Twenty Ways to Boost Your Fruit and Veggie Servings

American Institute for Cancer Research
Thursday, 12 September 2002

Breakfast:

1. Sprinkle fresh or dried fruit on breakfast cereal.

2. Add frozen berries to pancake and waffle batter.

3. Instead of jams and jellies that have minimal fruit content or nutritional value, use thin slices of banana or apple, or defrosted berries lightly mashed with a fork or puréed in a blender.

4. Make a fruit smoothie in the blender using frozen fruit and milk, yogurt, or juice. (Fresh fruit can also be used, along with ice cubes to give the smoothie a quick chill.)

5. For leisurely weekend breakfasts, broil grapefruit or orange halves, or wedges of fresh pineapple.

Lunch:

1. Make a creamy veggie sandwich spread by pureeing leftover cooked vegetables. Or mash grated carrot, diced zucchini (peeled), or sun-dried tomatoes into a reduced-fat cream cheese.

2. Include a bag of carrot sticks or strips of cucumber or bell pepper, cut up at home or bought ready-cut from a grocery store. Save for snack time.

3. Include a salad, brought from home or bought at a salad bar.

4. To accompany a brown-bag sandwich, make a veggie quencher in a blender.

5. Keep fruit on hand for dessert or a snack.

Dinner:

1. Make a purée from veggies for that comfort-food feeling. Purée baked sweet potato, cooked carrots or broccoli with enough olive oil to achieve a consistency resembling mashed potatoes.

2. Grill kebabs of chicken with chunks of a variety of veggies, reversing the usual proportions and using the healthier proportion of 1/3 chicken to 2/3 veggies.

3. Make your favorite casserole, reducing the meat by 1/3 and increasing the vegetable content by 1/3.

4. Start the meal with a vegetable or fruit soup, or a dark, leafy-green salad.

5. Thinks cooked fruits for winter desserts: grilled kebabs of pineapple and other firm fruits, baked apples, fruit compotes made with either fresh or dried fruits (or both) that have been gently cooked in a little water, sugar and a flavoring like vanilla extract.

Snacks:

1. Make a trail-mix of dried fruits for portable snacks.

2. Make a veggie dip. Purée canned, drained and rinsed garbanzo beans or cooked broccoli with enough olive oil for spreadability, season to taste with salt, pepper, minced garlic, cayenne, or other favorite seasonings.

3. Make a fruit or veggie salsa to use as a dip.

4. Instead of serving crackers or chips with a dip, serve cut-up raw veggies.

5. Keep bananas, apples - and other fruits that are easy to eat out of hand - visible and near areas of leisure activity, like computers and televisions. Or, cut up fruits and store in containers, refrigerated, for quick and convenient snacks.

For more information, or to contact American Institute for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.aicr.org