Get your Five Fruits and vegetables

Disclaimer: I don't eat plain raw vegetables. I just won't do it. Salads must have salad dressing and something non vegetative to make it interesting, carrots and any other crudite type things must be dipped in ranch.

That said, I really try hard to incorporate a lot of fruits and vegetables through out my day- they are SO good for your body. The fiber in them helps you feel fuller, longer, and helps clean out your system. The vitamins you can get out of unprocessed, unrefined fruits and vegetables are just incomparable. And eating them makes you feel great!

I've spent the last ten years trying to find fun and painless ways to incorporate them into my diet- because after a six months of eating nothing but oatmeal, oreos, and milk when I was a freshman in college, I realized I needed to develop some healthier habits. I am also a recovering vegetarian. (The more you eat veggies, the more you will crave them actually)

I love to cook and experiment with food but I work most of the day,I am super cheap, and I hate cleaning up big kitchen messes. So everything I am about to tell you is cheap, fast, and tasty (because I am kind of a picky eater too).

It's winter right now, so it is a little harder to come by fresh fruits and vegetables. I am mostly eating root veggies and frozen varieties, as well as apples, bananas and oranges, and the occasional handful of frozen blueberries.

I typically throw a fruit or vegetable into every meal I eat, starting with breakfast:

1. Toast with peanut butter and bananas sliced on top. I really like this because it is filling, and I have a hard time eating a whole banana plain. Its also easy to eat while I drive. Not that I EVER do that.

2. Another easy in the car breakfast is something my mom showed me. You can make a slim fast type smoothie for super cheap, and super filling. Blend one banana, 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon Beneful (a fiber supplement found by the ex lax), nestle quik reduced sugar, and a couple tablespoons of powdered milk (it adds extra protein). You can play with the ratios according to your own taste, but the beneful makes you feel fuller longer, the milk gives you protein, and the nestle quik gives a yummy, low sugar flavor along with vitamins. This also makes a great snack.

3. In the winter, I usually eat oatmeal I make the night before- I just put about 3/4 cup oats and about 1/2 cup milk in a bowl, add some frozen blueberries or cut up apples to it, and a little sugar or honey. I let it sit in the fridge overnight, and then nuke it for a minute in the morning. This makes it warm, but not having a soggy oatmeal texture. Its more like eating soft granola. I also like to add a handful of raw sunflower seeds for extra crunch.



Lunch usually includes granny smith apples dipped in peanut butter. My husband finds it funny that I keep buying granny smith apples- because they are really too tart to eat plain, but I love to eat them paired with cheese or peanut butter. And they taste spectacular when cooked.

If I make a sandwich, I try to include some fresh spinach (because iceberg lettuce really has the nutritional value, of well, an iceberg).

Dinner is where I get more veggies in. I also try to increase the amount I cook so I will have leftovers for lunch the next day. One of my favorites is roasted sweet potatoes (the orange kind) One large sweet potato can feed my family of 2 1/2 people. Sweet potatoes have more vitamins in them than regular potatoes, and they are sweet. Which is really why I like them.

Recipe is as follows:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks.
1 tbl olive oil or canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbl honey or brown sugar, or maple syrup
some lemon juice (about 2 tsp or so)
(I also sprinkle some nutmeg over the top, but that is entirely optional. I just love nutmeg on everything)

Preheat oven to 425.
I put the honey and oil in a large ziploc bag and mix them together. Then I toss the potatoes in, close the bag, and shake it up to get them all good and mixed together.

Put the potatoes in a glass or metal pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle some lemon juice over the top. Cover with tinfoil, and let roast for about 45 minutes, stirring a couple times if needed (if some of your potatoes are cooking faster than the others)

Potatoes are done when largest slices are soft in the middle. This is where cutting them up into a uniform size is really helpful. Smaller chunks cook faster, but too small turns into mashed potato really fast.



Phew, this turned into a really long post. But I hope you all find it helpful and I will probably try to post a recipe frequently. I think up next is leek and butternut squash soup by Martha Stewart. It is divinely yummy.