An Anti-Oxidant Rich Breakfast[ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday #3]

I came across Nupur's entry to ARF (Anti-Oxidant Rich Food)/5-A-Day Tuesday #2 last week at One Hot Stove, and I thought, well, that is one food blogging event I definitely would want to join. As it turns out, after looking up the top 20 anti-oxidant-rich foods and checking my stash of previously unpublished food photos, I've prepared and eaten numerous dishes that qualify for the event held every Tuesday, hosted by Sweetnicks.

My collection comprises mostly simple dishes, and I'll start with a very simple one for my first entry to ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays, so-called because it strives to promote healthier eating by utilizing at least one of the anti-oxidant rich foods in a dish, or fulfilling the required five servings a day of fruit and vegetables. Filipino cuisine, and Asian cuisine in general, features fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, at least traditionally, and I grew up not with vegetables on the side but as a main feature.

Today I'd like to share a favorite breakfast fare, inspired by a dish done in a similar vein that I have eaten at The Swiss Baker cafe in Baguio City. This is so versatile that I eat it for dinner, too, especially when I'm trying to lose weight. It is just diced gala apples, banana slices and strawberry halves tossed with cottage cheese. I love this with fresh blueberries, which also add a nice color, but they're not in season now, so I made up for that with some slices of a blueberry cream cheese loaf made by a local bakeshop called Uncle George (products available at Tiendesitas).

This alone already contains three fruits from the top 20 ARF list, although I'm not sure if baking into bread retains the blueberries' anti-oxidant properties, and, for that matter, if fresh blueberries were actually used. But to add more to the anti-ageing properties of my breakfast I made strawberry lassi. Boo_licious of Masak-Masak has posted about mango lassis and chiku lassis and I have made them myself, but strawberries are in season now, so I tried them in combination with yoghurt and crushed ice.

A perfectly healthy meal to start the day. Quite tasty and refreshing, too, and rounds up the entire food pyramid, with the bread for carbohydrates and the cheese and yoghurt for protein requirements.