Spice Up Your Life Series- Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits & Vegetables

Spice up your life with some of these flavorful secrets to enhance the flavors of your favorite foods. This week we're focusing on fruits and vegetables!

Flavorful Fruits

• Cook sliced, unpeeled apples in a saucepan or microwave until tender. For 4 apples add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, and sweetener to taste. (Try with pears, too.)
• Combine 1/4 cup each o plain low-fat yogurt and unsweetened applesauce. Add 1/4 teaspoon apple pie spice and sweeten to taste. 
• Sprinkle grapefruit halves with cinnamon and a small amount of brown sugar. Broil until bubbly.
• Saute fresh sliced peaches, apples, or pineapple (or a combination of the three) in a nonstick skillet with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a few drops of vanilla extract. 
• Broil banana halves after sprinkling with cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Flavorful Vegetables

• Try cinnamon and orange peel on cooked carrots.
• Dill weed is delicious on cooked broccoli, cauliflower, or carrots. 
• Lemon peel and pepper spark up any cooked vegetable.
• Cooked spinach is delicious with a hint of nutmeg and garlic.
• Pumpkin pie spice is delicious on cooked squash. 
• Add a small amount of imitation butter flavor to skim milk and use as a topper for a baked potato. 
• In a nonstick skillet, cook chopped tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and green pepper with garlic powder, oregano, and pepper. 
• Saute sliced zucchini in a nonstick skillet. Sprinkle with dill weed, salt, and pepper. 
• Sprinkle tomato halves with garlic powder and oregano. Then bake or broil. 
• For a Mexican treat, cook cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and green pepper with cumin and garlic.