5 Ways to Eat Your Veggies!

Did you know that today is National Eat Your Veggies Day?  Yeah, me neither, until I checked Facebook this morning.  But no matter!  In honor of this most special holiday, I wanted to share 5 tips for adding more veggies into your diet!

1. Have them for breakfast!  

We all know that we should serve a veggie with dinner, but there’s no reason why you need to wait until the end of the day.  My favorite ways to have veggies with breakfast are to add a handful of greens to a smoothie and to have a batch of this Spinach Egg Bake in the fridge for an easy, veggie packed start to my day.

2. Replace your pasta!  

Squash makes an excellent fill-in for pasta in your favorite dish.  Try Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs for a very satisfying meal.  Zucchini is another great choice – slice it into 1/4 inch sticks and sautee as a pasta replacement, or slice into flat “noodles” for a veggie packed lasagna.

3. Lettuce cups!

This is a new discovery for me, and I can’t believe how long it took for me to learn that using lettuce cups instead of wraps for anything from sandwiches to Tacos not only helps me get my greens, but tastes delicious and feels so much better.  Romaine, bibb, and green or red leaf lettuce all work well for this!

4. Snack on veggies!

Anyone else like to snack all day?  I certainly do, but I’ve found that if I have veggies cut up and ready for munching in my fridge, I’m happy to go for those instead instead of something less nutritious.  My favorites are raw carrots and roasted cauliflower, cold, right out of the fridge – yum!

5. Utilize Sturdy Greens!

When I lived in the city, I had salad nearly every day for lunch because it was so easy to stop by the salad places that seemed to be on every corner.  Now that I am out in the burbs making my own lunch?  Salads are a pain – too much chopping and prepping for an every day lunch!  But what I’ve figured out is that sturdy greens like kale and arugula actually hold up really well in a prepared salad for several days in the fridge.  Try making a big batch of something like this Kale and Quinoa Salad for an easy lunch throughout the week.

What are your favorite ways to eat your veggies?  I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!