In South Africa alone, one in three women and one in five men are affected by osteoporosis. Apart from regular exercise, the skeleton needs nourishment in order to stay healthy. Here are some recipes for a calcium-packed day.

Parmalat recommends a simple balanced diet which gives your body everything it needs for your bones to stay healthy and strong. These delicious and very easy recipes are rich in the calcium you need to prevent osteoporosis.

Ideas for Breakfast

Oatmeal

Instructions:

Top the cooked oats with dried apricots and nuts.

Tropical orange smoothie

Instructions:

Combine the banana, undrained pineapple and orange juice concentrate into a blender. Cover and blend until almost smooth. Add the low-fat ice cream and milk. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses, sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top and serve immediately.

Lunch

Wrap attack

Instructions:

Place the softened cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Add mild salsa and whip with a blender until smooth and creamy. Spread this flavoured cream evenly over each tortilla, leaving two centimetre uncovered at the top and bottom.
Place three celery sticks and two carrots in the flavoured cream cheese then sprinkle the cheddar cheese over each tortilla. From the bottom, fold the uncovered part and roll, cut the roll in half so that it looks like a pinwheel. Makes six servings.

Tomato basil soup

Instructions:

In a medium-sized saucepan, sauté the onion in olive oil until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook together for approximately one minute. Add the tomatoes. Cook uncovered over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Spoon three quarters of the mixture into a food processor or blender container and puree until smooth.
Return to the saucepan. Add red pepper, basil and milk to the soup. Heat until hot, but do not boil. Add salt and pepper to taste and as an alternative, you can also add a dollop of fresh cream.

Supper

Green bean chicken casserole

Makes enough for six to eight servings.

Prepare the long grain rice according to package directions. Stir in chicken, beans, soups, mushrooms, onion, green pepper and soup mix. Spoon into two greased baking dishes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake the casserole at 170°C for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Herb gnocchi

Instructions:

Cook the unpeeled garlic cloves for four minutes in boiling water to soften. Drain the garlic and remove the skins. Place in a food processor or blender with the mixed herbs and puree to a mash.
Place the fresh spinach in a large pot of lightly salted water that just barely covers the leafy greens and cook until wilted. Let the spinach cool, drain and then squeeze as much water out of the spinach as humanely possible. Finely chop the cooled spinach and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the ricotta cheese and egg yolk. Add the spinach and herb-and-garlic mash and blend again. Stir in about half the Parmesan cheese and finally sift in the flour, blending well.
Flour your hands for easy rolling and begin breaking off bits of the spinach of the spinach mixture, forming dumplings about the size of walnuts. Roll the dumplings, placing them on waxed paper as you work.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and slip the dumplings into the water. The gnocchi will rise to the top of the water once cooked. Drain the boiled gnocchi while you cook the rest.
Meanwhile, melt some butter in a large saucepan and simmer the boiled gnocchi in the butter for about a minute, then toss with the some sage and simmer for one more minute.
Serve the gnocchi with a sprinkling of the remaining Parmesan cheese, providing salt and freshly ground black pepper for extra flavour.