January Goal

So I had this written up very nice and then somehow I selected it all and I typed over it and voila! It was gone. 

So, here is the challenge I will be taking over in the next year. It's Cooking Light's 12 Healthy Habits! I've been working on January's for the past 13 days and have made a bit of progress. I'm working on downloading their goal sheets that I can magnet to the fridge to keep better track of the goals each month. Without further ado, here is January!

VEGGIE UP!

ADD 3 SERVINGS A DAY

 The idea behind this is that less than 25% of Americans eat 5+ servings a day and most adults need about 9 everyday. Fruits and veggies provide all kinds of nutrients and fibers that help prevent disease and displace higher-calorie foods to help balance your diet and control hunger. Here are some of the tips they give for helping to add more veggies into your diet!

• Incorporate more veggies into recipes. Add grated carrots to a fruit smoothie or pancakes; grated zucchini into pasta sauce or meatballs. (I also buy the Ragu with 2 servings of veggies in each 3/4 cup serving.) Puree winter squash or cauliflower into white lasgna, potpie, or baked ziti. 
• Keep dried fruit in your desk (or backpack). 1/4 cup is one serving.
• Add raw veggies and dip to lunch. Try snowpeas, cauliflower, radishes, or cucumber for variety. Use tzatziki, hummus, or romesco for dip. (I really like carrots in salsa.)
• Try one new veggie at home each week. Try kale, collard greens, winter squash, celery root, or sweet potatoes.
• Have a small salad every night with dinner. Use no-prep bagged lettuce and add shredded carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. And low calorie dressing. (Or salsa. God, I love salsa!)
• Keep fruit or veggies on the counter or at eye level in the fridge. That way you can't forget you have them!
• Prep veggies dishes on the weekend and freeze. Also, don't forget about the frozen veggie aisle. (Much better than canned!)

Overall, I am making okay progress on this goal and am getting 3 servings a day or more most days. This is a lot better than before when I was getting 0-1 a day. Also, I'm finding I like more veggies than I did when I was a kid. I can eat corn as long as it's in something and I can't really taste it. I also like raw veggies, could eat cabbage until there was no more left in the entire world, and am even starting to like more raw-type tomatoes (think pico de gallo and bruchetta) instead of sauces. Between pico and bruschetta, I can make so many more foods. My next project is to make them each from scratch, which I'm worried about right now because I don't know how good the tomatoes are. But, we'll see!