Eating the rainbow
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I love any opportunity to increase children’s nutritional literacy. Because when you do, you increase it for the whole family. A friend of mine invited me to lunch. She was homeschooling her 5 year old “G” so we decided to make lunch a learning opportunity. We chatted about “eating the rainbow” and by that I mean eating fruits and vegetables from the entire colour spectrum. This is a way to ensure that we are getting a variety of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants each day.
This lesson stuck, as “G” will often tell his mom that “we still need something purple“(or orange or yellow or red) and his mom appreciates having the little nutrition deputy around (I think she does!)
I guess I talk about eating the rainbow more that I think – occupational hazard. So much so that my nephew said he guessed that cauliflower wasn’t much good for anything because it lacked colour.
When we’re talking about light, white has ALL the colours. But what about white vegetables? Researchers at Purdue University have explored the relationship between colour and nutritive value and the bottom line – we shouldn’t be ignoring white vegetables. They are full of fibre, magnesium, potassium, Vitamin C, calcium and Vitamin D.
So I thought it was time to pay homage to the white vegetable – and I created a recipe for you to try.
Smokin’ Hot Roasted Cauliflower and Potatoes
In a large roasting pan place:
10 miniature red potatoes, quartered
Florets from one large cauliflower
1 large Vidalia onion, peeled and quartered
In a skillet
¾ cup organic coconut oil – heat on med/high until melted
Add:
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
3 ½ tsp med curry powder
1 tbsp hot SMOKED paprika
1 tsp salt
Cook for 2 minutes. Pour this mixture over cauliflower, onion, and potatoes
Mix in:
1 clove garlic, minced
Zest from one lemon
Freshly ground pepper
Bake in 450 oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven.
Stir in:
4 cups arugula until it wilts
WARNING This is HOT … if you like a milder dish use sweet smoked paprika and a mild curry powder
Enjoy!
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Here’s another recipe – this one is adapted from “my recipes” to help us warm up on the cold winter days. I had a jar of Sriracha made by a chef from Good Earth Cooking School in Beamsville which added a nice heat to this soup. This is a super quick recipe to make.
Hot and Sour Bok Choy and Mushroom Soup
1 pkg dried oyster mushrooms rehydrated (keep the liquid to add to soup)
20 brown cremini mushrooms sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
3 bok choy thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh grated ginger divided
2 tbsp rice vinegar
½ tsp of Sriracha (or more to taste!)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 green onions, sliced
First put mushrooms, mushroom water and broth together in pot, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until mushrooms are tender
Add bok choy, 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger and simmer for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tbsp ginger, vinegar, Sriracha and sesame oil.
Top with green onions
Enjoy!
As always …
I would love to hear from you. Let me know if you try either of these recipes OR if you have recipes you would like to share.
Enjoy the rainbow everyday!