How to Add More Veggies to Your Diet

The holidays are coming up and we all know what that means. Food, food, and more food! During these festivities, it’s important to remember to eat your vegetables, too.

The CDC recommends eating two to three cups of vegetables each day as part of a healthy diet. How often do we get the recommended portions? Being intentional with the amount of vegetables you consume is an important thing to do. One easy way to add more vegetables into your diet is by sneaking them into foods you already make often. 

Here are a few ideas to increase your intake of vegetables in your diet:

• Add pureed butternut squash into macaroni and cheese. This Food Factor recipe for butternut squash mac & cheese is a good one! 
• Add different types of leafy green vegetables to salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Kale, collards, spinach, cabbage, Swiss chard, and other types of greens are all good sources of nutrients.
• Keep diced onions and peppers on hand. These can easily be added to a variety of foods, like tacos, eggs, pizza, and casseroles.
• Add a mix of sauteed vegetables into pasta sauce. Consider adding carrots, onions, peppers, zucchini, spinach, or mushrooms to your next spaghetti meal! You can also puree them for a smoother texture. 
• If you’re a frequent smoothie drinker, consider adding vegetables into the blender! Try leafy greens, zucchini, and carrots. Check out this Food Factor recipe for a green spinach smoothie! 
• Experiment with making homemade vegetable chips. Kale, zucchini, sweet potatoes, squash, and beets all make great crispy baked chips. Try out this recipe for zucchini chips! 
• Don’t knock this one until you try it: black bean brownies. Adding black beans into brownies replaces fats with added nutrients. Want to give it a try? Check out the recipe in Extension Publication 2716, “Now Serving: Beans!” 
• Mix in riced cauliflower anytime you’re eating rice. It is also a very similar substitute if you need to limit your rice intake. This homemade cheesy cauliflower tots recipe is a fun recipe to make! 

Get creative with adding vegetables to your meals! With cool weather coming this season, adding extra vegetables to hot soups is a great idea!

If you have a picky eater in the family, sometimes it’s hard to get them to eat vegetables. A lot of people dislike the texture of foods as opposed to the food itself. Try some of these ideas and check out this blog post on four tips for picky eaters. 

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