Eat Yer Veggies

As part of my decision to make healthier choices, I set out this weekend to come up with some short-term goals, some long-term goals and the steps needed to achieve these in my daily life.  It's hard to be realistic and think of things in terms of baby steps when you still have so far to go.  Which is exactly why I made myself do some short-term, smaller goals.

Do you get discouraged when you don't meet your goals quickly, too?  I sure do, and thought perhaps I could circumvent my impatience with some up front goals for my day to day.

One of those is to add one more vegetable serving every single day to my meals.  I figured if nothing else, I could munch on a little raw carrot or cucumber, steam up a little side of broccoli or green beans, throw together a little slaw with grated carrot and celery in it for a crunchy kick...whatever.

But that way I'd get the extra fiber and nutrients without a lot of hassle, and be a healthier person for it.

For some reason, we eat healthfully most of the time, but we go through cycles where veggies languish in the produce drawers in our fridge. Which is ridiculous when you consider how much more healthy we could be if we just ate more of that and less of the stuff that's not so good for us.

One of my goals is to be more conscious of what I cook, what I put on my plate and into my mouth. Say it with me: "nutrient density." Veggies give a lot of fiber and antioxidants and just plain healthy goodness for their comparatively small calorie count, and that makes them a really, really good choice going forward.

I'm going to try and make veggies more of a dietary star and not a complement to carbs and meats.   The trick is to come up with yummy, healthy foods chock full of veggies that my household of picky eaters will want to wolf down with abandon.  Not the easiest combo for us, but I think I'm up for the challenge.

Here are a few of the recipe ideas I've been batting around for this week's menus:

-- Red Quinoa and Black Bean Veggie Salad
-- Hearty Harvest Salad
-- Mega Berry Spinach Antioxidant Salad
-- Coconut Cardamom Sweet Potatoes
-- Spicy Carrot and Ginger Soup
-- Broccoli and Three-Cheese Casserole
-- Lemon Parmesan Broccoli
-- Natalie's Rice Salad
-- White Bean Italiano
-- Squash Bisque
-- Cabbage and Apple Slaw
-- Mediterranean Tuna Antipasto Salad
-- Sweet Potatoes with Warm Black Bean Salad
-- Mediterranean Couscous Cabbage Rolls

(Photo of broccoli via whologwhy.)