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.
A key for us was having our own garden this year. Hard to ignore veggies when they are right in front of you!
We eat lots of salad at our house, but we try to vary the types of vegetables we use. The more colorful, the better the family seems to like them!
we try to incorporate vegetables with at least dinner
we found out that our daughters love frozen peas. not cooked, just pour frozen peas on there plate and they eat them FROZEN, crazy
We love making salads!
Growing up my mom had us eat vegetables every lunch and dinner, no questions asked. My sister’s kids get upset if they don’t have veggies on their plate. I don’t technically have kids, but the kids I nanny don’t like most vegetables. Letting them help grow them in the garden and pick the veggies helps, and sometimes if I offer it to them over and over they finally take it. Hopefully one of these days they’ll eat them without complaints!
Yes, I always try to add more veggies into my family’s diet as much as possible. As you said, it’s happy to see your family and loved one is happy to see what you create and you know the dish is better for them. I think leading my example is important, the kids would see that. Thanks for a chance to win this wonderful giveaway.
I liked your meal – I am always looking for something new to do and side dishes are always the hardest.
I’m not eligible for the contest but I just wanted to say how delicious everything looks. BTW pasta isn’t all bad if you make it a side instead of the main meal and go for whole wheat. 🙂
I try to serve vegetables on the side or in the meal to incorporate more vegetables in our diets.