4 Easy Ways to Step up your Vegetable Game

Nobody is ever going to disagree that one of the most important ways to up your healthy eating game is to eat more vegetables.

Once I saw a recipe for putting black beans into brownies. That’s an EPIC FAIL waiting to happen. Beans ruin the texture and the only thing they have in common is dark color. You’d be better off using carrots, or leave the damn brownies alone!

But the first thing I hear after that revelation is how people either don’t like vegetables or don’t know what to do with them. Why? Because often, we grew up not necessarily loving vegetables the way that our parents cooked them, outside of traditional favorites like greens. My family introduced me to zucchini as a pre-teen that was steamed in the microwave. It was a travesty! Eventually I took matters into my own hands and sauteed that zucchini with some onions, peppers and sausage slices, and that changed my whole perspective on zucchini forever.

So, back to how you’re going to get more vegetables going on. Here are four pain-free ways you can make it happen without too much effort.

• Serve a simple side salad with every meal, even breakfast. I noticed that my Trini friends almost always have a side of sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with their meals. I thought, what a great idea!!! It’s so quick and easy, and who doesn’t like cucumbers (especially when you’re eating something spicy)?
• Always have “throw in” vegetables on hand.  Whenever you’re cooking soup, stew, or curry you can always throw a li’l som’n som’n in at the last minute that doesn’t really mess with the flavor too much or that actually improves the texture. I always like to keep eggplant around because it’s the best sauce thickener ever. It takes on the flavor of spices very easily and then breaks down completely and makes a nice rich sauce. My other go-to is kale. Kale is neutral so you can throw in a whole bunch at the last minute and it will cook down so much that picky eaters won’t notice that much. Experiment with your own vegetable choices to throw in. You can even use vegetable purees like carrots or cauliflower.
• Get creative with salads. Adding fruits and nuts to salads are the best thing since sliced bread. The sky is the limit with the combinations you can come of with. If you have children, task them with coming up with the combos. If they create it, they are much more likely to want to eat it. If you don’t have kid helpers, check out Pinterest.
• Make your own dipping sauce/salad dressings. This is fun. You can whip up a quick hummus or romesco sauce to dip some raw vegetables in. Or, one of my favorites is to use plain Greek yogurt as a base and improvise with spices to make a nice dip. Great salad dressing will make you eat way more vegetables than you intended, trust me. My favorite is a jalapeno lime vinaigrette, for which there is absolutely no recipe. I just make it up as I go.

So, there you have it, go gobble up some vegetables!