I gotta tell you. I can find a way to turn even the healthiest of ingredients into junk food.
Blueberry pie.
Broccoli smothered in cheese.
Carrots dipped in buttermilk ranch dressing.
So when I heard that Country Crock was encouraging families to be eat more vegetables and to use a healthier alternative to butter, I knew I wanted to do it.
Normally, we will have a deep fried chicken breast with pasta smothered in cheese, butter and oil with strawberry shortcake for dessert.
How on earth was I going to make the a healthier meal and make it fit into the new USDA guidelines??
Challenge accepted grasshopper.
(and I soon realized it was a lot easier then I thought!)
I decided to add some of the magnificent zucchini that is growing in the garden. My husband thought it would be a great idea to grill it, so the kids could see just how beautiful it is.
He cut up 1/2 inch to 1 inch slices and coated with a teaspoon of EVOO and some spices.
Since we are a family of six and since we are trying to be conscience of portion size, I made three chicken breasts instead of five. (the 5 month old doesn’t eat grilled chicken quite yet)
These were simply marinated in terriyaki sauce and then grilled right along side the zucchini.
Instead of pasta we went with an USDA approved organic rice.
Surprisingly, one of my favorite substitutions ended up being some fresh cut strawberries. Its amazing how that healthy sweetness trigger my brain that I was full, in the same way the cake would have.
Now, I love butter. I thought I was going to miss it in my quest for cooking better.
After doing some research, I realized that Country Crock is a healthier alternative to butter, but with all the flavor! With Country Crock I could even get calcium and Vitamin D! Goodbye nasty trans fats!
So I went all in. And decided to make a Bearnaise sauce.
I adapted this recipe from Micheal Ruhlman.
I would recommend following his directions (full video as well), as I did not have an emulsion blender.
Gotta tell ya. The flavor of the chicken and zucchini when the bearnaise was lightly drizzled over top… was… well…
perfection.
Guilt free indulgence.
It was also delicious on the white rice! So with less than a tablespoon of the Bearnaise, we were able to deliciously flavor the entire plate.
Well. Except for the strawberries.
My kids gobbled up that zucchini. They gobbled up their rice. They smiled as they ate their strawberries.
They even went so far as to have seconds of the grilled zucchini!
Now wouldn’t you enjoy seeing that delighted expression on your families faces right after they eat something that you know is better for them???
Think you want to try incorporating vegetables into your everyday meals? If you do be sure to leave a comment and tell me how it went!
When you do, you will be entered to win a $100 Cooking.com gift card!
Now how easy is that? 🙂
No duplicate comments. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
You may enter between August 24 – September 30th.
We are trying to incorporate more veggies! I like to make “sloppy janes” instead of sloppy joes, which use veggies instead of ground beef. Still tastes great and such good way to get more veggies into my diet without sacrificing taste!
My husband is a picky eater when it comes to veggies..allergic to some..want eat others so I sneak them in when I can. I’ve found spaghetti is a great way to do this..tomatoes,mushrooms,garlic, onions, and shredded zucchini and carrots all get added!
I’ve been trying to incorporate veggies into my meals lately, and I find it works best when I plan my meals around produce instead of a protein.
We did a huge garden this year and my girls have become voracious veggie eaters as a result. They planted many faves and a few new to us veggies that they are learning to like. They can often be found grabbing snacks from the cucumber vines, bean bushes, tomato plants, and rows of carrots and peas. We also started Meatless Monday dinners and most of the meal comes from the garden.
I try to add extra veggies to every meal. I’ve found that if I grate a carrot in rice, casseroles or soups, I can get the kids to eat it without complaint. This also works with peppers as well. If they see larger chunks they will pick them out. My little guys love edamame as well. In the pod is best. They love popping them out of the shell. I serve a little soy sauce or salad dressing on the side for dipping.
I have been making a lot of soups with vegetables in them.
I like to cook alot of chicken dishes, so I incorportae broccolli, squash, zucchini, ad whatever else available. I love the fresh veggies from the garden.
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Such a challenge for my city-dwellers – I’ll keep at it!!!
While we are certainly big fans of meat, lately we have been eating vegetarian meals or fish more often than not, so this has forced us to be more conscious of the local seasonal produce available at our store and farmer’s market. This is probably the easiest way we’ve found to eat more veggies; fresh and local means big bites of deliciousness!