MADE any New Year's resolutions yet?

If you have, then I bet one of them has something to do with a) losing weight and b) improving your diet.

Fortunately, help is at hand from the 'king of fusion cooking' - New Zealand-born Peter Gordon of the famous Sugar Club in London.

As part of the campaign to encourage us to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, health professionals are now urging us to 'eat a rainbow' - one fruit and vegetable from each of the colour bands to ensure we get the best range of different vitamins and phytochemicals available to us.

Stir-frying is one way you can achieve this - either by preparing the vegetables yourself or taking advantage of the range of fresh-cut stir-fry packs available in most supermarkets.

Many slimmers use stir-fry veg as part of a calorie-controlled diet.

One serving of vegetable and beansprout stir-fry contains around 27 calories and 0.8g fat.

Stir-fried with ginger and garlic and 1 tspn of oil, the calorie count still only amounts to around 54 calories and 3.8g fat (less than a small pot of yoghurt).

Of course, you would be wrong if you think stir-fries are just about oriental food.

Stir fusion' is a new trend which takes the fusion food style one step further giving an adventurous twist to cooking with a wok and mixing different ingredients from different cuisines to create an eclectic range of dishes.

The pioneer of this style of Fusion Cuisine is Peter Gordon.

"I've always been open to whatever looked or tasted good. It's allowed me to be broad-minded and open to all combinations of flavours," said Peter.

"People get bored with the same old recipes.

"They like to be experimental and appreciate food in all its potential and so I hope that I've given them a few new ideas with this collection."

Get your copy of the Westmorland Gazette for the recipes or use some of the search engines listed in the Web Watch Column (link below) to find fusion recipes.