Veggie Tales

Veggies Smeggies!  Why are some of the best foods for us gross?  Well 'gross' might be a little harsh...but seriously, veggies are not very exciting.  My list of veggies that I actually get a little excited about is VERY short...like 2...maybe. 

The number of vegetable servings recommended per day, is about how many I have every two weeks.  I don't even know what the number is...but considering I eat about one veggie a week (sometimes), I'm guessing it's close.  Okay, I just checked..according to choosemyplate.gov, I should eat 2.5 cups per day...eek...maybe it's closer to every three weeks that I eat that many veggies.  Yikes!  That's pretty bad, huh. 

Here's the deal.  So I know we are supposed to eat for no other reason than to fuel our bodies...but seriously, I need to feel at least a little satisfied after a meal, and veggies are definitely not going to do that for me.  I will eat a salad here and there for lunch...but then I immediately grab a handful of m&ms or a small dish of ice cream to wash it down with.  Today I made a conscious effort to eat a bunch of veggies at lunch (I bought the vegetables on Tuesday with lots of plans for them for the week, and here it is Friday and I'm just now getting to them).  I had to choke down my meal...and to be honest, I only ate half of it.  I tried to just dice and sautee a bunch of veggies and eat them with pasta....I chose bad pairing of veggies and needed some sort of sauce/dressing on my pasta.  Fail!  I had a scotcheroo (or 2) afterwards to make me feel better.  And last night Rylee wanted mac n cheese, so I decided to try throwing in some tiny pieces of broccoli with it for myself...I ate it all...but it totally ruined my mac n cheese...I was bummed! 

I need help!  How can I eat more veggies without feeling like I'm eating veggies??  I read a few good websites early this week with great suggestions...but I think the only thing that will work for me is if someone else makes the food so I don't know it's in there.  Ha.  Here is the list of veggies I like or can tolerate:

Carrots (not cooked)
Broccoli (sometimes)
Zucchini (I actually really like this one)
Green Beans (my other fav)
Peas (only from a can)
Onions
Bell Peppers (cooked and in my food)
Any leafy greens
Corn (I guess there is argument whether or not this is a vegetable)
Avacado (not plain)
Cucumbers

Veggies I do NOT like...don't even recommend them to me....
Celery (unless it's diced small and cooked and in my soup)
Cauliflower
Sweet Potatoes (REALLY wish I could like these)
Tomatoes (I can eat them pureed in sauces)
Squash
Asparagus (I could probably eat it if I had to)

I just looked at choosemyplate.gov's list of veggies...I've never even tried half of them...or know what they are.  Oh boy, I'm pathetic!!!  Eek!  Rylee eats even less veggies than I do, which is really really bad and part of the reason I want to cook with them more.  She ate all of the pureed veggies when she was a baby (as does Wyatt).  I made a lot of my own baby food and would try new veggies as I was making them for the babies...but never found any new ones I liked.  I'm not sure if there is hope for me in the veggie world....but I'm going to try...even if it means having a bowl of ice cream afterwards.......wait a second....yes, that will be my motivation for eating more veggies!!  Ben&Jerry's, here I come (actually I buy the cheap stuff)....I mean, Squash&Celery, here I come!