I really had the craving for something sweet here the other day, but I try to stay away from the chocolate at the moment. However one way or another I needed to satisfy my craving for something sweet. I was checking the fridge and pantry in desperation for something nice to have, but as I have promised myself to be a lot better with candies I tried to find something that would satisfy this need for something sweet as well as not containing too much sugar and fat. In the fridge I found some low fat/low sugar vanilla yoghurt. That put me into the thought of maybe making a smoothie. In the freezer I have frozen blueberries and raspberries and I also found a vanilla bean. So I decided to make a blueberry and a raspberry smoothie.

Ingredients for 1 smoothie:

250 ml Vanilla yoghurt (low fat/low sugar)

Frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries

1/2 Vanilla bean

1 dl milk

Firstly pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds into the milk. Chop the empty pod into bits, and add these too.  Bring to boiling point, then turn off the heat and put a lid on.  Leave to infuse for five to ten minutes and let cool until the milk is room temperature or colder. Add the frozen blueberries/raspberries into a blender, take the pods out of the milk/vanilla mix and add the milk to the blender, finally add the vanilla yoghurt. Mix until smooth.

I tell you, this was a very good substitute for candies or chocolate, and blueberries are very good for your body, you can find facts about blueberries here. However if you’d like it sweeter you can always add some vanilla ice cream to the smoothie. The seeds from the vanilla beans are so much better to use than extract, the flavor is incredible, so I always make sure I have a vanilla bean in my pantry, you never know when the craving for sweets may hit you

However, if you still feel in need for some chocolate I would recommend to try this Chocolate Mousse!

Safe handling of fruits and vegetables.

In general, it is easy to detect if the fruit and vegetables are rotten or damaged. In order to remove bacteria, dirt and any remaining soil to fruits and vegetables it is always very important to wash before use. It is also important to clean the knives and boards very well.  Never use the same knife or cutting board as you have used to cut or prepare meat so avoid contamination of bacteria from vegetables to other foods such as meat and fish – and vice versa.

Storage temperature means a lot for the durability and quality of the fruits and vegetables. Tomato and cucumbers are best kept in a temperature between 10-14 degrees. Cabbage, lettuce, apples, pears and carrots should be between 1-5 degrees. Potatoes last longest at 4-8 degrees.
Fruits and vegetables do not like to be moved or touched a lot neither do they like to get switched between warm or cold.  Mushrooms can lose 10 to 15% of the weight in one night if not stored cool. Make sure you cover them well!

Some fruit evaporate ethylene gas as they mature. The gas can be harmful for other products, and you should think about that when you put items in the fruit bowl. Apples, plums, tomatoes and tropical fruits produce ethylene, and should therefore not be too close to other fruits such as bananas which are sensitive to ethylene gas.
What are fruits and what are the vegetables?

A fruit is what is left of a flower after pollination and fertilization and when the fruit of the topic has grown dramatically. Tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicum and avocados are botanically a fruit, but they are mostly used as vegetables and are usually not as sweet as fruits tend to be. Fruit grows usually on trees and shrubs.

Vegetables can be divided into the following groups: Flowers, fruit, seeds, leaves, tubers, stalks / stems and roots. They also belong to different vegetable families, such as onions, cabbage, lettuce, legumes, etc.

Healthy and tasty

Fresh and beautiful vegetables, fruits and berries are not only delicious and tasty – you’ll also invest in your own health at the same time.

Health and Social Affairs recommend at least three portions of vegetables and two servings of fruit a day. The last years of research shows that eating fruits and vegetables have a very positive effect on our health. This applies in relation two  very largest public diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

According to research, it is said that we may prevent every fifth cancer case in the long run if we start to eat twice as much fruit and vegetables as we do today.  However it is not possible to prevent these diseases by taking large doses of nutrition tablets.
Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables also helps prevent obesity and “old age diabetes”. Fruit and vegetables do not contain much fat, but a lot of fiber, vitamins and minerals which are crucial for the body to function and perform at its best.