Need to add more veggies into my life! Fussy!!

[Loopylooni]

I've never been a massive veggie cook so it's just frozen mixed veg added to fried rice or bolognese. But I want to eat healthier and for my children too. They love loose cherry tomatoes but how can I get us eating more veg.

Weekly meals tend to be chicken curries or Chinese chicken and fried rice, shepherd's pie. Nothing adventurous. Any tips?

Start with the easy stuff, carrots etc. Mine love raw carrots as well. Then try things like green beans, corn on the cob. Stir fry alongside your chicken; you can just get a bag of pre chopped stuff. You can add peppers to lots of dishes. Then you can add salad to lots of meals.

You can easily add veg to cottage pie, I tend to put frozen peas and corn in and fresh carrots.

If you look online there are loads of recipes for cake that include courgette or carrot.

Make a vegi curry to go with the chicken curry.

A veg stir fry would go with your chinese chicken.

Making soup as a starter to meals and put a salad on the side.

I would try things like tray bake too.

Some chicken, baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, courgette, garlic, onion all roasted together with a seasoning you like. Cajun, Mexican, curry, garlic and herb.

Roasted veg generally is lovely and more interesting than just steamed/boiled.

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese bake as a side or main.

I grow most of my own veg, and then have to find ways of cooking it. So every morning I see what is available and bring it in, and then work out what I'm going to do with it, along with what is in the fridge and what is stored and what is in the cupboards.

My biggest piece of advice would be to get a regular veg box. And then use it. And a few basic herbs such as mustard seed, cumin seed, turmeric, parsley, some good olive oil.

I've made courgette cake this week, we've had mixed veg pasta, we've had tomato and feta on toast every morning. We've had mexican veg with paprika wedges. I do a cucumber and mayo pickle regularly. I always have grated carrot and beetroot in vinegar in the fridge ready to go on the side of plates when needed. And I've had peaches most days for the last 2 weeks, and just getting melons that are ready. Anything excess each day is frozen for the winter.

Breakfast - toast and a banana or apple, banana & yogurt, raspberries & yogurt - etc. Or a small glass of fruit juice but the raw fruit is much better.

Most of my lunches involve three portions of veg, just by having celery sticks, cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes on the side.

Much easier than the Mumsnet trademarked Massive Salad, and easier to see how many portions you are eating too.

Then dinner - brocolli and green beans on the side? Both steam in a few minutes on the stove or in the microwave.

At least six portions there. You could have a snack, apple or pear in the afternoon, for seven. Think about what veg/fruit you are going to be having first, then plan meals around that.

Shepherd's pie - replace some of lamb mince with cooked puy or green lentils. Though it's actually quicker and easier to make without meat at all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lentilshepherdspiewi_93532

Veggie chilli and baked potatoes is also very cheap and easy

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/meat-free_chilli_con_30042

The Green roasting tin did it for me but this looks nice for omnivores it's £9

in sainsbo's www.whsmith.co.uk/products/eat-more-greens-eat-more-plants-with-over-65-quick-and-easy-recipes/fern-green/paperback/9781784886394.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq5vNqbXRgAMVBbLtCh2ZEwIMEAQYDiABEgKCUvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I also love a "massive salad" and eat most days 🤷🏽‍♀️

Courgettes are great for hiding in various dishes like macaroni cheese www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/courgette_macaroni_cheese.html or burgers www.mummycooks.com/blogs/recipes/hidden-veggie-burgers

My dc only eat cauliflower if it’s well hidden. They like these www.healthylittlefoodies.com/cauliflower-tots/ and I often make this cauliflower cheese pasta https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/cauliflower-recipes/cauliflower-cheese-pasta/

Apparently we should all be aiming for 30 plants a week. However that does include nuts, seeds & herbs. So I make a big batch of home made Granola with several different nuts & seeds. You can also add Cranberries, apricots etc. Mix it together with peanut butter/honey & bake. Serve with full fat Greek yogurt, honey & berries. That's several plants already.
I add big handfuls of herbs eg. Basil to tomato, flat leaf parsley to soups/chicken bakes, coriander to curries.
Add several different beans to a chilli plus a variety of finely chopped veggies.
Pasta can be made with a hidden veg sauce as long as the predominant colour is red! I used to puree up loads of different veggies to add to cottage pie, plus a tin of lentils. Chick peas are lovely fried with smoked paprika until crispy. They taste like a savoury snack.
Mini crudite of carrots, cucumber, baby toms, baby radishes with a dip such as cream cheese mixed inwith a swirl of sweet chilli sauce is an Aussie classic.

Brilliant ideas people, loving adding puy lentils to bolognese. I love roasted veg but don't think the children will love it yet but I'll try today. They love smoothies but I keep forgetting to get more fruit in. Will try today as meant to be really hot.

I start my shepherd's/cottage pie with finely chopped onion, celery and carrot, so that's three vegetables. I have been known to put a layer of baked beans into a shepherd's pie too. I'd always serve at least two vegetables with it as well, usually cabbage and peas or green beans.

I try to cook three vegetables to have with any meat and potatoes kind of meal, I do love a bit of butter, but just remembering to season your veg makes them much more tasty.

If you have the freezer space those bags of frozen fruit are great especially for smoothies.

If you like roasted veg and you're not sure the DC will, try blitzing it. I used to do this a lot - I'd roast a big pile of veg like tomatoes, aubergine, peppers, butternut and a couple of onions with some garlic. then I'd blitz it with some cream cheese, maybe a little extra olive oil and sometimes some nuts like walnuts. And it became "red pesto" which I'd serve the DC on pasta. It also froze well in individual portions.

I stopped doing it which I'm annoyed about as DD now won't try "new things" so she probably wouldn't eat it.

Add veggies to your chicken curry. Cauliflower and aubergine are both good in curries although I find kids don't always like the texture of aubergine so maybe small chunks of cauliflower better. In Thai-style curries we like to add a couple of chopped tomatoes, some green beans or mange tout and sometimes some pineapple chunks.

Stir fry packs to serve with your rice and chicken are also a good option.

My DC generally love corn on the cob - serve it just with a little butter and salt or you can chargrill it and add flavourings like lime and chilli.

DD (fussy) generally has sliced carrots, tender stem broccoli, baby corn, peas etc as sides alongside whatever she's eating. I grate or finely chop carrots and courgettes into things like bolognaise or meatball sauces and add peppers, celery, leeks etc to the onions at the start. I also usually add a couple of handfuls of lentils to these sorts of sauces too to increase the nutritional content.

Slices of watermelon, easily accessible, are often popular around here - I usually do a plateful and leave lying around during play dates. Another great way to get them to eat more fruit is to put them on skewers - I've yet to meet a child who didn't like a skewer of berries. Top with a mini marshmallow and they're in heaven!

Soup.

Spinach is great to add to a curry, or mixed peppers and onions.

This is the sort of thing I mean re fruit skewers.

Add veg like pak choi, courgettes, chinese cabbage, broccoli spears, sugarsnap peas etc to a rice meal. Use it to stuff peppers or beef tomotoes.
Stir fries are easy.
Baked root veg is tastier than boiled.

I absolutely agree with the PP's encouraging you to make the veg 'the star of the show' rather than a side dish.

Vegetable curries, chillies, soups and casseroles and pasta dishes are all great for this. You can get a whole ton of veg into a tomato based pasta sauce, blitz it if you need to disguise the veg.

Sweet potatoes count as a portion of fruit and veg so serve them as jacket, wedges or mash to top your cottage pie. If you need to win the kids over gradually make the mash a 50:50 mix of sweet and white potato.

Big field mushrooms are great simply cooked with garlic and served in ciabatta like you would a burger. Bean and veg burgers are also quite simple to make.

If you serve crudités consider making your own hummus, guacamole and salsa. All are easy to make and add extra veg.

Things like pickled veg and coleslaw really help to add variety. If making sandwiches/wraps alway add in veg/salad things to fillings. Chicken with avocado, tuna with sweetcorn, peppers and red onion, cream cheese and cucumber, hummus and roasted veg etc

I make my curry sauce by cooking finely onion, 1/2 butternut squash, 2 carrots and a bit of cauliflower in curry spices and water, then use a hand blender to blend this into a thick sauce. I then add extra veg (usually broccoli, green beans, pepper etc), chickpeas and coconut milk cook for a further 20ish minutes and there's a pretty veg loaded curry but it's super saucy like a takeaway curry, rather than having too many bits of veg in it.
I have done this with a few different pasta sauces too, cook a sauce with lots of veg and then blend it down. Hiding the veg in the sauce is a great way to add more nutrients into your diet, if you aren't a fan of veg.

I think that you can either go for something where the veg is the 'star of the show' (e.g. cauliflower cheese) or you can go for something where the veg are not really obvious (e.g. cottage pie made with lentils and meat) or something where it's ok to not have meat (cheese +tomato pizza)

A lot of dishes can be 'improved' by the addition of a little bacon or anchovies, seeing as you want more veg not specifically vegetarian.

You can sneak veg into sauces and pies without them being too obvious.
Salads are great but they need to be appealing. Antipasti, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, capers, croutons etc can add appeal to a salad or sauce.

Children might like veg lasagne, and veg-wise sweetcorn, green beans, courgettes, etc

I make a veg curry but it's usually a big batch cook job. I think you need to fry onions and mushrooms in a little oil. I prefer to grill or microwave aubergines.

Have a small salad starter/side cherry toms, carrot, cucumber, peppers.
I don't like much cooked veg but love raw salad stuff.

Chop up cherry tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, courgette (scrape out the middle first if you don’t think the kids will like the bitty bits!), pour olive oil, and ‘Italian herb and spices’ mix. Oven for 30 mins. You can add chicken, halloumi, or feta too it’ll you want. Chuck a garlic bread in, or do a quick microwave rice, and mix it altogether.

Chicken fajitas but with lots of peppers and carrots (cut into v narrow strips, fry with the lid on in frying pan, cook for a long time so they are soft) and red onions. You could add homemade guacamole too, or just smashed avocado.

Lasagne is always a fave for kids, (with hidden veggies!).

Crushed par-cooked broccoli with parmesan cheese sprinkled liberally on top, in oven for 10 mins to make broccoli crisps.

Cauliflower cheese with macaroni mixed in, to make a healthy Mac and cheese. I add spinach too (and bacon, but that’s not so healthy)

Ham and mushroom omelette (add onions and go heavy on the mushrooms)

San Boy Chow (Chinese mince in a lettuce wrap)

Cheesy, crispy pinwheels on a strip of courgette or aubergine, rolled up.

Corn on the cob might go down well (frozen is fine)

Also, I find frozen spinach is great to chuck into stews etc.

For more fruit, I’ve found frozen blueberries, raspberries and cherries served on natural yoghurt for breakfast goes down well. You could add honey etc too for another boost of goodness.

Chopped salad (grated carrot, sweetcorn, tomatoes, peppers, etc etc) is easier and potentially more fun to eat than a load of leaves.

A tasty dressing makes a salad great. Don't be shy, add citrus, chilli and even sugar.

Never make a sandwich without a layer of salad – and chutney and relish are also veg, slather them on!

30 different plants, so if you have a couple of cherry tomatoes in a salad then a couple more in a tray bake it only counts as one plant.

An easy dip is a 50/50 mix of mayo and greek style yoghurt, add a clove of finely chopped garlic to make it a garlic dip, chilli for a hotter version.