Quick ways to feed your family using the last of the summer’s fruit and veggies

Autumn officially starts on 1st March and is a time for enjoying cooler weather and autumn leaves as well as the summer’s bounty of fruit and vegetables.

5 QUICK AND EASY WAYS TO MAKE USE OF MARCH PRODUCE

These great tips will help you save time and money and you’ll be doing your bit for the environment by using local seasonal produce.

1. Make banana ‘ice-cream’

For a quick healthy dessert or snack for the kids peel and freeze bananas. When required, blend the frozen bananas with mixed spice (optional) to make a tasty low-cal, no-fat ice-cream.

You can also top with some chopped activated walnuts for a more robust flavour or even blend with a nut butter for something more filling. Try 1-2 tsp of nut butter per banana.

We recommend Totally Nuts certified organic activated products which include pure Australian macadamia, almond or hazelnut butters. Alternatively, try their combination butters - ABC butter that combines almond, brazil and cashew nuts or delicious Almond Coconut.

For extra-special flavour and crunch sprinkle over Spice Fusion’s Macadamia and Chocolate Dessert Dukkah which contains roasted macadamias and almonds, toasted sesame seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and hand-chopped milk and white chocolate.

2. Make a big American-style tuna salad

An American-style tuna salad will include lots of chopped veggies and anything else on hand all mixed together with mayonnaise or other dressing.

You can store this salad in the fridge for up to three days. It’s great to spread onto kids’ sandwiches in the morning for a quick packed lunch or you can combine with cold cooked pasta or noodles to make a filling salad.

Try mixing tinned tuna with any of the following:

• Chopped spring onions, chives or sliced red onion
• Chopped fresh chilli, or dried chilli
• Sweet paprika
• Torn fresh basil or coriander leaves
• Fresh or frozen corn
• Chopped capsicum
• Chopped tomato
• Chopped cucumber
• Capers
• Olives
• Feta cheese
• Chopped celery
• Mayonnaise or salad dressing of your choice
• Lots of freshly-ground black pepper and salt, to taste.

3. Batch cook your veggies

Batch cooking in-season vegetables means there is always a healthy side dish or snack on-hand, already cooked and good to go; great for when you’re too rushed or too tired to cook.

Try frying up a big batch of capsicum, mushrooms, zucchini or eggplant, either individually, or in combination. Add chopped garlic, onions, chilli or herbs, such as in-season fresh rosemary, oregano, parsley or thyme.

Or you can add some of your favourite dukkah.

You can store in the fridge and you don’t even have to heat these veggies up if you don’t want to as they are good either hot or cold.

Tip: If you put the lid on the frying pan you will need less oil to cook the veg as you will be steaming it at the same time as frying. You’ll also speed up the cooking process this way.

4. Roast your veggies

You can also save time by cutting in-season veggies into chunks, tossing in good quality olive oil, such as Macintyre Brook Grove extra virgin olive oil, and baking in the oven. Add chunks of potato or sweet potato for a filling all-in-one side dish. All you need to do then for a complete meal is to saute or bake some fish or meat or whip up an omelette.

You can add dried herbs to your veggies, such as Spice Fusion Tuscan Herbs, or chopped fresh chilli. If you want to be more adventurous sprinkle over Spice Fusion’s Ethiopian Berbere, which contains a mix of crushed chilli, hot paprika, black pepper, fenugreek, cayenne pepper, cardamom, coriander, cumin, Kashmiri chilli powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

5. Quick sweet potato wedges

Homemade sweet potato wedges make a great, satisfying snack the kids when they get home from school. Cut sweet potato into wedges ahead of time and toss in olive oil and a little sweet paprika. Bake in a hot oven (about 200 deg celcius) for 10-15 minutes until soft.

Make an easy dip by either mixing mayonnaise with a little raw honey and mustard, or maple syrup with a spicy dukkah, such as Spice Fusion’s Moroccan Ras el Hanout which contains cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, coriander, nutmeg, cloves.