The Hemp Connection + vegetables

If you're cooking pretty, chances are, you're also cooking healthy

So many of you are artistic, and appreciative of color…it occurred to me while working on another project the other day, that perhaps thinking about food in a different way would work better with your creative brains.

We had a challenge recently at Chow Locally, we got a beautiful head of peacock kale. Many people who received it had questions about what to do with it, and when I looked online for recipes to share, I didn't find many. And that meant my weekend was going to be devoted to coming up with ways to use it that were easy to make and not too avant garde.

I went with my backup for greens, pesto, and came up with this really pretty final product! The recipe can be found here.

Another one of our customers, Barefeet in the Kitchen's Mary Younkin, also a food blogger, came up with this beautiful purple smoothie made from the same kale. She went with more of a fruity theme, which you can read about on her blog.

In recent weeks, I've also enjoyed some other colorful creations!

Here are some egg salad wraps. I used a simple egg salad recipe and added chopped spinach for color. And I saved a few leaves of a gorgeous head of Merlot lettuce for the wraps. Simple recipe, made exotic simply by switching out the colors!

We had a bunch of bright lights chard, so I made risotto, another one of my favorite ways to use greens. The stems are a beautiful array of reds and yellows, so instead of throwing them out, as many risotto recipes will tell you to do, I minced them, sauteed them, and added them in for a confetti effect.

This head of romanesco surprised me by turning fluorescent green while it slow roasted! I really didn't do much to this, it decorated itself in the oven. But I loved the surprise that came out of the oven!

And here is a Daikon radish slaw! I was really doubtful about this one since radishes are not my favorite veggie, but it was so colorful it enticed me to taste it, and I ended up loving it!

We're no different from Mother Nature's other creatures. We are attracted to foods for a variety of reasons. One of the most important ones is color. Fortunately, the foods that add color are usually the ones loaded with nutrition.

When you are in the kitchen, take off that healthy cooking hat and put on your creative"PCOS brain" hat. Ask yourself where the color is! If it's not inherently there, don't be afraid to deviate from the recipe. Create your work of art, and trust that if it's naturally colorful, something in that food is going to benefit your health.

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If you're cooking pretty, chances are, you're also cooking healthy + vegetables