How to Spice Up Your Veggie Life

As winter draws on and days continue to be cold and short. Motivation to eat healthy and take time to prepare good food (for me at least) is diminishing. My zeal for crisp vegetables and fresh fruits has waned as of late, resulting in food laziness.



I have have been making an effort to have some fun experimenting with vegetables lately and amstarting to fall in love with them all over again. My love affair with healthy food has been re-ignited! If you're going through a bit of a fresh produce dry spell also here are some suggestions to get you past it.

Juice-ify:
It is a common misconception that vegetable juices don't taste good. I remember juicing my first batch of carrot and beetroot juice and readying myself for a horrible flavour combination imagining something similar to that of asparagus mixed with dishwater. I was surprised to find it was one of my new favourite juices!
Juicing Vegetable Suggestions: Celery (great with most fruits and veg), Beetroot & Carrot (great with apple and lemon), Kale & Spinach (great with pear and pineapple juices).

Chip-ify:
Potatoes are not the only option for chips. Gorgeous crispy delicacies can be made by baking all sorts of winter vegetables. My favourites at the moment are native NZ yams and kale.

Mint-ify
Mint adds a beautiful dimension to otherwise dull or disliked vegetables. Yes, minted peas are delicious but lately my favourite minted vegetables have been brussel sprouts. Lightly steaming brussel sprout halves with generous amounts of mint cuts through any unsavoury bitterness.

Miso-fy
I have an ongoing addiction to miso combined with spinach. Miso blends beautifuly with any green vegetable and it is an excellent winter comfort food for when salad just seems to cold unappealing.

Dip-ify
I love baby carrots (or any raw vegetables) with dips. You can essentially use anything good and dunk your veggies in them. My personal favourite dips for veggies are almond/peanut butter, traditional hummus and unhulled tahini.