Shopping for Produce

Vegetables are always a good idea! A plateful of color means you are loading up on important nutrients that your body needs to thrive. Learning to embrace vegetables comes down to flavor and creativity. They shouldn't be boring or flavorless. 

Eat the rainbow! Challenge yourself to eat from each color group every day. Aim for as many colored plant foods as you can in a day, which is the surest way to get a complete range of vitamins and minerals.

• Green: broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, dark leafy greens, cabbage, string beans, peas, lettuces, celery, fennel, zucchini

• Orange and Yellow: carrots, winter squashes, sweet potatoes, yellow summer squash, bell peppers

• Red: beets, tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, radish

• Purple: eggplant, purple cauliflower, purple potatoes, red onion, red cabbage  

• White and brown: cauliflower, onion, garlic, shallots, mushrooms, radish, parsnips 

You don't need fancy knife skills to make food taste great. All that matters is the size of your cuts. Whether large or small, if your cuts are approximately the same size, they will cook at the same rate. Bite-size is a good goal. 

Texture matters. Do you like your vegetables raw and crunchy or cooked with a little bite or cooked and soft? Lightly to fully cooked vegetables can be easier to digest.

Pre-cut or pre-washed vegetables can save you time, but can sometimes will cost more.

When fresh isn't an option use the next best thing - frozen!