Do you know it's the International Fruit Day on the 1st of July? Yeah, let's celebrate the day with MBG Fruit Shop’s
annual “Yes! Fruits” fruity festival.
“Yes!
Fruits” festival aims to excite Malaysians to include more fruits into their diet with fun carnival-like activities such as contests, culinary demos, educational nuggets
at all MBG outlets from July 1 to August 31. MBG also kicked off its nationwide fruits survey cum contest
to understand Malaysian’s awareness and behaviours towards fruits & fruits
juices, promising exciting prizes amounting to RM10,000 including Pensonic Papa Blender , MBG product hampers and
vouchers.
This year MBG introduced it's new fruits salad bars at
Tropicana City Mall and Wangsa Walk Shopping
Mall, with
more to come. At only RM3.70/100gram, you can mix and match your healthy snacks anytime of the day. During the Holy Ramadhan month, you could opt to break-fast with fruits salad that not only taste good but healthier too. Oh my.... I'm spoilt for choice.
Just look at the fresh, colourful pretty looking fruits and vegetables.
Create your healthy and unique salad dressing with date syrup, red island extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil 100%, apple vinegar, date vinegar or pomegranate vinegar available at the salad bar.
For added goodness, you could top up with organic chia seeds, mixed dried cranberries & black currants, mixed dried fruits & seeds and nuts, mixed mulberry, raisin & seeds, natural dried longan pulp or fresh dried mango. So what's your pick?
Yay.... Here's my salad creation.
Introducing "Colourful Salad" which packed with antioxidants from the berries, drizzled with zesty lemon juice, date honey and olive oil. Throw in some nuts and chia seeds too for some crunch. Do you know chia seeds are high in Omega 3? Start including chia seeds into your daily diet now, if you have not.
Need more advice on nutrition? Well, let's hear it from the experts! In the pipeline is their Nutritionist On The Go” – a community campaign
which enables the public to consult MBG’s very own nutritionist at selective outlets to
get nutritional consultation making its debut soon. In a healthy fruit salad demo cum workshop with us, we have consultant dietitian Indra Balaratnam
at MBG’s Tropicana City Mall outlet recently. Eating fruit and vegetables which are high in vitamins, minerals, fibre,
antioxidants, water -- are important for good health. Now with salad bars such as MBG’s it's all about being convenient,
fun and creative way to enjoy your fruits and vegetables with the large
assortment of nutritious fruit and vegetables.The key to
making a good salad would be adding a variety of colourful fruit and vegetables
which offer different antioxidants. Beside the fruits, you could also top up with dried fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs and dressings to
make the salad flavourful, extra nutritious or even as a meal replacement.
Yogurt is also a good protein source high in calcium that make a perfect
dressing to fruit salads compare to conventional premixed salad dressing.
If you need some idea, here's Indra pretty looking and lip-smackingly good salad recipes.
A. SUNSHINE RAINBOW SALAD
Perfect
juice dressing for a light mixed fruit salad
Ingredients for the salad:
·
Mango -- diced
·
Blueberries
·
Strawberries -- diced
·
Green kiwi -- sliced
·
Raisins
·
Almonds -- slivered
Ingredients for the dressing:
·
Juice of 1 orange
·
Juice of 1/2 lemon
·
Juice of 1/2 lime
·
Orange zest
·
1-2 Tablespoons of honey (or to taste)
Method:
Whisk
the dressing together in a large mixing bowl. Toss in the cut fruit. Chill in
the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving.
Indra’s tip: This fruit salad is
full of vitamin C and a variety of antioxidants from the rainbow coloured fruit
combination to help keep your immunity up as you start to face another hustle and
bustle day.
B. COOL YOGURT SALAD
Ingredients for the salad:
·
Salad leaves
·
Cucumber -- sliced
·
Pink dragon fruit -- diced
·
Pears -- diced
·
Pineapple -- diced
·
Watermelon -- diced
·
Avocado – cored and sliced
·
Nuts
Ingredients for yogurt dressing:
·
1 cup Greek yogurt
·
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
·
1 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice
·
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
·
2 Tablespoons chives – finely chopped
·
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley – finely chopped
·
Salt to taste
Method:
Mix
all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate to use when needed.
Assemble
the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with the yogurt dressing.
Indra’s tip: This yogurt dressing is perfect to cool you down for a
light afternoon lunch. The yogurt provides protein, calcium and good probiotics.
The fruits have fiber to aid digestion; plus the avocado and nuts have good
healthy fats and Omega 3.
C. SAVOURY SPICED GREEN APPLE & MANGO SALAD
Ingredients for salad:
·
Green apple – thinly sliced
·
Ripe mango -- diced
·
Fresh mint leaves – finely chopped
·
Roasted cashew nuts
Ingredients for the dressing
·
½ cup fresh lime juice
·
3 teaspoons fish sauce (adjust to your taste)
·
3 teaspoons brown sugar
·
6 chili – finely chopped
Method:
In
a large mixing bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients. Adjust the fish sauce
and brown sugar to your taste, if needed.
Then
gently toss in the salad ingredients.
Indra’s tip: This simple recipe has the soluble fiber goodness of mango
and green apple to help control cholesterol and digestion. Makes a nice
refreshing side dish to Asian dishes.
MBG's has all the freshest fruits! Buying from MBG, you can be rest assured of the freshness and quality with its "Money Back Guarantee" motto.
Juices and smoothies are available too. So what's your excuse to not start living a healthier lifestyle now?
I always love MBG's Avocado Smoothies milky rich blend and not forgetting topping it with some chia seeds too.
*Pic without watermark credit to MBG.