Tag: Fruit and Vegetables

The latest food recommendation is to have 5 serves of fruit and vegetables a day. This may seem difficult for some people, especially those who don’t like vegetables, or just prefer to eat other things. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not only healthy, they actively fight off certain diseases such as cancer, so it’s a good idea to make sure you include them in your diet. Here are a few easy ways to get the vegetable and fruit you need each and every day.

• Juice them – there are many great recipes for smoothies on the internet. You can combine fruit and vegetables to give you a refreshing drink packed full of vitamins and other essential, health giving nutrients. Try combinations of apples, carrots, oranges, celery and spinach. Add berries, beetroot or broccoli. Use the type of juicer that doesn’t waste the fibre, but includes it in the juice.
• Add them to breakfast. Fruit, especially is great with cereal. Try slicing a banana over oatmeal or cold cereal or add berries, peach slices or any other fruit you like.
• Have fruit and/or vegetables for snacks. Keep prepared carrot and celery sticks in the refrigerator so they are handy to grab. Add an apple, banana or other fruit you like.
• Banana sandwiches are a delightful end to a light meal. But they have to be prepared and eaten quickly, or the banana goes brown.
• Having tinned fruit salad? Add some fresh fruit to it, to make it taste especially good. Diced apple, sliced bananas, fresh mandarin segments, berries, and sliced peaches are all great choices. Better still, make your own fresh fruit salad.

Fruit is a very healthy food that everyone should eat more of. However, children are known for their finicky tastes and what they ate all last week they may refuse the next week. This can leave you with fruit that is in danger of becoming overripe. Rather than waste it, here are some easy ways to use it up.

• Some fruit such as apples and stone fruit can be stewed and frozen. It will then be ready to make pies with, whenever you have time or feel like it.
• Oranges and other citrus fruit can be juiced and frozen into drinks or popsicles for the children to enjoy on a hot day.
• If you intend to keep frozen fruit juice or mash, you need to add sugar as a preservative.
• Tomatoes sometimes get ripe quickly. They can be grilled on toast, added to soups or stews – or many other dishes. You can make them into tomato relish or even tomato jam.
• Bananas can be used up by cooking them into banana bread or muffins. They can also be baked and used as dessert.
• Juicing fruit and vegetables is a good way to use them up quickly, so long as you like the taste of the drink.
• If your vegetables are starting to go limp, make up a soup or stew with them. You can usually put more in than the recipe says.
• Fruit can be diced and made into a fruit salad for dessert. If you only have one or two pieces, they can be added to tinned fruit salad for extra taste.
• Apples can be baked whole.