As we all know, fresh fruit and vegetables are amongst the healthiest things we can eat. Packed with nutrients and vitamins, whilst being low in unhealthy fats, they are an essential part of a balanced diet. As such, we need to ensure that we have a range of them available to us at all times. The tips below will help you choose the best fruit and veg, which in turn will help them last longer, meaning you get more for your money.
Fruit
When buying fresh fruit from the market of supermarket, try to buy them before they are completely ripened. This ensures that they don’t go past their best too early; there is nothing worse than throwing away fruit because you didn’t have time to eat it!
In the case of Bananas, buy them when they are still slightly green. With fruits like Avocados, buy them when they are firm, but not hard. The softer they are, the riper they are.
Fruit can be added to almost any meal to add sweetness and depth of flavour. From adding fresh fruit to your morning cereal, to creating a jus for your evening meal, fruit are incredibly versatile, and healthy.
Instead of using creamy fillings for your baking, try using fresh fruit or fruit purees. These are much lower in fat and healthier, whilst being sweet and satisfying.
Try freezing grapes as a sweet treat. Frozen grapes are delicious and much healthier than traditional sweets and candy. Freezing the grapes also stops you from eating too many, too quickly.
Keep your fruit bowl well stocked, in plain view. Seeing them often will encourage you to eat more; improving the number of vitamins and nutrients in your diet.
Vegetables
Similarly to fruit, when buying vegetables, choose the ones that are fresh, young and firm. You want them to last as long as possible. Some vegetables are fine in the cupboard (potatoes, onions, etc), but most will require storage in the fridge.
If you are worried that you won’t be able to finish your vegetables before they go off, you can store them in the freezer for later use.
Avoid damaged fruit; anything that is bruised or cut will go off much quicker than the untarnished versions.
Keep vegetables whole when stored; don’t cut your vegetables and then store them for later use, as this will encourage them to go off. The vegetable’s skin acts as a barrier, keeping it fresh. Cutting or chopping the veg compromises this barrier.
Store your vegetables in the dark. This again helps them to stay fresh, prolonging their shelf life.
Use the tips above to make sure you have a nicely stocked cupboard, fridge and fruit bowl. By having a range of fruit and veg available to you at all times, it will be much easier to keep them in your daily diet, ultimately improving your health and wellbeing.
FN Foods are specialists in Fresh Fruit and Vegetable delivery in Swindon and the Wiltshire area. Please visit their website for more information: FN Foods | Wiltshire Vegetables
We all know that eating fruits is good for our health, and some even make fruits as their staple meals. However, in fact there are some fruits which are not suitable to be consumed with an empty stomach. Below are the list of these seven types of fruits that we shouldn’t eat with empty stomach and the reasons why:
This fruit contains a lot of pectin, persimmon plastic phenol, soluble convergence as well as other ingredients. These type of acids are easy to have chemical reaction with the stomach acid, and condensed into lumps which is not easy to dissolve. These lumps can make the hole of the stomach getting stucked and causing pyloric blockage. The consequence is the stomach pressure going to increase and causing gastric dilatation. This could makes people feel stomach bloated and pain.
The fruit is containing Persimmon plastic phenol, pectin, tannic acid, tannin red pigment and other substances which can cause a very strong convergence effect.
When having a stronger stomach acid with an empty stomach, the stomach acid can easily condensed into lump which is very hard to dissolve. If the lump is small, it can still be able to get excreted with the faeces. However, if the size is larger, it will be very easy to form “stomach persimmon stone” disease.
Banana is contains with large amounts of magnesium. If you consume a lot of bananas with empty stomach, it will lead to a sudden increase in the amount of magnesium in the blood. This can cause the ratio of magnesium and calcium disorders in the blood and making cardiovascular inhibition which is bad for your health.
Oranges contain a lot of sugars and organic acids. If you consume oranges with empty stomach, they will stimulate the gastric mucosa and make you become uncomfortable.
Do not over consume sugar cane or fresh lychee with empty stomach, otherwise there will be suddenly adding too much sugar into your body which can cause you to experience a “hyperosmolar coma.”
Hawthorn is good for digestion. But if you are eating with empty stomach, it is going to release a lot of gas that help to expedite the digesting process which may hurt your stomach.
While most Americans are eating turkey with their families for Thanksgiving, the rest of us will be having non-meat subsitutes. Good cooking appliances, such as stoves, may require financing and therefore a credit report to purchase, however, but if you already have a stove and cooking appliances then you should be set.
That is why I am sharing my top two favorite vegetarian recipes with you!
This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. It’s almost as good as bacon was before I was a vegetarian!
One third of a block of soft tofu, drained for 15 minutes
Half of a small, diced purple onion
1 whole clove of garlic
1 sliced tomato
Spinach, flat leaf, a small handful
Red pepper
Olive or vegetable oil, or vegetarian butter
Salt and pepper
Flour tortillas
I am not a vegan but I must say, this is an awesome bratwurst substitute:
Use 25% more water than gluten flour.
Mix the liquids with the water and the solids (such as spices) with the flower. The gluten dough is too rubbery to easily mix them all at once.
Now make gluten dough and knead it until it is homogenous. Then let it sit for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough into sausage shapes and fry them in a pan.
Use a non-stick pan to fry the sausages. If you use a grill then make sure you cook them first.
If you are vegetarian and looking for some fantastic vegetarian dinner recipes, then one of them that should be in your list would be the delectable lentil soup. The preparation for this vegetarian dinner recipe is quite simple. You can first get some dry, uncooked lentils, then rinse & wash the lentils to get rid of all the dirt on them. After that, you can put the nice and clean lentils in a Dutch oven or stockpot together with some vegetable broth or water. Boil them with lower heat, you can cover the pot partially and have it cook for around 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, put in some salt and continue cooking until the lentils become tender. At the time you are waiting for the lentils to cook, you can get another pan to heat some olive oil and sauté some sliced onions. Next, include some soy sauce and chopped garlic herb, sauté all much longer. As soon as the lentils happen to be cooked, add in the onions as well as some paprika and cumin. Cook them slightly longer to let the flavors to blend. Lentil soup could be pureed by using an immersion blender or dished up as full lentils in the broth. This is a delicious vegetarian dinner recipe that going to savored by your family members.
Just another terrific choice among scrumptious vegetarian dinner recipes is the stuffed mushrooms dish. It is simply similar to the cal zone, you’ll find a lot of different choices where you may add the mushrooms to make it to features with more flavor. Among the most recommended mushroom to use for a vegetarian dinner recipe would be the Portobello mushroom due to it has a bigger size compare to most other mushrooms other than its delectable flavor. Before cooking, you may clean the middle of the Portobello mushroom, scraping out the scales so that you have more space to insert stuffing into the hollow of mushroom. By using the food processor, you may then blend some celery, chopped mushroom stems, pepper, diced red onion, salt, mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs. Put this mixture into the Portobello mushrooms, then bake them up until the mozzarella or Parmesan cheese is bubbling and the whole dish has enough cooked.
If above two vegetarian dinner recipes is not able to fulfil your taste buds, then no worry. There are more that I can suggest to you. You can still have some other wonderful recipes such as the versatile avocado. You may just get ready this dish before dinner time by putting the dish in the refrigerator to keep it cool.
Ingredients:
- 1 avocado
- 1/2 teaspoon of honey
- Fresh herb like normal mint or chocolate mint
- Salt for tasting
- 1 cup of low-fat yoghurt, thickened cream or ricotta
- Fresh ginger
- Herb and glazed cherries for decoration purpose
Directions:
Firstly, you may just insert all the ingredients into a blender. Blend them for about 10-15 minutes. Then pour them into cocktail glasses. Using glazed cherries and herb to do some easy decoration. Place them in refrigerator to keep them cool before dinner.
The last vegetarian dinner recipe that I would like to introduce will be this salad delight that you can’t resist for tasting.
Ingredients:
- 150g lettuce or spinach
- 3 tablespoons walnuts or almond flakes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup pre-cooked chickpeas
- 1/2 chopped red onion
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice or apple vinegar
- Pressed garlic
- 2 tablespoons coconut cream
- 1 teaspoon dry roasted sesame seeds
- Sea salt for tasting
- 1 slightly chopped and dried red chilled
Directions:
Add all the above mentioned ingredients into a salad bowl and you can enjoy the dish right away without any cooking required. So easy, right?
After dinner, if you happen to look for some vegetarian dinner recipes that are related to dessert preparation, then it is good for you to do your preparation for some sweet yet low calorie recipes which will delight you and your family for your delicacy dinner dishes.
It is not essentially for you to be a vegetarian or vegan in order to savor an excellent veggie burger recipe. Veggie burgers could be savored by vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who wishes to have a more healthy meal. Veggie burgers could be easily obtainable by buying from your local veggie food store but they can cost you quite some money. If you want to save the money, then you may want to prepare yourself by referring to some easy veggie burger recipes.
When you consume some tasty veggie burgers which are not cooked and are filled only with vegetables and other healthy vegetables ingredients, you may never want the regular hamburger anymore. And for people who have already consume raw food, this veggie burger recipe could be another healthy recipe to include in their already healthy way of living.
There are a variety of ingredients can put in veggie burgers such as white beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, potatoes, as well as any vegetable that could be mashed and made a patty.
Below are some vegetarian burger recipes which are not only vegan and vegetarian, but they are also some of the easiest and simplest veggie burger recipes that can be prepared by most people.
Ingredients:
1 cup (dry measure) millet
2 Tbsp fresh mint
2 beets (1 1/2 cups)
1 Tbsp untoasted sesame oil or olive oil
Some sea salt
Vegetarian Burger Recipe Directions:
1. You can start to cook the millet, rinse it with water, drain it and remove any dirt that you found.
2. For every 1 cup of millet, add 2 cups of water.
3. Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt in the water and boil it.
4. Let it boil for a few minutes and then turn the heat to low and simmer for around 20 minutes. When it gets dry, then the millet is cooked. (Remember not to stir the millet while it’s cooking)
5. Grate the beets and mix them into the cooked millet in a large bowl. Stir through the chopped salt and mint, stir to combine them all.
6. Add olive oil or sesame to the mixture if you want to bake the burgers and stir it through. When the mixture is formed in the burgers, place a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes at about 350 degrees F in a preheated oven.
8. If you want to fry the veggie burgers, don’t add the oil to the mixture.
9. Heat a pan to medium, add a teaspoon of oil and place the burgers in, rubbing a bit of the oil on the base of each.
10. Having them to cook for 5-7 minutes. When the burgers have turn to golden brown on one side, flip them and get a bit of oil on the base. Have them to cook on this side for 5-7 minutes as well and it is done.
You can use mushrooms to add flavor to the patty as for mushrooms, they are the closest taste and texture to meat when cooked. You may as well add pinto beans so that the burger will provide you with high fiber and protein.
Ingredients:
1 onion (diced)
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 pieces of green onions (diced)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 15oz. can of pinto beans
1 teaspoon of parsley
0.75 cups of fresh mushrooms (diced)
Salt and pepper
Cooking oil
Directions for Mushroom Vegetarian Burger Recipe:
1. Sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil for about 3-5 minutes.
2. When the onions become soft, add in mushrooms, cumin, and green onions.
3. Cook them for another 5 minutes and when the mushrooms are cooked, you may put them aside first for the moment.
4. Mash the beans with a fork or potato masher.
5. Mix the mushrooms with the beans before adding the pepper, salt and parsley. Stir them.
6. Shape the mixture to form patties and heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
7. Cook all patties until they turn to brown color and well done. This process is estimated to take 3 minutes for each side.
Tofu in Chinese words is called 豆腐. For Asian countries, tofu has been used in the cusines for many decades but it is still consider a comparatively new type of food in Western countries. Tofu is one of the favorite foods especially for vegetarians and is being used as a substitution for cheese and meat.
In case you have no idea what is tofu all about, tofu is actually made of curdled soy bean milk. It has a mundane taste and most people are typically called it as ‘chameleon like’ since it come out with the flavor of the food it’s being cooked with. For this reason, tofu works extremely well with a a lot of different recipes.
For health eating purpose, the consumption of a tofu dish can bring you a lot of health benefits. Tofua is features with low calories and high protein ingredients, and the best thing is it contains no cholesterol. Research has announced in which the soy protein present in tofu could very well help in reducing the chances of getting heart disease.
If you are interest in making tofu dishes and would like to have some easy tofu recipes, then I’m here prepare you with some of the simple tofu recipes that you can used to make for you and your family to consume.
Ingredients:
1 pkg firm or regular tofu
2 garlic cloves finely choped
1/2 cup green onions finely chopped
1/2 green pepper diced
Directions:
Crumble tofu with fork. In a pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook on low heat for one minute. Add tofu, green onions, green peppers and salt. Raise heat and cook for about 5 minutes stirring often. Excellent substitute for scrambled eggs for breakfast.
The Gourmet Kitchen offers an extensive recipe collection including Rice recipes. Use The Gourmet Kitchen and you’ll never run out of recipe ideas again! Below is a recipe for Simple Tofu Vegetables…enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 each onions, cubed
1 each bell pepper, green, cubed
1/2 pound mushrooms, fresh, halved
1 pound tofu, cubed
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup water
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon sage
Directions:
In hot oil, saute onions until limp. Add pepper, mushrooms, tofu, seeds, water & herbs. Simmer until vegetables are limp.
Serve over cooked rice.
Source: http://www.gourmet.org/recipes/rice/simple-tofu-vegetables
Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package firm tofu
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:
1. Cube tofu.
2. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Let marinade in the fridge for about one hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Place tofu on a cooling rack with a baking pan underneath to catch excess liquid.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, turn tofu and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
Source: http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-baked-tofu-107968
Ingredients:
48 8 ounce servings; 4 9×13 or 2 12×20 pans
Bakes about 1 hour at 300 degrees
The mayonaisse in this recipe provides a richness and texture which makes tofu more attractive to non-vegetarians.
10 pounds extra-firm tofu, cut into 2″ squares
1 tablespoon salt
3 pounds chopped water chestnuts
2 pounds shredded carrots
3 pounds canned mushroom stems and pieces, drained and chopped
OR 5 pounds fresh mushrooms with stems, sauteed and chopped
1 pound green onions, sliced
25 large beaten eggs
1 1/2 quarts mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 1/2 quarts thick mushroom or tomato gravy/sauce
OR 1 50 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
Directions:
Grease or spray 4 9×13 or 2 12×20 baking pans, set aside. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In large pot, cook tofu in boiling water with 1 tablespoon of salt for 5 minutes to firm texture slightly. You may omit this step if using previously frozen thawed tofu which you squeeze and drain.
Drain, cool and crumble tofu. Stir in water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms, and green onions.
Mix eggs, mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper. Pour over tofu mixture and mix well.
Evenly divide the tofu mixture into the pans.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes. Top each pan with 1/2 gravy or soup. Bake until internal temperature is 140 degrees F or higher and loaf is set, about 30 minutes.
Cut into 48 portions. Hold at 140 degrees F or higher.
Source: http://www.ellenskitchen.com/clearlight/tofuloaf.html
Vege Island