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!
