacks
Baked or roasted carrot and asparagus sticks are good to have in snacks alongside some veggie-based dips. Some very popular veggie-based dips are Hummus, French onion, Spinach and artichoke, Guacamole, and Indian Green chutney.
Baked vegetable chips are also good to have. Hey don’t misunderstand me, I did not mean potato chips.
Mix and Match
Stir fry the vegetables that you don’t like along with the ones you like. This mix-and-match trick works well in all your curries, salads, and sandwiches.
Salad and Smoothies
If you are the one who does not want to spend much time cooking then veggie-based salads and smoothies are great ideas to complete your daily need for vegetables. There are a lot of salad and smoothie recipes you can find on the internet that have a significant quantity of vegetables.
Desserts
Making your desserts with vegetables is an interesting idea. A lot of cakes, brownies, and pies can be made with vegetables like zucchini, carrot, and pumpkin. In India, we have a culture of making puddings (kheer/halwa) with vegetables like carrot, beetroot, bottle gourd, and pumpkin.
Conclusion
I guess I have already shared a lot of ideas with you for all your meals. Now it’s time to be creative with these healthy ideas and create your own healthier recipe for some popular dishes. Try to experiment, mix and match, play some tricks, and amaze your family with healthy secrets. You may find out some special signature dishes of yours. The possibilities are endless when you get creative.
