Enjoying The Taste Of Fruits And Vegetables As If From Faraway Places

If you enjoy food from all over the world, you don’t have to travel or visit your local ethnic restaurant to experience food from other countries. Consider the following tips to easily bring the taste of faraway places to your kitchen table:

• Puree fruits and vegetables in a food processor to create dips, sauces, and dressings. Try blending chick peas, garlic, olive oil, and yogurt to make a Middle-Eastern dip.
• Combine a variety of fruits and vegetables to make salsas and chutneys. Use your creations to flavor grilled chicken or fish. To make a Caribbean salsa, combine papaya, onion, bell peppers, lime juice, and cilantro.
• Use avocados in sandwiches and salads or mix with cilantro and tomatoes for an easy guacamolen • Add fresh or dried basil to sauces, soups, and stir-friesn • Chick Peas or Garbanzo Beans are legumes containing a protein source. Use in soups, salads, and bean dishes

Most of these ingredients can be found in your local grocery store.

Serve fufu in place of mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups wate
• 4 ripe plantainsn • 1 tbsp butte
• 1 clove of garlic mincedn • 4 green onions (scallions) chopped

Directions:

• Peel plantains and slice into 1 inch piecesn • Bring water to a boil, add plantain pieces and cook for 20 minutesn • Drain, but leave some water for mashingn • Add butter and garlic to plantainsn • Mash with a potato mashe
• Garnish with green onions and serve

It takes 20 minutes to prepare and serves 4.

Note: Plantains look like large bananas. They can usually be found in the produce section of the grocery store. Ripe plantains have black skins.

To create a creamy texture, add ¼ cup of skim milk or soy milk to plantains when mashing.

Bananas are available almost everywhere. They are grown in over 100 different countries throughout the world. They are especially popular with children in Africa because of their sweet taste.

Crunchy African Bananas

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter or margarinen • 1 tbsp firmly packed brown suga
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamonn • Cooking sprayn • 2 large bananas, medium-ripen • ¼ cup chopped unsalted peanuts

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degreesn • In a small bowl, melt butter in the microwave, about 45 secondsn • Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon until well blendedn • Coat a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking sprayn • Peel bananas, cut each banana lengthwise in half.
• Place bananas cut-side down in baking pann • Brush with some brown-sugar mixturen • Sprinkle with chopped peanutsn • Bake 20 minutes or until bananas are lightly brownedn • Serve warm

Source: Fruits and Veggies Matter Online

Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information in this article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All health concerns should be addressed by a qualified health care professional.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.nn© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reservednn