Thank goodness – Australian bananas are finally affordable again! Today I bought a bunch for the same price as what just one cost a few months ago. I dumped them in the fruit bowl and with great nutritional joy told my family: “Eat as many as you want!”

To celebrate I whipped up a banana berry smoothie – perfect for a filling snack on a hot Sunday afternoon.

• 1 banana
• 1 cup frozen berries (the more you use, the thicker the drink)
• 2 cups reduced fat milk
• 3 generous tablespoons plain yoghurt (I use Jalna biodynamic organic)
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• Optional: 2 tablespoons chia seed (for some ALA omega-3′s)

Blend in electric blender and enjoy! The finished article is pictured above.

Which food pops into your mind when you read each of the following words?

Omega-3
Zinc
Vitamin C
Iron

My guess is the answers to the first three would have been in order: fish, oysters and oranges (or kiwifruit). What about iron? Did you say beef or lamb? I would have too until recently when I did some work for Aquaculture NZ and discovered that New Zealand’s Greenshell Mussels have three times more iron than beef.

Just five Greenshell mussels provide as much iron as eating a man-sized 300 grams of rump steak. This is fantastic news for the less carnivorous of us. Five Greenshell Mussels provides

Oh my goodness, these little sweet treats are so delicious, especially with coffee or a cup of Earl Grey tea. This recipe is adapted from Bertoni’s – arguably the most popular coffee stop in Balmain.  Last weekend I spotted a local Balmain dad sipping his Bertoni coffee in Strathfield – a 20-30 minute drive from Balmain. That’s true devotion! Bertoni’s is authentically Italian and their cookbook has some fabulous recipes as well as a history of the Bertoni family and their love of good food.

“I don’t know what’s happened but all I want to eat each afternoon is peanut butter on a slice of grain bread,” my friend commented this week.

No, she’s not pregnant. But she has started a new job and hardly eats all day. No wonder her body is hanging out for a super combo of carbs, protein and healthy monounsaturated fat. That’s what you get in a peanut butter sandwich along with 1.5 grams of fibre per tablespoon of peanut butter. Spread it on wholemeal or grainy bread and the fibre could reach 5 or 6 grams – enough to tide a busy working mum through the hectic 4-6pm dinner rush.

It got me thinking about peanuts.