Veggie Tuesday

Hello my fellow healthy friends!

As promised yesterday, here are a few different vegetable recipes that I quite enjoy.  They are easy, healthy, but have a bit of a kick to make them more enticing.

I will start with vegetable related meals and then work to some tasty sides that can go with any meal.

Spaghetti squash = my favourite low calorie meal

• Pick up a spaghetti squash, slice in half, scoop out seeds and put right side up on a cookie sheet, you can fill the squash with a little it of water so that it cooks a bit faster.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30 mins
• In the mean time, saute onions, green peppers and garlic in a frying pan, add salt & pepper to taste, add your own diced tomatoes or 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes and let simmer
• Pull squash out of the oven and let cool for about 10-15mins
• With a fork, pull all of the squash out (you will see it looks like spaghetti noodles!) 
• Put is in large bowl and toss your veggie tomato sauce in
• To spice it up, add chicken breast, ground turkey or shrimp

Stir Fry = Extremely Easy & Extremely Excited

• Add any and all vegetables that you like, starting with onions & garlic first, saute for 2-3 minutes and then add other veggies
• You can have just a veggie stir fry, or do it with steak, chicken, shrimp, turkey, whichever kind of protein you like
• I try to limit my carbs, but by all means cook 1/2 of a cup of rice as well to make it more
• pick up some teriyaki sauce to drizzle on top, or for a healthier choice mix with low sodium soy sauce
• add salt & pepper to taste (keep in mind that soy sauce is very salty, so leave the salt out if you choose that option)

Salads = The greener the better

• Salads are not just a lunch meal, change it up! Do right by your body, eat a big salad for dinner!
• Caesar Salad - Grill up a chicken breast, get some romaine lettuce and make your own caesar dressing
• You will need parmesan cheese, mayonaise, a little lemon juice and at least 2 cloves of garlic, for a smoother texture, throw these ingredients into a food processor
• Caesar salad can be very healthy if you are careful with the amount of dressing you put on top, as well as the bacon bits and croutons.  Keep the staples, just don't go over board
• Greek Salad - Any kind of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese, a little olive oil and away you go!
• Of course you can become your own chef and create a variety of different salads by using different types of lettuce and a variety of colourful veggies.  You can add whatever protein you like, whether it be meat or nuts or cheese, explore your inner salad self and have fun with this!

Sides = A healthy compliment to that baked potato

• Add this cheese sauce to steamed broccoli or cauliflower; 1 Cup milk (make it skim or 1 %) bring to a boil in medium sauce pan, add 1-2 tbsp of flour, 1 tsp of Knorr chicken stock, 1 cup grated cheese.  Blend in with the milk to get a creamy cheese sauce that can be drizzled over some tasty greens
• Stuffed Mushrooms = the crowd stopper!
• finely chop 1 onion, 2 gloves of garlic, 1 pepper (any colour), wash mushrooms and pull the stems out. Chop of mushroom stems and add in with onion mixture.  For an extra, chop in 1/4 cup of feta cheese or any kind of cheese for that matter. 
• Spoon out mixture and place in mushrooms (which you should have laying on parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet), place in the oven for 30mins at 350 degrees
• These go great with any protein dish

These are just a few of many recipes to try.  I hope you try some of them and enjoy them.  They are my favourites!  I love all recipes that allow you to change it up and experiment.

Get on with your greens today!