Grains – A Great Way to Get Your Fruit and Veggies

Working to make half your plate fruits and vegetables as called for by the new MyPlate Dietary Guidelines? Grains can help! Grains, fruits and veggies make perfect partners. Grains can also provide an easy, more palatable way to work these important foods into our daily diets.

When doing meal planning or shopping, focus on fruits and vegetables in season, and make a point of trying a new variety whenever possible. If you have kids, get them involved in the selection, then keep the interaction going at home in the kitchen all the way to the plate! Even little hands can help wash the produce – or simply supervise.

You don’t even need a recipe to improvise your own tasty nutrition-packed grains and fruit/veggie combos:

• Use fruit as a topper at breakfast for cereal, oatmeal, even toast.
• Boost the health and taste quotient of your lunchtime sandwich by accessorizing it with your favorite raw vegetables.
• Build a healthy afternoon snack with whole grain crackers topped with lite cream cheese and sliced cucumbers or strawberries.
• Pack more nutrition into that family favorite, spaghetti, by adding carrots to the sauce.

When you do want a recipe, here are two winning combos to try. The Banana/Orange Muffins are a great way to use those over-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, and the Broccoli Swiss Quiche is a vegetarian dish the whole family will love.