Making Winter Meals Colorful

The weather has been very overcast and damp the last few weeks here in Ohio, so I have made a point to try to focus on making colorful winter meals with my soup and salads. Some people call it eating the rainbow.

It’s almost like a mini hibernation feeling for me during January and I find that if I focus on having hearty soups and colorful salads,it helps to keep me eating healthy with a focus on lots of vegetables and getting protein. I also added in a seafood photo for an extra happy oomph.

Here are a few of my favorite meals that I will share with you for inspiration:

Making winter meals colorful - soup
Homemade chili – this is a chili with ground beef, cabbage, pork and black beans, made in the crock pot with plenty of left overs for the freezer.
Making winter meals colorful - salad
Chopped carrots, red, yellow and orange peppers, crinkle cut cucumbers, celery, diced onion, tossed with a can of garbanzo beans (aka chick peas) over a bed of spinach.

I usually make enough of this salad to have as a main meal (with tuna) and then several side salads over a bed of spinach or spring mix greens the following day. This is similar to my potluck salads. My dressing is usually lemon juice, cider vinegar, olive oil, basil, oregano, pepper. It can be a lot of roughage if you’re not used to eating lots of veggies.

Making winter meals colorful - salad
Cyprus salad with marinated olives, cucumber, caprese tomatoes, crushed feta cheese, crispy chickpeas and roasted chicken over a bed of romaine lettuce. Rosemary vinaigrette dressing on the side.

There is nothing like little tomatoes cut in half for making winter meals colorful!

Making winter meals colorful - soup
V-9 soup from a restaurant named Aladdin’s. Jill and I had lunch together and I almost always get this soup because of all the veggies. This delicious soup is homemade with carrots, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, green peppers, onions, and sweet peas. The sprinkling of feta cheese was optional – you can see it floated to the front of the dish.

I recently got out of Ohio for a few days and flew down to meet up with some friends in Florida. They treated me to this awesome fresh seafood extravaganza. While I wanted to share all the photos of my vacation food with you, it seems too indulgent, so here is just one of the stone crab with mustard sauce on a bed of ice.

Making winter meals colorful - seafood
Zero fat or carbs, but 3 ounces provide 15 grams of protein and 45 mg cholesterol. (One egg yoke is 186 mg of cholesterol.)

Please share your favorite winter salads and soups with me in the private Facebook group. I always get inspired when I see what other people in our community are doing!

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