Making your meals more nutritious doesn’t have to require tossing your favorite cookbook and buying a new one. In fact, there are plenty of ways to add key vitamins and nutrients to your routine without drastically changing your habits. With these simple techniques, you can improve your diet while adding even more flavor to your healthiest meals.

Match Plant-Based Iron With Vitamin C

Iron deficiency is a common problem, especially among girls and younger women. If you’d like to avoid the over-consumption of red meat, you can get your fair share of iron through beans, leafy greens, and even tofu. When doing so, make sure you add a source of vitamin C like lemon juice, bell peppers, or tomatoes. The vitamin C will help your body fully absorb the plant-based iron.

Combine Carrots and Eggs

You’re hardly alone if you don’t often place carrots and eggs on the same plate. As it turns out, paring these foods can have a great effect on your health. Recent research suggests that cooked eggs can help the body absorb carotenoids from veggies like carrots. Try making a salad with carrots, then tossing some hard-boiled egg on top. The flavor is surprisingly pleasant, and your body will be thankful for the extra nutrients.

Bake With Pumpkin Puree Instead of Oil

Rather than filling your baked goods with unhealthy cooking oil, try using pumpkin puree. The water in the puree will keep the end product nice and moist, and the food will turn out much more nutritious. With essential vitamins, fiber, and folate, pumpkin puree provides just what your baked goods need to become the most nutritious versions of themselves.

Eat Blueberries With Breakfast

It’s no surprise that eating your pancakes or cereal with blueberries would lift your mood. After all, these foods are delicious. What’s surprising is that there's an actual biological reason why blueberries leave you feeling fantastic. Studies suggest that something in the berries increases the brain’s level of serotonin, a hormone known to promote happiness. If you want your breakfast to leave you smiling, then going heavy on the blueberries is the obvious choice.

Use Almond Flour for Baking

While wheat flour has been a baking staple for generations, it might not be the healthiest option. Almond flour is a gluten-free alternative that’s packed with vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamin E is particularly prevalent, and it can help give you healthier skin. Beyond the health-related advantages, almond flour also gives baked goods a gorgeous, unique texture.

Load Your Grilled Cheese Sandwiches With Healthy Ingredients

There’s no reason a grilled cheese sandwich needs to include bread, cheese, and nothing else. You can keep the sandwich simple while making it way healthier just by adding a few key ingredients. Broccoli, spinach, and tomato will enliven the sandwich’s flavor while making it a much more nutritious lunch. With such a delicious foundation, you really can’t go wrong.