Substituting more veggies and fruits

[Sqweezl]

Hey all!

As the title suggests, I am looking for ways to pack more fruits and vegetables into my diet. This doesn't mean that I'm seeking to cut meat out entirely, but rather that im looking supplement healthy proteins with more of nature's bounty, and maybe go down to eating meat in one or two meals a day.

I would like this thread to be a compendium of great recipes and resources to help like-minded folks in their quest to supplement and substitute more fruits and veggies into their diets, preferably in fun and interesting new ways.

Thanks!

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Good for you!!!  Happy to help!  Initially when seeing just the blank space for a post, my mind went to maybe narrowing down the scope, and if you're looking to replace sort of, whole meals with plants while reducing down your meat footprint, a couple of favorites would help with that transition.  LOTS of recipes and suggestions...so pick a theme/flavor/country and we can start there...things like Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc....

Exicted to help!

[Dominique]

Look at lentils, great source of protein, cheap, tasty and they have a lot of fiber too.

[Sqweezl]

I've dabbled with Italian and Asiatic cuisines, but I am very interested in what resources you might be able to supply as far as Mexican food goes.

Thanks

[SunsetRunner]

black beans are really pretty healthy.  relatively low carb and bood nutriton.  also tomatoes, which are a fruit.  in season easy to find.

for my money, mexican veg, it's AVOCADO.  Good fats, high fiber, great nutrition

[SunnierJayne]

Hi - not a recipe, but what's really helped me is to have a fruit & veg box delivered (not organic or anything, bought wholesale and sold on at a good price).

Once I know what will be in it, I swap anything I really don't want. It's great - there's always healthy food in the house, more variety than I'd choose by myself & I don't end up buying as much rubbish from the supermarket. 🍏🍒🍐🍠

[lynnslaw]

I have gone crazy with beans - all kinds, lentils and mixing with other vegetables.  Last night was black beans out of the can drained, with onions, celery, tomatoes, peppers - all diced.  Toss with a tad of olive oil, a splash of braggs vinegar and cayenne pepper.  Totally wonderfully filling and tasty.

[Dominique]

@lynnslaw: sounds delicious! I personally prefer to use the dry kind:

Requires a bit more planning (in the case of beans): soak them the night before, cook them longer, but on the plus side, they’re cheaper, take less storage space, you don’t have to use the whole package at once and there’s no added sodium or preservatives as with cans.

[lynnslaw]

Good point Dominique!  The canned beans do have unpure things and we are trying to keep our bodies healthy.  But in a pinch they work great.  Thanks for the tip.

I also have gotten into rice wraps.  Some grocery stores carry them but often I need to go to an asian store.  They are great with shrimp and julienned veggies of all types.  The internet is loaded with sites that have recipes with peanuts, etc.  Have fun!

[CallieM]

@Sqweezl one thing I love to do when trying to add more veggies into my diet without taking away meat completely, is to put some sort of chicken/tuna salad on top of a giant bed of lettuce greens. I'm not sure if you live near Whole Foods, but they usually have a great tuna salad from their cold foods bar.

I like to get the to-go box, fill the bottom with spinach or other greens, and then plop a scoopful of the premade salad on top. I don't put dressing on top because the premade stuff has so much flavor! Obviously, you could also make your own chicken or tuna salad and do the same thing. One last thing! If you live near Trader Joe's, I like to do this same thing with a bag of spinach and then put their curried chicken salad on top.

I really like @Dominique, @SunsetRunner and @lynnslaw's suggestions about beans too! I know many people love using beans as a vegetarian & vegan source of protein.

Thanks everyone for your awesome contributions to this thread! Has anyone else tried my veggie-loading tip?

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks Callie,

We all learn a few tricks that can help out.

[Gillygirl]

Hello!  Just a warning my response is more about vegetable and fruit additions.  We decided we were going to cut down our meat consumptions just alter to more leaner meats.  So to get more vegetables in our diet we did a few swaps here and there.

When we have tacos we do a lettuce wrap instead of shells. We load those things up with onions, lettuce and tomatoes. We are not really bean people in our family but I do know they are really good for you if get them raw and cook them yourself. 

We have started doing cauliflower crust for our pizzas as well. This is a low carb option. I love pizza and this was my husband's solution to that. We load it with sauteed veggies such as onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and whatever else we have lying around the house. 

We have also recently started doing a sriracha chicken on a bed of veggies. This helps with my chinese cravings. With this we throw all of our veggies in the wauk.  We do peppers (red, yellow, orange (the more the better)), onions, mushrooms, broccoli and tomatoes.  We use this as our "rice". We used to actually "rice" cauliflower up and use that as our rice but we just swapped that out when we decided to add broccoli to the mix. So yummy. 

If you are interested in just swapping out meals for a salad here and there also we do that for lunches some times. Bolthouse makes an amazing Cucumber Dill dressing that is only 45 calories a serving. We usually also add a package of tuna with our salads so we get the protein as well. 

Now that it is grilling season we have started doing those type of sides as well. You can do brussel sprouts in a foil wrap. Items we generally throw right on the grill include romain lettuce with some balsamic vinegar on it, mushrooms (we prep ourselves not purchased from a deli counter), peppers, onion slices, pineapple (if you like regular pineapple, try it grilled, amazing!) and peaches.

We also started eating more fruits and veggies as snacks. We love eating raw peppers so a lot of times we will have some cut up already sitting in the fridge when we get the munchies. Totally helps when it's prepped to grab the good stuff.