Fruit and Veggie Abyss
February 7, 2010 by Heather
Filed under Health & Wellness
I am in the abyss. Or, at least that’s what I call the time period from which football ends, yet I still have weeks to wait until I can enjoy the outdoors once again. This time also means that I struggle with comfort food cravings and cannot find a decent fresh fruit or vegetable. I went to the grocery store yesterday and the apples were bruised, the green peppers were shriveled and I was at a loss in produce. I KNOW I need to have healthy foods at hand to snack on, but there were no appetizing items in site.
I decided that I needed to stay away from the 100 calorie pack aisle and get creative. So, I bought some dried figs. I could eat a sleeve of Fig Newtons in one sitting, so I thought I might like the fruit. Here’s the quick and dirty:
–They are delicious!
–Figs are rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus and potassium.
–1 fig is about 20 calories with 1 gram of fiber
–A 1/4 cup serving provides 244 mg of potassium (7% of the DV), 53 mg of calcium (6% of the DV) and 1.2 mg of iron (6% of the DV).
–Figs are fat-free, sodium-free and cholesterol-free. (WOOT!)
Now I’m on a mission to find more get-me-through-the-abyss fruits and veggies. Ideas?
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must be so hard especially where you are! I mean we have had it pretty cold here but still a lot of our produce comes from Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece even though the quality isn’t as good as in the spring/summer.
At the moment I’m enjoying mandarins, grapefruit and kiwis to name a few. The apples are good here, but they are not from here for sure. Since I love and gotta have my blueberries and raspberries, I buy these frozen. I then put them in yoghurt and wait a while before I eat them so they can thaw and make some nice juice.
Veggies I find are more difficult this time of year. The bell peppers are small and we seem to always get one bad one in a bunch. I use frozen spinach a lot. In fact, anything frozen is better than mushy or bad quality. If we didn’t have nice beans and brocolli, I would go for frozen. That goes for the standard peas and carrots too, if you can stomach them (I usually can if they are stir fried and not too overcooked).
I think frozen is really going to be your answer for now. And just think, it’s really not too long before the Abyss is cleared and we see the blossoming fruits on the trees again!
Figs are yummy! They are a pointable fruit aren’t they? I’ve never seen dried figs here, only fresh. I’ll have to have a look
Frozen berries – they sound delicious! Frozen grapes, too. I forget about those. I am usually concerned with having things on the go, though. I’ve tried the Green Giant individual frozen veggie packages and they are only 1 or even 0 Weight Watchers POINTs.
I’m looking forward to Spring!
Dates topped with a walnut. Great for a sweet tooth. For extra decadence drizzle a little honey. Filling and nummy. Another fav is chopped mangos with chopped avocados in a little tangerine juice. Last night for dessert I had mandarins sections in a sauce of freshed squeezed blood orange juice and a little lemon topped with a basil chiffonade. Blueberries and almonds mixed are a great treat. Baked sweet potatoe fries. Mmmmm roasted root veges with a little olive oil, s &p. Asperagus drizzles w/ evoo, s&p roasted. Haricot vert (in freezer section) cooked with a little soy sauce and topped with crushed almonds. These are a few of my favorite things.
Wow! I’m so impressed! Those are excellent ideas and I’m writing them all down right now! It sounds like you are a creative cook. I am not
This is exactly what I needed to help me think outside of the box. Thanks, Karin!