With its sturdy florets, cauliflower can also stand up to big flavours. Picture: Pexels (Karolina Grabowsa)
AUTUMN is upon us. As the nights get longer and the days cooler, it is essential to make sure that you and your family are getting as many of the right vitamins and nutrients as possible, to keep you healthy this season.
While you prepare your home and wardrobe for the cooler weather, keep in mind that this is also an ideal time to grow your own fruits and vegetables.
Growing your own produce can help with your appreciation for fresh foods and the intake of the nutrients your body needs from those foods. Gardening is also a great way to get the whole family involved in the meal prep process – everyone can help care for the plants, harvest the crops and prepare the meals with your own home-grown food.
Growing your own fruits and vegetables also provides a wide range of benefits, which include no or reduced pesticides, no genetically modified organisms, lower grocery bills, enhanced mood, reduced stress, improved heart health, increased self-esteem, and increased production of vitamin D due to sun exposure.
If your new home or current backyard has space for a garden, consider planting some of these fruits and vegetables this autumn.
Vegetables:
Fruits:
How can you add some autumn flavour to your meals? Cookbook author Julia Turshen shares, below, her favourite autumnal foods to cook with.
Apples
You can serve the savoury ones alongside roast chicken or pork chops, or on toast that you’ve slathered with goat cheese or ricotta. The sweet ones can be offered in the morning to make usual oats less usual, or for dessert with ice cream.
Brussels sprouts
The polarising vegetable can also take on so many forms and lend themselves well to strong flavours.
Peel the leaves off each sprout, roast quickly, and top with salty pecorino cheese and bright lemon juice. These are incredibly good and can be served on their own as a snack (like kale chips, but better) or as a side dish. You could even toss them with cooked pasta and call it a day. Or you can skip cooking altogether. Just combine thinly sliced raw sprouts with crumbled gorgonzola and chopped, toasted hazelnuts for a rich salad.
Cauliflower
With its sturdy florets, cauliflower can also stand up to big flavours. Roast a whole head broken into pieces until they’re browned and crisp at the edges and toss with butter and hot sauce. Or roast and drizzle with a simple cheddar cheese sauce (like nachos sans the chips).