Berries for Valentines: 6 Ways to Eat More Berries

Would it be Valentine’s Day without heart-shaped, red strawberries? Deep pink raspberries? Dark, sweet blueberries? Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to add more berries to your diet. With all those red hearts floating around, berries (and healthy berry recipes) can go unnoticed.

Not only do berries taste delicious, but they’re also a great source of antioxidants. Berries may be the best source of those cell-protecting compounds. They’re full of nutrients, vegan, and have very few calories. There’s no reason to feel guilty stuffing a handful in your mouth after soccer practice.

While the most common way to eat berries is to wash them and pop them straight into your mouth, there are many healthy berry recipes around to mix things up. Here are six of our favorite recipes:

1. Blueberries – Blue Juice

Blue juice is a great way to start the day, and it’s very easy to make. Grab a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries and put them in a blender with a half cup of orange juice and some ice. Blitz the mixture and you’re done. A beautiful blue juice with vitamin C and more. Perfect for Socceristas.

2. Blackberries – Fruit Kabobs

Fruit kabobs are extra easy and super fun. Find some blackberries and other fruit (berries, banana slices, grapes, kiwi, whatever you like). Get some skewers and spear the fruit until the skewer is filled. Eat them plain, or dip them in a dip made of yogurt, honey, and a bit of vanilla extract.

3. Currants – Trail Mix

Currants are lovely fresh, but hard to find. If you find them, they come in red and black varieties. I like them dried; they look like baby raisins and taste like raisin-berries. You can use dried currants to make your own trail mix. Add dried fruit, nuts, grains, and a bit of dark chocolate to a bag and shake it up. Straight energy that is good to go in your game bag.

4. Cranberry Guacamole

Cranberries are sour and often loaded up with sugar when eaten fresh. However, you can get them dried and they’re sweet on their own. Fresh cranberries are great for you, and you can add them to your diet in guacamole. Grab a tub of pre-made guac at the store (or make your own). Throw a small handful of cranberries into a blender or food processor and grind into small bits. Stir the berries into the guac until the green becomes sprinkled with bright red, giving it a bit of a sour kick.

5. Raspberry Water

Soccer players need to drink a ton of water, and when we exercise, we need to drink even more of it. But water can get old. To add flavor without sugar, you can freeze raspberries in an ice-cube tray with water. (Those berries can combine or trade for other berries, citrus slices, mint, cucumber slices, and more). Pop a couple of ice cubes in your drink and they will gently flavor your water as they cool it. 

6. Strawberry Cheesecake Pop

Need a Galentine’s gift for your teammates? Offer them a strawberry cheesecake pop. This recipe blends two of my favorite foods into one healthy whole. This recipe from the Produce for Better Health Foundation mixes strawberries and raspberries, low-fat dairy, graham cracker crumbs, and a small amount of sugar to create a cold treat that really tastes like strawberry cheesecake.

That’s only the start with berries. You can skip the jelly and make a peanut butter and berry sandwich, throw some in your salads to bump up both taste and nutrition, or even plop some in your pancakes. They are great in oatmeal, cereal, granola, smoothies, and parfaits for breakfast or dessert. There’s really no shortage of healthy berry (and mixed berry) recipes.

Featured Image via Adobe Stock @jchizhe

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