I’ll be the first to admit that I do not like vegetables. Vegetables and I have never seen eye to eye ever since I was a kid. Part of the reason is due to how I was raised. I grew up in a family of eleven and with money being tight, not much of it was spent on vegetables. Because of this, I never developed a liking for it at an early age.
However, what I learned is that the earlier you are introduced to vegetables the better it will be. You will develop a taste for them if you experience them early and often. But I am guessing there are a lot of you like me out there: adults that are not fond of vegetables telling their kids to eat the ones off of their plates.
There Is a Way!
If you are reading this, you are interested in leading a healthy lifestyle. This includes making sure you get your daily allowance of veggies. Now you could go the very unhealthy route and drown them in drizzled cheese and salad dressing, or you could learn from my own experience and figure out ways to have them where they taste good and still be healthy for you. Here we propose a few ways to help make veggies more enjoyable both for you and your kids.
Vegetable Smoothie
Get yourself one of those fancy blenders and make a smoothie! Smoothies are delicious and good for you. I usually prepare mine with two or three different fruits, a scoop of protein powder, some milk, ice, and one vegetable. With all of the rest of the ingredients, you can’t even really taste the vegetable that you put in there.
The vegetable that I include often in my smoothie is spinach. If it was good enough for Popeye, it is good enough for me. Spinach is full of antioxidants, Vitamin A, and Vitamin K. Plus, the flavor of it is not strong enough to overpower the rest of the smoothie.
Garlic Dishes
Garlic can be used with a variety of dishes. You can add some to your spaghetti, chicken breasts (a high source of protein), potatoes, and a huge list of other food items. And I have news for you: Garlic is a vegetable! Garlic has been shown to regulate blood sugar and lower cholesterol. Plus, a little can go a long way. A small amount of garlic can provide a punch of flavor and keep away any vampires in the neighborhood, too.
Possibilities with Kale
If you are like me, you would have a tough time to even figure out what kale looks like if it was not labeled in the grocery store. But it has an even greater nutritional value for you than spinach. It will provide your B vitamins, potassium, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, antioxidants, and is known to improve heart health.
There are ways to include kale in many of your meals if you would like. One easy way is to put it on top of your burger. Some people throw it in their salad as well. Kale chips aren’t all that bad either. Kale is a superfood, so the more often you can work it into your diet every week, the better off you will be. Would you like to know more about all the superfoods out there? You can check them out here!
Dishes with Green Peas
Peas rank up there pretty high on my list of vegetables to avoid. There is just something about them, maybe the mushiness, that makes me a bit nauseous. However, they contain fiber, protein, Vitamins A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin, and folate. So what is a guy to do?
There are things you can add to the peas that will make them completely edible. People tend to like them covered in a good amount of butter. Some individuals actually sprinkle sugar on them to give them flavor. There are those that add a bit of garlic to the peas and stir them up until they pass the taste test. Salt and pepper can do the trick as well if you find just the right amount.
These are just a few of the most nutritious vegetables you will come across and how to make them edible without making them unhealthy. We all have certain foods that we don’t like, but if they actually improve our health, then we should find a way to include them in our diet.
It might take a bit of creativity, but if you search hard enough, you will come across a recipe that you will enjoy even for the worst tasting vegetable.
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