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Quick Weeknight Meals That Pack in the Produce

Featured Recipe: Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo

Here’s help to make sure you get 5-a-day (or more)

By Jessie Price, Food Editor, EatingWell March/April 2008

For years we’ve been told to get our “5-a-day” of fruits and vegetables. But as much as we’ve heard that, it just doesn’t seem to be sinking in. Americans still aren’t eating enough fruits and veggies, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And on top of that, now the recommendations have been upped. We should actually be getting anywhere from 4 to 13 daily servings (2 to 6½ cups). 

We live by the “eat more fruits and vegetables” mantra here at EatingWell. So one of the questions we constantly ask is how to add more produce to a dish. In this selection of easy weeknight recipes, we deliver the goods and make over 5 popular meals.

• MONDAY: We drop the English muffin in favor of artichoke bottoms for an easy, fiber-rich Artichoke-Scrambled Eggs Benedict.
• TUESDAY: Our gorgeous Lemon-Garlic Shrimp & Vegetables, a healthy take on shrimp scampi, provides more than 200 percent of your Daily Value of vitamin C and 80 percent of your Daily Value of vitamin A, thanks to a hearty helping of asparagus and red peppers.
• WEDNESDAY: Orzo and pan-seared chicken breasts dress up with artichoke hearts and lycopene-loaded tomato sauce in our Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo.
• THURSDAY: Even homey Skillet Tuna Noodle Casserole supplies some vegetables when you toss in peas and mushrooms.
• FRIDAY: And in our Chicken Thighs with Green Olive, Cherry & Port Sauce, olives and cherries count, too—they elevate a quick pan sauce for chicken thighs to antioxidant-rich realms.

Want other recipes that are satisfying and help you get your daily recommended servings of vegetables? Check out our Healthy Vegetarian Recipes Collection.

(Visit fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov for a handy calculator that estimates the number of servings you should be getting each day.)

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