If you've ever attempted a recipe from a Weight Watchers cookbook or divvied up a favorite dish into calorie-counted portions, you know that those compact serving sizes often end up feeling rather...skimpy. The solution, my fellow waist-conscious friends, is to bring on the vegetables.
Yes, "eat more vegetables" is a phrase we've heard again and again. And it's good advice! My trouble is that the idea of plain steamed vegetables or an extra-large side salad with my square of cheesy lasagna has never appealed to me.
I much prefer to double the amount of vegetables in the recipe itself, something I discovered back in my own Weight Watchers days. By throwing in another onion, a few more chopped mushrooms, or an extra diced pepper, I could bulk up a dish without significantly changing the way it tasted. Or, more importantly, my sense of satisfaction in eating it.
This doubling trick works best in recipes that are already vegetable heavy, like hearty pasta sauces and soups. To adjust the seasonings, start by adding the spices called for in the recipe and then add more a little at a time until the dish tastes good to you.
Do you ever do this?
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I've been doing this for years too and it has become habit. Its an easy way to not only boost your intake of fruits and veggies but also the satiety of your meals as well.
No, I didn't have the idea to do this, yet. But it's a great idea.
I've grown accustomed to eating loads of salad. To me, a meal without veggies or salad isn't complete. It really feels unsatisfying if it's only meat and carbs.
My stepmother is a lifelong WW member, so I picked this up from her. In addition to doubling the veg, I usually halve the meat. You'd be surprised how much you don't miss the stuff when you have so many flavorful veggies!
I do this all the time, partly because I feel best when I eat lots of veggies, and also because I find that "serving sizes" of ANY recipe, calorie-conscious or not, are waaay too small!
I especially like to do this in baking (i.e. carrot cake, zucchini bread). It stretches the ingredients to reduce cost and increase yield, gives you more veggies and less of the carb/fat/sugar overload, and makes baked goods more moist. Wins all around!
That is a great idea.
I do this especially when I'm making pasta. I love pasta with sausage and kale, and I usually throw in three bunches of kale to 4 ounces of pasta.
I do this all the time, whether making stews, soups or even tuna salad - I love veggie heavy dishes!
I've been doing this for a few years now. Works great with pastas, soups, and rice (especially fried rice). Usually, I'll also do what Chi-Carey recommended - halve the meat.
Aw man, I always try to sneak in extra veggies, but my boyfriend gets mad if I don't follow the recipe exactly! He thinks I ruin it if I add anything extra (especially fried rice, it seems, he thinks it throws the rice-to-other-stuff balance off). I'm not sure how to convince him that it will all still taste good!
Former point-counter here, and this was one of my FAVORITE tricks. I hate to be hungry, and if I doubled up on the vegetables in whatever my main was, then had a double helping of whatever one-point-Green-Giant-steam-pack-thing I had on hand...very satisfying dinner! Now, if I could just get my folks doing this...
I can't believe this has never occurred to me. I haven't done it before but I'll do it now!
I do it when baking and reduce the amount of sugar and sometimes fat. The result is a more pure taste of the product instead of tasting just sugar. Works especially well with banana bread.
I do this all the time, and often reduce the meat as well. You can often add sauteed mushrooms to up the umami of a dish and you'll miss the meat less. You can also use sauteed shrooms to extend the meat; I use super lean beef for the meatballs I make for sandwiches and sub shrooms for half of the meat. It makes wonderful, tender meatballs and once you add your tomato sauce, you've got a really veg-heavy dish that doesn't feel veg-heavy (my meat-crazy boyfriend loves this).
And I think Up the Umami would be a great band name.
This is such a terrific idea. I may have done this subconsciously in the past, but I'm definitely going to do it now.
For cheese-obsessives like myself, another good tip is to only buy *extremely* flavorful cheeses-- I like the taste of a little cheese on my salad or pasta, but if I buy a bland one, I end up crumbling or grating half a block over my dish before I know what's happening. A real tangy feta goes a long way in an otherwise-plant heavy salad.