The Kitchen Container I Wouldn't Be Without!

You're about to find out what's my most essential container in the kitchen....

Lately I've been talking a lot with clients about how to incorporate vegetables into meal routines. One of the beautiful things about the Ideal Protein program is that it requires us to consume 4 cups of vegetables each day. Whether or not you're on the weight loss program, learning to incorporate veggies into your routine can take you and your family down a whole new path of healthy eating.

Let me share how I manage fresh vegetables... I call it FOOD CYCLING because I purchase the staples at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week, my refrigerator is empty and we are ready to restock. No more waste - we eat about the same quantity of the same vegetables every week - but we're not eating the same boring food every day - I'm about to show you what you can create!

First, meet my near-empty refrigerator (It's Saturday, you know!)

Most of us have a couple produce drawers, In mine, I keep bell peppers in one. I buy 3 green and 3 red/yellow/orange ones at Aldi and dump them in this drawer.

In the other, I store "hard vegetables" like carrots, celery, maybe an extra cucumber, a bag of radishes... today you will see my remaining washed and cut cauliflower (I've been cutting some of this each morning to add to our salads)., washed and ready romaine (I tear the leaves off the romaine heads as soon as I get home with them, dunk them in water, drain and bag. It's like watering a droopy plant - the lettuce gets nice and crispy and I cut a bunch up every morning as part of my salad prep). Lastly, you can see what's left of a bag of shredded cabbage. Usually I purchase a head of cabbage at Aldi - that goes in this drawer too - until it gets small enough to fit in my CELERY KEEPER. More about that in a minute!

Anyway, cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables to have on hand. I add a handful of chopped cabbage to our salads every morning for value-add and extra crunch. And did you know cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are cancer fight vegetables? They are! Look it up!

Drum Roll Please... my Celery Keeper is the Star of the Show!

My Celery Keeper is where I store an assortment of already-washed, partly cut vegetables. Things like, celery, carrots, peppers, onion, cucumber... and a small head of cabbage if it fits. I like to keep it all together - no more digging in the refrigerator for a baggie with a sad onion in it.

Every morning, I pull out the celery keeper and start chopping. I end up with a pile of chopped pepper, onion, carrot, celery and cabbage. This goes into a big bowl where I add handfuls of mixed greens, spinach, romaine.... whatever I happen to have for salad greens. I use a kitchen shears and chop into it just a bit - then add the chopped veggies. 

To that, we usually add chick peas, raisins and pumpkin seeds. On Phase 1, these are not part of a well-dressed salad, but in maintenance, you can start to embellish your salad with all kinds of extra goodness.

For dressing, I sprinkle dried oregano, olive oil and vinegar, toss and portion into a couple glass Pyrex bowls. My husband takes one to work and I have one later in the day for lunch. 

This is a daily routine. It's easy and takes about 15 minutes to make those salads.

But I'm not done talking about my celery keeper! HAHA. 

We buy a rotisserie chicken every 1-2 weeks and have that for a couple meals. (Cabbage Salad is a favorite to pair with chicken or any other protein, so I pull my celery keeper out and chop a few veggies, add to the cabbage, and stir in some mayo, vinegar, Splenda and celery seed.)

After a couple meals, the chicken goes into a pot with some water and I boil it so the meat easily falls off the bones after it cools. I'm left with a couple cups of chicken and about 4 cups of chicken broth.

Today, I heated the chicken and broth and added chopped carrots, celery, onion and cabbage. I season with basil, salt and pepper... or I choose curry, crushed peppers and add coconut milk for a Thai flavor. 

Can you see why I'm giddy about my celery keeper? It's like my meal-making kit. When I take it out of the fridge, I can create a soup, salad or stir fry. I hope you will give it a try!

So there you have it - convenience and a few ideas to start incorporating vegetables into your meals. A collection of vegetables in a celery keeper, a good knife and a cutting board is all you need.

Wishing you delicious eats and long-term health!