7 Color Cuisine - Burritos!

I am always reading books. If it has to do with food and there natural healing abilities, I have it! The reason I love reading about food is because there are soo many ways to improve your diet. We are all different and have varied food needs. I love taking bits of information from every book and piecing it together so it fits my diet.

I am currently reading through 7 Color Cuisine by Marcia Zimmerman. I actually picked this book up at my favorite place (Smoothie King) thinking it was full of great recipes (and it is!) but I never dreamed I would be so adicted to it!

In this book you see the importance of eating a well rounded diet that is based on incorporating 7 colors into your meals throughout the day. You'll discover how vibrant rainbow hues and warm earthy tones reveal the phytonutrient pedigrees of certain foods. You'll also learn of the valuable healing zoonutrients found in creamy white dairy foods, fish, and poultry.

According to the author, "What you eat becomes part of you. Food can satisfy your deepest psychological, neurological, and social being-provided you choose a variety of high-quality and colorful foods and follow the guidelines presented in this book."

Most nutrition and diet books focus on calories, fat, fiber, or protein. Scientist and nutritionist Zimmerman here focuses on phytonutrients, plant-based chemicals that may help to prevent conditions such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, and that are also the pigments responsible for the color of fruits and vegetables.

So here I am on a friday night with Graham (my favorite place to be!) trying to come up with a meal that has all of my colors. I wanted some sort of veggie wrap and Graham decided on Burritos, so I started chopping.

Three of my main colors: Red, Orange, and Green.

Bell peppers are packed with several nutrients.  They are a
good source of vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6, beta carotene, and folic acid.  Bell peppers also contain a large amount of phytochemicals that have exceptional antioxidant activity.

Carrots are nutritional heroes, they store a goldmine of nutrients. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties.

Saute veggies 4-5 minutes.

In the meantime, Graham cooked his chicken and I boiled some rice and prepared the "toppings".

Toppings included: kale, romaine lettuce, organic tomato pesto, hummus, and some shelled hemp seeds!

Mix the veggies into the cooked rice!

And now the fun begins!

My burrito: Hummus, pesto, veggie rice, kale and lettuce with some hemp seeds YUM!!!

Graham's burrito with chicken. He used poppy seed salad dressing for his sauce.

This meal was one of my favorites! I used most of my 7 colors: red, green, orange, tan and brown packed with nutrients and fiber. The best part of this meal was that I got to cook it with my fiance! It is all about having fun in the kitchen and enbracing the time you have to take care of your body. Enjoy!