Do you get bored eating your vegetables? Oh my, I do. I mean how can you get excited about a handful of carrots or broccoli florets laying on the side of your plate with no other fanfare to boost their appeal and compete with your main dish except their nutritional value? Let’s face it: our ongoing health needs vegetables and since they can’t offer more excitement on their own, it’s up to us to discover new ways of making them more enticing. 

Take broccoli for example; I love broccoli florets! I usually buy the frozen, and without that stem that never seems tender enough when I cook the broccoli. With the exception of its flatulence-like cooking aroma, broccoli is my favorite go-to vegetable because a cup is less than 40 calories, and it has a flavor that easily bonds with other flavors and seasonings, which allows broccoli to move easily from the sidelines of your meal into the spotlight as your main dish depending on how you dress it up. Here are a few ways I like to eat my broccoli.

1. sautéed with chopped mushrooms, onions, and veggie sausages or black beans for protein, then melt veggie cheese on top.
2. As a creamy soup: sautéed or steamed until tender; cooled, then processed with chopped (cooked) zucchini, onion, and seasoned to taste.
3. Steamed or sautéed; then dipped in garlic or red pepper-flavored hummus.

And now I have a new favorite way to eat broccoli – as a tot!

I first saw this idea on Facebook – the Tasty videos. You can get their recipe here . I’ve added a few ingredients to mine though: onions, bacon bits, and spicy seasonings. They taste delicious dipped in tomato-based sauces, salsa, or honey mustard. Unlike potato tots, they don’t have a heavy taste so I love a few of them as an after work shift, before-I-sleep light meal. And they are filling enough to hold their own for your meal.

So, don’t expect your vegetables to spice up themselves. Good nutrition doesn’t have to mean boring. Experiment with seasonings from different cultures, mix veggie flavors together, puree them; spiral them; process them into smoothies. Anything you want! Just get your vegetables off the sideline and spotlight them for your taste buds! 🙂