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Color Me Vegan: Maximize Your Nutrient Intake and Optimize Your Health by Eating Antioxidant-Rich, Fiber-Packed, Color-Intense Meals That Taste Great
In Color Me Vegan, author and vegan extraordinaire Colleen Patrick-Goudreau brings an edible rainbow of plant-based cuisine to your kitchen table with 150 flavorful recipes designed to boost your health and perk up your palate.
With color as the guiding principle behind each section, Colleen shows vegetarians, vegans, and everyone in between exactly how phytonutrients—the most powerful, pigmented antioxidants on earth, found in everything from select fruits and vegetables, to grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds—can be expertly incorporated into your meals for the greatest nutritional punch.
From the “Color Me Blue” chapter, for example, you’ll be treated to recipes such as:
Radicchio Fennel Salad with Caper Dressing
Chilled Blueberry Mango Soup
Lavender-Roasted Purple Onions
Eggplant with Dengaku (Sweet Miso) Sauce
Purple Plum Pie with Crumble Topping
From sensational starters and salads, to filling mains and sides, to crave-worthy desserts— in every color—each recipe is not just a feast for your stomach, but a feast for your eyes as well!
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, best-selling author of The Joy of Vegan Baking (Fair Winds, Fall 2007) and The Vegan Table (Fair Winds, Spring 2009), is the founder of Compassionate Cooks (compassionatecooks.com), an organization whose mission is to empower people to make informed food choices and to debunk myths about veganism. A recognized expert on healthful plant-based cuisine, Colleen has appeared on the Food Network and is a columnist for VegNews magazine.
271 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
25 people are currently reading
1623 people want to read
About the author
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
13 books403 followersColleen Patrick-Goudreau’s compassionate living philosophy is propelling plant-based eating into the mainstream and forever changing how we regard animals.
A recognized expert and thought leader on the culinary, social, ethical, and practical aspects of living compassionately and healthfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a speaker, cultural commentator, podcaster, and award-winning author of seven books, including the bestselling
*The Joy of Vegan Baking
*The Vegan Table
*Color Me Vegan
*Vegan’s Daily Companion
*On Being Vegan
*The 30-Day Vegan Challenge
*The Joyful Vegan
She is an acclaimed speaker and beloved host of the inspiring podcast, “Food for Thought,” which was voted Favorite Podcast by VegNews magazine readers several years in a row. She launched a spin-off podcast called Animalogy in 2017. Along with fellow advocates, she recently formed a political action committee called East Bay Animal PAC to work with government officials on animal issues in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Colleen shares her message of compassion and wellness on national and regional TV and radio programs, including on monthly segment on Good Day Sacramento and as a monthly contributor on National Public Radio (KQED). She has appeared on the Food Network, CBS, PBS, and FOX; interviews with her have been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report; and her recipes have been featured on Epicurious.com and Oprah.com.
Colleen lives in Oakland, CA with her husband David and two cats, Charlie and Michiko.
A recognized expert and thought leader on the culinary, social, ethical, and practical aspects of living compassionately and healthfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a speaker, cultural commentator, podcaster, and award-winning author of seven books, including the bestselling
*The Joy of Vegan Baking
*The Vegan Table
*Color Me Vegan
*Vegan’s Daily Companion
*On Being Vegan
*The 30-Day Vegan Challenge
*The Joyful Vegan
She is an acclaimed speaker and beloved host of the inspiring podcast, “Food for Thought,” which was voted Favorite Podcast by VegNews magazine readers several years in a row. She launched a spin-off podcast called Animalogy in 2017. Along with fellow advocates, she recently formed a political action committee called East Bay Animal PAC to work with government officials on animal issues in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Colleen shares her message of compassion and wellness on national and regional TV and radio programs, including on monthly segment on Good Day Sacramento and as a monthly contributor on National Public Radio (KQED). She has appeared on the Food Network, CBS, PBS, and FOX; interviews with her have been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report; and her recipes have been featured on Epicurious.com and Oprah.com.
Colleen lives in Oakland, CA with her husband David and two cats, Charlie and Michiko.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 27, 2010
I just placed this book in the easiest to reach place of all the cookbooks in my kitchen. It’s definitely made it into my informal top 10 cookbooks section.
Unless you are a masochist, don’t read this book on an empty stomach or even if you’re even a little bit hungry, not unless you have enough ingredients on hand and the time to make at least one of the included recipes.
At the end of the book she thanks her testers. I know they work hard at giving her useful feedback but THEY SHOULD BE THANKING HER!!! It sounds like the best volunteer job ever!
I’m trying to lose a bunch of at least some of the weight I gained 6 ½ years ago, and cookbooks such as this inspire me even more, because they show that healthy eating can be so very delicious and not too difficult to achieve re food preparation.
This is another gorgeous book from this author! Truly! It has a beautiful layout, wonderful color, including colorful rainbow pages and page edges for finding contents more easily.
I love that the focus is not just on the green orange, and yellow we all hear about incessantly, but covered is the entire spectrum of color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue/purple, white/tan, black/brown, and the rainbow, and each color has its own section which includes: starters and salads, soups and stews, sides, main dishes, and desserts. At the end of every color section, there’s a Ways to increase (whatever color) foods.
As with her other cookbook(s), each recipe indicates if oil-, wheat-, or soy-free for those who have dietary restrictions, and also included is if additional ahead of time preparation is required. Nutritional information is given for every recipe for amount of calories, fat, percentage calories from fat, protein, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, cholesterol (none, of course, since every recipe is vegan) and sodium. The helpful blurb boxes in her other cookbook(s) also reappear: compassionate cooks’ tip, food lore, and Did you know? There are also entire page sections with all sorts of “extra” informative material. In each color’s section she also gives some information about why that color food is so important for our health.
This author recommends eating whole foods that are low in oil and sodium. Some of the recipes do contain oil and salt, but alternatives are suggested. For those who don’t cook with oil but when fat is helpful in certain dishes for absorption of nutrients purposes, nuts and seeds and avocado are mentioned as foods that can be added instead of oil, and many recipes already are given that way. I am confused though as on one page she mentions that the recipe is fat free but it includes flax seeds (they do have fat) and non-dairy milk (most have some fat.)
She does use quite a few foods I don’t like: vinegar, mustard, tempeh, coconut, non-dairy yogurt, etc. but for many dishes, I like all the ingredients and for those that have foods I don’t enjoy, it would be easy to leave them out or make substitutions.
She has 2 indexes at the back of the book and both are very useful. The first one is an ingredients index and the second one is a recipe index, listed by color. She has a resources section that is very helpful, although it is short and not comprehensive.
Dishes I particularly want to try (and oh did I have difficulty limiting these to just a few per color; there are many, many more) are:
from red: Six-Shades-of-Red-Soup; Beet Burgers; Stuffed Shells with Marinara Sauce
from orange: Peanut Pumpkin Soup; Sweet Potato Tacos; Persimmon Tea Cake
from yellow: Grapefruit, Yellow Pepper, and Avocado Salad; Corn Chowder; Hot Tamale Pie; Caramelized Bananas
from green: Sweet Pea “Guacamole”; Spinach Soup with Basil and Dill; Garlicky Greens with Pasta; Three-Greens Ribollita Soup
from blue/purple: Purple Cauliflower Soup; Purple Kale and White Bean Soup; Linguini with Purple Cabbage; Potatoes and Eggplant (Aloo Baingan); Blackberry Breakfast Bars
from white/tan: Parsnip Soup; Roasted Garlic Soup; Cashew and Red Lentil Burgers (but no eggless mayonnaise for me as I don’t like it); Oat Bread
from brown/black: Spicy Black Bean and Olive “Hummus”; Mushroom Barley Soup; Brown Lentil Soup; Mushroom-Topped Baked Potatoes
from the rainbow: Minestrone with Kale; Indian-Style Black Bean and Veggie Burgers; “Sloppy Col” Sandwich; Chocolate, Banana, and Almond Butter Paninis
Oh, but there are so many more recipes in here that also appeal to me. This book earns 5 incredibly bright stars.
I will add that I don’t have the kitchen, various cooking implements or the money to buy them or the space for them, and definitely not the cooking skills the author possesses, but many of these recipes seem doable for me.
Unless you are a masochist, don’t read this book on an empty stomach or even if you’re even a little bit hungry, not unless you have enough ingredients on hand and the time to make at least one of the included recipes.
At the end of the book she thanks her testers. I know they work hard at giving her useful feedback but THEY SHOULD BE THANKING HER!!! It sounds like the best volunteer job ever!
I’m trying to lose a bunch of at least some of the weight I gained 6 ½ years ago, and cookbooks such as this inspire me even more, because they show that healthy eating can be so very delicious and not too difficult to achieve re food preparation.
This is another gorgeous book from this author! Truly! It has a beautiful layout, wonderful color, including colorful rainbow pages and page edges for finding contents more easily.
I love that the focus is not just on the green orange, and yellow we all hear about incessantly, but covered is the entire spectrum of color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue/purple, white/tan, black/brown, and the rainbow, and each color has its own section which includes: starters and salads, soups and stews, sides, main dishes, and desserts. At the end of every color section, there’s a Ways to increase (whatever color) foods.
As with her other cookbook(s), each recipe indicates if oil-, wheat-, or soy-free for those who have dietary restrictions, and also included is if additional ahead of time preparation is required. Nutritional information is given for every recipe for amount of calories, fat, percentage calories from fat, protein, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, cholesterol (none, of course, since every recipe is vegan) and sodium. The helpful blurb boxes in her other cookbook(s) also reappear: compassionate cooks’ tip, food lore, and Did you know? There are also entire page sections with all sorts of “extra” informative material. In each color’s section she also gives some information about why that color food is so important for our health.
This author recommends eating whole foods that are low in oil and sodium. Some of the recipes do contain oil and salt, but alternatives are suggested. For those who don’t cook with oil but when fat is helpful in certain dishes for absorption of nutrients purposes, nuts and seeds and avocado are mentioned as foods that can be added instead of oil, and many recipes already are given that way. I am confused though as on one page she mentions that the recipe is fat free but it includes flax seeds (they do have fat) and non-dairy milk (most have some fat.)
She does use quite a few foods I don’t like: vinegar, mustard, tempeh, coconut, non-dairy yogurt, etc. but for many dishes, I like all the ingredients and for those that have foods I don’t enjoy, it would be easy to leave them out or make substitutions.
She has 2 indexes at the back of the book and both are very useful. The first one is an ingredients index and the second one is a recipe index, listed by color. She has a resources section that is very helpful, although it is short and not comprehensive.
Dishes I particularly want to try (and oh did I have difficulty limiting these to just a few per color; there are many, many more) are:
from red: Six-Shades-of-Red-Soup; Beet Burgers; Stuffed Shells with Marinara Sauce
from orange: Peanut Pumpkin Soup; Sweet Potato Tacos; Persimmon Tea Cake
from yellow: Grapefruit, Yellow Pepper, and Avocado Salad; Corn Chowder; Hot Tamale Pie; Caramelized Bananas
from green: Sweet Pea “Guacamole”; Spinach Soup with Basil and Dill; Garlicky Greens with Pasta; Three-Greens Ribollita Soup
from blue/purple: Purple Cauliflower Soup; Purple Kale and White Bean Soup; Linguini with Purple Cabbage; Potatoes and Eggplant (Aloo Baingan); Blackberry Breakfast Bars
from white/tan: Parsnip Soup; Roasted Garlic Soup; Cashew and Red Lentil Burgers (but no eggless mayonnaise for me as I don’t like it); Oat Bread
from brown/black: Spicy Black Bean and Olive “Hummus”; Mushroom Barley Soup; Brown Lentil Soup; Mushroom-Topped Baked Potatoes
from the rainbow: Minestrone with Kale; Indian-Style Black Bean and Veggie Burgers; “Sloppy Col” Sandwich; Chocolate, Banana, and Almond Butter Paninis
Oh, but there are so many more recipes in here that also appeal to me. This book earns 5 incredibly bright stars.
I will add that I don’t have the kitchen, various cooking implements or the money to buy them or the space for them, and definitely not the cooking skills the author possesses, but many of these recipes seem doable for me.
September 23, 2014
I'm not a vegan, or even a vegatarian. If you want to be specific, I am a lactose intolerant, chocolate-loving, eggs only in baking, flexitarian. However I do love to cook and eat vegan food, as you don't rely on meat and gravy for your flavour so you get inventive. This recipe book was nutritious and delicious. As I am not a vegan there are some substitutes I don't have - e.g., when I bake I use eggs.
I tried I couple of things my pantry allowed, and when the weather warms up more I'm eager to try gazpacho.
Heads up: green smoothie recipe is FANTASTIC. I love green smoothies, and it's got to be one of the best.
I tried I couple of things my pantry allowed, and when the weather warms up more I'm eager to try gazpacho.
Heads up: green smoothie recipe is FANTASTIC. I love green smoothies, and it's got to be one of the best.
August 26, 2011
Great book for ANYONE! You DO NOT need to be vegan to appreciate these thoughtful, fun, and easy recipes that highlight all the wonderful things that eating plain old real food can do for us!
March 24, 2016
Really liked this book. Had a bunch of good information in it. I rented it from the library but I will be buying a copy of it for myself. Can wait to dig into those chocolate cherry cookies!
January 31, 2018
I thought this book was average. There is a huge variety of recipes, which is great, and I’m looking forward to making some of these dishes. I rated this book in the middle mainly because it didn’t inspire me the way that the 30 Day Vegan Challenge did. While I understand that they are fundamentally different books, I wasn’t wowed by the presentation or sidebar information found in this book.
July 1, 2023
As a long time vegan I was pleased to find many unique recepies inside this book that take the reader through proper nutrition by eating the rainbow . It is a must add to your kitchen and everyday vegan cooking.
April 21, 2021
One of my favorites in my collection of vegan cookbooks, as I tend myself to compose meals by color. Very inspiring.
April 4, 2023
I am blown away by how much this book has transformed my approach to healthy eating. The book is packed with delicious and nutrient-rich recipes that are not only incredibly satisfying, but also incredibly easy to prepare. What I love most about this book is how it emphasizes the importance of eating a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables each chapter is organized by color and includes mouth-watering recipes that are designed to maximize your nutrient intake and optimize your health. The author provides helpful tips and information as well about the benefits of each color group, which has been incredibly eye-opening for me. I have tried a number of recipes from this book and I have to say, each one has been a home run. From the Blueberry Oat Bars to the Kale and Sweet potato curry, each dish is bursting with flavor and nutrition. And the best part? I feel great after eating them. I have noticed an increase in my energy levels and overall well-being since incorporating these meals into my life. A must read and use for anyone who wants to eat and feel great!
December 9, 2012
Love this cookbook. It has a ton of great recipes that could be used either as sides or as a main course. I've used several of these recipes and they've all turned out great. I love that Colleen never skimps on the flavor, as I feel other vegan authors do.
The book is arranged by color - which is really odd. Usually, I have a specific vegetable I'm looking to use, so I hardly ever use the table of contents and just skip to the index to find recipes that include that item. Sometimes these recipes end up being scattered across several color chapters, which can be a little odd, but it ends up working out.
I definitely recommend this one!
The book is arranged by color - which is really odd. Usually, I have a specific vegetable I'm looking to use, so I hardly ever use the table of contents and just skip to the index to find recipes that include that item. Sometimes these recipes end up being scattered across several color chapters, which can be a little odd, but it ends up working out.
I definitely recommend this one!
August 4, 2012
How could I not love a book with a whole section of recipes for purple foods??!
Although I'm not vegan, I picked up the book because of its vegetable focus (what other way could you have a whole-foods focused vegan cookbook based in colour?), and am very excited about many of the recipes inside. I've mostly ignored the health advice about the benefits offered by different colours, as I don't really care. The recipes, though... oh, the recipes!
Although I'm not vegan, I picked up the book because of its vegetable focus (what other way could you have a whole-foods focused vegan cookbook based in colour?), and am very excited about many of the recipes inside. I've mostly ignored the health advice about the benefits offered by different colours, as I don't really care. The recipes, though... oh, the recipes!
January 19, 2011
I've been enjoying playing with all of the colors in Colleen's latest book. What a fun way to inspire someone to cook healthfully and compassionately! She even manages to squeeze in quite a lot of nutritional information. I love having the option to go into learning mode or just have fun playing with the colors on my plate. Highly recommend! :-)
February 9, 2011
Good easy to follow vegan recipes without a lot of fancy expensive ingredients. Many are very low fat. The book is separated into sections of colors which makes it very fun to flip through and read. I've made peanut butter pancakes (almond butter for us) Geroge LOVED them and and a great minestrone soup with my fave Kale.
April 21, 2011
The recipes are super simple but delicious. I think this is a really accessible book for the non-vegan or the beginner. The Sweet Potato Tacos were my favorite of the recipes I've tried so far. I think I'm just never going to like Kale Chips so, although I did not enjoy those, I'm not blaming it on the recipe in the book.
May 18, 2013
This book has been amazing in my recently begun journey to become vegan. I have made several recipes & they have all been outstanding. Even my husband, who said he will be ok with occasional vegan meals, but still wants to eat meat, has said that what we've tried so far has been delicious & satisfying.
December 29, 2014
I just read it and it is awsome!
Fresh, balanced and healthy food assorted by colours.
Is there a German edition of this amazing cook book or will there be a German version with "germanized" recipes? Please, please, please! I would buy it immediately although my neighbour got the English edition.
Fresh, balanced and healthy food assorted by colours.
Is there a German edition of this amazing cook book or will there be a German version with "germanized" recipes? Please, please, please! I would buy it immediately although my neighbour got the English edition.
April 28, 2012
Great book focusing on "eating your colors." I have been trying to teach my 4 year old that he should eat the colors of the rainbow daily, and this book is an awesome guide to help. I enjoy that each chapter is divided by app/main/salad/dessert for easy navigation.
September 1, 2014
I love eating by colours, and this recipe book has really awesome recipes! I liked that the book contained tidbits of interesting information. My only criticism: the book needs a little bit more final-product pictures.
February 2, 2011
I didn't end up making anything out of this, but I copied a few recipes and have a few in mind for the near future (beet burgers and apple brussel stir fry, for 2)
January 24, 2011
A fantastic overview of why we should adopt a plant-based diet to solve our health problems.
February 19, 2016
Reserving stars, as I only tried a couple of recipes (which were very good). The idea is great and the layout vibrant & appealing, but most of the recipes didn't really grab me.
May 22, 2011
I've read part of this. A lot of these foods I won't eat because of my peanut-free, cashew-free, wheat-free life, but I've already made the carrot fries, and they were awesome.
July 8, 2011
Great variety of recipes. Lots of useful information. The best thing was it didn't read like a textbook.
Read
September 26, 2011Great info and layout. Too bad there is so much sugar in the recipes.
July 9, 2012
Another great cookbook by Ms. Patrick-Goudreau! This is on my to buy ASAP list!
April 6, 2012
The layout is gorgeous, as always, and what I've tried has been delicious. Patrick-Goudreau continues to be both informative and endearing.
July 24, 2012
I liked the following recipes:
- Kale Chips - so yummy and easy!!
- Edamame Soup
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Carrot Fries
- Kale Chips - so yummy and easy!!
- Edamame Soup
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Carrot Fries
February 2, 2013
Inspires you to get more color in your meals - and out of food ruts! Great nutrition info too.
September 22, 2013
Awesome. Can't wait to try these recipes. Sweet potato tacos here I come.
December 17, 2011
eh. It's just ok. Recipes are not different from what I've seen in other cookbooks.
October 23, 2013
Loved this colourful (yes pun intended) cookbook - full of great information and practical recipes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews