How to Hide Veggies in Your Favorite Foods
Vegetables are not often listed as a favorite food or delicious indulgence — but hearty greens are among the healthiest ingredients you can add to a meal. How do you eat more vegetables when you don’t like them, though? Luckily, we’ve got some suggestions for how to sneak heart-healthy veggies into your favorite snacks and entrees. You won’t even notice the difference, and you may even realize they taste better this way!
Indulge in Pizza With a Twist
If you are like most families, pizza is universally loved in your household. Creating a sausage and roasted veggie pizza is a quick and easy way to incorporate more vegetables into your family’s diet while indulging in a meal you all love.
While this recipe uses a pre-made pizza crust, you can also experiment with a cauliflower pizza crust to add even more veggies to this mouthwatering dish. For your roasted veggies, get creative and consider adding zucchini or asparagus on top. With mounds of cheese and scrumptious sausage, your family will want seconds.
Mix Cauliflower or Broccoli in Scrambled Eggs
Puree or finely dice cauliflower or broccoli and add to your scrambled eggs for some Vitamin C. To make a whole breakfast meal, slice and bake a russet potato and add a Premio Breakfast Sausage link to the side.
Use Zucchini Noodles Instead of Pasta
An ingenious way to cut the carbs while still getting your taste of Italy is to replace pasta with zucchini noodles. This guilt-free alternative requires some fresh, uncooked zucchini and a spiralizer or shredder. Cook the noodles and top with a classic tomato sauce, avocado pesto, garlic parmesan — or whatever you fancy! Sliced sausage, cherry tomatoes and a generous sprinkle of parmesan make for great toppings.
Bake a Cheesy Casserole With Broccoli Tots
If you are looking for savory comfort food that incorporates veggies, this cheesy broccoli veggie tots casserole with sausage will do the trick. After sauteeing up some sweet Italian sausage and cooking broccoli tots, you can start chopping up and adding your favorite veggies. Throw in some flavorful green peppers and onions, and consider tossing in a few fresh, seasonal veggies for added flavor.
With its creamy, cheesy mixture, this dish will allow you to indulge in a savory casserole while hiding veggies in the food for your kids.
Add Summer Squash to a Casserole
Casserole is a classic winter fare that will warm you up on a cold day. The best part of this flavorful dish is how easy and undetectable it is to add veggies to the mix. Sneak in some summer squash or sweet potatoes for an even more fulfilling meal.
Add Veggies to Burger Patties
When making burgers from scratch, you’ve got total flexibility of what veggies to add to bolster your meal. For a delicious sausage burger, mix ground beef with Premio Hot Italian Sausage. Add your selection of chopped veggies to the patty. We recommend tasty yet subtle vegetable flavors like mushrooms, sweet potatoes or carrots. But if you have another favorite, go for it! Grill it up for some truly hidden veggies and top with classic burger condiments like lettuce, onion and tomato.
Blend Veggies for Salad Dressings
Salad seems like a healthy enough choice to begin with, but there’s always room for that extra little something. Swap out vinegar and oil in favor of blended, seasoned veggies as your salad dressing base.
Ditch the Bun for a Leaf
With your veggie-packed patty already created, take a healthy burger one step further by subbing greens for a breaded bun. Lettuce leaves, collard greens or chard are sturdy, tasty alternatives that can make an age-old meal feel new.
Incorporate Root Veggies Into a Crockpot Casserole
When the temperature starts dropping, it’s time to break out your crockpot and mix up a few of your favorite make-ahead dishes. Casserole recipes provide easy ways to get vegetable servings.
Our root veggie and sausage casserole in a crockpot recipe incorporates plenty of potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots for a rustic meal your whole family will love. Premio mild Italian sausage adds a heartiness to the dish while spices such as thyme and pepper provide sublime flavor. The finishing touch is a bit of parsley to tie the flavors together and add visual appeal.
Create Zucchini Boats
Instead of staking meat and veggies on bread for a sandwich, opt instead for a zucchini boat. This dish is simple, fun for the kids and packed full of goodness. Follow these instructions and make this healthy sausage recipe for lunch or dinner.
Stuff Bell Peppers With Veggie Goodness
A similar healthy twist includes emptying a bell pepper of its seeds, halving it and stuffing it with your favorite ingredients. Think onions, zucchini, tomatoes and sliced sausage topped with cheese and parsley.
Premio Foods Is Your Trusted Provider of Fine Italian Sausage
Looking for more health-conscious ideas? At Premio Foods, we manufacture a wide range of pork and chicken sausages — all crafted from butcher-quality cuts of meat and perfectly seasoned. Whether you are craving pizza or casserole, you can make plenty of healthy recipes that incorporate our fine meats and colorful veggies.
Check out our list of healthy sausage recipes, and let us know your favorite in the comments!