Books & Spoons SPRING TIME MEAL IDEAS WITH COLOR ON YOUR PLATE

3/3/2017

We have made it to March, and I'll admit, I am really looking forward to warmer, sunny days, the wildflowers to start to bloom in the city parks, the bikes on the streets, people enjoying life in cafe terraces... If you follow the website Instagram account, you might have noticed that all my food pictures have lately been in spring colors as well. I laughed when someone pointed out to me that even the zucchini picture looks like grass... Must be some super-grass, huh?!

But you know the more color on your plate, the more good stuff, vitamins and minerals your body needs, is in the food you eat. So go forth and be colorful!

Here are couple simple and colorful meal ideas for you.
I love zucchini noodles, they taste good with a little help of pesto, salt, and pepper, maybe even extra garlic and Parmesan cheese. I have shared the recipe I use with you before here. It doesn't take so long to prepare them, even cutting is fast if you have a mandolin. The cooking process is super fast, so be ready to serve with the rest of the meal components, when the noodles are done. One thing I want to remind you about them is, before adding any spices or pesto, or whatever it is you want to add on them, make sure they are rather dry after cooking, or all the added delights will just dilute into the liquid in them. I hit them in a piping hot pan at the oven right after they come out of the water, just so that the extra liquid evaporates away.

I served corn and salmon with the noodles. The salmon you can bake in an oven or sear in the pan like I did. The salmon doesn't take long, so if you want a quick meal use the pan to prepare the salmon, if you want a little less stress right before serving time, bake the salmon in the oven.

The other meal is alternative to those who doesn't eat zucchini. I cooked whole grain pasta, used a peeler to get thin, long slices of the carrots before steaming them in just a couple of minutes with the corn. The salmon was in the oven about 20 minutes (baking time varies with different ovens) with salt, pepper, and strong paprika powder. I added a little parsley to finish.