How to Have a Vegetable with Every Breakfast – Sweet and Savory!
Join new Blog Contributor Sarah as she talks about how to easily incorporate vegetables into every breakfast meal!
Good morning (afternoon, or evening)! This post comes from the desire I have to be healthier.
Now, I would say my family is moderately healthy. We eat veggies, whole wheat, try to stay away from sugar, and make a lot of our food. But, our meals aren’t as balanced as I would like them to be.
Partly because of our budget.
But should that stop us? NO! So I have created a master list of food/meals for breakfast, that includes at least one vegetable. Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks will be coming next month. And you can use a lot of these on a budget!
Do we always have to choose from this list? Nope. But it sure gives us a great way to start, and something to reference.
I would recommend saving this post to your favorites bar, so it is there when you are meal planning.
Breakfast Food
Incorporating Vegetables into Pancakes:
Basic pancake recipe (From Pennies & Pancakes)
1 Cup Flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 pinch salt
1 Egg
1 Cup Milk
To add veggies:
- Substitute part of the milk with veggie puree
- Add veggie puree to make the recipe thinner
- Blend it like a smoothie and add leafy greens, then cook.
- Use a veggie such as beets to make a syrup.
- Add veggie powder
- Use carrots, or other, in an applesauce and sub that for part of the milk.
Which veggies to use in pancakes:
Squash, such as: Pumpkin. Sweet Potato (tastes close to squash), Zucchini: shredded or pureed.
Leafy greens, such as: Spinach (pairs wonderfully with banana), Chard (a bit more bitter)
Sweet taste, such as: Carrot (shredded or pureed), Beets, Sweet Potatoes
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Incorporating vegetables into Oatmeal:
Basic Oatmeal recipe:
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup milk (I add some more after cooking)
1-3 tsp sugar or honey
To add in veggies:
- Substitute part of the milk with veggie puree
- Add veggie puree to make the recipe thinner
- Use the oatmeal in pancakes, muffins, or bread (pumpkin bread, banana bread)
- Add veggie powder
- Use carrots, or other, in an applesauce and sub that for part of the milk.
Which veggies to use in oatmeal:
Squash, such as: Pumpkin. Sweet Potato (tastes close to squash), Zucchini: shredded or pureed.
Sweet taste, such as: Carrot (shredded or pureed), Beets, Sweet Potatoes
Incorporating vegetables into Savory Breakfasts:
Omelettes:
- Use sauteed onions and/or mushrooms, and/or peppers
- Add leafy greens just before done cooking
- Add diced tomatoes or thick tomato sauce
- Make a broccoli and cheese omelette with cooked broccoli.
- Use veggie puree instead of milk in your eggs.
Hashes:
Basically what a hash is, is a bunch of vegetables and potatoes chopped up, cooked and pan fried, sometimes with sausage/bacon or eggs mixed in or cooked on top.
Veggies to use in a hash:
- White potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Bell Peppers
- Leafy greens: spinach is my favorite but chard or kale is fine too
- Carrots
- Broccoli/Cauliflower
- Parsnips
- Squash: Diced Zucchini, Pumpkin or Yellow Squash
- Tomatoes or salsa
Good Veggie Combos for Hashes:
- Onion, Pepper, Mushroom, Tomato, Spinach, Sweet Potato, White Potato
- Onion, Mushroom, Tomato, Potato
- White and Sweet Potato, Carrots, Parsnips
- Carrot, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin (Sweet hash)
- Broccoli, Mushroom, Onion
Incorporating Vegetables into Smoothies:
My favorite vegetables for smoothies are Leafy Greens. Mainly, spinach.
My favorite smoothie is a Spinach, banana, peanut butter smoothie. Bonus: Can’t taste the spinach!
Bigger bonus: Your son will be convinced it will turn him into the green hulk.
Here are some other Veggie Smoothie Ideas:
- Add Carrot Cake Oatmeal
- Add Carrot cake yogurt
- Peach, Carrot, Mango
- Spinach, Pear
- Spinach, Banana (1 banana, handful of spinach, cup milk, 1tbsp of PB)
- Strawberry, Banana, Bell Pepper (Say what? Go here for that)
- Pineapple, Mango, Banana, Carrot! (Link above as well)
- Berry, Kale (Also same link)
- Mango, Kiwi, Kale
- Chocolate Zucchini
- Zucchini Apple like in my Crumble
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Incorporating Vegetables into Granola:
My family loves yogurt, but for some reason I only like it in something, or with a crunch on top. (Same as Ice Cream, I know weird. It’s a texture thing.)
BUT! I have successfully made Granola with veggies in it several ways.
Way #1- Add zucchini or carrot shreds, they will dry out in the oven. (Or use dehydrated or Freeze Dried shreds)
Way #2, 3, and 4- And on the blog we have 3 other Granola Recipes.
- Pumpkin Granola. Just yes.
- Granola Cups, Filled with yogurt! (Use veggie puree)
- Sweet veggie granola.
Pro tip: I use baby food sometimes. They have a ton of veggies, usually with fruits. Perfect.
CHIME IN: What are some unique ways you include vegetables in your meals? Share in the comments below!
18 Comments
Candy
My daughter puts spinach in everything. The kids don’t even know they are eating it. Great ideas for adding veggies
Sarah Bean
I love spinach and all of its wonderful uses!
ShootingStarsMag
Thanks for all of these ideas. I really do need to find more ways to get my veggies in…I keep thinking of trying a smoothie, so we’ll see.
-Lauren
Sarah Bean
Honestly, the smoothies are so good!! My kids especially love carrot juice as an addition.
Kimmy Ripley
I honestly never would have thought about adding any veggies to my pancakes until I read this post. I will have to give that a whirl! Very cool!
Michelle
I know right? Sarah opened my eyes to using vegetables in a whole new way!
Sarah Bean
I LOVE veggies in pancakes! My mother in law opened me up to the idea with pumpkin pancakes and I never went back!
Lisa
Love all of your step-by-step tips for getting more vegetables on the breakfast table! Adding veggie purée to pancakes is an idea I hadn’t thought of.
Sarah Bean
Thank you so much! We use baby food because we have it on hand, and it’s super simple to open and add it!
Brooke Bolen
These are great suggestions for substituting veggies into your breakfast. Some of these things I would’ve never thought to do!
Karen
I absolutely love veggie hashes for breakfast. They keep me full and make my whole body happy all day.
Denise Riehle
Never thought of putting veggies in pancakes – and now I can’t wait to try it this weekend! Thank you for all the great ideas.
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Jaclyn Musselman
I love having veggies at breakfast…sometimes its a sweet potato or I’ll make a smoothie. I’ve never thought of a veggie puree for oatmeal though!
Gemma
I love making eggs mixed with tons of veggies. I like the idea of incorporating veggies into pancakes, it might be an easier sell for my kids.
Blue DeBell
This is so smart, I really struggle getting enough veggies in my diet, so sneaking them into breakfast is such a good way to kick start the day!
Bailey
This is such a good idea! I had no idea you could sneak veggies into so many things.
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