Happy Earth Day y’all! This salad is brought to you by Mother Earth and all her magical vegetable glory. Made this colorful rainbow kale bowl / salad from my delivery of @imperfectproduce. Hard to believe, right? Jam-packed with goodness and my fav southwestern sweet potatoes, I can’t wait to eat this salad all week long. See below for the dEATs!

One of the healthy rules that I live by is counting colors, not calories. Eating a diverse palette of colorful food is an easy way to ensure you’re getting a well-rounded base of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Phyto-what? Phytochemicals are compounds produced by plants to thwart predators and diseases. There’s evidence that these compounds can help humans fend off disease as well. It’s phytochemicals that give produce the array of hues that span the rainbow.

Here’s a quick guide to the rainbow of nutrients you can expect from each color group:

• Red: lycopene gives these veggies their bright pigment. Lycopene is an antioxidant associated with heart heath and cancer prevention.
• Orange: fruits and veggies are rich in vitamin C, beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, which is converted by the body into Vitamin A. There’s a reason you’re told to eat carrots for vision health!
• Yellow: these veggies are rich in lutein, which is also good for eye health. Get some vitamin C from these fruits & veggies too!
• Green: chlorophyll gives these veggies their vibrant color. Green veggies are an excellent source of acid, vitamin K, carotenoids, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
• Blue/Purple: this hue comes from anthocyanins, an antioxidant that is good for the heart and supports healthy blood pressure.

For more info on @imperfectproduce, check out my blog post or my unboxing video. Less waste, more good-for-you veggies and all at a reduced cost. Give it a whirl here.

Now, what you’ve been waiting for – the recipe!

Rainbow Kale Bowl
Servings: 2-3

– 1 bunch of Tuscan kale
– 1 bunch of rainbow carrots, thinly sliced
– 1 can of low-sodium black beans, rinsed
– 1 sweet potato, diced
– 1 tsp cumin
– 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
– 1 avocado*
– 1 lime
– 1 cup cooked red quinoa
– 1 can of vegetable broth (optional, can sub 2 cups of water)
– Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Quinoa: Bowl 2 C of vegetable broth in a 2 quart pot. Rinse the quinoa and add to the pot of boiling broth. Cook for 15 minutes or until light and fluffy and the liquid has cooked off. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Southwestern Sweet Potatoes: Prep the sweet potato by peeling and then dicing. Heat a skillet to medium high, add a bit of olive oil. Place the sweet potatoes in the skillet with the cumin, paprika and a touch of salt and pepper. Cook for roughly 10 minutes, or until the pieces can be easily pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool.

Kale Bowl:

Step 1: Remove the ribs of the Tuscan kale and roughly tear. Place in large bowl. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and the juice of 1/2 the lime. Massage.

Step 2: Mash the avocado with the juice of 1/2 the lime along with salt and pepper.

Step 3: Assemble the by placing the kale in two individual bowls. Top with the quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and avocado mash.

*Shortcut: Sub the avocado for Wholly Guacamole.

Enjoy!

The post Eat the Rainbow appeared first on The Shooks Life.

Starting to wonder, do I have a purple problem? Let’s reframe that – yes, I have a passion for the purple and I will not hide it.

Recently I’ve been in awe at the array of colors from spring produce – everything from golden beets to rainbow carrots and sunset fingerling potatoes. The colors are seriously gorgeous and I get a little thrill when I discover something new, like purple sweet potatoes and a recipe for Purple Soup that takes full advantage of all the purple glory!

Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes (above, second from left) are in season September through April and get their vibrant hue from anthocyanins, antioxidants that color a lot of other deep purple fruits such as blackberries. Purple sweet potatoes are commonly eaten on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where there is a large population of people over the age of 100 and dementia rates 50% lower than in the western world. It’s an unproven hypothesis that the large quantities of purple sweet potatoes in their diet may have something to do with their health and longevity. Are purple sweet potatoes the new secret to youthfulness?

So next question is what to make with these gorgeous and good-for-you potatoes? I’ve also recently been obsessed with purple cauliflower and just happened to get some rainbow carrots in my delivery from Imperfect Produce (see my blog post on this zero waste food delivery company), so was excited to find a recipe for Purple Soup on Del’s Cooking Twist.

You start with the deepest purple produce you can find, which includes Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes, purple cauliflower and purple carrots. If you can’t find purple sweet potatoes, you can also use purple potatoes – just make sure that not only the skin, but also the flesh is purple. Don’t be fooled by Japanese Yams, which have a purple skin, but yellow flesh. Also, if you use red carrots, like the ones shown above ,you’ll get more of a mauve soup. Either way, it will be gorgeous! Check out the recipe below.

Recipe:  Del’s Purple Soup

Ingredients

– 1 purple cauliflower, florets

– 2 large purple sweet potatoes

– 4 medium purple carrots

– 3-4 cups water (+ more as needed)

– ¼ cup cream

– ½ tsp nutmeg, ground

– ¼ tsp cloves, ground

– salt & pepper

– 3 tbsp extra virgin oil

– 2 tbsp thyme, fresh

  

 

Instructions

1. Peel and chop purple sweet potatoes and carrots into about 1-inch chunks.
2. Place them in a large pot together with the cauliflower florets, a pinch of salt, and cover with 3 to 4 cups water.
3. Add to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until vegetables are fork tender.
4. Using a blender, mix the vegetables with the vegetable stock from the cooking.
5. Return the soup to the pot, add the cream, and season with ground black pepper, nutmeg and cloves. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring well and adjusting the seasoning as needed. If the soup is too thick, add more water until desired consistency.
6. Drizzle some extra virgin olive on top, and garnish with fresh thyme.

The post Purple Soup, I Dig It appeared first on The Shooks Life.