Five A Day?

[ZIZI]

We cook from scratch most days and like almost all fruit and veg. I always have a a full fruit bowl and love bananas only they do not always love me. I tend to start the morning with fruit juice and a bit of grapefruit which I buy tinned and then store in plastic pots to eat individually. We often have meat and veg but, as Minny said, we have learned not to boil the veg to death like our schools and some mothers did! I love asparagus, peas, corn, cabbage, broccoli (esp purple sprouting). Over the course of a week we will also have rice which I chuck bits of left over veg in and pasta. Pasta is about the only way to get any fish into the husband. I have made fish pie before but to be honest I can tell he is only eating it to please me!

[Bizzy Lizzy]

I struggle with fish too Zizi as DH hates all fish apart from cod fried in batter (not the healthy option). I love all fish but rarely buy it as it means doing separate meals. We occasionally have smoked local cod which is wonderful and he does eat that under sufferance. I do the soup things with leak and potatoes and carrot and coriander and one which has veg and lots of different beans. These tend to be Winter meals though. I do eat a lot of homemade low-fat coleslaw - every day in fact - so I get raw veg and love broccoli with almost anything. I have decided that I am never going to like fruit so feel that the veg has to make up for it. I alway add veg to rice to make it more interesting. Works well with peas, soy beans, string beans and sweetcorn. The grandkids seem to try to avoid vegetables as much as possible but I do insist they have cherry tomatoes even with fish fingers or pizza - I do get away with that without tears.

[Nannynou]

Myself and OH used to eat lots of fruit and veg mostly each day, but since he's been suffering with a fissure has to be careful to not overdo it. Love tomatoes and often dry fry pine nuts to sprinkle on our salads. One thing that for some reason though, makes me feel really sick is tomato juice! Whether it's the consistency, I'm not sure, but...yuck! Other than that, I will pass on nothing!

[ZIZI]

BL I have a story about Carrot and Coriander soup. Husband and I knew each other and indeed were together long before my parents knew, finally we decided to come clean and invited them for Sunday lunch. They were staying with my aunt and uncle only a few miles away for the weekend.

We made carrot and coriander soup for starter, roast beef, carrots, parsnips, roast pots for main plus of course yorkies. For pud, safe bet, apple crumble and custard. Now my relationship with my mother is widely reported but I really did not expect what I got. They didn't like carrots therefore the soup was rendered useless. Me "But mother we ALWAYS had carrots when we were growing up" her "Yes only because they were good for you kids, we never ate them".

Of course carrots in the main dish were a no as were parsnips (only for us kids), Yorkshire puddings were the recipe from hell unless they were granddads (who had died all of thirty years before). Apple crumble? No they didn't like that either that was also just for us.

If I was a different person I would probably have chucked myself under a truck that day. As it is, the mere mention of carrots and especially carrot and coriander soup send us into giggles. coriander was by the way denounced as something from a foreign country and therefore not worthy of being on an English Sunday "dinner" table.

[Bizzy Lizzy]

You could so easily have been devastated by that experience Zizi. Alternatively given the right emphasis it would fit into a scene from a domestic sitcom. It seems difficult to believe that two people served food that neither of them liked for many years somehow. I personally do not like cooked carrots but absolutely love carrot and coriander soup and - because I know carrots are good for me - I make it often. The coriander makes all the difference of course. I remember the first time my Mum served my Dad with spaghetti bolognese and the look of horror on his face. It was immediately branded as "foreign food" and not a proper dinner because it did not have potato or any green vegetables with it! He did get over it eventually but it was a slow process.

[Plantaholic]

Your mother obviously couldn't see in the dark or had curly hair Zizi

[ZIZI]

Ha ha BL nothing about my mother surprised me really. She could be quite a nasty piece of work when she wanted to be.

Funny thing Plant my dad had VERY curly hair, when he was younger it was not only very curly but also jet black. I thought he was very handsome! My brother (11 months older than me) also had curly hair which in teenage years he grew and which was a perfect Afro when combed the right way, he thought he was very cool AND he was a carrot head (ginger).