{Ask Me Anything} Eating More Veggies

I get a lot of emails from readers wanting to incorporate more meatless meals into their diet, either for financial or health reasons. I'll try cover the most frequently-asked questions related to this topic:

"How do you make sure you get enough protein?"

I realize the need for proteins, but I don't believe all protein-rich foods are good for you. We do lean meat/fish meals on average of about 1x week. For our family, it is for health reasons. Without going into graphic detail, I'll just say it works best for my & my daughter's digestive tracts. Since limiting my husband's meat intake, he feels better and has more energy too.

We load up on other sources of proteins like: eggs, quinoa, beans, lentils, legumes, nuts/nut butters, cheese, whole grains, seeds, leafy green vegetables.

"How do you get your toddler to eat so many veggies?"

Honestly, she was never given other options. I mean, I introduced her to meat and we found she had a very similar digestive tract to me, so it made sense to go mainly-vegetarian. Since she had always munched on a variety of veggies, she was OK with this.

I am a firm believer that you have to start early. Since I gave my daughter piles of parsley and kale since she could chew, she always had taste buds for non-sweet veggies. I did an article on this very topic called Battling the "Anti-Veggie" Wars. In the article I discuss different strategies for getting your kids to be more adventurous with their palates.

"How do you come up with so many Vegetarian Recipes?"

I don't. :) If I didn't have a gazillion brilliant people online to come up with these creative recipes, I'd be lost! In the Meal-Planning 101 guide, I list several of my my favorite sites and my Master Recipe List. I totally feel like I get in a rut, that's why it's helpful for me to make meal plans so I can try to mix it up!


To Download my Meal-Planning Documents:

• Weekly Calendar Planner
• Printable blank shopping list
• Master Recipe List (email me if you want the organized .xls file)
• Price Point Sheet

I think that's it.... if you have any questions that I didn't cover here, just drop me a line!

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Do you have a question about couponing, shopping, saving, meal planning, homeschooling, or even about me? No matter how big, small, or trivial it seems, someone else probably has the same question, so ask away! As long as it's respectful, I'm an open book so "Ask Me {almost} Anything!"

Just drop me a line and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.