What can I do to increase the way I eat more vegtables. I steam and eat vegtables about once a week and I know I need to eat more. What can I do?

What can I do to increase the way I eat more vegtables. I steam and eat vegtables about once a week and I know I need to eat more. What can I do?

I make veggie lasagna and veggie chili and veggie soup plus i eat raw veggies with a salad dressing i make...Lisa

Not quite sure what your question is, smith. Are you not able to cook the other days? Or you want recipes?

i guess i want recipes

veggie lasagnia sounds pretty good.

i guess i want recipes

veggie lasagna sounds pretty good.

2 yellow zucchini
2 green zucchini
1 large eggplant
1 can crushed tomatoes (organic fire roasted)
2 cloves garlic
6 sliced mushrooms
1 box organic whole wheat lasagna noodles
block of mozarella low fat cheese ( if you are a vegan you can buy the vegan cheese)

Slice up zuchini, eggplant and red bell pepper roast them in the oven with salt and pepper and then make a marinara sauce on stove top with sliced mushrooms and sliced garlic. Layer a 9X13 pan with marinara, then sliced veggies and then a layer of low fat mozarella and then a layer of lasagna noodle uncooked and then sauce and continue until all the veggies and noodles are gone and layer top with cheese and marinara and cover and bake at 375 for about an hour.

Here are some ways I've incorporated more veggies in my diet:

Buy/make soups with lots of veggies in them, specifically dark leafy greans (Italian wedding soup comes to mind with escarole or spinach)

Think outside the box a little with your salads. I slice tomato, put on a plate, slice cucumber, set that on top of the tomato, top with fresh chopped basil and drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vineger. You can also do a wilted warm spinach salad (perfect for this cold weather), or a "red" salad, red leaf lettuce and radicchio. For that last one, I add some walnuts, pears or apples, sliced grapes, crumbled bleu cheese and a vinagrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar and Italian seasoning shaken in a jar, then poured on top of the salad just before eating.

Grill your greens. Take a head of romaine or red leaf lettuce, slice it in half lenghthwise. Drizzle the flat cut side with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs. Grill flat side down, for about five minutes, or until it starts smoking a little. Serve with a lean meat, baked potato.

See where you can add some fresh chopped onion and peppers to your recipes you already enjoy.

Add veggies to your breads and muffins (I make zucchini bread, and right now, I have pumpkin muffins).

Eggplant...slice it on pizza, eggplant parmesan or babaganoush.

Good luck!

Lysne

P.S. Something I found helpful for getting ideas for more exciting ways to eat veggies besides just steaming was I bought an Italian cookbook. These folks "know" veggies and really are extremely creative with ways to enjoy them that I never thought of :)

Also, try to eat as much of them raw as possible. It's kind of hard, but you can start with a salad with mixed greens. I have a hard time finding vegetables that taste good raw, but celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots are a start.

Fruit is important too.

Like skyguy said, get as much raw veggies as possible because raw is much more nutritious than cooked. Cooked veggies actually kill most of the enzymes, where as raw is full of them. Search for free recipes on using raw vegetables.