It's Berry Season!

 “On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .” --- Charles Dickens

If you've walked into the produce section at all in the last month, you've no doubt been greeted with the delightful colors of this years berry crop. I love this time of year! Where the berries are plentiful and the price is low. I eat a few containers a week. 

Berries contain phytochemicals and flavonoids that may help to prevent some forms of cancer. They are also full of  vitamin C, (One cup of strawberries contains over 100 mg of vitamin C) calcium, magnesium, folate and potassium. With all those vitamins and nutrients who needs Centrum? 

Since most berries are naturally sweet you can just just rinse them under water and snack away. But sometimes it's nice to dress them up a bit. Here I just took a shortcake shell, put a little strawberry cream cheese in the center and placed the fruit around in a nice display, sprinkled with a pinch sugar. Instead of the cream cheese you could also put a dollop of your favorite jam. (I used a maraschino cherry jam, not featured here) This dessert was featured on a dessert plate. The picture makes it look bigger than it was.

Here are a few more things you can do with berries:

Top a bowl of berries with a dollop of light-whipped topping and a sprinkling of nuts.

Add strawberry slices to a bowl of whole grain cereal

Sprinkle blueberries or dried cranberries on a salad

Combine frozen berries with a banana and low-fat milk to make a smoothie; or juice and ice to make a frozen fruit drink.

So go out and pick those tasty jewels while you can! Enjoy and have a tasty day.