9 Ways to Increase Your Daily Intake of Fruits and Vegetables: Breakfast, Sauces, and Snacks.
WRITTEN BY LISA GRENTZ, MS, RDN, CD
* To go with our Healthy Highlights series this month, we have a Cookbook Expansion Pack available, with nine new recipes that will help you increase your daily intake of fruits and veggies! Find all the info at the bottom of the page.
This week we present three more ways to increase fruit and vegetable intake with breakfast, sauces, and snacks.
Breakfast
Breakfast dishes are even better with fruits and vegetables!
· Toss a handful of spinach into your scrambled eggs
· Add diced bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, onion, zucchini, tomato, etc. to omelets, quiche, egg scrambles, or baked egg bites
· Add spinach and tomato to frittata
· Use a spaghetti squash in egg cups
· Top cereal with banana or berries
· Stir puree or diced fruit into yogurt
· Make a berry yogurt parfait
· Add chopped veggies like onion and bell peppers to your hashbrowns made of shredded or cubed white or sweet potato
· Try “zucchini bread” pancakes
· Banana bread baked oatmeal (For access to this recipe and more, buy our Cookbook Expansion Pack!)
· Fold diced pineapple and coconut flakes into pancake batter
· Use sweet potato or pumpkin puree in pancake and waffle batter
Get Saucy
Make a fruit sauce or add puree veggies to commercial or homemade sauces for a tasty nutrition boost.
· Make pesto with basil and spinach or kale
· Blend spinach and pumpkin puree into tomato sauce
· Add puree or minced broccoli, zucchini, and onion to marinara or pizza sauce
· Add puree carrots, squash, or cauliflower to white sauce or cheese sauce
· Make a fruit reduction and use in place of syrup as a pancake topping
· Puree apples, peaches, or pears and mix with fresh herbs to a make a spread for grilled poultry, pork, or fish
Snacking
Often, we want snacks that offer a satisfying crunch, are easy to prepare, and/or are available to grab and go. For our weaning families, try pairing these fun snack ideas with a caloric dip.
*Please note that some snack food suggestions are choking hazards. Please consult with your team if you are questioning if a food suggestion or recipe is texturally appropriate based on your child’s feeding skills.
· Veggie chips made from kale, beet, sweet potato, turnip, parsnip, or radish and served with a caloric dip like ranch or onion dip
· Freeze-dried snap peas dipped in guacamole or freeze-dried fruits dipped in yogurt
· Carrot sticks, celery sticks, and slices of cucumber dipped in hummus
· Celery sticks filled with nut or seed butter
· Apple slices dipped in Nutella or nut or seed butter
· Banana slices coated with yogurt then rolled in crushed cereal or nuts
· Fresh fruit, sliced grapes, and fruit cups make great snacks and can be offered alongside a more calorically dense food like quinoa pudding
· Cottage cheese and diced fruit
· Baked apple or poached pear with a dollop of whipped cream
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