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.
I know I’m lucky, but my kids love vegetables! Raw. Sliced. No dip. Crazy kids! We are eating fresh salsa like crazy these days, too! I think they love their vegetables because their daddy loves them and makes them seem like the biggest treat ever! {good daddy} He needs $100!!! 🙂
i love vegetables! and the 100 would help greatly with my budget. moving in with my boyfriend is costly! he eats a lot!
My husband and I have lost a lot of weight the last few years. We started exercising more and eating better. We have been eating more fruits and vegetables. I love grilled vegetables but I am trying to get my husband to eat more.
I’m going to make sure i incorporate veggies in every meal of the day!
adankleff at gmail dot com
Mmmmm. I love veggies. But my kids act like I’m torturing them when I remind them to ‘Eat your vegetables.’ *sigh*
They were gone one week this summer and I made grilled vegies on tortillas for hubby and me. *Oh, yum!*
Will continue trying to convince them that vegetables really are good.
I’m having so many problems getting my kids to eat vegetables. I’ve tried raw, roasted, grilled, boiled, covered in cheese, dipped in ranch, and the frozen bags already flavored and cooked in the microwave. No luck. BUT my favorite way to eat vegetables right now is roasted in the oven. Hope to be brave enough to try grilling them soon.
I’m lucky that my kids love veggies.
They prefer raw carrots over cooked, demolish artichokes, and eat either broccoli or green beans. Frozen peas, served cold is one of their new favorites. I know it’s weird but they like it.
I grew up on country crock and started using it regularly a few months back. I’m so glad I did. My kids used a ton of butter because it was hard to spread around. Country Crock is spreadable which means they use much less.
P.S. Your dinner looked great.You should try grilled peaches/apricots. So yummy.
My husband is not a vegetable eater, which is unfortunate. This summer however I have been trying to incorporate more fresh fruit and beans into our meals. My husband is a long road before we get him more interested in vegetables but for my little guy (14 months) I’ve been blending vegetables into other things for example: hummus with spinach, breakfast muffins with vegetables in it. And he loves peas! Which I encourage of course.
I notice that my skin feels so much better when I eat my vegetables.
This summer my garden died early from neglect, so I’ve really had to put more effort into getting fresh vegetables onto our plates. For some reason my kids tend to prefer raw veggies to cooked, so we end up with plates of cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and celery sticks for our side dishes. 🙂
Right now I’m grilling pizzas with garden fresh tomatoes and basil and mozzarella. I like to eat what’s in season and local. Rhis is best time of year to buy and eat veggies. I grill eggplants sliced or whole to make baba ganoush.