So what are you doing to eat more plants? We all know we need to eat more of them, we’ve read about it and seen it. But how do you actually incorporate it into your everyday life? More salads, more stir fries? Have you ever tried a green smoothie?
We go through phases. A week or so where we’ll do really good at incorporating plants into our day and we’ll feel good. Lighter, healthier, a bit more bounce in our step. Then we are tempted to have on teeny, tiny bite of chocolate chip cookie, and then another, and next thing you know we’ve eaten that as well as the rest of the dozen and we’re back on the pasta, meat, and sweets train and we go back to feeling heavy and slow.
Luckily the bounty of this late spring garden is helping us. How can you not eat all of this wonderful mustard, lettuce, radishes, broccoli and collard greens? That’s one good thing about having a garden. No excuses not to eat the healthy stuff, it’s right outside your backdoor. And if you leave it go to bolt then you feel like a heel for not eating it in time.
So how do you eat more plants?
If I have fresh vegetables ready to pick and eat it’s that simple they are incorporated into each meal and used for snacks throughout the day.
For my family, I just make sure to serve a huge salad with each meal (even breakfast eggs are served over greens) and, in addition to that, make sure half our lunch and dinner plates are covered in veggies. We routinely eat 9-10 servings of vegetables each day and then fruit on top of that. The nutrients in vegetables are critical to health. Good post.
nhnursery – having a garden full of ready to eat veggies is definately helpful, iesn’t it? I must go pick some now and wash them for dinner tonight. Maybe collard greens to go with the fish I got.
Jenny, wow! 9-10 servings a day! That’s great! Good idea about putting eggs on greens. We have chickens and are trying to eat more eggs for breakfast too. Such good nutrients in backyard eggs!
I love your blog. I found it from Judy’s website and keep coming back. You’re the perfect idealist with all the right ideals! I love your garden and the photographer should do a book!
I have a 130 SF garden just outside my back door that I’m about to go make a huge salad out of for dinner. It’ll have three types of lettuce, spinach, and radishes. Unfortunately the tomatoes and carrots I’ll add will be from someplace else since it’ll be a while before mine are ready to pick.
I also love the smoothie site you linked. I made my family a smoothie for a predinner snack and it was just like hers, but without the greens. I will try to convince my wife to try the greens, a little at a time. hehe. Funny that you go to a blog from Sonoma California to be redirected back to Seattle where I’m from. Hehe
Thank you!
Those purple leaves are gorgeous. My trick is to make enough salad or soup or vegetables than we’re ever going to eat so we have some to take for lunch too. Certainly not an original idea but if I don’t do it the veggies stay in the fridge.
sinfonian – Thanks for the nice words! We’ve been reading all about square feet gardening lately an are very intrigued. We might have to give it a go next year. You should add those greens into the smoothie when no one is looking. Try spinach at first because you really don’t taste it, especially if you also add a banana. If my super picky 3 year old will drink them then I’m sure your wife will too!
Katrina, I need to take that advise and start making extra large salads at dinner. I am never, ever in the mood to make salad for lunch, but I sure do like to eat it! Especially with goat cheese crumbled on top. Yum!
Hmm. I may just try the spinach in the smoothie. Though I find I eat tons of greens in salads. I love taking one to work. I just make up extra at dinner and throw it in a gallon bag and take it to work.
As for SFG, I was introduced to the book and it looked easy enough, and it has been very enjoyable. Call it intensive gardening if you like, but you get to grow tons of food in a very small space. Perfect for my 130 SF of garden space. I’m currently giving away greens left and right. hehe.
Just spotted your blog via molly coddle. Gorgeous photographs or is it gorgeous subject matter? We’ve just begun our garden so mine does not resemble your healthy growth yet. What is the purple leafed vegetable? Is it kale?
Hi Ellen, I’m so glad you found my blog! The purple leafed veggie is Chinese Mustard. Here’s where I write about it more: http://www.asonomagarden.com/2008/04/04/chinese-mustard/
It’s a great addition to the garden. It is both beautiful and good to eat. It might be too late to start it now, but maybe, if your winters aren’t too harsh, you can try it in fall to harvest in early spring.
if you have some comfrey plants..it makes a great smoothie ingredient. There is some concern about ingestion of comfrey due to the pyrrolizadine alkaloid content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfrey#Medicinal_uses, but comfrey has a long history of safe use when used occasionally and leaves taken from unstressed plants (well watered, infrequently harvested).
Gee that all sounds so….vaguely dangerous. hmmm, well you can certainly skip the comfrey, but dont try plaintain, I wasted a perfectly good blenderful of persimmon smoothie by adding fresh plantain leaves…blech!
I like to make up a big pot of minestrone to use up veggies about to turn the corner. Or add leftover veg to leftover rice with some fish sauce and lime juice to make thai fried rice.
What are you doing with those mustard lettuce plants? I planted some in a salad mix, they are growing better than anything else but they are way too spicey to use more than a tiny bit of raw in salads. When I looked on google for ‘mustard lettuce’ all I get are recipes for mustard greens (totally different plant!) or sandwiches with mustard and lettuce. Any help here would assist me in eating veggies!
Amy, we eat them very young in salads. Once they get too big, they do get really spicy! We’ve started to grow accustomed to spicier salad mixes though.