Good Eats - From the Garden to Your Table.

With winter now well underway, temperatures are low over most of the country and the trees are bare-—but that doesn't mean your diet has to be barren of fresh fruits and vegetables. Perhaps surprisingly, during wintertime some of the heartiest and most delicious produce is in season. Choosing freshly harvested seasonal produce supports a healthy diet, and eating in-season produce can be more nutritious, more flavorful, and often less expensive.

The vitamins provided by fresh fruits and veggies can be especially beneficial during these cold months, when days are shorter and cold and flu season is at its height.

So get out that shopping list! Here's a cheat sheet for your next trip to the produce aisle. Look for these in-season fruits and vegetables:

• apples
• beets
• blood oranges
• bok choy
• broccolini
• Brussels sprouts
• cabbage
• celery root (celeriac)
• kale
• oranges
• passion fruit
• persimmons
• rutabagas
• sweet potatoes
• tangerines
• turnips
• winter squash (no kidding, right?)

As for serving suggestions, try roasting root vegetables like parsnips, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, celeriac, and rutabaga with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Put them in the oven at 400 degrees until tender. It's simple, quick, healthful, and delicious!

And instead of grabbing sugary sweets, snack on seasonal fruit, some of which are in season year-round: apples, blood oranges, clementines, grapefruits, passion fruits, pears, persimmons, and red currants are great alternatives, and provide you the nutritional benefits of winter's best fruits.

Have questions, comments or ideas for a future Supermarket Guru column? Send Phil a message at plempert@supermarketguru.com.