Tag: #2021VeggieChallenge

Salmon and Sardine Patties Recipe

June 24, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I love salmon patties. They’re quick and easy and taste great. I was trying to figure out how to get more sardines into my diet. I had a number of cans of sardines in my pantry so it made sense to use them but also sardines are supposed to be good for you. Sure, salmon is too but I find it harder to work sardines into my eating patterns. I’ve written about this before so I guess it’s an ongoing challenge for me. This time I wanted something warm for dinner, not a sardine salad so I came up with the idea of salmon and sardine patties.

Because we’re doing the 2021 Veggie Challenge, I wanted to be sure to add some vegetables to this. Normally I would have used only onion but this time I used diced onion, celery and red peppers. I also added ground flax seeds because flax seeds are rich in fiber, nutrients, and omega 3 fats. I often look for ways to get flax seeds into my diet.

Salmon and sardine patties

Ingredients

1 can salmon (6 oz.)
1 can sardines
2 eggs, whisked
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup celery
1/4 cup red pepper (You can add more vegetables or remove some of these.)
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
Salt
Pepper
Avocado oil or olive oil or oil of your choice
Spinach
Lemon slices

Directions

Prepare patties:

Drain both cans of fish and fork into a small mixing bowl.

Add eggs and mix.

Blend in the diced vegetables, mustard, garlic powder, flax seed, salt and pepper.

Mix well and then form patties.

Refrigerate patties for half an hour or longer.

When ready to cook the patties, heat oil in cast iron skillet or non-stick skillet.

Add the patties to the pan.

Cook patties for several minutes until browned and then flip and brown on the other side.

Serve on bed of spinach or other greens with slices of lemon.

A side salad or other vegetable completes the meal.

I think you’ll find this to be a delicious, easy dinner to make. It’s versatile and tastes good. You can add or delete as many vegetables as you want.

Veggies Inspired Omelette

March 27, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Love veggies? Love eggs?

Me too! I took a bag of frozen veggies, defrosted it and added it to some scrambled eggs.

My big mistake? Tough to flip.

Then I remembered, you can put it in the oven for a fritta. You have to have it in the right pan to start with (and the handle has to be able to “handle” the heat.)

This one had a non-baking handle, so I ended up flipping it, in three sections. Not a problem for me, but I had anticipated a more beautiful finished product. Still, it tasted GREAT!!

Delicious and my favorite way to add lots of vegetables into my meals!

Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry Veggie Challenge

Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry Isn’t Cheating on the Challenge

February 27, 2021 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

In one of the recent podcasts I was thinking about my Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry breakfast when I said that I was cheating on the 2021 Veggie Challenge. We are all trying to add vegetables to our meals.

The challenge for me is to eat more vegetables in my diet. The way I’ve been cheating is buying frozen vegetable packs and using them instead of cleaning, cutting and preparing fresh veggies. Jill replied that she doesn’t think it is cheating, so I’ve decided to share this “recipe” with all of you.

It’s very easy and delicious too. Some people cook the eggs in an oven ready pan so they can bake the veggies into the frittata, but I take the easy stove top way instead.

Pop the frozen veggies into the microwave to thaw a bit.
Put a little olive oil in the pan and add the veggies.
Saute them until slightly brown and warm. Set aside.
Wipe out the pan and pour in two eggs, scrambled.
Cook them like you’re going to make an omelette.
Don’t stir or flip the eggs.
When they are almost done, add the veggies on top.
Put a lid over the eggs/veggies as the eggs finish cooking.
After the eggs are done and the veggies rewarmed, sprinkle a little mozzarella or cheddar cheese on top.

Slide the frittata from the pan to the plate and voila! Yummy and easy!

Veggie challenge: 5 servings of vegetables before noon. Boom!! Not bad!!

What are you doing to add more veggies to your meals? Have any easy and delicious “cheats?” Please share!

2021 Veggie Challenge

February 4, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 7 Comments

Time for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! If you listened to Chris and I talk about our goals for this year in episode 74 of the Fit, Strong Women Over 50 Podcast (Tracking and Motivation – Three Year Anniversary Podcast, you may remember that we discussed reviving our veggie challenge. I believe I said that we’d get something organized to start in February.

We last did a Veggie Challenge in 2019. If you’re trying to find ideas for this challenge, just search on this site for veggie challenge and you’ll see lots of recipes and ideas

2021 Veggie Challenge

We’re going to make this simple this year. We all know that we’re supposed to be eating more vegetables, well, unless you’re following the carnivore diet. Obviously, do what feels best for you.

This challenge is going to be up to each individual. Here are the options that you can commit to:

Trying new vegetables, perhaps once a week or even once a month.
Testing a new recipe for a vegetable that you’re already eating
Adding one or more servings of vegetables to your current way of eating

Of course, you can make the commitment to try all three.

I know when we did the Veggie Challenge a couple years ago, I ran out of steam on finding and preparing new vegetables. I was already eating a good variety of vegetables, so it became difficult to find new ones.

There are ways to expand the vegetables you eating. If you eat carrots, you can try buying a bag of rainbow carrots and see how they compare to the standard orange carrots.

If you normally roast your vegetables, you can try a new way of cooking. I found myself recently making some new soup recipes to try to expand how I cook certain vegetables.

When you have a meal, consider if there’s a way to add an extra serving of vegetables. Even if you’re making a salad, perhaps you can add an extra ingredient. So, it doesn’t have to be a huge change.

We’re going to start the 2021 Veggie Challenge now and see how long we can keep it going. Please feel free to join us and be sure to share your veggie achievements with us.