Tips, Tricks, and Recipes to Sneak Veggies into Your Diet

Eat your greens! We all know how important it is to eat our vegetables. Generally, a well-balanced meal should be at least 1/2 vegetables because they’re super dense with nutrients and fiber. But eating enough veggies can sometimes be a challenge. Maybe you or your family don’t like salads, or your kids are picky eaters. Thankfully there are many creative ways to sneak vegetables into your diet without just eating salads or steamed greens. Let’s go over a few tips, tricks, and recipes that will help you and your family eat more healthy greens.

Easy Ways to Sneak Veggies into a Meal

Puree your greens.

This is a great way to sneak veggies into liquid foods like soups, sauces, dressings, or dips without the texture of whole vegetables. When you lightly steam your leafy greens and puree them in a food processor, you can add a serving of vegetables to just about anything. Try adding pureed spinach or kale to your pasta sauces, or add pureed veggies to tomato bisque or lentil soup. You can also try a veggie dip or spread with your favorite chips, crackers, or bread.

Try a vegetable stir-fry.

Stir-fries are a solid option if you or your child isn’t a fan of particular vegetable flavors and textures. You can combine different types of vegetables and proteins with a sauce, and the result is a combination of textures with vegetables soaking up all the flavors. You can also experiment with different sauces and spices to find something your family enjoys.

Substitute grains and carbs with vegetables.

There are many vegetable alternatives to bread, pasta, and rice you can use to get a few extra servings of vegetables in. When you’re preparing a meal, try swapping regular rice with cauliflower rice, or grain-based pasta with chickpea, lentil, or edamame pasta. If you like noodles, you can try swapping in zucchini or spaghetti squash “noodles” to get a boost of veggies. You can also choose bread with vegetables baked in (give our zucchini bread recipe below a try).

Drink your vegetables.

Add vegetables to your beverage selection! All you need is a juicer or blender to upgrade your smoothie or juice with some veggies. Add a handful of spinach, kale, or celery to your smoothie, or mix tomato juice with other fruit juices for a nutrition-rich cocktail.

Add a scoop of greens powder.

One of the easiest ways to add greens to anything is with Organic Greens Booster. One tiny scoop contains the same goodness of a cup of raw, organic, nutrient-rich green vegetables, including kale, spinach, and broccoli, with all the fiber intact. Just add a scoop to your smoothies, soups, sauces, or baked goods to get an extra serving of greens. The choice is yours!

Sneak in Greens with These Recipes

If you need some creative inspiration, here are a few tasty treats that put vegetables in incognito mode.

Healthy Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 scoops French Vanilla Life Shake™
• 4 scoops Organic Greens Booster
• 2 cups grated zucchini (squeeze out the water)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup raw honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• healthy oil (to coat the loaf pan – avocado oil, unrefined coconut oil)
• Chocolate chips, nuts, etc. (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add Life Shake, Organic Greens Booster, egg, applesauce, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; whisk until combined.
2. Add zucchini and stir. Add flour and mix gently with a spatula just enough to combine.
3. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with parchment paper and coat lightly with olive oil. Set aside.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool off for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool off completely before slicing with a sharp knife.

Greens-Powered Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup French Vanilla Life Shake™
• 2 scoops Organic Greens Booster
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups organic oats
• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Blend oil, bananas, milk, eggs, Organic Greens Booster, and Life Shake using mixer.
2. Then stir together in a separate bowl the dry ingredients (baking powder, oats, and sugar).
3. Gently blend together until everything is mixed well.
4. Fill the 12 cups of a lined muffin tin 2/3 full, and be sure to lick the spoon!
5. Bake at 350 °F for 18-20 minutes. Cool, serve, enjoy!

Kiwi Berry Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup frozen raspberries
• A couple handfuls of spinach
• Half a kiwi
• 2 scoops French Vanilla Life Shake™
• 1 scoop of Organic Greens Booster
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender. Blend until creamy.
2. Top with your toppings of choice, like fresh kiwi, hemp or chia seeds, unsweetened shredded coconut, fruit, pumpkin seeds, and granola.

Make Healthy Happen

These are just a few simple ways to sneak vegetables into your diet. If you have creative ways that you sneak veggies into your food, share it with us on social and tag us @shakleehq.