Elemenary Kitchen Gets a new look
Add Fruits to Your Day
by Jane Znamenacek
April 28, 2008
A couple of high school students painted a mural on the wall in
the Elementary serving area. Add fruits to your day. We eat with
our eyes-then our mouths. If it looks good, we'll taste it. If it
tastes good, we'll eat it. Beacuse fruits are colorful and
delicous, they have built-in kid appeal. And because they are
available in so many forms-fresh, frozen, canned, dried, or
juice-they give you a quick and easy way to boost the
nutrition of your meals and snacks. Recipe for Success: Go easy on
juice. Offer most fruit whole or cut up to get more dietary fiber.
Vary fruit choices. Offer fruits with more potassium often, such as
bananas, prunes, dried peaches and apricots, cantaloupe, and
honeydew melon. Select fruit canned in 100 percent fruit juice or
water, rather than syrup. Cut the fat with fruit! Try applesauce as
a fat-free substitute for some of the oil when baking cookies and
cakes. Add fruit to meals and snacks Buy fresh fruits in season
when they may be less expensive and at their peak flavor; seasonal
fruits like tangerines, bananas, or grapes. Add crushed pineapple,
mandarin oranges, fresh apples, or grapes to your favorite salad
mix or coleslaw. Offer baked apples, fruit cobbler, or a fruit
salad for a dessert treat! Make fruit look good and easy to eat.
Choose a variety of fruits with contrasting colors and shapes to
catch kids' attention. Cut up fruits, especially apples and
oranges, to make them kid-friendly and easy to eat. Serve low-fat
yogurt as a dip for fruits. Try a fruit smoothie at breakfast!
Blend fat-free or low-fat milk or yogurt with fresh or frozen fruit
like bananas, peaches, or berries. For fresh fruit salads, mix
apples, bananas, or pears with acidic fruits like oranges,
pineapple, or lemon juise to keep them from turning brown. Serve
individualy containers of fruits like peaches or applesauce as part
of a grab-and-go lunch or snack. Cut-up fruit makes a great snack.
Or, try whole fresh berries or grapes. Dried fruits also make a
tasty portable snack. Try dried apricots, apples, pineapple,
bananas, cherries, figs, dates, cranberries, blueberries, prunes
(dried plums), and raisins (dried grapes). When you're craving
something sweet, think fruit. It tastes delicious-with no added
sugar. DID YOU KNOW? It's best to wash all fruits (including melons
and oranges) before cutting, preparing, or eating them. Under
clean, runing water, rub fruits briskly with your hands or a brush
to remove dirt and surface microorganisms. Dry after washing.
Rember to keep fruits separate from raw meat, poultry, and seafood
while buying, storing, or preparing. for more information go to:
www.fruitsand veggiesmatter.gov/index.html
