Everyone loves a bargain. A full moon is better than a sliver. A Cardinals win is best when you sit use reduced-rate tickets to watch it. Picnic foods taste best when humidity is unusually low.
Snacks foods should be served up the same way. Smart fixes replenish and charge a day shortchanged on energy. It's the most bang for the buck, value for the investment.
At breakfast, milk is always in our glasses, while many people prefer to eat cheese for a dairy "fix." We rely on dairy foods for calcium and protein in our daily nutrition and long-term bone health. According to Ron Weil, director of R&J Sales and Marketing and president of the St. Louis Culinary Society, yogurt is the fastest growing food in number of sales among all foods in the past 10 years. Everyone should try Greek yogurt for its tang, lighter sweetness, intense flavor and firm consistency.
Cottage cheese is an old family stand-by for me, at lunch or as a stand-in for higher-fat cheeses, such as in lasagna. A new one mixed with strawberries has become a totable treat for me. Although small, the handy portion is plenty to spread across two slices of toast for a filling lunch.
Combining a dairy food with fruit is a twofer worth exploring.
The St. Louis Dairy Council makes suggestions:
Choco-Raspberry Chug: Blend 1 cup nonfat milk with frozen raspberries and sweetened chocolate powder.
Banana Split Blender: Whirl low-fat strawberry milk with sliced banana and ice.
Fruity Splash: Blend strawberry milk with fresh strawberries and ice.
Cheese Kabob: Alternately skewer small apple slices and whole raspberries with reduced-fat cheddar cheese.
Tropical Smoothie: Whirl fresh orange slices with strawberry yogurt and ice.
Mango Mixer: Blend mango pieces, plain low-fat yogurt and a splash of pineapple juice.
Parfait Pleaser: Layer granola and a favorite fresh fruit with a corresponding flavor of low-fat yogurt.
Simple Shortcake: Dollop a slice of angel food cake with strawberry yogurt and top with sliced berries.
Honey Fruit Dip: Mix nonfat yogurt with a spoonful of honey for a flavorfully sweet dip with fruit.
Berry Pops: Freeze squeezable yogurt or freeze low-fat strawberry milk mixed with fresh strawberry slices in pop containers or paper cups with a stick inserted in the middle.
Blueberries are summer favorites to coordinate as nutritional powerhouses with milk, ice cream and other dairy foods. Friends from Michigan always would pick the fruit fresh from the bush as they were packing to return to St. Louis. There is no blueberry pie like fresh blueberry pie — even one made with a custard base!
For this dessert or snack, start by rinsing the blueberries, then pat them dry. Whip up the instant pudding and set it aside a few minutes — or count on lemon sherbet.
To make cake crumbs quickly, freeze cake — homemade or using about one-third of a 10.75-ounce pound cake. Grate into crumbs, using the coarse side of a grater. This recipe also can use small cubes of cake.
To assemble desserts, stack about two tablespoons each of cake, pudding and fresh blueberries in each of 6 small glasses, then repeat all the layers. A dollop of whipped cream is a dairy-full topping.
BLUEBERRY-LEMON TEASERS
1-3/4 cups low-fat milk
1 pkg. (4 servings) instant lemon pudding mix
2 cups fresh blueberries
1-1/2 cups crumbs (about 4 oz.) from frozen reduced-fat pound cake
1/2 cup sweetened whipped cream
In medium bowl, using electric mixer or wire whisk, blend milk and pudding mix 2 minutes. Set aside 5 minutes to set.
Into dessert glasses, evenly divide half the cake crumbs, pudding and blueberries. Repeat. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.
Just before serving, top with swirl of whipped cream.
Variations: Use other pudding flavors, such as vanilla, cheesecake, coconut or banana.
Makes 6 servings; 172 calories, 4 g protein, 35 g carbohydrate, 3 g (1.3 saturated) fat, 7 mg cholesterol, 303 mg sodium and 1.4 g dietary fiber each.
