We’ve heard that we should eat 5 to 8 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. And to “eat the rainbow” because the nutrients are in whatever gives them color and we need a variety of colors. I’m sharing a few of the ways that work for me to get more veggies into my daily diet.
If I don’t get a running start with breakfast, it’s a challenge to get 5 to 8 servings in one day. One way I have veggies for breakfast is to sauté some onion till it’s soft, add a handful of a packaged pre-made organic kale salad, and sauté a few more minutes. Then I add a couple of beaten pastured eggs to make scrambled eggs. I get my licopene for the day by topping it with an organic salsa just before eating it.
I’ve also been using my Vita-Mix blender to get my veggies in at breakfast. Instead of my old usual yogurt and fruit smoothie, I’ve been making a green drink to have with my pastured egg for breakfast. I put in kale, celery, green pepper, cucumber, zucchini, ½ of an orange, ½ of a lemon, a few ice cubes, and about ½ cup of coconut milk to give me the fat I need. I use any combination of the above veggies, depending on what I have. I’ve learned from experience that I like curly kale better than dino kale, and that I need to get rid of the stem because it makes it bitter. I also add about 1 teaspoon of Japan Matcha, powdered green tea leaves used for Japanese tea ceremonies. I don’t enjoy drinking 5 cups of green tea a day, so this is an easier way for me to get the recommended green tea.
I’ve struggled to find delicious ways of eating my daily greens and was pleased to recently discover kale chips. Someone asked me for my recipe so here it is:
Crispy Kale Chips
- Wash one bunch of kale (curly works better than dino).
- Tear the stems from the leaves and throw the stems away, or add them to compost.
- Tear the kale into potato chip size pieces and dry it (a salad spinner works great).
- In a large bowl, toss it with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Bake at 350 in a single layer on sheet pans till crisp around the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes. It should be crisp like potato chips when it is done.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Enjoy!
You can eat it hot or cold. When I save it in a bowl till the next day, I’ve learned that if I cover it, it gets un-crisp by the next day.
I’d enjoy reading some of your ideas for getting a running start with veggies for breakfast, or for making greens delicious.
Thanks for the recipe.. I was wondering how to make chips from Kale….
Hi. I appreciate your blog, especially the most recent one about how to increase your fruit and vegetable consumption. I, too, am working with Nutritional Solutions.
I find that I am getting very bored with the same food. I roast veggies 2-3x per week at 400 for 17 minutes or so with some olive oil and spices, I am getting very bored with the same breakfast every day (sauteed kale, and 2 eggs fried with roasted veggies on the side or in an omelette with leftover roasted veggies. Lunch is a salad with greens, the veggies, and some protein source. dinner is one of about 4 things.
how do you avoid getting bored with food?
and I’ve not done the juicing yet….
Hi, I was a participant in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study (WHEL). We were required to drink 16 oz of fresh carrot and/or vegetable juice per day. Since you mentioned greens, this was a popular light spring green juice. It is lightly sweet from the jicama and hint of licorice from the fennel. (Other WHEL recipes have fennel and/or cabbage to help some people with digestive issues.)
2 small jicama (about 20 oz), cut off the ends and remove the skin
1 bulb fennel, trimmed and leaving 1″ stem, and cut into wedges
10 large romaine lettuce leaves (half a large head)
Directions: Wash and prepare the vegetables into pieces that will go through a tube juicer. Fold the lettuce leaves to push through. Mix well. Serve immediately. Makes about 2 cups.