Vegetarian Daily Diet

what is a good, simple way to incorperate more veggies into my daily diet?

I'm a fairly healthy eater (don't care for junk foods or soda) and i've been a vegetarian for almost two years. I like veggies, i just don't seem to eat them often and i feel like i'm lacking essential nutrients. Please, help by giving tips, recipes, anything.

Public Comments

1. I know this may sound stupid but if you really consider it, it makes sence....V8 juice.
2. How bough smoothies... most are fruit, but you could improvise??? Raspberry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hektCX4zu9w Peanut Butter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYIWANSZPww Strawberry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUMuOyFpGh4 Protein Ice Cream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyKAY8J5XoE Pomegranate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yIZE9lYTEc Oreo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TQBhriecC0 Tropical http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYNaY-jJ0RE
3. I like to buy the marinades people use on meat and stir-fry vegetables in them. I like doing this with zucchinni, bok-choy, and bell-peppers. I also like cooking zucchini with spaquetti sauce, in a frying pan. The pre-peeled baby carrots are so convienant I usally keep them around. Nothing is simpler than a sandwhich. Healthy bread, spreads and your choice of veggies (cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.) are all you need to be good to go.
4. when i have bad day and we end up eating mac and cheese or hamburger helper (i know your vegitarian) or some other meal in a box..then ill add some brocolli or peas to the maccaronni and maybe a can of corn to the hamb helper, or ill make lettuce wraps..those are pretty good too, just pieces of lettuce and wrap up tuna, or humus, up and enjoy
5. I have been a vegetarian for three years now. I generally eat a lot of pastas and carbs, because I too find it difficult to incorporate vegetables into a lot of meals. Isn't that funny that being a vegetarian it's still hard to eat enough vegetables? haha. Here are some very fast and very cheap recipes I use from time to time: 1. I personally LOVE to steam broccoli, squash and asparagus for about 10 minutes and grate sharp cheddar cheese on top with salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. 2. Vegetable soup with a cheese sandwich is always a nice choice. You can buy some really nice vegetarian vegetable soups, but be careful to make sure it doesn't have beef in it, as some "vegetable" soups do. 3. I make a mean fried rice. Pick up a pack of fried rice seasoning from the asian section of your grocery store. Cook about 3-4 cups of COOKED rice (so like 2 cups or so of dry rice), beat up 3 eggs, dice up about 4-5 stems of green onions, and cook 1 cup of frozen peas. Also have some soy sauce and olive oil on hand. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and put your cooked rice into the skillet with the chopped green onions. Stir fry this until the onions start to look just a little brown. Add the packet of seasoning and dash some soy sauce in with it, I generally put about 1/4 a cup or so, but you might like more or less. Stir fry this for a minute or so, just to mix it in. Push the rice to the side and scramble your eggs (I usually salt, pepper, and garlic powder the eggs while I beat them, and put a spoonful of butter in the skillet to pour them on top of.). Mix in the scrambled eggs with the rice and then add the cooked frozen peas (to cook the peas you just put them in a microwave safe bowl and put in a little butter, salt, pepper and garlic powder). Mix this all up and add some salt, pepper and garlic powder if you'd like. You might need to add more soy sauce, just taste it and see what you think. This is an excellent recipe, I promise you will love it. 4. Shells and tomato juice: Tomato juice is a very good source of the nutrients we need from vegetables. Steaming them tends to take away their value, so tomato juice is great here. Buy a box or bag of shells (not small or large, just the regular ones) and cook them, then get a can of tomato juice (my parents can me some every year, but the store bought is decent). Cook the pasta, drain, put over the tomato juice. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. I usually use a lot of garlic powder here. This goes great with a bit of garlic or texas toast. If you are like me you can just toast regular bread and just add butter and garlic powder haha. 5. Vegetarian chili: Get a medium size pot and mix in 1 large can of tomatoes. You can use diced, but I prefer the larger chunks. Mix in a can of tomato juice. Add one can of black beans, and one can of kidney beans. Add a packet of chili powder. Serve with crackers or fritos and sharp cheddar.
6. Most people don't know how to use veggies so they avoid them altogether. One of my ex bf's used to steam asparagus stalks (cut 1" off the stem) and serve it with butter, mashed potatos and pork cutlets. Today I made a salad (great timing!) made of mustard greens and thinly sliced cabbage. Then I chopped red/orange/yellow small peppers into strips, crushed 6 garlic cloves and some fresh ginger into a mortar with a pistil, diagonally sliced 3 stalks of scallions, sliced up cooked chicken breast and tossed it into a bowl with fish sauce and a little lime juice. Then I tossed into non-stik pan with Stir Fry Oil (it's made of soybean oil/ginger/onion/garlic) and served hot over the greens with almonds. You could try going to NibbleDish.com and get some ideas, they're pretty creative there.