Bring on the color!

OK, so filling your plate with color is not as easy as it sounds. Due to our work schedules, my husband and I only eat together on weekends and one lunch a week. That means I spend much of my Sundays, usually, preparing meals for the rest of the week. Tom, who works nights, doesn't get up until 9:30 a.m. or so and downs three mugs of coffee before he even considers eating anything. I, on the other hand, have breakfast on my mind before I even leave the bedroom. After one cup of herb tea I'm ready for breakfast - one of my favorites is sauteed zucchini, onion, and mushrooms with a scrambled egg poured over it. Or a bowl of oatmeal with real maple syrup and a splash of unsweetened almond milk, or a smoothie or a piece of pumpkin or zucchini bread. By the time Tom gets his coffee down and is ready to eat, it's nearly lunchtime. This morning, for example, I can assure you he didn't have breakfast, but waited until the pot roast I had in the oven was ready at eleven o'clock. It was a huge pot roast with tons of carrots and celery and a few potatoes. He IM'd me after he had lunch and said EVEN AFTER TAKING THE FAT OFF THE MEAT WAS GOOD! Holy cow! Imagine that? My husband took his favorite part of the roast off before he ate it! Good for him! He broke the roast down into smaller containers for his lunch during the rest of the week.

Tom would rather have a second helping of meat than look for something 'more colorful.'  If I leave him a note "EAT STRAWBERRIES" he will. But if the strawberries are sitting on the counter he'd likely go to the garage refrigerator, get out another container of beef and heat it up before even considering the strawberries. It's not that he doesn't like strawberries ... he just prefers beef!

So, I try to offer him as many opto