Over the Rainbow

One of the key themes in our daily meal planning is what I refer to as “following the rainbow”. As a tot mom I constantly fight the battle of providing nutritious and enticing foods for her everchanging palate. One day we like cottage cheese and the next day it is out the window! One way I have found to combat the blah’s at the dinner table is to keep it colorful. Not only are we making her food choices appealing to her other senses but incorporating important vitamins and antioxidants into every meal with little or no extra effort.

What’s more awesome to a 4 year old girl than a rainbow? Well, maybe a unicorn but for our purposes we are going with the rainbow theme! This simple lunch or dinner “salad bar” is a great example of the rainbow theme. We always keep a full assortment of vegetables on hand for those impromptu living room picnics and after dinner snacks.

Start with a fun platter - I think I bought this one at Walmart maybe 5 years ago. It has become my go to for just about every meal. I love that it is clear and really goes with any theme. If you are feeding a larger family or crowd pull out a bigger platter or a use a 9x13 casserole dish. 

Next,  I like to separate out the veggies that need blanching and get them going first. Usually those are my green veggies like broccoli and beans.  Blanching them quickly will help preserve their gorgeous color.  Blanching is simply submerging the vegetable in boiling water for a couple minutes and then transferring them to ice water immediately.  Depending on how crunchy you like your beans you can give them an extra minute or so if you don’t want them super crunchy.  I like them crunchy so 2 minutes is plenty.  It is important to have the ice bath ready before you start so you can have a streamlined blanch and not soggy veggies. Lay them out on towels to dry off while you chop up the rest of your veggies.

Now, chop up the rest of your veggies and arrange them on the platter.  I added a protein source for my family but you can go completely vegetarian if you want.  I typically go with whatever protein I have cooked the previous day for other recipes.  Sometimes it’s grilled chicken or salmon other times it’s just lunchmeat or canned tuna.  I almost always cook extra meat when I grill for these types of future meals. 

I like to use a blue cheese or ranch dressing for this salad but you can do any type of dressing you choose.   I love to make my own dressings but for convenience I always keep bottles of Marzetti no preservative dressings in the fridge. My favorites are the Chunky Blue Cheese and the Supreme Caesar. 

This is a great weeknight dinner or addition to your brunch table. Follow the rainbow on the table and increase your immune system which is worth a pot of gold!