This years theme is Eat Right with Color, so I thought I would kick off the month with a post on two recipes I cooked before heading back to the States. You probably already know that I am a vegetarian (lacto-ovo-pesco if you want to get technical) so it is no surprise that I pack our meals with veggies whenever I can. You can almost always spot me at the commissary or local grocery store scoping out the produce, and in the warm months (yes, I know that is all relative), you can bet I am the local organic farm down the street. I love color and I love it on my plate. All those different colors pack different nutrients into our foods. By adding a variety of color to your meals you can help ensure a variety of nutrients are obtained as well.
My first meal is a gingered couscous. I started off with zucchini, yellow squash and onions.
Then I sliced up some red and yellow peppers.
Wow, this recipe even called for dried cherries!
I cooked up some brown rice couscous along with the cherries.
I let all my veggies cook with grated ginger. Look at all those colors!
When both were ready, I tossed them together for a great hot meal. Oh, and the cool part of this recipe is that it tastes great cold too.
I aim for 2 fully cooked dinners a week, which is a huge increase for me, sorry to admit it. So, for my second meal that week I went with a taco-corn chili from the Betty Crocker Diabetes cookbook, which I love.
Again, I made sure there would be a variety of color in this meal, even if a little darker than the previous meal. I also altered this recipe to use soy crumbles to replace the meat.
I have learned that the premixed chilies and tomatoes have a lot more sodium than the plain no added salt tomatoes and 1 can of green chilies. I am always looking for ways to reduce sodium, and I learned this trick last year with a beans recipe I love.
As I said, I am always looking for ways to reduce sodium, and this meal was up there, so I am pleased that I found this less sodium version of taco seasoning.
HOORAY! This was my first time using my brand new dutch oven.
I tossed everything in and let it cook up.
Ryan asked if we could have these in taco shells, which I assume were not part of the original recipe because this was a diabetes cookbook and would increase the carb choice count. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I used a little less liquid and made it a bit thicker.
I love the color that the kidney beans, corn and green chilies added to this delicious dish.
QUESTIONS: What plans do you have for National Nutrition Month to Eat Right with Color? What is your favorite colorful dish?
10 comments:
Those look excellent! Yum!
I made a fun bulletin board for our patients to see for National Nutrition Month. Fun stuff!
Great, colorful meals!
I try to "buy the rainbow" when we go fruits and veggie shopping. It's a fun game for the toddler (we also try to practice the colors in three languages at the same time...) and a great reminder for me to incorporate all the different colors into our meals.
Thank you for the great introduction to this year's awesome topic! I always try to find a different color veggie each time I go to the grocery store (since I go several times a week, just to pick up a fresh veggie or two) until I feel like I've made it around the color wheel and then I start over again! :-) Of course, my fav recipes are the ones with tons of different colored veggies, like your gorgeous couscous! Sooooo beautiful!!
I'm so impressed that you make it back to B-more so regularly, even though you live much further away than I do... :-) I haven't been back since May of last year, so I'm definitely due for a trip! Sooooo awesome that they renovated the kosher DD! I'll have to tell my parents about the "chicken" sandwich so they can try it! :-)
P.S. I was soooo psyched to see that you got to meet Beth of 990 Square - we went to undergrad together! :-) Beth is amazing... What a wonderfully small world! :-)
Happy National Nutrition Month to you!!
These recipes are packed with color and nutrients, I love it. The first one reminds me a lot of a recipe I made at work not too long ago. It called for colorful veggies, whole grain couscous (and I've never even heard of brown rice couscous, by the way!) and raisins. It was a hit at the store!
i do love color, especially in my eats! i think a bright salad is always good...or Mexican food :) nom nom nom!
oh your right actually the real pancake day is next week he he i love the theme this yr color so important
I love making variations on Mexican rice because I can incorporate just about every color of the rainbow. It might not be authentic - actually, I know it isn't! - but it's super tasty for sure.
Your couscous dish sounds marvelous.
I think my favorite colorful dish would be bibimbap...Korean stone-bowl mixed rice!
The couscous sounds great with the dried cherries. I like using those so much more than raisins. Love the color of your Dutch oven!
oh those tacos look incredible! I'd go with burritos for my fav!
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