Seasonal Fruits
Obviously winter is not the best time for seasonal fruits but that doesn’t mean there are none to choose from! Bananas, oranges, blood oranges, grapefruits, lemons and pineapple are all great during the cold months. Oranges and bananas are favorites of mine for on-the-go snacks as they are automatically travel ready. Keep some at home, in the office or in your gym bag. Pineapples are deliciously sweet this time of year and will help you focus on the upcoming spring months. Check out my recipe for Pina Colada Pineapple Dessert!

Seasonal Vegetables
Broccoli, cabbage, escarole, parsley, spinach, spaghetti squash and kale are all winter veggies and are all delicious. Broccoli is great roasted with some garlic and olive oil, spaghetti squash is an amazing low-carb substitute for pasta and escarole, kale and spinach make fabulous and healthy side dishes. Also during this time of year I always keep carrots and celery on hand for snacks and to use as the base of almost every winter soup.

Pantry
Buckwheat pancake mix, lentils, quick cooking oats, raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts and no sugar added apple sauce are all winter pantry staples. Quick cooking oats are obviously great for breakfast but also can be used in meatloaf, breads, cookies and pancakes. Raisins and dried cranberries make great additions to salads and apple sauce is a perfect substitution for sugar in different baked goods as in my recipe for Baked Oatmeal!

Freezer
Getting some help from the store really helps out when you are scrounging for time or just feeling lazy! Buying lovely chicken cutlets that are pounded thin and the perfect serving size is the key. They are easy to sauté with just about anything and cook in no time at all. Keep some on hand in the freezer for days you can’t make it to the market.
During the winter months berries are not in season but that doesn’t mean you can’t include them in your recipes! I like to keep a few bags of frozen berries on hand to throw into muffins, cakes or desserts. They help put the berry in my Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes!

Please see the related links listed below to find the aforementioned recipes.
Happy Shopping!