"....I'd Rather Be Fat."

Okay so if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen this picture that I posted recently.

I saw this and just about fell out of my chair laughing. Not only is the cat’s face hilarious, but it definitely reflects how I feel about salads. Now, I do have to say, that I would actually choose to eat a salad over “being fat” or sliding back into a lifestyle where I don’t care about what I eat.

However, salads have never been my favorite food. Sure every now and then I’ll have a hankering for one, or I’ll come across a super dressed up, fancy, delicious salad. But as a whole, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of salad. And on my journey towards health, they haven’t been a major part of my diet. This could probably be due to the temptation to literally cover the thing in salad dressing, thus defeating the purpose of the salad in the first place.

Like I said, every now and then I like a salad, but for the most part, I get my five servings of daily vegetables in other ways every day. Yes, I said FIVE. I know, I thought that was a lot too at first. I went from eating a veggie maybe once a week, to eating five servings every single day.

And all without salad!

Want to know how? I’m going to share a few of my quick substitutions, tips, and favorites on how to get my five servings of veggies in every day.

Put the “salad” in my smoothie! Yup, you heard right. Get that spinach in your blender and give it a whirl! Spinach and kale are incredibly nutrient dense and good for you. They pack a powerful punch. So instead of munching on a bowl of spinach like a bunny, I put about two cups of spinach in my morning smoothie with a serving of fruit, and either my Shakeology, or some Greek yogurt. Add some ice and water, blend, and voila! It will be a green color (or brown, depending on your fruit choice), but trust me, you can’t taste it. It’s delicious, and so good for you!

Start making one or two veggie centered meals a week. This will help you ease into it, and incorporate more veggies while expanding your cooking repertoire! Try a veggie stir fry, home made veggie and bean burger patties, eggplant or zucchini lasagna…the list goes on and on!

Make your pizza crust with a veggie! You heard right again. I actually do this a lot of different ways. You can make an actual “crust” with cauliflower, which is fantastic. I have also sliced up zucchini to make pizza “slices” and pizza “boats”, and I have also used slices of eggplant as a “crust” for pizza. Give one a try, it’s pretty easy and super tasty!

Pasta sauce made from a veggie. I have come to LOVE cauliflower. I never knew you could do so much with it! This is now my go to white pasta sauce because I know it’s a whole lot healthier than alfredo sauce, tastes amazing, and gets me a serving of veggies. I use this to top spaghetti squash as well.

Speaking of spaghetti… One easy substitution that we love is spaghetti squash! Especially now that it’s the squash season of the year! If you have never tried it, I definitely recommend trying it. Really easy to cook, tastes great and you can top it exactly like real spaghetti.

Sub out your potatoes for this! Here’s another fantastic use of cauliflower. When you would normally serve mashed potatoes (which don’t have nearly as much nutrient as cauliflower) cook up your cauliflower, “mash” it in your food processor with your choice of seasoning and spices (my favorite is garlic), and serve! It’s super good and you’re getting veggies!

Snack it up. Pre portion out your favorite veggie to eat as a snack. My favorites are carrots, cucumber slices and red bell peppers. You can grab some hummus to dip them in as well for a super delicious treat!

There you have it. Just a few of the ways that I like to “dress up” my veggie servings every day. Give a few a try! Find the vegetables that you like to eat and then look up different ways that you can make them! You will probably be surprised as to just how many ways there are to use your veggies in your diet.

Let me hear from you now, what’s your favorite way to eat your veggies?