Carrots Are Appealing
From drab to fab–– transform boring healthy food like salad into enticing meals you'll be drooling over. With these 20 ideas, you'll never dislike vegetables again and your taste buds are in for a real treat.
1. Cook Various Cuisines
The reason you might find healthy food boring is because you’ve only tried it one way. Cook meals of various cuisines to switch up the flavors and try new things. Take cauliflower for example, you could make Mexican tacos for dinner one night and Indian Aloo Gobi another night. Take your taste buds around the world.
2. Spice It Up
Adding spices and herbs to your vegetables is a game changer–– you’ll start to crave carrot sticks like they’re Cheetos. Whether eaten raw or cooked, experiment with different spices to add a flavor boost to bland veggies. Try a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of dried rosemary, and a sprinkle of salt and lemon pepper and your taste buds will thank you.
3. The Perfect Pairing
Maybe all your boring food needs is to find a complementary companion. Pairing disliked foods with liked foods and flavors might change your perspective and you may grow to actually like them. If you're not fond of broccoli but you’re a big fan of cheese, try roasting your broccoli with melted cheddar.
Dan Zen from Dundas, Canada on Wikimedia
4. Try It Again
Sometimes the more you try it the more chances you’ll end up liking it. You’ll start looking forward to eating salads once you’ve given leafy greens a chance. Just because you didn’t like something once doesn’t mean you should give up on it, keep trying it until you develop a taste for it. Make it a game and challenge yourself to eat all the healthy food you’re neglecting.
5. Healthy Treat Transformation
One of the best ways to make boring foods more exciting is to transform them into your favorite treats. There are plenty of healthier alternatives to sweets that don’t disappoint. You could try avocado brownies sweetened with coconut sugar, oatmeal cookies with nuts, dates, and honey, or make sorbet and frozen yogurt from real fruit.
6. Find Your Bread
Just because you’re being healthy doesn’t mean bread is off the table. From seeded rye to sourdough, there are many options for delicious and nutritious bread, just make sure to look for healthier flour like whole wheat. You can make an epic healthy sandwich with the right ingredients.
7. Cook It Different Ways
Think outside of the box! Try cooking bland foods like vegetables in different ways. Roasting vegetables like carrots, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower enhances their flavor greatly before you even add any spices. You could steam them, saute them, grill them on the BBQ–– the cooking methods are endless.
8. Add Dip & Sauce
You could crush a tray of raw veggies if you plunked them into a delicious dip. You can still eat entirely healthy by smothering your food in sauce, just make sure the sauce is good for you too. Make a homestyle ranch from Greek yogurt or try a barbeque sauce or a marinara dip for your grilled veg.
9. Sneak It In
Maybe you just need to trick yourself into eating healthy foods. One way to make boring food extraordinary is to sneak it into dishes. For example, get your greens by adding peas and spinach to macaroni, saute kale and add it to your mashed potatoes, or mix chopped veggies into your burger patties.
Alabama Extension on Wikimedia
10. Make It Visual
To please our mouths sometimes we also need to please the eyes. Get creative with your plates and use appealing garnishes that look and taste good. Decorate your plate so that it’s enticing to eat and use herbs and spices that add flavor and color. For the kiddos, you could try cutting food into fun shapes with cookie cutters.
11. Blend It
The blender will be your new best friend. A great way to sneak boring health food into your diet is to make nutrition-packed smoothies and blended soups. The recipes for tasty blended creations are endless, from peanut butter banana smoothies to Thai sweet potato soup.
12. Make It A Game For Kids
Got picky eaters? Try turning healthy eating into a craft or a game. They can make faces out of the fruit, veggies, and crackers on their plates or make sundaes out of yogurt, fruit, and honey. Engaging in activities is a fun way to get little ones to eat.
13. Roll It Up
A whole wheat tortilla may be the answer to your food boredom. How do you make your salad more exciting? Roll it up! Make a burrito, a falafel wrap, or simply roll up nut butter, hemp seeds, and bananas for a hearty breakfast on the go.
14. Healthy Snack Alternatives
Healthy snacking is far from boring and flavorless with a little creativity. Pop stove-top popcorn and flavor it with your favorite spices, make your own chips by roasting thinly sliced potatoes, or create a decadent trail mix using roasted nuts, dried fruits, and dark chocolate.
15. Eat A Rainbow
Try to eat a rainbow as much as you can! Not only will your meals look pretty but they’ll taste amazing too. Eating a rainbow means including various colors of fruit and veg in one meal, like green beans, red tomatoes, brown lentils, purple beets, and orange carrots.
16. Include All The Food Groups
Dishes are more exciting and nutritious when you include all the food groups. Fill your plate with protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Use a mix of ingredients that include an array of nutrients our bodies need and our taste buds enjoy.
17. Find Online Inspiration
Websites like Pinterest are a great way to find healthy food inspiration. There are countless food blogs and specialty diet sites that are full of recipes to choose from. When you’re stuck for ideas or bored of eating the same thing all the time, give the good old internet a try and you’ll be motivated to get cooking.
18. Make It Tapas
You can eat an array of healthy foods by creating tapas-style dishes. Tapas is an exciting way to enjoy a meal with friends and family and you can cover a lot of food groups with tasty small dishes. Variety is the spice of life after all.
19. Make A Bowl
A fun way to eat healthy ingredients is to create various bowls that are hot or cold. Start with a grain like quinoa or rice, then build on top with vegetables and proteins, and drizzle it with dressing or sauce. Our favorite is a bowl made with farro, sliced avocado, feta cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, roasted beets and chickpeas, drenched in a Greek vinaigrette.
20. Flavor Enhancers
Sometimes all you need is a pinch or a squirt of something to boost the flavor of a dull meal. Flavor enhancers can transform your food and you’ll love it. Citrus like lemon or lime enhances plenty of dishes from curries to chilis or turn up the heat with chili flakes. Simple salt and pepper can turn any frown upside down.
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