Hi! Since you’re a chef, I thought I’d ask: How can I incorporate more vegetables into our meals? I didn’t grow up eating vegetables, and I’d like to change that for my kids. I should also add, I don’t think I’m that great of a cook, so easy ideas would be appreciated.
Hey there. I think it’s so cool that you’re trying to improve everyones veg intake. Since you’re still building your kitchen confidence, I’d suggest starting with frozen veg, or canned if you’re going to mix it in to a chili or pasta sauce.
For example, you can open a bag of frozen peas, put it on a sheet pan, cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, and you’ve got a side of vegetables ready to go. You could even mix that into your rice or pasta.
Pasta sauces are a great way to incorporate more vegetables as well. You can oven roast a tray of frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, and green beans all work well for this), and when they’re done, place them in a pot. Add your store bought pasta sauce to said pot and mix everything together well. Now you have extra veg, and it was easy.
You can also add chopped steamed broccoli to your next cheesy pasta for an easy veg boost.
Another easy way to add vegetables is to purchase fresh zucchini. Wash it, then slice and quarter. Freeze, and use like ice when you make smoothies. Chocolate smoothies and super fruity smoothies hide the taste very well.
One of personal faves for increasing veg content: chili. Chili is such an amazing vessel for vegetables including beans, squash, leafy greens, peas, lentils, and more. Not only that, but chili is really easy to make. You can take any chili recipe and add a little veg to it for a boost.
If you’d like step by step recipes, many of the lunch and dinner recipes on RAISE (membership website) are vegetable forward and taste amazing. I’m going to leave you with this article to read on using frozen vegetables.
Have fun!
~The Allergy Chef
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