No-Fail Fruit Salad

There’s nothing like fruit salad on a hot summer’s day. It’s refreshing yet filling, and it’s a great way to take advantage of all of the great fruits that come available at this time of year.

This recipe can be used with any fruits you like. The dressing is versatile enough to tackle anything from berries to apples to tropical fruits. Unfortunately, even with the touch of balsamic vinegar in the recipe, the fruits start to brown within about 30 minutes – so make this salad just before you intend to eat it. I find that a half batch a nice meal for two people, and a full batch is great for dinner parties and potlucks.

For potlucks, you can assemble the dressing at home and then bring the fruits with you and toss it all up just before eating time. If you want to eat the salad all week at home, you can mix up the dressing and then toss a bit of it with freshly chopped fruits just before eating. The dressing will keep for about a week in the fridge.

No Fail Fruit Salad
Makes 4 – 6 large servings, or 8 – 10 small ones

6 – 10 cups fruit (depending on how saucy you want your salad to be)
(I used: 2 cups banana, 2 cups pineapple, 2 cups strawberries)

¾ cup vanilla yogurt (or ¾ cup plain yogurt and ⅛ teaspoon vanilla)
1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
¼ tsp. balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tablespoons poppyseeds

1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, vanilla (if using), syrup, vinegar, cinnamon, and poppyseeds.
2. In a large bowl, combine chopped fruit.
3. Toss fruit with dressing and serve.

Peach Smoothie

As has probably become apparent by now, smoothies are my favourite way to start the day. They’re delicious and easy to make, they’re full of fibre and nutrients, and they provide a great way to pack the reccomended servings of fruits and vegetables into your day. This particular smoothie is a great way to use up peaches that have gone a bit soft, but you can also use frozen peaches to enjoy this recipe year round. In fact, keeping a bag of frozen fruit around can make it even easier to whip up a morning smoothie, even on busy days.

Peach Smoothies
Makes 1 large or 2 small servings

1 banana (about 1 cup)
2 small peaches (about 1½ cups)
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup soymilk
pinch of cinnamon (optional)

1. Peel and chop the banana into a few large chunks. Remove the peach pits (you can leave the skin on), and chop the peaches into large chunks.
2. Combine the fruit, juice, soymilk and cinnamon (if using) in a blender, and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Banana Orange Smoothie

You may think I’m on a bit of a smoothie kick lately, but the truth is that we’ve been having smoothies almost every morning for years. It only just occurred to me to start posting about them. With their combination of whole fruits and protein, smoothies provide vitamins, fibre, and energy to last until lunchtime. They are also delicious.

This morning’s version is pretty simple – bananas, orange juice, soymilk. The maple syrup and cardamom lend nice sweet and spicy flavors, but can be omitted if you don’t have them around. The race cars? They are a metaphor for how you will feel after drinking up – small, plastic and from a Kinder Surprise egg? Full of energy and ready to go? You decide.

Banana Orange Smoothie
1 large or 2 small servings

2 bananas, torn into large chunks
1 cup orange juice
½ cup soymilk
1 tsp. maple syrup (optional)
⅛ tsp. ground cardamom (optional)

1. Combine ingredients in a blender (I prefer a hand blender like this one for quicker, quieter, more complete blending and easier clean-up – and no, I haven’t been paid to say that). Blend until smooth.
2. Serve with race cars.

Chase-Away-Those-Winter-Blues Smoothie

Winter is coming to an end and I’m really craving the fresh fruits and vegetables that spring promises to bring. Luckily, I have a big bag of frozen blueberries and a yummy smoothie recipe to tide me over in the meantime.

Chase-Away-Those-Winter-Blues Smoothie
Makes 1 large or 2 small servings

¾ cup frozen blueberries
1 banana, chopped into big chunks
1 cup pineapple juice
1½ Tbsp. coconut milk

1. Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

(Note: wild blueberries are smaller than their cultivated counterparts and may blend more smoothly without being thawed).

Banana Flaxseed Freezer Waffles

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! I don’t know about you, but I feel strongly that almost any holiday is a good excuse for brunch. Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, Sunday; all of these are key brunch-eating opportunities. That’s part of what makes this waffle recipe so fabulous – it makes enough waffles for you to eat on all the days, for at least a week, I’d say. I’m a big fan of making a big batch, eating way too many, and then freezing the rest for later. Wait until they are completely cool and then throw them in a freezer-grade zipper bag and they are ready to go in the freezer. Then toast them and eat them later.

This recipe is adapted (beyond recognition, I should think) from my trusty 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking. I doubled the recipe, used whole wheat flour instead of white and quadrupled the egg replacers for big, fluffy vegan waffles. If you don’t have a waffle maker, you could make some pretty great pancakes from the same batter.

Banana Flaxseed Freezer Waffles

2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 cups pulp)
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
½ cup canola or safflower oil
3½ cups whole wheat flour
1½ Tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 cups soymilk
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional – see tip below, if using)

1. In a large mixing bowl, mashed bananas until no large lumps remain.
2. Add flaxseeds, oil, flour, baking powder, salt and  soymilk. Mix well.
3. Fold in the walnuts, being careful not to overmix.
4. Bake in your waffle maker, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
5. If freezing, let cool completely and then freeze waffles in a freezer-grade zipper bag.

Tip: This simple method makes chopping walnuts super-easy. Place walnuts in a large zipper bag and seal it. Crush the walnuts into small pieces by rolling a sturdy rolling pin (or unopened wine bottle) over the bag. Done!

Banana Boats

I was first introduced to banana boats at Sean’s family camp out a few years ago, where his cousin brought them for dessert. We each got a split banana and stuffed it with almonds, chocolate squares and (for some) marshmallows. We wrapped our creations in tin foil, put them in the embers from the extinguished fire and waited 20 minutes for everything to melt. It was delicious! Take the ingredients on your next camping trip, but don’t wait until then to try them. Here is an oven-friendly recipe for your enjoyment. This recipe makes enough for 2, but it’s easy to reduce and multiply as needed.

Banana Boats

2 bananas
1/4 cup chocolate chips or 8 squares dark chocolate
1/4 cup slivered almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Split the bananas lengthwise, being careful not to cut all the way through.
3. Fill each banana with the desired amount of chocolate and almonds (about 2 Tbsp. of each for each banana).
4. Wrap the bananas in tin foil and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until chocolate is melted. The skin will brown, but the fruit should remain fairly firm.
5. Remove from oven and let cool until you can touch the bananas without burning yourself. Eat by scooping the filling out of the banana peel with a spoon.