Isn’t there a song titled “Eating out is fun to do?”  Well it is, but it sure takes a toll on your waist if foods are not chosen properly.  For the past several months, I’ve worked very hard at choosing the right vegetables to go along with each meal that I enjoy outside of my own kitchen.

It’s fall and what a delight to see butternut squash, beets, apples and more on menus this season.  Just yesterday I enjoyed a beet salad at The Grand Marlin  in Pensacola, FL.  Just take a look at those beautiful colors…red, yellow, green, oh my!  And the Yellowfin Tuna entrée (pictured below); just caught that morning from the waters off Destin, FL.  Talk about fresh and sustainable!  And to my surprise, guess what came as a wonderful little goodie on the side: pumpkin seed brittle.  This is the best-tasting brittle I have ever put to my lips.  Executive Chef Gregg McCarthy—hats off to you!  

So of course I then turned to the pages of Cooking Light’s October issue and found Thai Cashew Brittle that will be a must this month. And with pumpkin on the brain, I’m sharing one favorite recipes from the past:  Pumpkin-Honey Beer Quick Bread.

I’m still a work in progress but what a challenge—and actually what fun—to study a menu and know I’m making a good choice when it comes to adding vegetables to my plate.  If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please send them my way!

I first learned about the 12 Healthy Habits at a staff meeting in October 2010. Being a registered dietitian and always striving to "practice what I preach," I barely blinked an eye at being able to complete most all of the habits each month. I know, I sound like a Healthy Habits snob, don't get me wrong. I love my fair share of chocolate, red wine, ice cream, and eating out, but making healthy choices, cooking, and working out are a part of my everyday lifestyle. I'll admit, a few of the habits were going to challenge me, but I was ready to go and ready to encourage my husband to adopt the habits as well.

And then everything changed...

January came and the habit of Eating More Fruits and Vegetables was the last thing I wanted to think about. I was 8-12 weeks pregnant during the month and in the "throws" (literally) of the first trimester yucks. I wish the habit of the month had been to eat as much starch and sour candy as possible because I would have succeeded with flying colors. Instead, I gave myself a big FAIL for this habit! The thought of my go-to weeknight veggies like roasted asparagus and sweet potatoes made me cringe, my favorite snack of hummus with English cucumber slices and baby carrots literally brought tears to my eyes (seriously, I cried), and don't even get me started on the smell of broccoli. It was a disaster! Not only could I not eat fruits and vegetables, but I couldn't even drink juice. January Score: F

Like many working families, my wife and I struggle putting a healthy, well-balanced meal on the table on a nightly basis what with the time constraints of work hours for us and homework/extra-curricular activities for the kids. As a matter of fact, I imagine that most weeknights, we dedicate about a 1/2-hour to the production and consumption of dinner. Pretty pathetic I know, but that’s what obsessive little-league parents do. Put off the things that matter around the house and basically transform their lives into a shuttle-service for their kids for months on end.

And given the fact that we have picky-eater kids, we either prepare them their own meal or we spend dinner in a Mexican standoff seeing who will blink first if we try to get them to eat the “grown-up” meal (i.e. the one that includes green vegetables). And really, no one has the stomach for that on a nightly basis. I mean as much a I want my kids to enjoy a variety of delicious and healthy foods, I also want them to not see the dinner table as a place of misery and despair. So, that said, given the fact that I’ve resolved to eat more green vegetables, I’ve spent the last month adding a few 5-minute-or-less vegetable sides to our weekly rotation that work within our busy lifestyle (and result in smiles...see proof at right).

1) Sautéed spinach with garlic and chili flakes- easy breezy. Put some sliced garlic and red pepper flakes in a pan with some nice olive oil and crank the heat to high. When the garlic starts to sizzle add your spinach and toss around until wilted. Salt and pepper and a dash of sherry vinegar and get it on the plate.

This challenge has been very eye-opening for me. I actually have more options to incorporate additional fruits and veggies in my day than I originally thought. It just took being accountable to make me think of ways to do it.

I am buying more fresh produce, but also a lot of frozen produce, too. Every Monday, my lunch break consists of going to the grocery store to pick up two bags of salad, grape tomatoes, croutons, and shredded cheese to last for at least 4 days of lunch at my desk. (I save the 5th day for my favorite Subway sandwich! It’s funny how it’s a bit of a treat now!) I also get a bag of almonds and 4-5 apples, which are easy to eat at my desk and stay fresh for a while. Now instead of hitting the chocolate basket for a snack, I reach for an apple or almonds (see more ideas for healthy office snacks). They are great and hit the spot, unlike chocolate which always leaves me wanting more!

When I prep for family dinners now, I have the freezer stocked with bags of steamed fresh veggies that take 5 minutes to cook. It’s GREAT! It may cost a tad more than fresh produce, but I have no worries about it going bad, and I can stock up. Also, the Sunday paper tends to have coupons for them almost every week.

One last thing to share that my family and I love – mixing together a bag of green grapes, pint of blueberries, and a container of cut up strawberries. It does take a little time to wash the fruit and cut the strawberries, but it’s a “snack” that lasts a few days. The kids love it, too, as it ties us over between school/work and dinner time.

*Check out Kristi's profile and see 12 more ways to eat more fruits and vegetables

It’s nice to have a friend who is a chef, and it’s even better when I’m included in their dinner plans.  My friend Dan Latham of Moto Bene in Atlanta, and his wife recently asked me over for dinner.  Dan cooked basically whatever he found in the kitchen. Why can’t I be more like that? A mix of cauliflower, onions, and mushrooms seasoned and sautéed perfectly along with sweet potato fries and grilled chicken from the local farmers' market.  It was delicious and showed me a new way to enjoy cauliflower—thanks Dan!  Plus, that photo you are looking at fed 4 of us, so the portion size was perfect!
 
And since ordering vegetables in restaurants is really what I’m working on…I hope you have a Zoe’s where you live. Its menu features the freshest ingredients based on a Mediterranean diet.  Their hummus and salad plate comes with a Greek salad, cucumber raita, olives, hummus (obviously), and pita bread.  It’s gorgeous on the plate, so full of color, which is one thing I’ve learned over the years…the more colorful your food, the better it is for you. As I eat there at least once a week, this dish has become one of my favorites on the menu.  Atlanta folks…any other healthy restaurant ideas you can send my way?

OK. Every now and again I devise a parenting plan or strategy that is so original and outside-of-the-box that its sheer brilliance blinds me to the fact that it is inevitably doomed to failure. And the latest one was in regards to getting my picky-eater kids to eat a green vegetable. Any green vegetable. One.

Now having worked in professional kitchens for over a decade, I’ve cooked 99% of the produce available at your standard grocery store. So drawing on my experience and knowledge of the various tastes and textures that a cook can tease out of veggies, I determined that the simple haricot vert (French green bean) was going to be my best shot at success. It’s crisp (my kids hate soft food), and it has a relatively mild flavor (next to something like, say, asparagus or brussel sprouts).

So my plan was this: knowing that resistance would be high, I was going to break them down with a long-term strategy spread out over a few weeks by preparing them in ways that would be increasingly pleasing to a youthful palate. First they’d be simply blanched (which I anticipated would be ugly). Next I would sauté them in bacon fat with bits of crispy bacon (my son’s favorite food). And finally, I would present them tempura-fried (who doesn’t like fried food, come on). So there it was: Operation Green Bean.

(Aside: Let me just say that despite the fact that I would classify both of my kids as pretty picky at the table, my daughter is probably a little more adventurous insofar as while she has a limited diet, different tastes and textures don’t necessarily bother/revolt her the way that they do my son. So with that in mind, I was expecting more success with her in this endeavor than with the boy.)

By: Vanessa Pruett, Cooking Light Test Kitchen Director

In a previous career, I worked for several different supermarkets as a bakery/deli manager. I was always familiar with the produce department since we were usually right next to them in the store. During the month of January I spent more time in the produce section and was surprised at how much they have changed. There is more variety than ever before. Fruits and vegetables that were once considered seasonal are available almost year round. And they make it so easy for us that no one should use “not having time to cook” as an excuse.

Who knew there were a dozen ways to purchase carrots? The 1 pound bag is barely visible with carrot sticks, shreds, crinkle cut, diagonally sliced, chopped, baby carrots, snack-size carrots with ranch dip, etc. etc. And that is just the carrots! Your produce department manager knows we lead busy lives.

If prechopped, prepackaged produce helps you get in more fruits and vegetables, consider the extra cost worth your time and health.

Readers, do any of you rely on "convenience" items to add to your number of servings of fruits and vegetables? Tell us about it!

By: Josh Rutledge, Cooking Light  Art/Production Assistant

I’m picky when it comes to fruits and vegetables, and it's probably the result of my childhood. I quickly learned that fruits and vegetables are just a (temporary) pain that comes before a reward.

“Did you eat your carrots?”

“Yes.”

“Here’s a cookie.”

As an adult, I’m convinced my aversion to fruits and vegetables still stems from childhood. Generally, I eat fruits and vegetables because I should eat them. I’ve simply replaced the cookie with the knowledge that a carrot will provide certain health benefits to me. That’s the new reward.

So when Cooking Light tells me to eat more fruits and vegetables every day, I instinctively start wondering about the reward. Eating three more servings of fruits and vegetables is worth it because I’ll get that many more vitamins, nutrients, etc. But I know the motivation will no doubt wane in a few months, and I’ll probably go back to eating fewer servings.

By Susan Davis, Cooking Light Birmingham Ad Sales Representative

I thought it would be a real struggle to add 3 servings of vegetables to my diet each day, but it has actually been an eye-opening experience! I started slow but got myself prepared:  baby carrots, broccoli florets, and bagged salad in the fridge drawer became my “go to” items. No more tossing out unused produce. My husband and I are eating what we pick up at the store within a day or two. I am more of a fruit girl and not excited about veggies, but I realized I don’t always need something sweet.  

The other thing for me was getting my husband to eat something (anything!) green. We’ve been married almost 14 years, and I have tried before to get him to eat healthier.  I knew that he liked kale, mustard greens, broccoli, and iceberg lettuce.  He prefers green beans in a casserole and really abhors spinach (fresh or cooked).

We have eaten a LOT of broccoli and salad, but we have also explored a rainbow of vegetables from potatoes to homemade vegetable soup. Until this challenge got underway, I had gotten complacent. I don’t expect my husband to become a vegetarian, but people’s tastes change over time. The good news is that we have both gotten more creative with ingredients and sometimes throw in something prepared a different way.  Sometimes we are both surprised, and it’s a lot more fun when we can compromise and eat the same things, together.

By: Cindy Hatcher, Cooking Light Associate Editor

"Veggie Up!" sounds a lot like something my grandmother would say before forcing a heaping serving of something stinky like boiled cabbage or collard greens on my plate. This is the same (wonderful!) veg-pushing granny whom I somehow manipulated into an odd system of veggie management: We agreed that I had to eat exactly as many as the number of my age. This worked brilliantly to my advantage when I was 6 (6 teensy green beans?…ok!).

Now that I'm 32, I've found an easier system of meeting my daily vegetable intake (and it’s actually pretty simple): Find ones I actually enjoy eating, roast them (or find a local organic option to eat raw), and add a sprinkle of some sort of cheese. Nothing against dear ol' gran, but I've swapped her pale iceberg wedge for a more interesting salad of fresh, vibrant spinach, arugula, and mesclun greens. Roasted butternut squash has thankfully replaced slimy canned green beans, and a leafy carrot recently plucked from the soil is miles above a dry “baby” carrot nub.