Trying to eat healthier in the leadup to summer? Eating well doesn’t need to be a chore. Check out these seven easy ways of getting more healthy fruit and veg without getting sick of them.
Have a salad
Many people are dubious about having a salad as a meal, but if you add tasty ingredients it can prevent your vege extravaganza from tasting like bland grass. Along with your standard tomatoes and lettuce, try adding cubed cheese, cut up apricots, chunks of apple or orange, grilled meat or tuna and crispy noodles.
Have a Mexican night
Buy some flour tortillas and make burritos. Pack them with seasoned meat (a dash of pepper, a bit of coriander, and chilli powder to taste depending on your heat preferences), lots of chopped up lettuce, tomatoes, thinly sliced capsicum, a sprinkling of grated cheese and a few generous tablespoons of salsa topped with a bit of lite sour cream. Fold up the bottom first, then wrap the sides inwards to make your burrito pocket.
Whip up a stirfry
Get a packet of stirfry mixed veges or get some fresh ones yourself (beans, carrots, capsicums, courgettes etc.), cut your meat into bite-sized pieces and throw it all together with a bit of sauce – you can buy fairly cheap premade sauces or find a recipe yourself. Add just enough to coat the ingredients plus a little extra. It’s easy to go overboard with sauce which you don’t want to do as they usually contain a fair bit of salt and sugar. If that’s not enough, buy some thick noodles (fresh packet udon or hokkien) to add in.
Grab a vege snack
Instead of chips and biscuits, try snacking on carrot and celery sticks. Pack some for work with a small container of hummus in a flavour you like and hey presto! A healthy snack to munch on throughout the day and remain guilt free.
Find a vegetarian dish you like
New Zealanders sometimes have a difficult time coming to grips with a meal that doesn’t contain meat. Try a vegetarian paella, quiche or lasagne (pumpkin and spinach is a great combination!).
Roast some veges
Get out your roasting pan and buy some veges to put in the oven – try chunks of carrot, pumpkin, capsicum, kumara and potato. Drizzle over a bit of olive oil to help them cook/keep them moist, add your favourite herbs and spices and roast until they start to go a bit brown and crispy around the edges.
Dessert time?
You could make a nifty fruit salad or you could tip the fruit salad into some jelly and let it set! Experiment with different jelly flavours and fruits until you find a good combination of flavours. Alternatively, make a banana split by dividing a banana in half, and adding a scoop of icecream into the middle (for bonus points, make a sauce from your protein powder and drizzle on top).
Photo / FreeDigitalPhotos.net – federico stevanin