Currently Browsing: fruit
Aug 23, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 23, 2010 in fruit, kid friendly | 4 comments
I have so many pears!
First off, I hope everyone had a great weekend. I actually didn’t go on the computer at all over the weekend! (Which was kind of nice!) I have the day off today, it’s the last day of summer vacation since my kids start school tomorrow. I feel like the summer went by so fast and I didn’t really do all that I wanted to, I need to become a better planner so life doesn’t pass me by!
We went to a family party over the weekend, celebrating my nephew leaving for college. An Aunt on his Dad’s side of the family has a pear tree in her back yard. I mentioned last week, my co-worker has a pear tree, so I had no business taking more….but I did!
They look great, but now I don’t know what to do with them
I am looking for suggestions as to what to make with them, last week I made pear/apple sauce which turned out great. I was wondering if anyone has ever peeled and diced up pears and put them in the freezer for smoothies later? Does that work?
I’m going to spend the day organizing in prepping for the school year.
And, I’m going to hop over to Robin Sue at BIG RED KITCHEN to review her lunch packing tips, she’s a super organized woman!
Do you pack your kids lunches, or do they get hot lunch?? Mine won’t touch the hot lunch with a 10 foot pole, so they always bring their lunch. This year I plan to be a night before girl, where everything (including my lunch) is made the night before. I have 3 kids, in 3 different schools this year and everyone is leaving at a different time, so the stress of having to make lunches before school is not fun. We’ll see how long that lasts!
If your kids do eat hot lunch, it’s not too late to have your voice heard about healthier lunches at school. I am a member of Slow Food and they have been campaigning with Michelle Obama to change what is served to our kids, check out this article from a couple of weeks ago. The deadline to pass the bill is September 30th.
Also, if you are getting back into the back to school frenzy this week, check out Eating Well Magazine’s No Cook Dinners! Most can be put together in under 20 minutes!
Have a great Monday everyone!
Aug 19, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 19, 2010 in fruit | 5 comments
I recently watched an episode of Jamie Oliver’s Cooking at Home show on the Cooking Channel and the show was focused on strawberries. One thing that he made was a strawberry jam. He said his mother never used pectin to make the jam; it was just the strawberries and some sugar, cooked for about 30 minutes on medium heat on the stove.
It got me to thinking; I have a lot of pears I have to use up! I wonder if I can make a pear jam? I have a very generous co-worker Chris who has been bringing in pears from the pear tree in his back yard, so I’ve been eating pears every day this week.
I had about 7 pears, to which I added 2 red delicious apples. Once I got started, I peeled and sliced the fruit, put it in a medium pot and then realized I had no sugar! BUT, I did have honey, so I put ¼ cup of honey to see what would happen.
Well, after cooking it for about 30 minutes, the pear had softened the juices came out of the fruits and my kitchen smelled amazing. The apples were still a little firm, so I cooked it for another 15 minutes on low heat. I used my immersion blender and pureed most of it, but leaving it kind of chunky too. So, instead of having a jam, it was more like apple/pear sauce! It tasted delicious. It would be great warm over vanilla ice cream, served with pancakes, added to yogurt, spooned over a pork chop or just eaten as a side dish.
Jenn’s Pear/Apple Sauce
Ingredients:
7 pears, peeled and sliced
2 red delicious apples, peeled and sliced
¼ cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
Directions:
Peel and slice the fruit, put it in a medium pot, add the honey and simmer on low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. That’s it. You don’t need to add any liquid, because the pears and apples release so much juice.
Have you ever made jam, and if so, how did it turn out??
Apr 29, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Apr 29, 2010 in bread, breakfast, fruit, Muffin of the Week | 4 comments
Strawberry Sour Cream Bread
I have to thank Christina for making this recipe that she got from Natalie who won the BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient) that Christina hosted where the ingredient was sour cream.
Now, I hate sour cream by itself, but I don’t mind it in things. I’ll add it to my awesome baked potato soup, or I’ll eat it in dip, so when I saw that sour cream was one of the ingredients to this bread, I didn’t hesitate. Christina and Natalie’s picture of their bread looked fantastic and I knew I had to try it. The batter literally took 5 minutes to put together and then all you have to do is wait for it to bake!
Ingredients:
Yield: 1 9×5 loaf pan
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
3/4 cup Sugar* ( I used a no calorie sweetener instead and it turned out fine!)
3 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups AP Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2 cups Strawberries, quartered
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Directions from Natalie’s bread which was adapted from the Joy of Cooking:
1. Using an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Next add eggs one at a time and then vanilla, until mixture is creamy and fully combined.
2. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and the sour cream (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.
3. Gently fold in the strawberries.
4. Pour the batter into a greased 9×5 loaf pan and place in preheated oven. Bake for one hour, or until slightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool in loaf pan at least 30 minutes before gently removing.
I had a small slice with breakfast every day this week and it was so good!
Do you like to make breads with berries in them?
Apr 15, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Apr 15, 2010 in breakfast, fruit, general ideas, lunch, salad, vegetables | 5 comments
I read an interesting article today from the University of Michigan Health System. They devised a “healing foods pyramid” which is shown below. I’ve mentioned before that researchers are now saying its better to eat 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and as this article mentioned the more fruits and vegetables you eat the more significant the reduction of chronic disease.
One thing I thought was interesting about the article is that it talked a lot about phytochemicals. I know we hear about phytochemicals. Those are naturally occurring plant chemicals. Phytochemicals are not yet classified as nutrients, but their role in nutrition is still unfolding.
In the human body, some phytochemicals act as antioxidants, some protect and regenerate essential nutrients, while others work to deactivate cancer-causing substances in your body.
There are THOUSANDS of phytochemicals which have been identified in the plant foods we eat. One serving of fruit or vegetables may contain 100 different phytochemicals!
Newer food Pyramid
Notice how the bottom of the pyramid is water, followed by fruits and veggies, legumes, whole grains, etc… It kind of gives you a better reason to feed your body something that actually can heal itself vs. processed foods that are dead and yucky, or at least that’s how I am looking at it!
On another note, I tried something this morning for breakfast and I loved it! Are you a fan of cottage cheese? I’m not. I’ve tried it before, can’t eat it plain, but thought, what if I add them to my scrambled eggs? I bought Fiber One brand cottage cheese which is only 80 calories and 5 grams of fiber per half cup.
Yum!
In a skillet, I chopped up 1 Trader Joe’s chicken sausage that’s only 100 calories, then in a separate bowl I whisked 1 egg + 2 egg whites and added the 1/2 cup cottage cheese to that. After the chicken sausage was browned, I added the egg/cottage cheese mixture and just cooked until the eggs were cooked. It was creamy, melty, it bulked up the eggs a lot and I loved it!
So good!
And, I had a banana on the side, and don’t worry I had LOTS of fruits and veggies for dinner:
Super deluxe dinner!
I had mixed greens, romaine lettuce, celery, carrots, strawberries, grapes, sugar snap peas, green peas, jicama, homemade croutons, and a few soy nuts sprinkled on top. It took me forever to eat this huge salad, but it was SO good! Oh yeah, and I had a few ounces of grilled chicken in there too!
So, what do you like to make with cottage cheese? Do you like it plain, drizzled with honey, salt and pepper only? I need some more ideas to finish this container!
Apr 5, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Apr 5, 2010 in bread, breakfast, dessert, Dinner Idea, fruit, holiday foods, News | 8 comments
Phew! Easter is OVER! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It turned out to be a beautiful weekend weather-wise so that made things really nice! I jogged on Saturday for 2.5 miles! As I was running on the track at our local high school I was thinking about Easter and Easter food! I specifically remember several Easter’s ago when I was on Weight Watchers and I told myself it’s ok to eat whatever you want, it’s Easter after all! Giving myself permission to splurge is a bad idea. I ate candy, had seconds of everything, I had several different kinds of pie at a family party. It was not pretty… How many times do we tell ourselves during our weight loss journey that it’s ok to splurge and then we completely go overboard?
Well, I decided this year was going to be different. Usually on birthdays/Holiday mornings, we either get Dunkin Donuts, or I made cinnamon rolls, or a breakfast casserole with Cheese and Sausage, which of course is not healthy AT ALL! And of course, nibble out of the kids Easter baskets!
As my husband was about to pass me on the track, I ran with him for a lap and said what I really wanted for our Easter morning breakfast was a healthy meal. No donuts, no cinnamon rolls, or anything of the sorts. I wanted scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, English muffins and turkey bacon.
Fresh pineapple, strawberries, eggs, turkey bacon, lite english muffin!
Everyone chipped in. My husband made the awesome scrambled eggs, my 8 year old daughter cut the tops off of the strawberries, my son Paul made blueberry smoothies for his brother and sister, and my son Mark manned the turkey bacon! It was a great way to start the day.
Since it was so nice out we went to the park for a few hours to play catch and practicing t-ball since my daughter just started on a new T-ball team. I ran around the bases a lot!
Dinner actually can be a really healthy meal too. I had the usual. Ham, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, asiago cheese drop biscuits.
Biz's drop biscuits
The biscuits were super easy and the recipe comes from my twin sister Biz
2 cups flour
1 TB. sugar
1.25 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 TB butter (which I froze the butter and used a cheese grater to grate the butter into the batter)
2 oz. Asiago Cheese (or you can use cheddar cheese)
1 cup buttermilk
Just mix altogether just until it’s incorporated. The batter will be kind of sticky. Using a small ice cream scooper, I just scooped a little of the batter out and placed it on a greased cookie sheet. They don’t spread too much, so you can place them near each other and that’s okay!
They turned out really good!
And…here’s my dinner!
Jenn's Easter Dinner!
And, since I didn’t have any candy, I did make one of my favorite pies, chocolate dream pie!
Pre-made reduced fat graham cracker pie crust
I used 1 box of fat free sugar free chocolate pudding
1 3/4 cup fat free milk
whipped topping
Mix together the pudding and milk for several minutes. Then mix in 1/2 container of fat free whipped topping (the kind that comes in a tub). Pour that into the pie crust. Freeze for several hours. About 15 minutes before you serve it, take it out of the freezer so it kind of defrosts a little.
My son Paul's piece of pie!
So, all in all it was a HUGE success!
How did everyone else do? If you did over do it yesterday, just forget about it and get back on today!!
