Book review: Color Me Vegan

It’s not what you think.

If you’re like me, you made one or two New Year’s resolutions back in January. One of my resolutions was to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet since it seemed like there were days when I was lucky if I could count three servings of fruits and vegetables in my meals. This was somewhat alarming since the American Cancer Society recommends we eat at least five servings EVERY DAY for optimal health.   It’s not that I didn’t like fruits and vegetables; I just don’t always know how to prepare them. 

To work on my resolution I did what any good librarian would do – I checked some vegetable oriented cookbooks out of the library (and downloaded some from Freading, but that’s another post).  One book especially caught my attention – Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I don’t aspire to become a vegan, but I figured adding grain and vegetable based meals would help me on my quest.

The first thing I noticed about Color Me Vegan is the way it’s organized.  The chapters are arranged by the colors of the rainbow and given names like Color Me Green and Color Me Red.  Patrick-Goudreau starts each chapter explaining the phytonutrients found in a particular colored vegetable, as well as the benefits of these phytonutrients.  Eating a wide range of colored vegetables means we get a full spectrum of phytonutrients that prevent diseases, strengthen the immune system, and slow the aging process.

What about taste? We’ve all been tempted by beautiful cookbooks only to be disappointed when the dish we cooked doesn’t turn out looking like the picture, or worse, the dish just doesn’t taste good. That’s the best thing about this book.  The dishes are delicious … and so easy! So far I’ve made about a half dozen of the recipes, a few of them multiple times. My new favorite breakfast is the “Green Smoothie” (p.129).  Yes, I was skeptical the first time I added raw spinach to a smoothie, but it’s absolutely true that you don’t taste it.  I now start my day having consumed a few servings of fruits and vegetables, probably more than I used to get in an entire day.  Another favorite recipe is the “Roasted Orange Beets with Tangerines” (p.49) from the Color Me Orange chapter of the book. Until I tried this salad recipe, I had always thought I didn’t like beets.  Even my very finicky father-in-law enjoyed this salad when we served it for Easter dinner!  This weekend I’ll be cooking “Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Pecans” (p.118). Yum!

I could go on praising the variety of recipes in this book, but I think you get the point.  The best recommendation I can give Color Me Vegan is that I actually purchased a copy for myself since I had renewed the book the maximum number of times and it needed to go back on the shelves for someone else to enjoy.

For once in my life I stuck to a New Year’s resolution and I feel great!