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Tasty (And Healthy) Tips for Cooking Vegetables
Along with exercise (see our post on how you can get in a great workout from the comfort of your own home) and proper hydration, a healthy diet is the best way to hit your fitness goals despite missing out on weeks at the gym. Vegetables are a major part of a healthy diet, but with nearly 90% of Americans failing to get enough in their daily diets, it’s no secret that most of us aren’t including vegetables with regularity.
Here are some tasty and healthy tips for cooking vegetables that will satisfy your palate, and get you closer to reaching your fitness goals:
Cook it Up the Healthy Way
Sautéed – The way you cook your vegetables will determine how they taste, so you want to make sure that you do it well. Sautéing your veggies in a small amount of healthy cooking oil, such as olive oil is a good start. While you can sauté almost any vegetable, it works best for leafy greens such as spinach, mustard greens, or kale.
Oven Roasted – If you don’t like vegetables it’s because you’ve never tried them roasted! Roasted vegetables contain natural sugars that are intensified when being cooked in the oven. When you prepare your vegetables for the oven, add a drizzle of olive oil and set the temperature to 400 degrees. Now the sweeter side of your vegetables is on its way out!
Add Flavor Boosters
Still don’t love the taste of vegetables? It’s probably because you need some extra flavor. Adding the same seasonings and spices that you use for other foods (like fish, beef and poultry) you enjoy will do just the trick for vegetables, too!
Next time you cook spinach, try heating a bit of your favorite cooking oil in a pot, add minced garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes to set the foundation. Next, add your spinach and cover for 1 minute using high heat. Once the spinach is done cooking, you can add salt and pepper to enhance its natural flavors. You’ll never look at spinach the same way you did before after trying this method.
Combine Them with Other Favorites
Vegetables are way more enjoyable when they are paired with other foods. Don’t believe it? Try choosing cauliflower as a pizza crust and top your pizza with your favorite sauce, cheese, and meat, and you won’t even remember that you’re also eating vegetables too!
If you can’t stand to chew it, you can drink it! Adding vegetables to your favorite fruit smoothie will change the sweetness and color. Spinach, kale and avocados are a great addition to a green smoothie recipe that are full of benefits, aside from the bright green color!
We hope these tasty (and healthy) tips will help you stay committed to maintaining a healthy diet and finding your love for vegetables! And remember, every healthy diet includes getting enough to drink, so always keep a bottle of Absopure in hand!
