Fruit

[ellidew]

I need fruit recipe ideas! I am doing my best to get in 3 servings of fruit per day but eating strawberries, blueberries and raspberries plain is getting old. I have come up with a "fried stawberry" recipe but every other day is too much!

Does anyone have any fruit ideas?

[shopaholic]

nothing spectacular but I cut/slice up strawberries and bananas...layer in a bowl and then add a very generous mountain of coolwhip to the top :)

[Hello Kitty]

I get a bunch of fruit servings in by making my own smooties. A plop of yogurt and some various frozen fruits, sometimes protein powder, and there you go!

I like pretty mainstream fruits, but I use:
bananas
strawb
mango
blue/red/black berries
pears
peaches
apples
grapes

Another thing that's good is to put your three or two fruits in the blender and whip them up by themselves, for a fine puree that you get all the nutrients of the skins from. It's kind of like juice.

[vancouvergirl]

vanilla yogurt, sliced friut, granola, a little honey.

[KarenS]

We buy those jars of peaches and pears in juice that Dole makes and serve them either with dinner or as dessert. Or slice a granny smith apple with a little cheese (my favorite afternoon snack). 6 oz of fruit juice (as long as it's 100% juice in some combination) is also a serving. 1/4 cup (about a handful) of raisins or other dried fruit counts. Take an orange with you to work. Or have 1/2 a grapefruit for breakfast. Slice a bananna on your morning cereal. I think someone else mentioned a smoothie or fruit puree. I buy frozen chunks of fruit (my latest fave is mango and strawberry), add a little low fat milk in the blender and ...voila .. instant smoothie good for 2 servings. DH will eat grapes like there's no tomorrow, so sometimes I freeze them and sometimes I just put them out on the table, rinsed.

Also remember that a "serving" is just a 1/2 cup. An apple is actually 2 (sometimes 3) servings of fruit, depending on it's size.

Karen

[linekelei]

My favorite healthy fruit concoction right now is 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (only 80 calories!), mixed w/1 sliced banana, 2 packets splenda, and 1 tsp. peanut butter (which I melt in the microwave for about 25 seconds). Soooo good!

Another thing I'll do for dessert is slice 1 or 2 apples and then "fry" them in a teflon pan w/cooking spray, some sugar-free maple or flavored (vanilla is good) syrup, cinammon, and a little bit of splenda. Good for cold nights when you want a warm dessert.

I also like to toss frozen blueberries into my cream of wheat or oatmeal for breakfast (sliced bananas are good, too).

[Ribbit]

I like to do "marinated" fruit salads -

Honeydew, straberries, oranges, jicama tossed with the juice from a lime, a couple tablespoons of honey, and maybe a fresh herb like basil or mint

Peaches, nectarines, plums, pears tossed with vanilla liquor and cinnamon

Apples, pears, grapes, honeydew with maple syrup

Pineapple, oranges, starfruit, grapes, apples with lemon juice and fresh rosemary

I make enough to last a couple of days in a covered container - you can play around with fruit combos and dressing ingredients depending on what's in season and what you like. The only fruit I avoid in fruit salad is bananas, because they tend to get mushy fast.

[ellidew]

Thanks so much! These are great ideas.

I made a smoothis this morning with 1 cup of frozen strawberries and 8oz of milk. I added a small amount of splenda and a pinch of salt and put it in the freezer for a little bit to firm up. It's delicious... i'm eating it now. It gives me 2 fruit servings and 1 dairy.

Tomorrow morning i am having vanilla yogurt, sliced friut, toasted oats, and a little honey as recommended by vancouvergirl. I am looking forward to the honey since i get very little sugary type foods on my diet and i am going to toast some oats in place of the granola that was originally recommended.

I typically have an apple with peanut butter every other day since it is so filling and it counts as a fruit and protein (i don't eat meat). I've done tons of fresh fruits with cool whip too! It was getting old and i am happy to have new options.

On my list is the marinated fruit salad tossed with vanilla liquor... sounds wonderful!

Keep the ideas coming if you have them... i get bored easily :)

[~Lucy]

DH likes to have berries or bananas in his oatmeal in the morning with a touch of Splenda. If he's using blueberries or raspberries, he usually puts them in the oatmeal and water, stirs it up and microwaves it for a minute. If using bananas, he puts them in after cooking the oatmeal.

I sometimes make smoothies using protein powder, yogurt, fruit, ice and a touch of apple juice or milk if it's too thick.