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This egg salad, served with a yellow pepper and two sizes of yellow tomatoes, was created by prep cook Lynn Brown of Meals on Wheels of Lancaster.

Lancaster Meals on Wheels sous chef Huntyr Strubel made this lemon meringue pie. Strubel is part of the kitchen staff that prepares delivery meals for the food-service nonprofit.

Meals on Wheels Kitchen Manager Mark Harris caramelized some yellow onions as an accompaniment to this pork chop dish. which was among the nonprofits’ hot meal deliveries last week.

This egg salad, served with a yellow pepper and two sizes of yellow tomatoes, was created by prep cook Lynn Brown of Meals on Wheels of Lancaster.

If you’re striving to “eat the rainbow” as part of your balanced diet, don’t forget to put a little sunshine on your plate. Let the sweet corn that’s now in abundance in Lancaster County be a reminder to include yellow foods in your diet.

Not only do yellow dishes and desserts add a bright color component to meals, but some of them are filled with antioxidants and other nutrients including potassium and vitamins A and C.

So throw a banana in your lunch bag, roll your corn on the cob in some yellow butter, add some pineapple to your fruit salad or salsa and serve up some yellow tomatoes and potatoes on the side.

LNP and LancasterOnline's six-week “Color Palate” series — exploring foods in various hues — concludes today with yellow foods.

Each day, Meals on Wheels of Lancaster makes nearly 1,000 meals and delivers them to between 450 and 500 people who find it hard to make a meal for themselves.

Those meals come in a variety of flavors and colors — pork chops with onions one day and chicken tikka masala with basmati rice and seasoned spinach the next.

So when we asked the kitchen staff to come up with a couple of dishes that feature yellow food, they had plenty of options to choose from.

Three staff members — one a minister, one a recently graduated culinary student and one a student close to finishing her degree — came up with a menu of dishes, and recipes or tips to share with our readers.

Mark Harris, pastor of Salem United Church of Christ in Columbia, is also Meals on Wheels’ kitchen manager, overseeing the 80 to 90 volunteers who help make and deliver the meals each day.

Though he made an entree that wasn’t yellow — the pork chops that were on that day’s hot-dish menu — he caramelized yellow onions to place on top of the protein.

And he offered advice for serving great caramelized onions.

“The big thing about caramelizing onions is that what you’re doing is really bringing the sugars out of the onions, and that’s what eventually browns as you continue to saute it,” Harris says. “You can saute it in olive oil or butter — it’s not necessary to use butter, if you want to go for a little bit more heart healthy.”

Meals on Wheels Kitchen Manager Mark Harris caramelized some yellow onions as an accompaniment to this pork chop dish. which was among the nonprofits’ hot meal deliveries last week.

Saute the onions “slow and low,” Harris says. “Go for a long time” over low, even temperature.

“You’re not trying to darken them by burning them,” he says. You’re just slowly bringing those sugars out.

“In addition, to get a real nice color on them,” Harris says, “you can add some Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce ... and whatever seasoning you like.

“For this meal, with the pork chops, I like nutmeg and cloves,” Harris says. “Throw it right into the pan (with the onions). I also used it in the mixture I used for the rice, which also included some chicken stock and other spices.”

Lynn Brown, a former Meals on Wheels volunteer who is close to finishing her professional externship with the nonprofit through her online culinary school, Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Texas, created a bright-yellow egg salad.

“It’s mayonnaise based, with Dijon mustard, diced green organic onion and dill,” Brown says.

Brown serves up the egg salad over wheat bread and also stuffed inside a bright yellow pepper, surrounded with green lettuce, large and small yellow tomatoes and halves of hard-boiled eggs for a brightly colored decoration.

Here’s Brown’s recipe.

Remove yolks from eggs and set apart.

Add mayonnaise and mustard to eggs and blend together until smooth.

Salt and pepper the mixture to taste.

Add remaining ingredients and incorporate.

Lancaster Meals on Wheels sous chef Huntyr Strubel made this lemon meringue pie. Strubel is part of the kitchen staff that prepares delivery meals for the food-service nonprofit.

Meals on Wheels sous chef Huntyr Strubel, a recent graduate of the Pennsylvania School of Culinary Arts at Lancaster’s YTI Career Institute, provided dessert featuring a familiar yellow citrus fruit — a classic lemon pie with wavy peaks of meringue on top.

Here’s Strubel’s recipe.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil.

Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture.

Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture.

Bring to a boil, and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually.

Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges of the crust.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

• Tip: For a fluffier meringue, lift up when whisking to incorporate more air.

Here are some additional recipes that feature yellow food.

This recipe for a corn chili comes from the Produce for Better Health Foundation, by way of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut into 1/2-inch cubes)

• 1 1/2 cups of cooked fresh or frozen (and thawed) corn kernels, or 1 (15.2-ounce) can of no-salt-added yellow corn, drained

• 2 red apples, such as Braeburn, Empire or Fuji, chopped, with the skin on

• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if desired)

• 1 (15-ounce) can of no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed

• 4 1/2 ounces diced green chiles, drained

• 1/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro (if desired)

In a stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil; add chicken and brown about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

Heat remaining olive oil in same pot; add onions and garlic and saute until soft.

Add corn and saute until golden brown. Add apple, cumin and cayenne pepper (if desired); cook 3 to 4 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes.

Set aside about 1 cup of mixture. Puree remainder in food processor or blender, adding a portion of water, if needed, and return to pot.

Add browned chicken, black beans, chiles, bouillon and water. Bring to boil and simmer about 15 minutes. Chicken should be cooked to 165 F.

To serve, ladle soup in bowls and top with nonpureed portion of apple corn mixture

• Serving option: Serve with a whole-grain tortilla and a glass of fat-free milk.

• Vegetarian option: Omit the chicken and substitute water or vegetable stock for the boullion.

This recipe for little muffin-like snack cakes filled with pineapple flavor comes from the Extension office at Iowa State University.

• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple in 100% juice

• 3/4 cup all purpose white flour

• 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with liners or spray with cooking spray.

Drain juice from the pineapple into a cup or bowl. Reserve the juice.

Dab pineapple with a paper towel to dry.

Whisk whole wheat flour, all-purpose white flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

Beat sugar, oil, vanilla and 1/4 cup of the saved pineapple juice until combined.

Beat in eggs. Stir in the crushed pineapple.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Divide the batter into the muffin tins.

Bake until the snack cakes are golden and a tester inserted into the center of a snack cake comes out clean, about 18–20 minutes.

Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

• You can use pineapple tidbits or chunks instead of crushed pineapple. Drain well and finely chop.

• You can sprinkle 1/2 cup of coconut or walnuts on top of each snack cake before baking.

• Save extra pineapple juice to add to a salad dressing, fruit salad or smoothie.

This recipe, for a simpler version of the New Orleans-based dish Bananas Foster that doesn’t involve alcohol or flambeing, comes from the archives of LNP and LancasterOnline.

POOR MAN’S BANANAS FOSTER

• 2 medium bananas, not too green and not too ripe

• 1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of butter

• Two scoops of vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Prepare the bottom of a 9- by-9-inch baking dish with cooking spray, butter or a piece of parchment paper.

Peel and carefully slice bananas lengthwise, then cut each in half at the center. Arrange the eight sections, cut side down, on a baking dish.

Sprinkle rum extract over the banana slices, then drizzle them with the agave or honey.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, and then stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Spoon this mixture over the bananas, spreading it across the sections with a spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes — or up to 10 minutes if you want the bananas really soft and mushy.

If you like a hint of nutmeg, dust the banana sections with a pinch of nutmeg —powdered or freshly grated — right before serving.

Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in each of two bowls; place four banana sections atop each scoop. Spoon a little extra sauce from the baking dish over the bananas.

The ice cream will start melting right away, so dig in quickly.

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In a week’s time, how many doughnuts does a popular area supermarket make and how much  mozzarella cheese does a pizza restaurant use?

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