I don’t know about you, but I get in food ruts.  And pre-packaged greens and drive-through are my ideas of a perfect universe.

As someone who hates to cook, and loves to eat healthy, I do eat  – a lot.  With a whole-foods, plant-based diet it just takes a little more chop time. And lots more refrigerator space (see Meet my new 225 lb best friend). As a formerly fat vegetarian, it’s liberating to be able to pile my plate with yummy, colorful foods that result in natural weight loss and vibrant health.

So it is with gratitude to my friend the Compassionate Cook Colleen Patrick-Goudreau for nudging me to step outside my food-prep box today.  Colleen always inspires me to whip up something new and create creative with eats that the body celebrates.

I just got Colleen’s brand-new book, 30 Day Vegan Challenge, And though I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, the pictures are such an inspiration that I had to depart from my grab-and-go kitchen prep habits and get a little more creative.  Colleen’s Color Me Vegan had the same effect on me.  Just look at the pictures and you find yourself grabbing your canvas bags and charging out to the nearest farmer’s market.

Here’s what I piled together for today’s lunch.  I could barely contain myself from diving into before placing my plates on the sunlit carpet (right beneath our new living room skylight, the UP side of a complete roofing makeover last week!) so I could take a picture for you.

I don’t measure, I just get it into the bowl.  Here are the ingredients:

• grated carrots, green cabbage, and purple cabbage
• cherry tomatoes
• chopped red bell pepper
• sunflower seed sprouts
• chopped cilantro
• garbanzo beans & kidney beans

A few squirts of lime juice on top was all I used for dressing

My sandwich?

• Tin Roof whole grain flax seed artisan bread
• big fat slice of tomato
• slices of sweet onion

Now, can you help me out with naming this one?  I’ve got to start rebuilding my Fit Quickies Cookbook as it has made its way to heaven with my hard drive crash upon our return from eating our way through Italy in May.

Please share your recipe name suggestions in ‘comments’ below!

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