Easy Rainbow Fruit and Vegetable Holiday Spread
A Christmas Rainbow Veggie Spread
This year I hosted Friendsgiving and I decided to stick to the basics: roasted veggies with tasty spices, including every damn color of the rainbow. Plants are also just so STUNNING! The vibrant colors that plants embody are due to the phytonutrients that are in them.
During the holidays, there are an OVERWHELMING amount of of “healthy” recipes out there, from gluten free, paleo, low FODMAP, plant-based… well, you get the picture. The food industry is exceptionally great at marketing processed foods as healthy when they’re actually not even foods at all. Eating healthy (to me) really means fueling the cells in your body, which can happen on an array of diets. We’ve become so focused on following certain rules that we lost focused on getting back to the basics: a variety of real foods. For those interested, I added in a bit about phytonutrients below with some references.
I hope that you enjoy this Rainbow Veggie Spread as the perfect addition to any holiday gathering. I love knowing that I’ll have fresh roasted veggies to fill my plate to help balance out the other foods I’ll get to eat, as well! I added one of each color to my plate to ensure that I’m getting a little bit of phytonutrients from each color and really eating the rainbow. :) It’s great for about 8-10 people.
Enjoy. 🖤
Ingredients:
1/2 lb of each of these veggies:
Red beets, cubed and chopped with skin on
Garnet yams, cubed and chopped with skin on
Brussel sprouts, roasted whole or chopped in half
Whole, raw cashews
5 medium yellow carrots, sliced long-ways then half-coined
1 small container of fresh blueberries
1 large bulb of garlic, peeled and kept as whole cloves
1 white onion, halved and sliced
1/2 head of purple cabbage, chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground curry
Salt and pepper
Fresh Thyme/Sage/Rosemary for Garnish
Recipe:
Set oven to 375*F
Spread out 3 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Chop all of your veggies and set them to the side.
Drizzle the beets, brussel sprouts, onion carrots with oil to preference and toss evenly with 1 tablespoon oregano, then laying them on the first baking sheet. Do not mix the veggies as you lay them out the first baking sheet. Add whole garlic and onion to the same tray (no oil needed).
Then, drizzle sweet potatoes with oil to preference and toss evenly with 1 tablespoon cinnamon, then laying them on the second baking sheet. Make sure all vegetables are evenly spread out and do not sit on top of each other.
Add both trays into the oven and cook for 1 hour, or until vegetables are nice and tender. The Brussel sprouts might need to be taken out a bit earlier than this, about 30-40 minutes.
While the veggies are baking, drizzle the cashews with just a bit of oil (not too much) and toss evenly in and 1 tablespoon of curry powder. Spread on the last baking sheet setting to the side.
When the vegetables are done baking, remove and set to the side. Roast the cashew for 10-12 minutes in the oven.
Whenever the veggies are done baking, add all of the fruits/veggies one by one in the order of the rainbow on a serving dish (onion/garlic, beet, sweet potato, yellow carrots and cashews, Brussel sprouts, blueberries, purple cabbage).
Finish with fresh garnished herbs and fresh. Enjoy the savory spices on your roasted veggies, with a pop of sweetness blueberry, and a hint of Christmas from the cinnamon.
Xo,
B 🖤
Nutrition blurb:
What are phytonutrients? They are simply components of plants that are found to have benefit in our body and support our health, and a lot of them just happen to be stunning in color (mother nature is amazing like that). Food really is medicine, as the phytonutrients in plants provide us with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that fuel our cells and help protect us against chronic inflammation, which ultimately is the root of all chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. We should be tasting the rainbow, but definitely not in the form of man-made skittles (although, again, it’s all about the balance - have the skittles every now and then if they make you happy, but be sure to eat this rainbow, too).
Not only does eating a variety of real foods completely fuel you, it’s also super cheap. I was able to make this beautiful rainbow veggie spread for under $40, serving 8 people. I even bought all of the produce certified USDA organic.
There is a common falsehood that eating healthy is expensive, but I can tell you that after eating on a budget for 5 years in graduate school and after, it’s really not. Yes, the processed “healthy” foods (crackers, chips, shakes) are expensive for sure, but if you just stick to fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, and other grains, eating a variety of plant foods can definitely be done on any budget.
Prepping this dish is also easy. I’m a “let’s just put it all on a baking sheet and then go do yoga” type of girl, and this dish balances raw and cooked veggies/fruits. It only requires chopping, oiling, spicing, and baking, and only 1 bowl and measuring spoon. You can really impress your family and friends at any get-together by bringing this to the table, and It’s also so nice to know that you’re fueling your body and your friends/family with a variety of nutrients.
Here’s a bit more about some of those phytonutrients in this spread, if you wanted more detail:
Red: Red foods are high in in a phytochemical class called carotenoids, particularly one known as lycopene, which has high anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, and is abundant in immune system modulation properties. Beets in particular are high in a class of compounds known as betalains, and help to increase nitric oxide, which have shown to improve endothelial function, particularly hypertension (high blood pressure).
Orange: Like red colored plants, orange plant foods are also high in the carotenoids, particularly one called beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is also known as “pro-vitamin A”, and a lot of the nutrients are in the skin, which is why you should leave it on when cooking. Beta carotene has been suggested to enhance or modulate ovarian function and progesterone synthesi
Yellow: Yellow foods contain a wide array of phytonutrient benefit the gastrointestinal tract and digestion, including modifying microbial activity in the gut to help decrease ulcer formation, or activate cytochrome P450 enzymes that can help the liver detoxify toxic compounds. They also help to lower your glycemic index by being high in soluble, insoluble, and prebiotic fibers.
Green: green veggies (particularly cruciferous veggies) are high in the phytochemicals sulforaphane, isocyanate, and indoles. Brussel sprouts (which are my absolute favorite) are a cruciferous veggie that have high anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties through the inhibition of carcinogen action. This particular cruciferous vegetable also helps to prevent atherosclerosis and reduce platelet aggregation and thrombus formation
Blue + Purple: Purple cabbage and blueberries have powerful antioxidant properties due tot their high amount of the phytochemical known as anthocyanins, which have been shown to inhibit cancer cell proliferation, reduce platelet aggregation, and lower cholesterol. Several studies also indicate that blue and purple foods are helpful for cognition and food due to the high polyphenol content.
White: The entire onion family contains the phytonutrient allicin, which is known for its anti-tumor, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory (anti-everything) properties. This powerful chemical is also responsible for the smell of onions and garlic; but that stinky smell is worth the cardioprotective benefits though the lowering of cholesterol and blood pressure.
References:
Minich DM. A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for "Eating the Rainbow" [published correction appears in J Nutr Metab. 2020 Nov 28;2020:5631762]. J Nutr Metab. 2019;2019:2125070. Published 2019 Jun 2. doi:10.1155/2019/2125070
Cassileth B. Lycopene. Oncology (Williston Park). 2010;24(3):296.
Clifford T, Howatson G, West DJ, Stevenson EJ. The potential benefits of red beetroot supplementation in health and disease. Nutrients. 2015;7(4):2801-2822. Published 2015 Apr 14. doi:10.3390/nu7042801
Kim JK. An update on the potential health benefits of carotenes. EXCLI J. 2016;15:1-4. Published 2016 Jan 6. doi:10.17179/excli2015-664
Gupta C, Prakash D. Phytonutrients as therapeutic agents. J Complement Integr Med. 2014;11(3):151-169. doi:10.1515/jcim-2013-0021
Ansary J, Forbes-Hernández TY, Gil E, et al. Potential Health Benefit of Garlic Based on Human Intervention Studies: A Brief Overview. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020;9(7):619. Published 2020 Jul 15. doi:10.3390/antiox9070619
