Eat Your Veggies: Remaking the Dinner Plate, part 1
When I was growing up, my Mom’s dinner plates looked a lot like a pie divided into 3 roughly equal parts. One-third of our plates were filled with meat like roast beef or chicken, one-third would be a starch, and one-third would be a veggie. Of course on some days, if we had really yummy mashed potatoes, the starch would crowd out some of the veggie part of the plate. I think this was typical of how most people ate and certainly is how most people think of composing their meals.
In trying to increase the amount of veggies that we eat, I found that simply shifting the proportions of the meat-starch-veggie plate might mean eating a tablespoon or two more of peas, but didn’t really go toward shifting the emphasis of the meal to veggies. I also found that one lone veggie, say steamed broccoli, became boring to try to eat large servings (or double servings) of.
One way to tackle this is to toss out the meat-starch-veggie combo plate setup and to try new combinations. I am planning a series of these to show different ways to compose a meal. The first suggested remade plate is:
Protein + 3 Veggies
This combination works well if you have plain type of protein without a lot of sauces. I try to think of this as 1 cooked green veggie, one other veggie of another color that can be a starchy veggie, and one salad. I try to eat what is seasonal and grown locally, if possible (and thereby cheaper and tastier). Some possibilities include:
Cooked green veggies: steamed broccoli, sauteed cabbage, steamed green beans, quickly stir-fried zucchini, sauteed swiss chard, roasted brussels sprouts, steamed asparagus, braised greens or kale, braised red cabbage (okay, that’s not green), steamed sugar snap peas
Other veggies (lots of colorful veggies have lots of healthy antioxidants): mashed sweet potatoes, roasted butternut squash, mashed cauliflower, roasted red peppers, cooked carrots, corn on the cob, sauteed mushrooms (really a fungi, but can be an honorary veggie), white beans, lima beans, peas
Salad or raw veggies (sometimes in combination with fruit): Simple green salad, pear and arugula salad, apple-ginger coleslaw, sliced tomatoes (best in summer), cucumber salad,
For example last week, I made a simple baked cod for dinner With this I served steamed broccoli (I ate this plain, but hubby dipped his in salad dressing), baked sweet potatoes, and apple-ginger coleslaw. By having a variety of colors and textures, and making them taste good, eating a lot of veggies becomes second nature.
Stay tuned for remaking the dinner plate, part 2, and more recipes.
