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(BlackDoctor.org) – There’s just something about vegetables. Yes, they’re great for you and one of the most essential foods for good health on the planet; but the taste? There are some you love, some you hate – and plenty of people don’t want to bother with them at all. But if you aren’t eating vegetables, you aren’t getting all their amazing components like fiber, antioxidants, and other powerful phytochemicals.

The vegetables that tend to be the bitter offenders are those from the cabbage family, including broccoli and cauliflower, as well as leafy greens and eggplant.

But there are ways to tame the taste in those nutrition-packed vegetables:

Veggie Tip 1: Add veggies you almost like to dishes you already love.

Layer zucchini slices, chopped spinach, or cooked carrots into lasagna. Stir broccoli florets into macaroni and cheese. Toss whatever veggies you like into an omelet or quesadilla. On spaghetti night, chop any vegetables your family likes (such as zucchini, onions, eggplant, broccoli, celery carrots) and add them to the spaghetti sauce (the smaller you chop them, the less likely anyone will notice that they’re even there). Don’t forget to throw some veggies onto your pizza, such as fresh tomato, onion, bell pepper, mushroom, zucchini, artichoke hearts, fresh basil leaves, and chopped spinach.

Veggie Tip 2: Try them in soup.

Embellish your favorite soups with added veggies. Some homemade soups already contain a nice amount of vegetables, but most canned and commercial choices can stand to have their veggie quota bumped up. Just add the raw or frozen vegetables while you are cooking or heating the soup.

Veggie Tip 3: Slip them into salads.

Load your salads with all the veggies you enjoy (or at least tolerate). The options are limitless, including cucumber, grated carrots, zucchini, tomato, broccoli or green beans. You can even use spinach leaves instead of lettuce.

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Veggie Tip 4: Serve them raw.

Raw veggies can be more appetizing than their cooked counterparts to people who aren’t crazy about vegetables. The flavors of raw veggies can be milder than those of cooked ones. And the texture is crispy, rather than mushy.

Veggie Tip 5: Take raw vegetables skinny dipping.

There’s nothing like a little light ranch dressing or onion dip to make a platter of raw veggies disappear. Make it super easy by using bottled light ranch, bleu cheese, or Italian dressing. To make light onion dip, stir onion soup mix into some fat-free or light sour cream.

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