Delicious Ways to Sneak in those Ten A Day

I was somewhat discombobulated recently to hear that the recommended 5 portions of fruit or veg a day had been doubled.  As a portion is considered to be 80g that makes 800g and I’m not sure I eat that weight of food altogether in a day! 

Nevertheless, I had a look into it and found that eating ten portions of fruit and veg daily is more achievable than I first thought.  I learned the following …

~   Whilst potatoes apparently don’t count (surprise!) sweet potatoes do and as they are so delicious I eat quite a lot of these already.
~   Beans and pulses count but, oddly enough, no matter how many you eat they only count as one portion.  Presumably this is one per day and not one for your whole life!!!
~   Tinned fruit and veg count.
~   Just 30g of dried fruit is considered a portion – probably get that much in a slice of fruit cake!
~   Fruit and vegetables in ready made bought in foods also count.
~   Mushrooms are in!
~   Tomato sauces (I’m not talking ketchup – I don’t think) are a portion.
~   Vegetable soup is a good source of veg goodness whether homemade, chilled readymade or tinned.

This being the case here are some ways that should help you meet the new requirements without really noticing!

Soup

If you are getting your fix via soup then making homemade is surely the way to go – see here for a Seriously Useful Soup Recipe with lots of variations. 

Hummus and Other Bean Dips 

See here for how to make all sorts of bean dips.

White Fish with Beans and Chorizo 

This is one of may favourite dinners, the recipe for my beany fish stew is here.

Roasted Cauliflower “Steak” 

See here for how to roast cauliflower plus several other cauliflower recipes and ideas.

Sorbets

A 150ml glass of real fruit juice equals one of your daily portions but how about having a fruit sorbet too?  Here is a recipe for Blackberry Sorbet  – it does a have modicum of vodka in it but nowhere does it say you have to give up alcohol to take your ten a day!

Roasted Sweet Potato, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Ice Cream

The recipe for this plus recipes and ideas for other Savoury, Interesting & Peculiar Ice Creams is here. 

Fartes de Batatas

These are little sweet gooey cakes or sweeties from Portugal. Their name means something like “Potatoes that Satiate”, what did you think it meant?

170g caster sugar plus more for sprinkling

1 egg

15g soft butter

170g cooked, mashed and cooled sweet potato

(slightly warm the sweet potato before removing from its skin and mashing.)

70g ground almonds

finely grated zest of 1 orange

a squeeze of lemon or orange juice

1 egg white, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt

~   Whisk together the first three ingredients very well indeed till light and fluffy.

~   Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, ground almonds, citrus zest and juice.

~   Scrape the mixture into a pan and stir over medium heat to dry out; when the texture of stiff mashed potato spread onto a floured board to cool.

~   Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.

~   Roll into walnut sized balls then flatten into little cakes.

~   Place on a greased baking tray, brush with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.

~   Bake for about 20 minutes till slightly puffed up, golden and fragrant

~   Cool on a rack and serve with coffee.

So go on - get some of the good stuff down you!