• Grate an apple or pear into porridge, mix mashed banana or other fruit puree through cooked porridge.
• Slice bananas into cereal. Try adding peaches, berries and kiwifruit when in season
• Freeze bananas and blend with low fat milk, yogurt or fruit juice to make a smoothie. Peaches, berries, apples, pears and kiwifruit also work well
• Slice tomatoes, cooked mushrooms or bananas onto wholemeal toast

• Add chopped vegetables like peppers, onion, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms or tomatoes to omelettes or scrambled eggs
• Spread peanut butter on wholemeal bread and roll it around a banana
• Add peaches, apples, berries or bananas to your pancakes or pikelet batter

• Load sandwiches up with vegetables: grated carrot, capsicum, sliced mushrooms and spinach
• Spread avocado on your sandwiches instead of butter
• Prepare sliced cucumber, lettuce, sprouts, tomato wedges and grated carrots for your family to make their own wraps, sandwiches and subs
• Mix chopped fruit such as kiwifruit, apples, pears and oranges with low fat yoghurt. Young children tend to eat more fruit when it is chopped up
• Add diced carrots, corn, silverbeet, onions and tomatoes to chop suey for a colourful lunch
• Make home made salsa with tomatoes, mangos, avocados, red onion, coriander and lime juice. Use as a dip or sandwich filling
• Fill vegetarian sushi with avocado, finely sliced carrots, red peppers, cucumber and silverbeet

• Stir chopped or grated vegetables such as carrots, courgettes, beans, spinach, silverbeet, puha, potatoes and kumara through mince dishes, soups, casseroles, rice and pasta dishes
• When making mashed potatoes boil some cauliflower, parsnip or brussels sprouts with your potatoes and mash together for a tasty change.
• Pile diced tomatoes, onion, mushroom, broccoli, green and red peppers onto homemade or frozen pizza before cooking
• Add lettuce, spinach, pineapple, tomato, beetroot slices and grated carrot to home-made burgers
• Boil up a hearty soup with left over hangi or roast dinner vegetables
• Stew apples and serve with pork or chicken
• Try mashing kumara, pumpkin, carrot, broccoli or yams with potato
• Add layers of spinach or silverbeet into a lasagne
• Mix grated pumpkin or cooked pureed cauliflower into soups or casseroles. It thickens them and adds a touch of sweetness
• Heat leftover vegetables and serve as a topping for toast or pizza

• Prepare a colourful fruit platter for dessert for your family to share – include chopped pineapple, orange wedges, apple quarters, mangoes, papaya, grapes, bananas and more

• Bake apples, pears or bananas for a healthy dessert

• Thread chopped fruit onto skewers for a colourful kebab

• Keep a bowl of fruit on the counter for snacking on the run
• Prepare “grab and go” snacks in small plastic bags in the refrigerator. Use cut up carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers, orange segments and grapes. Store at eye level
• Offer carrot, courgette, red and green pepper and celery sticks to children for snacks with dips such a hummus, salsa or low fat cottage cheese
• Blend or mash bananas, berries, plums or peaches and freeze in ice trays with one tooth pick in each to make a summer snack
• Dice or grate onion, carrot, courgette, potato and corn into savoury muffin or pikelet mixture
• Serve vegetable sticks or whole grain pita bites with a salsa made with fresh tomatoes, red onion, garlic and herbs
• Make oven-baked wedges using sliced potatoes, carrots, kumara, parsnips, beetroot and serve with your favourite chutney
• Use raw or cooked vegetables as a base for hors d’oeurves. Try salmon on cucumber slices, ricotta and herbs in button mushrooms or mini baked potato halves
• Bite-sized pieces of cooked vegetables like potatoes, kumara, yams and pumpkin make great snacks for kids
• Freeze unused fruit or vegetables in individual bags and use when you are making smoothies

Snacks

• Cherry tomatoes
• Baby carrots and chopped cucumber with hummus
• Sliced capsicum
• Celery with cream cheese or peanut butter
• Banana and apple cut up in yoghurt
• Mandarins
• Strawberries and blueberries
• Pineapple chunks
• Whole fruit – pears, apples, stonefruit

Fillings for sandwiches, wraps, pita pockets

• Avocado, grated carrot and marmite
• Banana and peanut butter
• Cucumber, mint and low-fat cream cheese
• Lettuce and mashed hard-boiled egg
• Coleslaw and cheese

Try these for something different

• Home made pizza slice with mushroom, capsicum, onion and spinach
• Potato frittata with cheese, tomato, corn, grated courgette and onion
• Sushi with avocado and cream cheese