Tired of Veggies? Try Cooking with Fruit!

The other night, I was too tired to think up a veggie to cookie with dinner. After assessing my pantry and fridge, I realized I had lots of fruit options to go along with my broiled fish, so I decided to add some of them to the dinner I was cooking. Result: big success! I had wisely purchased a jar of peach-pineapple salsa from my local supermarket, and I had a spare can of mandarin oranges, so I combined them. Next, I remembered a fish dish I'd made years ago that entailed sauteing bananas, so I quartered a few bananas and sauteed them in a tiny bit of butter, then topped the broiled snapper with the bananas and jacked-up salsa. Wow! What a taste sensation! And my family was pleasantly surprised by the change.

If you're tiring of veggies, you can always switch to the other side of the produce aisle and cook with fruit instead. Many types of fruit take really well to grilling (think mangoes, pineapple, peaches and apples), pureeing for a sauce or soup (berries and melon), baking or roasting (bananas and apples are great for this, too). When fruit cooks, the sugars caramelize, giving a richness to food that you can't always get from veggies. And their sweetness makes for a nice change for your palate. Another perk: fruit tames spiciness, so if your dish is too peppery for your taste, think about adding fruit to calm it down. See? Fruit definitely doesn't have to be boring.