Overview
This New Years, you've made a resolution to "eat better," but it's been a while since mom reminded you to eat your peas and carrots. Fortunately, there are a few creative shortcuts to incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your daily routine.
Turn Them Into Chips
A healthy alternative to potato chips? Meet the kale chip. When baked and salted, kale's thick leaves turn into crispy, crunchy chips that are equally as delicious as what you'd find in the snack isle (but with less fat and more antioxidants). - in association with Rachael Ray
Related: Watch Crispy Baked Kale Chips in HD
Dish Them Up As Dips
Fresh, healthy, homemade dips are a great way to scoop your way to more servings of veggies. Chunky tomato salsa is full of antioxidants, eggplant-based baba ganoush is packed with phytonutrients, and guacamole, even though it's high in calories, is a great way to stock up on your monosaturated heart-healthy fats. So guac on the wild side and have a few chips with your salsa. - in association with Rachael Ray
Related: Louisa's Baba Ganoush
Bake Them Into Bread
Like any baked goods, you'll still have your usual suspects - butter, flour and sugar - but don't let this dissuade you from making and enjoying pumpkin or banana bread. "It's got a lot of color, a lot of flavor and because it's fresh and you make it yourself, it's got a lot of nutrients," said locavore chef and cookbook author, Louisa Shafia about her homemade cinnamon spice squash bread. While this isn't exactly "health food," these treats are teeming with vitamins and nutrients and clear winners against it's boxed bread counterparts. - in association with Rachael Ray
Sneak Them Into Soup
You don't need to save your peas, carrots and squash for for garden minestrone. Any soup can benefit from the added body of fiber-filled veggies. Add celery and carrots to chicken noodle soup, broccoli to your beef stew or you can take a leaf out of Louisa's book and use butternut squash in your chili or make a quick miso soup out of any leftover vegetables you have in the fridge. - in association with Rachael Ray
Blend Them, Juice Them, Drink Them
Whether you juice your fruit Jack LaLanne style or make Louisa's Pumpkin Chai Spice Smoothie, drinking your veggies is a fun (and delicious) way to get your daily serving. Carrots go well with just about anything, and if you're worried you might not like the taste of blended kale, apples mask the flavor well. For those of you who are particularly ambitious, it's time to try the Spinach "Margarita." Just blend two cups of both spinach and ice with one cup of white grape juice, add some lime and a squirt of agave nectar and you've got yourself a (virgin) drink worthy of a little la bamaba. - in association with Rachael Ray
Add Them to a Salad
Toss some strawberries into that spinach salad or add sliced pears to your baby greens. It's a face-lift for your lettuce and an extra serving of fruit for you, so get creative with your fruit and veggie combinations. Louisa Shafia recommends trying peaches and corn or apples and cabbage, but it's hard to go wrong with mandarins, berries or even watermelon. - in association with Rachael Ray
Use Them As a Wrap
Forgo the pita or tortilla in favor of a large-leafed green the next time you're making a wrap. Collard greens, kale and chard all have large nutrient-rich leaves making them ideal, figure-friendly "wrappers." Plus they are chock full of vitamins K, A and C, meaning you are simultaneously cutting carbs and lowering your cholesterol. - in association with Rachael Ray
Give Them a Garlic Kick
Is your broccoli boring? Do you feel like your green beans have "bean" there done that? It's time to get out the garlic. It's amazing what this little bulb can do - it wards off vampires, it fights colon cancer and it gives you a reason to ask for seconds of the Brussels sprouts. Clearly, it's magical. Just add a couple of chopped cloves to your saute and let them begin to brown before tossing in your broccoli, asparagus or other winter greens to give them that garlic kick. - in association with Rachael Ray
Dip Them Into Chocolate
After dinner it's always nice to try something sweet. Instead of reaching for cookies or ice cream, improvise and make your own (incredibly easy) chocolate fruit fondue. Just grab a handful of skewers, melt some chocolate chips and get dipping. - in association with Rachael Ray
Related: Watch Easy and Elegant Chocolate-Dipped Fruit in HD
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