Cheese and pear always goes nicely together but weve given it a twist by placing it in a wrap! Great for picnics of lunch boxes.

4 soft flour tortillas
1 ball light mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2 ounces of grated parmesan cheese
2 medium pears, cored and diced
4 sun-dried tomatoes, finely sliced
2 ounces chopped walnuts

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and gently mix together. Divide the mixture between four tortillas and fill. Roll up the wraps tightly. If necessary hold closed with a toothpick or wrap in plastic film until ready to eat. Store in a cool place.

2 tablespoons unsalted real butter
1 can of pineapple slices, drained
1 mango, peeled, stoned and cut into small cubes
2 bananas, roughly sliced
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons dark rum

Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the sliced pineapple and cook for approximately 4 minutes over low heat until slightly browned. Turn occasionally while cooking. Add the mango and bananas to the pan and cook a further 1 minute. Turning regularly.

Stir in the maple syrup, cinnamon and rum and cook for approximately 2 more minutes. The sauce should start to thicken. Serve immediately with a little natural vanilla ice cream or low-fat natural yogurt.

* this crumble has a greater amount of fruit and only a small amount of topping.  This is a great way to get that extra sweet fix while keep calories low.

4 plums, stoned and cut into quarters
4 apricots, stoned and cut into quarters
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup whole oats
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ cup unsalted real butter, soft

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place the plums and apricots in a non-stick baking dish (or crumble baking dish).  Pour over 2 tablespoons of water.

In a separate bowl mix the oats, flour, sugar, spices and butter.  Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit.  Now sprinkle a little brown sugar over mixture.  Place in a hot oven and back for approximately 40 minutes or until fruit is tender.

Serve with a side of natural vanilla ice cream, low-fat natural yogurt or on its own!

1 tbsp butter
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
vanilla ice cream

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add the strawberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook over medium heat until strawberries are completely heated.

Serve over ice cream.

Editor’s Note:

Also very good over other desserts where you might use strawberries.

I don’t do much of this, but it’s fun to get a little special, a little indulgent, for Valentine’s Day. Besides, chocolate covered strawberries are mostly healthy. There are a few options for how you make the chocolate look its best; that is, nice and glossy.

Shortening or wax are common ingredients, but others say that milk can do the job too. Milk is, of course, much better for you than shortening. Or you can skip it entirely and just melt the chocolate.

Strawberries need to be washed first, of course, but give them time to dry after, as water can interfere with the look of the chocolate.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

8 oz chocolate chips
1/2 tbs shortening (or milk, use your preference)
1 lb strawberries, leaves still attached
Spread wax paper on table. In a double boiler, melt chocolate and shortening, stirring as needed. Continue until smooth.

Hold strawberries by the leaves as you dip into the chocolate.
Dry on the wax paper. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: chocolate covered strawberries, Valentine’s Day, Valentines Day

2 Tbs. raisins
2 Tbs. crunchy or creamy peanut butter
1 apple
Peanuts, for garnish (omit if making for small child)

Set aside a few raisins for face. Stir remaining raisins into peanut butter. With apple corer or paring knife, remove core and seeds from apple. Using a small knife, push peanut butter mixture into center of apple. Make a happy face on top of peanut butter using reserved raisins. Arrange peanut halves around edge of peanut butter forming a circle. Chill before serving.

2 red delicious apples
1 sliced bananas
1 Granny Smith apple
2 Bartlett pears
1/2 pound red grapes
1/2 cup almond slivers — toasted
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon apple cider

Wash and core apples and pears, peeling if desired. Cut into one inch chunks. Slice bananas 1/2″ thick. Wash grapes and cut in half. Combine fruits and almonds in salad bowl. Mix yogurt with spices and cider. Pour over fruit salad and stir to coat fruits evenly. Chill.

I love fruit smoothies. This recipe is not particularly exact, as it’s all done by eye. Get a variety of frozen fruits at your local grocery store, Costco or freeze your own to make it easy to make smoothies anytime.

Quantities will depend on the size of your blender. Mine is big enough to make smoothies for my family of 4, with some left over, although I will note that the kids are 4 years old and 16 months old, so they don’t drink that much. When they’re older, I have no doubt there will be no leftovers.

Several handfuls frozen fruit. I like strawberry, blueberry, mango, pineapple and so forth
One banana, peeled
One carrot
1-2 spoonfuls honey
Any other fruit you feel like throwing in
Fruit juice. Apple works well.

Put all ingredients except fruit juice into blender. This allows you to see how full it is.

Add juice until it reaches about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top of the other ingredients.

Put lid on tightly and turn blender on low at first, then increase to top speed gradually.

If necessary, turn off blender and use spoon to stir up any ingredients that haven’t been blended after 30 seconds or so. If it’s looking too thick, add more juice. Blend more as necessary.

Smoothies taste great, are easy to make, and you don’t need a very strict recipe for them. Use this as a starter recipe and figure out your personal favorite.