I love restaurants that make it easy–and delicious–to get your recommended 4-5 servings of vegetables per day. So when my friends at Veggie Grill invited me over to check out their Summer menu, I happily popped by the Santa Monica location for lunch. It’s a fast-casual place, which makes it perfect for a quick, veggie-centric meal. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Chargrilled Street Corn: I grew up eating and LOVING Mexican elote/corn smothered in mayo, crema and cheese–basically negating every and any nutritional benefit from the corn. I was thrilled to see a more nutritious version on Veggie Grill’s Summer menu. Their much healthier (and organic when possible) version has southwestern mayo, soy Parmesan, cilantro, and a wedge of lime.  Just look, isn’t it a thing of beauty served with the husk?

And there’s also the Sonoran Summer bowl (top left corner of first image) with black beans, corn, salsa, jalapenos, tortilla chips, red pepper sauce, avocado and steamed quinoa. This is basically the sort of thing I could eat every day. One part healthy grain + one part protein + one part vegetables makes for a nicely balanced meal. Also, I’m a huge fan of anything with avocados. They make everything better!

A little part of me dies every time a vegetable gets drowned in sauce or overly seasoned or cooked to mush. To the point where you can’t even taste the vegetable any more. You know what I mean? Well, I’m happy to report that there wasn’t any of that happening here. Fresh vegetables, lightly cooked and seasoned, like these haricots verts with lemon tahini dressing, are my favorite way to get my veggie intake. So crisp and delicious!

Scope the full Summer menu here and let me know what you think! Have you tried it yet?

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Veggie Grill. We love brands that support eating vegetables. Thanks so much for supporting our partners that help keep Julie’s Kitchen going.