For the Haters – 20 Magical Ways to Sneak In Vegetables

Vegetables are one of the most important staples of a high quality diet. Packed with phytonutrients that our bodies need for fighting disease like cancer, controlling blood sugar, and a gazillion other processes that we haven’t even come close to comprehending, veggies should be the number one ingredient of our daily meals (at least 5 servings per day). But if you’re like I was, you might hate the flavor or texture. Don’t hate! Learn to love them like I did, by being sneaky with yourself! Try these simple sneaks and learn to love your daily vegetables.

Are vegetables a good way to detox? Read here to find out.

Load Up On Salsa

Pretty much everyone loves salsa, right? If you do, you’ll be thrilled to know that fresh salsa is excellent for your health. Traditional salsa is packed with the antioxidant lycopene from tomatoes, amongst other beneficial nutrients. Scramble 1/2 a cup with eggs, pour it on top of grilled chicken, top a side of veggies with it.

Sub Salad

When you eat out, you usually have the option to sub out your side dishes (typically fries or something else low quality) with a side salad. Do it! Make sure you go easy on the cheese and croutons, and use a balsamic vinaigrette or oil and vinegar instead of chemicals creamy dressing.

Chop ‘Em Up and Mix ‘Em In

Chop your veggies up very fine, and mix them into just about anything. I like to do this with broccoli, kale, or spinach in meatballs or on pizza. The finer the veggies, the less the texture will bother you if texture is the issue.

Puree

Steam vegetables and puree them in the blender or food processor, and add them to just about any dish. I like to do this with butternut squash and shredded chicken, but you could also add the puree to burger patties, pasta dishes, meatballs, or make soups.

Eat Raw Vegetables Like Chips and Dip

Raw vegetables are crispy like chips, and make excellent dipping foods. Dip baby carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli or cauliflower in hummus, greek yogurt (see this post for ideas on greek yogurt dips), guacamole, or even the classic combo of celery and peanut butter.

Drink Them

With the sweetness of fruit added, most vegetable flavors can be neutralized or covered completely in a blended smoothie. As a last resort, you can juice your vegetables in a juicer, although you’ll be missing out on all the fiber (read more here).

Roast or Grill Them

If you think you hate vegetables, try them roasted in the oven or grilled with a touch of olive oil, minced garlic and sliced onions. This was a big turning point for me and my hatred of green food….yum.

Scrambled

Do you like eggs? Try scrambling vegetables in with your eggs in the mornings. I like red peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spinach in mine.

Make Your Own Salad Bar

Every week we load up on fresh produce, then chop it all up and store it in the refrigerator. Each day, we then set it all out into our own little salad bar for lunch. We get at least 2 veggie servings a day this way, and after the initial prep each week, it’s ridiculously easy.

Read more here about how to prep your food weekly.

Stuff Them

Stuff bell peppers, acorn or butternut squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, artichokes, and zucchini with a mixture of meat and more veggies, nuts, or a sprinkle of cheese. Bake and serve.

Make Sauce

Take your pureed vegetables from earlier and make a creamy sauce to top your entree with. For example, puree roasted red peppers and greek yogurt, heat and serve on top of chicken. Search recipe sites like Allrecipes for ideas.

Make Chips

Slice veggies like zucchini, sweet potatoes, and beets super thin and bake or grill them into chips. Even lettuce like kale can be baked into crisps, just add a little sea salt and whatever other seasoning you enjoy.

Sub For Pasta and Rice

Roast spaghetti squash for 25-30 minutes, and simply scrape it with a fork and you have perfect pasta “noodles”. Thin sliced zucchini, summer squash, and eggplant work too. I also use a food processor to “rice” cauliflower and sub it in any dish that calls for rice, even sushi.

Spices-Learn About It

Learn to love spices as they will make just about any vegetable taste a gazillion times better. Favorites of ours are sea salt, garlic powder, thyme, sage, paprika, cayenne pepper, and crushed red pepper.

Lettuce Wraps

Use a dark green leaf (collards and butter lettuce are a favorite for this) to wrap instead of tortillas, like in tacos, burritos, or sandwiches.

Try New Vegetables When You’re Hungry

I can’t tell you how many vegetables I’ve learned to love because I was so hungry and just about anything would have tasted great. Eating when you’re really hungry will create a positive association with the new vegetable in your brain, so take advantage of this.

Mash It

For many, the hatred of vegetables is a texture more than a taste issue. Try mashing your cooked veggies like sweet potato, cauliflower, butternut squash with some spices.

Sub Spinach for Cheese

When cooked, spinach has a similar texture to cheese. You can sub a big handful of it for cheese in just about any dish. Ideas – omelets, pastas, pizza, burgers and sandwiches.

Stuff a Pita

For lunch, load up a whole wheat pita with leafy greens, tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, avocado, onion, alfalfa sprouts, sliced carrots, etc. Add grilled chicken if you like.

Appetizer

When you’re making dinner, leave a plate of raw veggies out on the table for an appetizer for the entire family. This way you’ll get an entire serving of veggies in before your meal even begins.

How do you get your daily dose of vegetables?