- Try juicing vegetables. With an electric juicer or food processor, you can puree any vegetable and enjoy drinking your veggies. Or, you can mix the puree into many recipes. Some mothers, desperate to get vegetables into their children, will puree carrots, cauliflower and broccoli and add the result to pasta sauce. You can also add diced and grated veggies to ground meat, casseroles and many quick breads. Yes, you'll know it's there, but you probably won't taste it. And a vegetable is a vegetable no matter how you get it
- Double up on your fruits. Add orange and strawberry slices to a green salad, stir blueberries and bananas into your morning cereal, serve apple and pear slices with peanut butter or mix ice cream with peaches and pineapple. Enjoy fruit juices instead of soda and make frozen fruit bars out of fruit juice.
- Substitute whole grains for some of those vegetables. Whole grains, which are rich in antioxidants, are an essential part of a heart-healthy diet. But don't be fooled by phrases such as "stone ground" or "multi-grain." They don't always certify that a food is made of whole grains. You want to find the words "whole grain" or "100 percent whole wheat."
- Many people who say they don't like vegetables will still eat potatoes, which come in several different varieties. Try potatoes baked, steamed and mashed. Onions and peppers are two other veggies that many people will tolerate. Dice some green, yellow and red peppers and slice some white or red onions for your next pizza. Add a few mushroom slices. Experiment with lettuce, onions and shredded carrots on a sandwich. Add a few cucumber slices for a nice crunch.
- Visit your local farmer's market. Frozen and canned vegetables don't hold a candle to veggies fresh off the market stand. You may find you don't really hate vegetables when you can get fresh, local produce. And try topping those veggies with cheese. Or, along the cheese theme, add slivered vegetables to everybody's comfort food, macaroni and cheese.
