3 Steps to Adding Fruits and Vegetables to Your Recipes
We all know the baby carrots and ranch trick. We have all made dinner only to realize it is heavy in pasta and laden in cheese and we agonize that the tomatoes in the bit of sauce will be enough fruit and vegetables for the last meal of the day. Then our mom-guilt overcomes us and we throw some baby carrots on the plate with some ranch dressing and hope for the best!
Meals can be tough to pull together especially at he end of the day. However, if you get in the mindset that you can add some sort of fresh fruit or vegetable to almost any recipe (including dessert!) the above mentioned stressful dinner episode can be a thing of the past.
Step 1: Plumping up your Grocery List. I would be exasperated because I had NOTHING in the fridge or in the fruit bowl to add to any recipe. So, I decided that even if fresh fruits and vegetables went bad (and I hate food waste!) that I would buy twice as many so I had no excuse.
Step 2: Keep the Recipes Simple. Use recipes you're familiar with at first. Add strawberries to your grandma's banana bread recipe. Include some sliced cucumber to your tried and true pasta salad.
Step 3: Be Adventurous with your Fruits and Vegetables. We all know you can add spinach to lasagna but what about bell peppers? Or squash? Or olives? Or eliminating the pasta and using eggplant or zucchini strips! Bravery in the kitchen takes time but the more you try out new combinations the more tools you have in your apron pockets!
Your kids can help with all the steps! Get them excited to help you pick out some of their favorite fruits and vegetables and also this is a great opportunity to introduce them to new ones. I will go into detail about cooking and baking with kids and skill-appropriate jobs for them in the kitchen in another post but at the very least pull up a chair for them to watch! As far as adventurous cooking goes my kids are the ones that may be the bravest! So, ask your kids what they want to add to the recipes!
