Everyone loves a banana. So much so, that they are the world’s bestselling fruit. Here in the UK each of us eats on average 12kg per year. That works out at about 2 per week for each of us. There are about 1000 different varieties of bananas throughout the world. The one that we know and love in the UK is the Cavendish variety, most of our banana imports are from the countries of South America.
Bananas are great as they are versatile. Here are a few ideas of what to do with them.
Mashed- for a quick healthy snack, just mash up and spread on toast, oatcakes, rice cakes in a roll, this list goes on.
Bananas and Custard– for an everyday pudding in a hurry you cannot go wrong with bananas and custard. I use Birds custard powder and you only have to add milk and a little sugar. I allow ¼ pint per adult and a bit less for children. I come from a custard loving family so you may find it too much. Make up the custard according to the instructions on the tin or packet. For the last couple of minutes add your chopped banana, this makes the bananas soften and even tastier.
Oven Baked or Barbequed– baking bananas almost melts them and intensifies their flavour. If you have the oven on, wrap individual bananas loosely in tin foil and pop them into the oven.
Banana Ice Cream– I have this recipe on my website but it is so simple and delicious I had to add it again. My kids love it, and they think that they are getting a treat. The only ingredients are bananas and a little milk so they are super healthy.
Take a large banana, peel and chop into slices. Place the slices into a freezer bag or box, and place in the freezer until frozen. A couple of hours is usually enough. When you are ready to eat your ice cream remove the frozen slices, put into a food processor along with about 20 ml milk. Blitz. At first it will look like it is just getting chopped into small pieces. Do not worry this is normal. Stop the processor and scrape the banana bits from the sides. Blitz again and you will see the banana coming together into an ice cream consistency. Give it a mix and blend again if needed. Add more milk if needed.
Banana Box
Have you ever dispaired at your banana? It was lovely and yellow when you left the house, but by lunch is brown and bruised? There is a simple solution, a banana box. Whether you are out walking, cycling or just going to work, a Banana Guard will keep your banana safe. Made of plastic and 18cm long it will keep you banana safe and sound till lunch.
Beetroot
Beetroot is a root vegetable, purple in colour with a fabulous, slightly earthy taste. They can be bought raw, cooked and vacuum packed, and pickled. Personally I am not a fan of pickled beetroot and buy it already cooked. If you chose to by your beetroot raw, cooking it is simple. All you need to do is boil it in a pan of water as you would potatoes, until soft. Once cooked the skin comes off easily. You will however end up with purple hands. Beetroot can stain easily so be very careful where you put your hands before washing them.
One of the simplest ways to enjoy beetroot is to slice it and add to a cheese sandwich. It also goes really well with apple and feta cheese in a salad.
While it is a vegetable, beetroot is versatile and is used in sweet as well as savoury cooking. The most popular way to use beetroot is sweet cooking is in beetroot and chocolate cake, or red velvet cake. The addition of beetroot to a cake makes the cake lovely and moist.
I cannot remember where I got this recipe for beetroot and chocolate cake from. I wrote it down on a piece of paper ages ago and have been trying not to lose it ever since!
Does this Cake Count as one of My 5 a Day?
This is a very good question. According to my pack of cooked beetroot, 80g of beetroot counts as ont of your 5 a day. This recipe contains 175g, so unless you are going to eat just over half of the cake in one day, then, unfortunately no it does not count. It is however, always worth asking! Also, you would be consuming nearly 2 days worth of sugar.
Broccoli
You may also know this as ‘green trees’, as named by the little people in our lives. Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family and ‘The word broccoli comes from the Italian plural of broccolo, which means “the flowering crest of a cabbage”‘ (Wikipedia 2016). There are three main types grown. They are calebrese, or the most common type of broccoli. Sprouting broccoli and purple sprouting broccoli. The sproting types have much longer stems and many small heads.
Most of us boil, steam or stir fry broccoli, however it is also really tasty eaten raw, usually as part of a salad. It is an excellent source of both vitamin C and K. 100g of raw broccoli provides 107% of your daily amount of vitamin C, and 97% of your daily amount of vitamin K.
If you steam your broccoli rather than boil it, it will provide you with cholesterol lowering benefits. Like all vegetables they should be cooked until they still have a little bite to them, not until they are soft and limp. Over cooking veg rids them of essential nutrients and vitamins.