eat more color

I like vegetables and I like to cook.  I’m also a miserable shopper and both money- and time-challenged as I balance work, school, and parenting a 10-year-old.  I observed myself using these challenges as an excuse to keep creating limited and uninspired meals, so decided recently to try a new approach.  For a week, I shopped and ate by color—paying careful attention to what colors drew my eye at the co-op and farmer’s markets, choosing the most vibrant of the offerings, planning menus and preparing vegetables in a way that’s colorful and visually pleasing.

Why pay attention to color?  The colors of our vegetables, herbs and other foods point us to a diverse array of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients that help keep us in optimum health. Eating fruits and vegetables of different colors gives the body a wide range of valuable nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and other essential phytonutrients.  With so much color out here—green spinach, orange sweet potatoes, black beans, yellow corn, purple plums, red watermelon, and white onions—it’s easy to be inspired.

Thinking about vegetables differently got my imagination going and by the weekend I was braving a busy crowd at a local market where I found terrific deals on organic produce (as well as staples like grains, oils, and wild-harvested fish sticks for my son).  When I got home, I improvised a nourishing, inexpensive and easy-to-prepare meal that will keep in the fridge for the next several days—and get tastier by the day.

Inspired by color, I used crisp white cauliflower and creamy coconut milk, adding orange carrots, red tomatoes and chili peppers, yellow chick peas and turmeric, and rich green spinach.  Next time, I’ll add some dried currants or raisins.  Super easy, colorful and tasty over wild grain pilaf (my boyfriend made herbed, fresh wild salmon burgers on the side).

This meal was great, and enough inspiration to keep me going for a while!  

Curry-coconut cauliflower

NOTE: As my dear sister Ashley reminds us, “a recipe is only a suggestion!” What follows is an estimation of what I made today—feel free to use whatever is colorful, fresh, available, and delicious to you!

½ head cauliflower, chopped coarsely

2 medium carrots, sliced

1 large tomato, diced

1 cayenne or chili pepper (deseed if necessary to adjust spiciness)

1 or 2 potatoes, diced and boiled to almost-done

a few cups fresh spinach leaves

1 onion, chopped coarse

1 can chickpeas, drained

3 cloves garlic

1 cup coconut milk (reduced-fat variety works fine)

1¼ cup unsalted or reduced-salt vegetable broth

1½ T curry powder

1 t cumin

several leaves chopped basil cilantro, or other fresh herb

salt and black pepper to taste

2 T oil for sautéing (I like coconut, but you can use safflower, peanut, or another oil)

Saute onion and garlic in a wok or large skillet at medium heat; as they soften, add carrots and cauliflower.  After about 5 minutes, add chickpeas, tomato, and potatoes; sauté together, adding salt, pepper, basil, cumin, and curry.  Pour coconut milk and vegetable broth over and cover.  Turn down heat and simmer for a few more minutes, then toss in spinach leaves, stir through, turn off heat and cover again.  Let sit for 10 minutes, and enjoy in good health.  Serves 4.