Learn to LOVE Vegetables

Recently I got asked the question from one of the ladies in my challenge group how you can get yourself to start eating vegetables. I love this question! I love it, because I have been there. A couple years ago, I was in this same boat. I never ate vegetables, and I mean never. It was a great day if I got two servings in! I would eat a lot of pasta, prepackaged snack foods, any type of dessert/chocolate I could get my hands on, and seriously, eating a salad for supper actually felt like torture!

My taste for food has dramatically changed. It just slowly seemed to happen. As I started making better choices, my taste buds started to actually crave these healthier options.

So, I want to share some ways that you can get those vegetables in to your day and maybe {Hopefully!} start to love them like I do now! ;)

•  Put vegetables you like into meals you already love! Put some onions,peppers, tomatoes or mushrooms in with your eggs to make a delicious omelet or pile it all with a scrambled egg and put that on your favorite toast or bagel. Add some spinach into your soup, chop up some carrots to add to your brown rice or quinoa. This is a great way to introduce them because the flavors of the other foods will help them taste better and be less noticeable. We love chili at our house, and that is one meal I can add a ton of vegetables… tons of beans, chopped celery, diced tomatoes, etc.! Double the amount of veggies your recipe calls for. Since you are already going to the work of chopping, why not add to your veggie intake?
• Add flavor! Raw veggies can be boring. Adding some seasoning (Garlic is a fav. at our house!) and spices or eating with dip, a favorite dressing or hummus will make them much more appetizing! Hummus or dressings are perfect for dipping carrots, celery, sliced peppers, cucumbers and more! When cooking vegetables, it’s all about the seasoning! Pick-up some Mrs. Dash seasoning (There’s no salt in these!) and sprinkle that on there. It changes the whole taste! I just picked up a lemon pepper one (A little goes a long way with this one.) and that added lemon flavor makes the veggies so much fun! You could also sprinkle some pepper or garlic on your veggies. Roast them in heart-healthy olive oil or herbs. You could also add some cheese (not a ton). Cheese makes everything better, right?! (Or is that just the WI-girl coming out?) 
• Learn how to cook! This can be a trial and error thing. I still pick up the phone often and call my mom or another cooking friend to ask them how to make a certain vegetable. I am searching Google or pulling out cookbooks. Pretty soon you will get this cooking thing down and make them taste {and even look} good.
• New Cookbook! Along with learning how to cook, I wanted to let you know there are some great cookbooks out there that have many recipes where hiding vegetables is their main purpose. I have tried out are Deceptively Delicious and then a friend suggested The Sneaky Chef. I use this to sneak more nutrition into my kids' plates. They don't know what hit them! ;)
• Follow the Season! Seasonal foods are better tasting, healthier, and fresher. You will find that right now, in the winter, strawberries for example just aren’t the same. You are still going to find them in the grocery store, but they don’t taste as good as they do in the summer. Find out what the best options are for each season just by researching a bit. Start going to farmer’s markets when those start-up this year and talk to your local growers. They will tell you what’s good, and they can tell you how to eat it too.

Hope this helps get you on the path of loving your veggies! Please comment below if you have other ideas. I would love to hear!