Nothing sucks the joy out of my weekly meal planning sessions like trying to come up with different ways to get vegetables into our diet. I’m learning that I have the best luck when I include them as part of the main dish rather than as a stand alone side. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened the refrigerator right before we’re about to sit down and eat, just to find an uncooked bunch of asparagus or green beans staring me in the face.
The meals on this week’s menu are three examples of ways I try to eat more vegetables at dinner time:
Clockwise from top right:
{one} Make a sauce. Why not turn your vegetables into a delicious, dip-able sauce for your main dish? This Grilled Chicken with Romesco Sauce from myrecipes.com was a fun way to shake up dinner on the grill and add in a serving of vegetables too.
{two} Use the pantry. For those nights when you have nothing left in the fridge, use your pantry to get your vegetables in. I like to keep things like olives, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and sun-dried tomatoes on hand for meals like this Greek Pasta with Olives and Feta from The Kitchn. (Do you recognize this one from my Food Board? I swapped the chicken for a can of tuna to make this an even easier weeknight meal.)
{three} Sneak them into a stir-fry. At my house, nothing promises to make vegetables disappear quite like a stir-fry. They’re quick to make and easy to adapt to whatever vegetables you have on hand. This week I made a beef and asparagus stir-fry, which I adapted from Beef with Snow Peas from the Pioneer Woman.
What’s your favorite way to eat vegetables?
