Did you know that kiwi fruit has more vitamin C than most other fruits? They are a concentrated source of antioxidants – for this reason, in addition to their zesty sweet tropical flavour they are a wonderful fruit to enjoy.

You may already be a big fan of kiwi fruit .. so much that you happily bite into a whole kiwi fruit, fur and all…. (if you didn’t already know, you can actually eat the skin. But you don’t have to!).

We’ve been eating lots of kiwi fruit lately..

A few weeks ago my partner Andrew and I made a day trip out to Yarra Junction, a beautiful part of the Yarra Valley, where his family have a country house with a beautiful and very special garden. It’s enchanting, magical, cosy and holds so many pockets of natural beauty. Having such a love (obsession) for fresh and natural things, veggies, produce and flowers I am in awe of this place. We don’t visit very often but when we do I easily lose myself. Somewhere amongst the fruit trees or herb patch usually. It’s a place where family sometimes gather on a weekend and chat, cook, garden and garden, play with the dogs and attend to the bees and chooks.

If you live in a busy city and in particular urban environment like me it’s easy to get caught up in a constant ‘city, traffic, people, work work work, go go go’ phase.. and just getting out into nature whether it be a garden, park, countryside, seaside or riverside.. is sooooo good to ‘re-set’, re-fresh and calm’ the mind. I find this hard to do on a regular basis, unless I make it a ‘non-negotiable’ and lock time in my diary (more on this another time.. ). Anyway, I strongly recommend that you do treat yourself to a ‘nature outing’, as often as you can. I often make this suggestion to clients who in particular live a very busy city based working life and experience high stress levels. Not getting real ‘time out’ that is ‘away from the hustle and bustle’ can really take a toll on one’s eating habits and overall health. Taking time out can help one relax, reflect and ‘just be’ which intern can help one become more mindful. Even if it’s grey and cold, rugging up and going for a brisk walk somewhere green is wonderfully invigorating.

But back to kiwi fruit. At the back of the country house there is an extensive kiwi fruit vine, currently full of kiwi fruit, all hanging down in little groupings. They have been slowly ripening.. so last week Andrew’s mum brought us some. We’ve been eating a few everyday.. in all sorts of ways.. her are some nice and simple ways to enjoy them:

• Wholegrain sourdough toast or wholegrain crackers spread with a cacao nut butter, topped with sliced kiwi fruit (Mayver’s hazel nut & cacao spread with sliced kiwi fruit is the bomb, but other nut butters are also amazing such as cacao & peanut butter or a cacao & almond butter)
• Added to a green juice: My favourite combo is water (or coconut water), spinach leaves, kale, celery, kiwi fruit, mint and lemon juice
• Sliced and served fresh with overnight oats or warm porridge: It sounds weird but topping your oat porridge (or other grain porridge such as quinoa or rice) with fresh sliced kiwi fruit is actually really nice just because it provides a nice fresh and zesty contrast to the creamy porridge texture. Recently I made a creamy banana rice and oat porridge and added fresh kiwi on top, then coconut sugar (just because I love the flavour), cinnamon and a dollop of natural yoghurt. Even Andrew (my partner) was surprised and really loved this combo.. of course initially he stared at the bowl with a look of “Kiwi on top? hmm not sure about this”. He has a favourite saying-  “why mess with perfection?” I can see him thinking this at times, and his look is paired with a smirk. Luckily for me he’ll always try things and is always honest. That makes a great taste tester. And I will add that there have been many recipes and food experiments that will never make this blog! Great recipes can take time to refine.
• Mixed with yoghurt, nuts and other yummy things: A bowl of natural yoghurt is a very regular snack for me, almost daily. This little bowl of goodness is heaven – natural yoghurt, 1-2 sliced kiwi fruit, walnuts, mixed seeds (I love a mix of pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flaxseed and chi seeds), honey or coconut sugar and cacao powder. Mix all this together and you have a chocolately kiwi fruit yoghurt delight. It’s also nutritiously awesome.
• 2 fresh kiwi fruit as a snack (without the skin, as I can’t handle eating the furriness)

If anything, I highly recommend you try the cacao nut butter and kiwi fruit combo, and let me know what you think!

Lara xo