[aqua@home]

:o Does anyone have any suggestions of how to add more vegetables to your diet? Any good recipes? I need some good ideas for my family. Thanks.

[milliec]

Try the following link:

ROMANIAN RECIPES


Romanian food is tasty and makes great use of vegetables.
Mrs. Simona lives in the states, so her recipes, beside being in English, make use of what's available there.


Bon Appetit!

Millie
:)

P.S. could you let me know if you liked it?
m.

[orange]

In my house, we eat a lot of vegetables, because I love them, haha. Actually I've loved vegetables since I was little kid. Spinach and asparagus were always my favorites... I was really weird! :p

Anyway, some of the things I do to include vegetables:

I buy fresh vegetables in large quantities at the store. When I get home, I wash and chop up the vegetables immediately, and put them in serving-size baggies. I also make up homemade vegetable dip and hummus. Then whenever anyone opens the fridge, there is always fresh veggies and dip to snack on. Some of the vegetables I use are carrots, celery, cucumber, radishes and daikon (a chinese radish), kolrabi, broccoli and cauliflower.

Every week we try a new vegetable (and also a new fruit), and I let the children pick the new vegetable or fruit out in the store. That makes it more fun for them, and they are more likely to eat it. Recently the kids tried Taiwan cabbage in a stir-fry and starfruit.

I try to add lots of vegetables to casseroles, chili, and spaghetti sauce. For example, my chili contains corn, onions, green peppers, celery, and carrots. My spaghetti sauce has meat, but it also has onions, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini. I cut up a whole zucchini squash to add to a large batch of sauce. It makes the sauce go further and seem more "meaty", therefore you don't need to use as much meat.

We have a salad every night with supper. In order to make it fun for the kids, I set up a "salad bar" in the kitchen, and the kids can make their own salad before they sit down to eat. I try to have lots of choices... like 2 kinds of lettuce, spinach leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, avocado... as well as toppings like mushrooms, feta cheese, egg and bacon bits. The rule is, the kids must start the salad with lettuce (and most kids really like lettuce, so it's not a problem), but then they can add whatever else they like.

If you can afford it, a juicer is a good thing to invest in, because you can whip up a fruit juice concoction, but add a small amount of veggies to it, and you can't taste the vegetables at all. Alternately, V-8 makes a fruit juice now that also contains some vegetable juice.

My kids also like eating celery with cheez whiz, peanut butter, and/or raisins.

Hope these suggestions help. I'm going to have to try some of the recipes Millie suggested to you!

[milliec]

We have a salad every night with supper. In order to make it fun for the kids, I set up a "salad bar" in the kitchen, and the kids can make their own salad before they sit down to eat.

You "salad bar" reminds me of my Friday supper salad:
One of my daughters in law doesn't eat fresh tomatoes - so there's a bowl with minced tomato, the other daughter in law won't have peas or beans- so these are OUT, my daughter hates parsley, so it will be in a separate bowl, my elder son won't have dill - you're right: another bowl!
My husband doesn't like garlic in the salad dressing - it's in a tiny bowl waiting to meet it's unavoidable fate - you see, my life is exciting!
And yes: mu granddaughter (3.5 yrs old) won't even LOOK at ANY food if she doesn't have a fresh cucumber and a nice carrot next to her plate!
Never a dull moment!
Bye,
Millie

[aqua@home]

Thanks Chava, those were some great ideas! I definitely have to get a larger variety of vegetables in our diet. I think my kids will really enjoy doing some of these things. I never thought of letting them pick what to try. Great! Thanks again.

[Hypatia]

The only way I get my family to get more veggis and fruits is to juice them. I mix everything I can into a tasty sweet drink and serve. Dont forget to strain the pulp.

Hypatia

[valinors_sorrow]

I like making fresh soups with veggies, in particular the seven or fifteen dried bean mixes where I add lots of celery, carrots and onions, mmmmm mmm.

There is a packaged mix with dried beans in it, and I simply follow the directions on the bag - adding more liquid (water or soup stock) to accommodate the tons of sliced carrots, celery and onion I add. Almost any soup recipe can be beefed up in the veggie department until its almost like a stew! Look for "soup starters" in your grocery store and play with those too.

Another thought is to disguise the veggies, examples: zuccini muffins and carrot cake.

[Proteinboy]

If you get a juicer, you can blend carrots with brocolli. If you drink 8oz of juiced carrots, it is like 3-5 carrots right there. : )