Follow the colours
A bit uninspired and unsure what to cook? Maybe you need to use lots of leftovers but you’re not sure which direction to go with it? Follow the colours!
Flavours - assemble!
“Eat the rainbow!” - You’ve probably heard that, right? This is a good tip for cooking and assembling ingredients. Nature is actually giving you clues as to what is in the food by how it is coloured. Different colours naturally found in food usually gives you an indication of what kind of nutrients you can find in it! So therefore - mixing up the colours will give you a little bit of everything.
But another great benefit of eating the rainbow is that it’s so much more appetising and exciting. Bland looking food, unless we know it’s something we really love and it smells divine, is often not very exciting - and maybe especially not so fun to serve to other people if you’re trying to get them excited about your cooking!
Sometimes our fridge and cupboards can be a bit like our wardrobes; we have so much that we feel like we have nothing. Little bits of leftovers here and there, some Tupperware boxes and jars and bottles… You’re trying to “be brave and make your own” like I always encourage you to, but you’re not quite sure where to start.
Pick out something green. Ok! That’s your base. It can be some broccoli, spinach, a leek… Do you have anything red? Some tomatoes, a pepper, or something orange, like a carrot or sweet potato? That might remind you, you have some regular potatoes lying around too! Or if not, maybe some other carby ingredient that might fit - a little bit of rice or couscous. Couscous is great, it’s yellow and a lovely addition to this rainbow! If you don’t have couscous, what other yellow food do you have? Maybe a bit of swede - or some mango? Or just some lemon, for a bit of juice and some zest to go over the whole thing? Maybe you even have some strong colours like pink (like beetroot) or blue (like blueberry).
Now putting together all the ingredients I’ve mentioned as examples here might turn into a bit of a strange dish - but that’s kind of my point: if you only have about a third of this, or even entirely different ingredients altogether, you definitely have a substantial meal at your disposal, even if it might not look like it at first glance. So if you are lacking ideas, start with some colour and let your imagination run wild!
Happy cooking!
What’s the most colourful meal you’ve ever made? I’d love to see it! Message me on Instagram @TheFromScratchBody!
