The Sneaky Veggie Sneak In

Eat your vegetables!

How long have you been hearing that one?  Birth?  "Breast milk and a side of kale please."   Ok, maybe not birth, but a long time.  Yet, most of us still have a hard time choking down anything that hasn't been refined, processed and thrown into a cardboard box with a stupid smiling panda on the cover. I know I used to have that problem.  

In fact, let me quote a line from my 3rd grade journal.  Try not to burst into hysterics.

"I don't know why we are forsed to eat stupid things like veggatebles.  I always flush them down the tolet anyway.  I thikn my dad will catch me soon.  Why can't we eat things that are good like pizza, hambugers hot dogs and frensh frys?  Eating things like pork chops, string beans and rice is ok everyonce in a while. But not every day. After all, it is a free contry!"  

An advocate for unhealthy food and a patriot.  You go little Jaime J.!!

Can you believe this? And don't think I grew out of this unhealthy frame of mind by the time they flunked me for horrible spelling. It wasn't until a foods and nutrition class in 7th grade, that I started paying attention to my food intake. But it wasn't until age 26 that I really understood it. I'm a slow learner.  

Nonetheless, I finally figured it out.  Vegetables are good!  Vegetable are our friends! Vegetables don't always taste amazing and some of us still gag at the idea of eating plants.  So I came up with a sneaky solution. The easiest and most efficient way to get all the required daily vegetable servings, and then some.  

I'm going to show you six ways to hide those veggies in your meals, even your dog won't know they're there. If you're dog can't sniff them out, perhaps your kids can't either. 

The Kung Fu Ninja - Sneaky Veggie Solution

• In a smoothie:  When you make your fruit smoothies, add spinach and carrots.  Lots of added nutrition, but you won't taste anything but the fruit. If your kids ask why it's green, tell them the Incredible Hulk lost his finger in the blender. If they ask why he was in the kitchen, take the smoothie away and send them to their room.

• In your eggs:  Forget omelets, who has time for that?  Make a scramble with eggs, tiny little chopped up veggies like mushrooms, onion, peppers, spinach, zucchini, tomatoes and avocado.  Add salsa, a sprinkle of cheese and maybe even some black beans and chicken sausage.  Throw it into a whole wheat tortilla.  All you really taste are the eggs, cheese, avocado and meat.

• In your pasta sauce:  Whether you make your own sauce or use store bought, saute a bunch of veggies in the pan with some olive oil.  I often use yellow squash, eggplant and zucchini.  The ones I don't eat everyday.
• In your tuna/chicken salad:  I always mix in lots of celery and carrots for added crunch and vitamins.  Think you're going to taste them through the meat, hardboiled eggs, pickles and touch of mayo?  Nope!  

• In your soups:  Stop buying canned soups.  It's expensive and they're loaded with salt.  Make your own by cleaning out your fridge/freezer.  I do this all the time and it's great.  Take a pot (or Crock-Pot)  and throw in any type of veggie you want.  Add some low sodium broth, a can of chopped tomatoes, water, some chopped cooked chicken breast, spices and wild rice.  Let it cook on the stove for, whenever - figure it out.  So good and probably the easiest way to consume a wide variety of vegetables.

• In your pancakes:  ???  Yep, pancakes.  I call them power pancakes.  I use an immersion blender and mix in spinach to my whole wheat batter.  I also add blueberries, flax oil, oats, almond meal, and protein powder if I have it.  One of these suckers and you're ready to kick some major ass all day long!

Ultimate Tip of the Day - Buy frozen veggies and fruits.  The are just as nutritious as fresh, easy to deal with, plus they won't quickly expire on you.  

How to do sneak veggies into your diet? Tell me in the comments.