So... I've been wanting to eat more fruits and veggies- supposedly
they're good for you. ;) Anyway, I was pointed to a website and
eventually found myself at the Centers for Disease Control's Fruit and
Vegetable of the Month page. It's quite neat, they have a fruit and
veggie for each month-  give you a little history of each, how to shop
for it, store it and some sample recipes.

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/5ADay/month/index.htm

29 responses total.

Hmm, this could be an interesting site... Thanks for sharing it, Anne.

*grins* No problem. I've found lots of good information there- not that
I've put any to use yet...

Thanks for the link! The hubby's vegetarian, and I'm trying to look 
for exciting vegetarian recipes that will keep me interested in 
cooking. Looks like a great site.

My wife makes a great eggplant parmesian if you're interested in the recipe.

Ooh - that sounds great. The hubby likes eggplant parmesian.

So with a lot of the summer/fall fruits and vegetables coming in, what
are  y'all doing with your abundance of them?  [I know we have the
apples item,  we can still talk about them here if you want but this
item, being titled ' Fruits and Vegetables', anything goes [within the
f&V ranges, of course!]
 :-)

A few weeks ago, my dad sent me home with a bunch of tomatoes and I used
 them to make a pasta sauce [with ground turkey, tomatoes, prego,
onions,  seasonings, etc].  

Then early last week, my SIL gave me LOTS of the grape tomatoes. I 
finally did something with them today. Of course, this is another 'made-
up' recipe, so I still don't know how it'll taste when its done.  Into a
 saucepan, I added the quartered tomoates [which filled the pan about
2/3  of the way] and then added a small can of tomato sauce, some corn,
and  some pepper and onion blend. While this was coming to a boil, I
added  some seasoning and after it was boiling and stirred for a little
bit, I  cut it down to a low boil for a bit. Tasted it, decided to add a
bit  more seasoning, then let it simmer.  Now it's shut off and am
letting it  gradually cool off [with the lid on it]. Will divide it up
into 2-3  countainers to use at various times, in whatever ways strikes
my fancy  at the time.  

While this was on the stove, I seasoned and baked a few chicken breasts 
and they're now in the fridge. So when dinner comes around, I'll 
probably fix up some rice or macaroni [I'm leaning towards the rice 
right now], and top the rice with the chicken and then the tomato stuff.
 I hope it'll turn out ok!  At least I'll be getting more veggies in.

I picked a gallon of red grape tomatoes and sliced some of them in half and
put them cut side down on a large teflon-lined baking pan, covered that with
another pan to keep in the moisture, and put it in the freezer to freeze solid
before putting into a ziplock bag, so I can add small tomatoes to things in
the winter.  Also picked a bunch of melokhiya (Egyptian green) and microwaved
for 1 minute and froze in two bags, to add to soup as thickener in winter.
Jim caught another oppossum which he did not freeze for winter, near the corn
that the raccoon knocked down and ate before we trapped it.  We are eating
tomatoes every day.  I picked some more green beans to eat, and found two red
peppers which I wil let ripen more for seed, and picked the last cuke because
the plant was dead (I had grown it longer for seed).  And picked bean seeds
of various types which are drying above the refrigerator to plant in May.
The second planting of lettuce (early August) is ready to eat.  I don't see
it at market.

I liked the tomato stuff I made today but the chicken was a bit on the
dry  side. :-(  [And I was really dragging today so I didn't bother
making any  rice or macaroni.]

I've been trying to come up with new ideas for vegetable side dishes.
You know, more than just steaming 'em.  Recently I did a quick stir-fry
of some baby bok choy with portabello mushrooms and it was quick and 
delicious.  And I had no idea how good cherry tomatoes could be roasted,
at 425 degrees, just dressed in a little olive oil, salt, pepper and 
thyme.  Now to find something quick and easy to do with butternut squash.

Microwave it until soft.  Pressure cook it for a few minutes.

I'd roast it.  Peel it, clean it, cube it, toss it with some olive oil 
and a bit of salt.

I roast a lot of vegetables once the heat breaks.  

Roast it in a 300-350 oven until it is soft 1-2 hours.  The slower
roasting helps caramelize the sugars in the squash.  I also roast beets,
onions, sweet potatoes, and eggplant.  

1-2 hours is not 'quick'.

True.  But if it's untended time, it can seem like it.

I want things to be ready faster than that.  I cook when hungry.

Thanks for the tips on cooking squash.  The way I usually do it is to 
split an acorn squash, spray the flesh with olive oil and sprinkle on a 
little cinnamon, salt and pepper.  It then gets roasted with whatever I'm 
putting in the oven.  When it's done it either gets served as it or 
scooped out and mashed up with a touch of honey or maple syrup.  Delish.

But I'm looking to do something with maybe cumin or onions or something to 
play up the savory side of squash.

Split, filled with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and then baked. 
Yum.

Re 17  Hmmmm...Well, you're the adventurous type.  How about cleaning, 
peeling and cubing a butternut squash, toss it with olive oil, sea 
salt and a bit of cumin and roasting it with red onions?  I'm tempted 
to try this myself tomorrow.  We're having friends over for dinner 
(he's a chef and somehow everytime he's had dinner at my house I've 
been barbecuing baby back ribs) and I'm doing a fennel seed crusted 
pork loin with roasted pears, potatoes and red onions.

If I do the squash, I'll let you know how it turnes out.  Putting 
cumin with the squash makes me think of the squash enchiladas at Seva.

Yes!

Squash peels much more easily after it is cooked.

I'm sure it does.  Unfortunately, my recipe calls for cubed peeled 
squash to roast.

I roasted carrots, parsnips and onions last night with olive 
oil/salt/pepper.  When they were done, I ran them through my food 
processor (I have GOT to get a blender) with chicken broth, to have 
for a soup for the dinner party I'm planning tonight.  It's still 
pretty chunky - I'm trying to decide if I want to run it through a 
sieve.

Parsnips!!

I'd start a new thread, but I doubt it would have many recipes.

One of my favorites is carrots and parsnips cut into matchstick pieces
(or shredded if I'm in a hurry) and sauted in butter until slightly
browned.  

I like them mashed together!  Irish cuisine at it's finest.  ;-)

I've never roasted a parsnip.  Me bad. ;-)  

They are SO good.  I'm so loving it being cooler, so I can do more 
cooking with the oven.

Ok, so everything last night at the dinner was *great*.  Mary, the 
butternut squash was great, though when I do it again, I'm going to 
roast it longer (I had time/oven constraints)so it gets the carmelized 
effect.  The cumin/salt sprinkled on top really blended nicely with 
the sweet of the squash.  Everyone loved it.

And, who knew roasted pears were so damned good with pork?

Next time you're using pork, try a pear/celery/onion/sage mixture.

I roast mine, or crock pot it.  Chop pear/celery/onion into 1/2 inch
dice. Make a bed of veges for pork (loin, chops, etc) to rest on while
it roasts.  

Yum!!!  

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