Help me eat more veggies

[gnat23]

My favorite sneakies:

"Pesto" sauce: steam a chopped up head of broccoli. Toss into a food processor or blender with a sprinkle of basil, some broth to thin it out, garlic, parmesan and a splash of olive oil. Make smooth, pour over pasta, good with chicken!

Salad I got from Costa Rica: bag of shredded cabbage, half-a-bag of shredded carrot, slice some seedless cucumbers. Juice of 2-3 limes and some salt to taste. Mix and eat throughout the week.

Snack on baby carrots and celery.

Huge stirfry and a crockpot stew are easy ways to make meals for the week.

-- gnat! (Now I'm hungry...)

[GLC1968]

I also do a lot of grilled veggies during the week. Marinate them in ff italian dressing during the day and grill when you get home (or roast in the oven if it's not too hot out). Very quick and yummy! I always make extra, and throw some in a container to eat with lunch the next day.

I also do the chop veggies on the weekend trick. I even bag them individually so that when I'm putting together food for the day during the week, I can just grab and go.

[chutch]

You are all awesome! These are very doable ideas. Now I'm getting excited

Becky- definitely post the recipe when you get a chance

[Becky]

Spinach and Broccoli Enchiladas (from the June/July 2008 issue of Healthy Cooking magazine)

1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
1 10-oz. package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup finely-chopped fresh broccoli (sometimes I use frozen)
1 cup picante sauce, divided
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
8 8-inch tortillas

In a large skillet, cook onion until tender. Add spinach, broccoli, 1/3 cup picante sauce, garlic powder, and cumin; heat through.

Remove from heat; stir in cottage cheese and ½ cup cheddar cheese. Spoon about 1/3 cup of cheese mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a 13-inch x 9-inch x 2-inch baking dish sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Pour remaining picante sauce over the top.

Cover and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Uncover, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.


My notes:
I generally use low-fat cheeses and whole wheat tortillas when I make this. If I recall correctly, 1 cup of picante sauce isn't quite enough, but it depends on personal preference. I chop the broccoli in the food processor.

When I'm making this ahead, I'll do it one of two ways: make the filling and keep in the fridge until I'm ready to assemble and bake, or assemble it, but wait to put the sauce on top until right before baking. This isn't a good recipe to freeze or assemble too far ahead because of the cottage cheese IMO, but it works ok if prepped a day ahead. Even if you're making it right before dinner, it goes together pretty quickly.

[Trek420]

OK, I will let you know how it came out. Tonite at Chez Trek there's no recipe eggplant parm. This is what I think I did. Come home, let the dog in.

clean then slice eggplant very thin. Lay slices on a cookie sheet and liberally salt with kosher salt (you can use non kosher whether or not you're Jewish )

Let dog out.

While eggplant sits and sweats wash then slice mushrooms, onions, toss in hot pan with California olive oil and saute.

Let dog in.

Once sauted cheat and add your choice of marinara sauce product.

Simmer.

Let dog out again.

Back to eggplant, rinse, pat dry, put in oven on the cookie sheet and cook till a little limp (the eggplant, not you).

Let dog in.

While this is going on stir sauce, slice mozzarella slices, find bake pan.

Let dog out.

Remove baked eggplant and layer creatively sauce, eggplant, cottage cheese and mozzarella, more sauce, eggplant, cottage cheese etc.

Let dog in and turn on Olympics.

Note: I like to do prep so slicing and dicing is something I like.

[chutch]

OK, I will let you know how it came out. Tonite at Chez Trek there's no recipe eggplant parm. This is what I think I did. Come home, let the dog in.

clean then slice eggplant very thin. Lay slices on a cookie sheet and liberally salt with kosher salt (you can use non kosher whether or not you're Jewish )

Let dog out.

While eggplant sits and sweats wash then slice mushrooms, onions, toss in hot pan with California olive oil and saute.

Let dog in.

Once sauted cheat and add your choice of marinara sauce product.

Simmer.

Let dog out again.

Back to eggplant, rinse, pat dry, put in oven on the cookie sheet and cook till a little limp (the eggplant, not you).

Let dog in.

While this is going on stir sauce, slice mozzarella slices, find bake pan.

Let dog out.

Remove baked eggplant and layer creatively sauce, eggplant, cottage cheese and mozzarella, more sauce, eggplant, cottage cheese etc.

Let dog in and turn on Olympics.

Note: I like to do prep so slicing and dicing is something I like.

Can I substitute petting kitty and feeding fish for letting dog in/out if I have no dog on hand?

[Trek420]

Can I substitute petting kitty and feeding fish for letting dog in/out if I have no dog on hand?

Absolutely, substitute pets as needed. One thing you can't change is if you're a conservative you still need to liberally salt the eggplant or it will be bitter.

Note, the dish was good but would have been better with riccotta. They were out at the store, I punted with cottage cheese. I could have drained that .... oh well.

[Pedal Wench]

Trek, you crack me up.

I add veggies to everything. A handful of fresh, bagged spinach on every sandwich, wilted down to nothing in pasta sauce (kids won't even notice it in the sauce), soup, in the beans for your burritos, whatever.

I also use the bags of shredded cabbbage (sold as cole slaw without dressing next to the bagged lettuces) and add to soups or anything else I'm cooking. Start them first, and it cooks down to nothing but adds so much goodness and fiber -- it makes a can of soup a meal if you use enough -- I'll use almost a whole bag in a can of soup for dinner for one.