Archive for Eat More Fruits and Veggies
Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge: Check Point
Posted by: | CommentsSince we’re just getting started with this Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge, I wanted to touch base and see how your day went!
Our day started out with fresh strawberries and whipped cream on top of whole wheat waffles.
Oh boy, were these good. Or so I was told. I decided to wait to eat until I read the boys’ Bible lesson to them. By the time I was finished, there were no strawberries left…no waffles left…and the whipped cream could barely be scraped out of the bowl. Don’t worry, I’m used to it. :)
Instead I ate a clementine, which I eat almost every morning anyway (either that, or an orange). Then, mid morning I had an apple.
1 small clementine – 1 serving
1 apple – 2 servings
I told the boys about the challenge and well…anything that has to do with competition, challenge, sport, race…they’re all over it! They’ve been counting their servings all day long and eating extra carrots to make sure they get a big enough serving… It’s been great! I should have “challenged” them long ago!
I loaded up on a bunch of veggies at lunch with my sloppy joe. It’s amazing how easy it was for me to get FIVE whole servings at lunchtime!
3/4 cup creamy cole slaw plus 2 bell pepper spears - 2 servings
6 baby carrots – 1 serving
1 cup green beans – 2 servings
That’s eight servings by two in the afternoon! It was painless (and actually quite delicious!).
For dinner I changed my menu plan a bit (how shocking!) and made chicken fajitas instead of enchiladas. There were peppers, onions and salsa in my fajita…but altogether, that was still only one serving. In order to get one more serving into all of us, I made delicious strawberry-peach-chocolate milkshakes to go with dinner. Oh…the joy of forcing down fruit in a milkshake! I’ll be sure to share the recipe soon!
peppers, onions and salsa – 1 serving
strawberries and peaches in milkshake – 1 serving
Total for today – 10 servings of fruits and veggies!!
I doubt I’ll be able to hit that mark each day…but who knows?! It wasn’t hard at all. I’ll check back in with you later in the week to see how things are going. In the meantime…anytime you want to, come check in here and leave comments answering the following questions:
How has your day gone? Have you been enjoying all the colorful foods? Have you found it easy or difficult to eat more fruits and veggies? What’s your favorite thing that you ate today (I’m talking about your favorite fruit or veggie of the day, not your favorite piece of chocolate!)? :)
The Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge! (revisited!)
Posted by: | CommentsI hear from so many of you that you want to eat healthier. You want to start making positive changes for yourself and for your family. You want to feel better. You want to have more energy. You want to help your families make good healthy choices.
But you don’t know where to start.
Let me first encourage you by saying that if you WANT to eat healthier…you’ve already taken the first step. Really. Having the desire to eat better and feed your family better is so great!
You wanna know what I think is one of the EASIEST first steps to take when it comes to becoming healthier? Eat more fruits and veggies.
ANYONE can do that! And it’s absolutely painless. Seriously, eating a fresh strawberry doesn’t hurt at all. You can do it!
Take the Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge with me!
I feed my family a pretty good, healthy diet…and yet I’ve been feeling lately like we should be getting more fruits and veggies into our bodies. I’m starting this challenge for myself…and hoping that you’ll jump in too!
About a year ago, I held a challenge similar to this one and found it to be SO HELPFUL knowing that others out there were joining me. It’s a great thing to know that others are working toward the same goals you are!
Here are a few details you might be wondering about:
- It is recommended that we all eat at least five servings of fruits and veggies each day. I plan to try for five to eight servings each day (because the more the better, right?).
- If you are used to eating very few fruits and veggies during the day, just shoot for any number that is bigger than what you are currently eating. For instance, if you’ve been only eating one serving a day, go for three. (Or more of course…I’m just suggesting that you set a reasonable goal for yourself and your family!)
- How big is a serving size? Not as big as you think!! Read more about that here!
- If you already feel like you eat plenty of fruits and veggies…take the challenge anyway and work on expanding your fruit and veggie variety!
For the next several weeks, I’ll write posts filled with lots of fruits and veggie information, recipes and encouragement. Sometime within the next couple of weeks, I’ll put up a Mr. Linky for all of us to share how we’re doing with the challenge…and to share our favorite fruits and veggies recipes. (I’ll give you fair warning about when that will happen so you can plan ahead!)
Jump in with us and take this challenge! Can’t you just taste it? Fresh pineapple…yummy veggie stir fry…strawberries and cream…grilled veggie kabobs…juicy peaches…
Will You Take this
Challenge with me?!
C’mon Little Tomatoes…Hang in There With Us
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I’m knee deep in tomatoes and making jar after jar (after jar) of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa and tomato soup…I get to a point where I don’t really want to even look at another tomato for a long, long time.
Then, as the tomato growing season comes to an end…I begin to feel a little sad that we won’t be able to eat a good fresh tomato for several more months. It is now that time of year. We just pulled our last red tomatoes out of the garden. :(
But…we’re not quite willing to give those good tomatoes up yet. Matt heard about a way to possibly make them last a little longer.
He pulled out the healthiest of our plants…the ones that had quite a few nice green tomatoes on them….and he hung them upside down in our storage room. Apparently, the nutrients in the plant are supposed to go down into the tomatoes and keep them strong and they’ll eventually turn red and be delicious. Maybe?
Hey, it’s worth a try. Now my storage room smells like dirt in a garden. Now that’s not something everyone can brag about.
Another thing we’re gonna try…
Our friend Brenda has an uncle (who has a cousin who has a neighbor who has a dentist who has a florist…)
Just kidding. Our friend Brenda has an uncle who wraps his green tomatoes up in newspaper and they eventually turn red and are very tasty. She told us that her uncle has yummy tomatoes even up until Christmas time! (To which Matt asked, “And do they also still have fruit flies at Christmas time?”) (We’re a little tired of fruit flies around here can you tell?)
Fruit flies or not, we’re going to lovingly wrap up some green tomatoes in newspaper. Because what do we have to lose?
I’ll be sure to let you know how our little tomato experiments go!
Have any of you tried any of these things (or anything else) to make your tomatoes last a little longer? Do you think we might be crazy for trying this?
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The Kitchen Overflowing With Fruit Whips Out Some Homemade Fruit Leather
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you look at an apple tree and see that it is loaded with fruit…it’s all so very pretty and exciting. So you begin to pick the apples and load your boxes…and it gets even more pretty and exciting. And then you go overboard because all of it is all so pretty and exciting that you just can’t stop picking.
And then, you go home with all of your apples, and someone else calls you on the phone and asks if you want some more apples. And you say, sure, because you just hate to turn away good (free) food. So then, you have even more apples.
And then someone else calls you (in the same day) and asks if you want some peaches. Like FOUR banana boxes full of peaches. And you get really excited (forgetting briefly about all of the apples) and say, yes, you’d love to have all those peaches. (And then you share some of the peaches because really, four banana boxes full? Have you seen a banana box?)
And then you get started in your kitchen making applesauce and canning and freezing peaches…and you keep working until everything, including your children, begin to look like either an apple or a peach. Sad, but true.
You decide that you’re kind of tired of doing the very same things with your fruit, so you try to make some fruit leather. And it works, and it’s yummy. Everything and everyone around you still looks like an apple or a peach…but at least now, you have another kind of snack stored away in your pantry for the winter. Hooray!
Here’s what you would do…
Apple Fruit Leather
1. Make applesauce as shown here.
2. Put a piece of buttered parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread the applesauce about 1/8 inch thickness on the cookie sheet.
3. Put it into a 170 degree oven for somewhere between 10-18 hours or longer, depending on your oven. Your fruit leather will be done with it is no longer wet….just sticky and leathery.
You can add some kind of sweetener to it or maybe some cinnamon or nutmeg if you’d like…I just left mine plain and it is sweet and yummy as can be!
Peach Fruit Leather (So Easy!!!)
1. Wash peaches
2. Cut them off of their pit and throw them, skin and all, into the blender.
3. Add a shot of water and puree them until there are no chunks.
4. Spread it onto a piece of buttered parchment paper on a cookie sheet, about 1/8 inch thick.
5. Put it into a 170 degree oven for somewhere between 10-18 hours or longer, depending on your oven. Your fruit leather will be done with it is no longer wet….just sticky and leathery.
***A few things to note about making the fruit leather.
*While you are making it you might think that it is taking FOREVER. And you’d be right. It does. Be patient.
*My fruit leather didn’t dry evenly in my oven…so sometimes I would cut off the sections that were dry (so that they wouldn’t get overdone), and stick the rest back in the oven. This meant I had some weird shaped fruit leather, but I was going to cut it all up to store it anyway, so it didn’t matter.
*I loved it that I could put this in the oven in the late evening, then I could go to sleep and have it be all done, or almost done, when I got up in the morning!
I let us all have a sample taste….then I put it into a jar and into the pantry (should be stored in a cool, dark place). Right now we have so many fresh fruits available to us that I’m sort of hoarding the food I’m preserving. I’ll pull out the fruit leather on some wintery day when fresh fruit is not so abundant! THEN it’ll really be a treat!
Okay, I’m off to go start peeling more apples… :)
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Awesome Easy Tomato Soup
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It’s almost that time of year again… The time when we can warm up at lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup!
I LOVE this recipe that was given to me by my friend Anne…who got it from her friend Anne. (Yeah, like that’s not ever confusing.) Along with canning lots of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa, I love canning several jars of Anne’s tomato soup for the winter! (Wait, which Anne is that?)
Most of the tomato soup you’ll find at the store will have high fructose corn syrup or sugar in it…
This recipe has no sugar…which is amazing because it tastes so yummy and sweet! Once when Matt was eating some, he asked at least three times, “This really doesn’t have any sugar in it?” :)
Homemade Tomato Soup
5 pounds chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Put everything in a big pot and cook it for about 3 hours. Then, put it into your blender and blend until smooth. Freeze it, or can it following these canning methods.
I love having recipes like this that are so simple to make and healthy for my family!
Canning Tomato Juice and Tomato Sauce
Posted by: | CommentsOkay, we’ve covered the basics of canning…freezing corn…freezing green beans…canning and freezing peaches…making and canning applesauce…
Now lets talk about tomatoes!
Last year, I planted 40…yes FORTY tomato plants. On purpose. Because I’m crazy.
I ended up having SO MANY tomatoes, that by the end of the summer, I had canned almost two years worth of tomato sauce, tomato juice and tomato soup. And, I still had tomatoes! I was begging people to please come pick my tomatoes and take them far, far away from my house.
While canning that many tomatoes was a wonderful thing…I still hadn’t fully recovered from it when it came time to plant tomatoes this year. Therefore, I only planted 20 tomato plants this spring. *cough*
The good thing is…I never have to buy any tomato juice, sauce or soup. Ever. And the home-canned stuff is SO GOOD!!!
Here’s the way I make tomato juice and tomato sauce…
First, you start with bunches and bunches of pretty tomatoes, like these. You can take the skins off and the seeds out if you want to…I pretty much just WASH them. I leave the skin on and and the seeds in…mostly because I’m just too lazy to do otherwise. My family doesn’t know the difference, and you can’t really even tell that the seeds and skin are still there. At all.
Next, I cut the tomatoes into fourths and put them into my blender.
The tomatoes are then blended up until they are liquid.
(Mmm, tomato smoothie anyone?)
After I blend up my tomatoes, they go into a big pot. Obviously this pot was not quite big enough! Filling your pot this full will just about guarantee that your pot will boil over and spill all over your stovetop creating a cooked on tomato mess. (Picture of the boiled over mess not available…because I scooped some out before it boiled over, thank you very much.)
Next, I boil my tomatoes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. After a while it begins to look like this. Once that bubbly froth is just about all gone from the top (about an hour and a half or so after beginning the boiling process), you have made tomato juice, and you’re able to go ahead with the hot water bath process of canning tomato juice.
But, if you want tomato sauce, continue to let it boil for another hour or so. You’ll know your tomato sauce is done “saucing” when most of the watery liquid has evaporated. If you continue to cook it at this point, you will have tomato paste…which is fine…if you want tomato paste.
Can your tomato sauce for 25-30 minutes following the hot water bath instructions here.
Then, you will have tomato juice for yummy veggie soups and such…and tomato sauce for sloppy joes, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, enchilada sauce…and whatever else you use tomato sauce for. (If you want to, you can add your herbs and spices into the sauce while your making it so that you’ve got your spaghetti and pizza sauce already put together in your jars!)
AND, if you’ve got other veggies laying around, like yellow squash or zucchini…throw those in while you’re blending up your tomatoes…and add them to your sauce before you cook it down. No one will ever know!
I have a wonderful recipe for tomato soup that I’ll be sure to share soon!
Yumm-eeee!
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How to Make and Can Applesauce
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the best “Fall smells” I can think of is applesauce cooking on the stove. It is SO YUMMY!!!
Here’s a step by step of the easiest way I’ve found to make applesauce. (But be sure to read Canning 101 first if you’re unfamiliar with the basic steps of canning safely!)
I slice my apples like this, then peel each slice.
I find this to be much easier than peeling the whole apple first and then slicing it.
As I slice and peel, I put my apples into a big pot. At the bottom of my pot is 5 cups of water and 3 teaspoons of ascorbic acid (powdered vitamin C).
As I continue to add apples, I stir them into the water/ascorbic acid frequently so that the apples are all coated with the mixture and are much less likely to turn brown.
Once I have my pot 3/4 full of apples, I put it on the stove…
and bring it to a boil, then simmer it (uncovered)
for about 30 minutes or until the apples are tender.
Then, I spoon the tender apples with some of the liquid into my blender
and blend it all up until it is smooth.
Isn’t it pretty!!! Next, I pour the applesauce
into sterilized jars with a wide mouth funnel.
I hot water bath my jars for about 25 minutes.
And like always, after I pull them out of the hot water, I set them on my counter for several hours (or days) so that I can admire them and feel happy about my applesauce. Ahh…..beautiful!
Freezing and Canning Peaches for Winter
Posted by: | CommentsI mentioned that over the weekend I received millions and millions (okay, maybe not millions) of peaches from a lady in town. I’ve been busy preserving them for winter and thought I’d walk through the steps with you.
Please note: These peaches were so awesome and juicy, and since there were so many of them, I felt that none of us needed to hold back on how many we ate. So, as I was standing in my kitchen peeling and slicing peaches, and peach juice was running down my arms…I was also biting into peaches as I worked, because I just couldn’t resist. Therefore, I also had peach juice running down my chin. But with peach juice all over my hands and running down my arms, it’s not like I could do much about my chin, you know? Not one of my finer moments.
Thought you might like to picture that.
If you remember, I was given four boxes of peaches. (I did share a few with some friends.)
In the past, I’ve always peeled my peaches with a knife…and that’s been fine. But I had so many peaches this time, I went ahead and tried this method of peeling, and whoa was it a time saver! Just put your peaches into boiling water for about 30 seconds…pull them out…
And those skins just peel right off!! It was awesome. Except for when they didn’t peel right off, which happened with a few of them for some reason. (Just thought I’d tell you that so that if not all of them peel right off for you, you’ll know that you aren’t the only one!)
(You don’t have to peel your peaches if you’re going to freeze them. They’ll be more nutritious if you leave the peelings on, and it will save so much time too!)
To freeze peaches, just peel, slice and lay the peach slices on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the pan into the freezer until the peaches are frozen, about two hours. (Or longer if you forget they’re in there.) Then put them into a freezer bag and you’ve got great peaches for smoothies and slushies!! And cobblers and crisps! (If you feel like skipping this step and simply just putting your peach slices directly into a pan without freezing them individually like this first, you can…but you’ll end up with one big gallon sized frozen peach-sicle, and you may be very frustrated when you want only part of the rock hard peach-sicle for a smoothie. Just so ya know.)
Now…to can peaches…this is what I do. There are other ways to do it…this is just the way I do it! Please be sure to go back and read Canning 101 for the canning basics!
I make a honey/water solution on my stove…which is 2 T. honey to every 5 cups of water. Heat it on the stove and let it sit warm while you prepare your peaches.
Take out a hot jar and put in about 1/16 teaspoon of ascorbic acid to keep your peaches pretty. Just dump it into the bottom of the jar. (Some people use lemon juice)
Ascorbic acid is powdered vitamin C. I get mine at a health food store.
Fill the jar with sliced peaches. Then, use a funnel to pour your honey/water into the jar, to about a half inch from the top. Place a sterilized lid and ring onto the full jar.
Now it’s time to give your full jars a hot water bath to seal the lids. Put your full jars into the water. Once the water is boiling, boil the jars for about 25 minutes. (And yes, this is actually a picture of applesauce jars boiling…I forgot to take a picture of the peaches boiling and I’m too tired to go can more peaches just so that I can go take a picture of the jars boiling.)
Oh, and boil your jars with the lid on the water bath pot…I just took off the lid for the picture. :)
After the jars have boiled for 25 minutes, take them out with tongs…or better yet, this cool gripping tool made especially for jars and hot water baths. Then you get to listen for the caps to seal. I can’t think of a way to blog the way it sounds…but after all your hard work, it sure is a cool sound to hear them seal! (Thhhhp!) (Or something like that!) You can be sure they sealed if you can push down on the top and it is down firm. It takes anywhere from 1 second to 30 minutes for the lid to seal after you’ve taken it out of the water.
Then, just leave your canned peaches out on the counter for a few hours or several days so that you can admire them and smile and feel happy every time you walk into the kitchen and see them. (Okay, that’s what I like to do anyway.) (Because I’m weird like that.)
Canning 101
Posted by: | CommentsJust in case you may be unfamiliar with the beautiful art of canning fruits and veggies…I thought I’d do this post to explain some of the basics. Then later, I can post about the specifics!
Here are some of the basic supplies you will need in order to can food. Some of these supplies are not entirely neccessary…just really, really helpful. Some of these supplies are entirely neccessary.
If you are planning on canning fruits or veggies, you will need jars.
(Oh, how I love jars!) I like having both quart and pint sized…
and my favorites are the wide mouth jars.
You’ll also need lids and rings. The rings you can re-use year after year,
but in order to have your lid seal, you must use new ones each year.
This handy dandy tool is a magnetic wand, which I use to retrieve lids
and rings out of hot sterilizing water. (See below) I love this tool!!
This tool helps me grip the jars as I pull them out of the hot water bath.
Since I’ve had this tool, I have broken fewer jars and burned myself less often.
I SO recommend one of these.
This wide mouth funnel is a lifesaver when you’re trying to get
your produce into the jar without making a big mess.
A water bath pot is pretty neccessary…
if you’re planning to seal your jars in a water bath.
Okay…next…
Here are a few things you need to know if you don’t want to die from botulism…
*Using the hot water bath system to seal your jars is only safe if you’re canning something acidic. Otherwise, food must be sealed in a pressure cooker. Food that I know of to be safe to can in a hot water bath: tomatoes, apples, peaches, pears. If you aren’t for sure what’s safe…please look it up to be sure before you use a hot water bath to seal your lids!
*You need to sterilize your jars, lids and rings before you put food into them. All I do is put my clean jars upside down into a shallow pan of boiling water for a couple of minutes.
I do the same with my lids and rings.
See, this is where that magnetic wand comes in very handy!
*When you put your jars full of yummy fruits or veggies into the hot water bath, I recommend putting them in before you start to boil the water. If your water is already boiling hot, you run the risk of breaking your jars and losing all of the work you put into filling. So, put your jars into the pot of water, then turn it on to begin to get hot. Once it finally starts to boil, then start your timer for the recommended boiling time.
Okay…this will all make more sense with my other posts about canning specific fruits and veggies. But…that gives you the basic information you’ll need so that those posts will make sense. Or maybe none of it makes any sense and you’d rather just come over and watch. (Watch, nothin’. I’d hand over a knife and some apples and tell you to get busy.) :)
Stay tuned…canning peaches and applesauce coming soon!
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Find more kitchen tips on Tammy’s Recipes.
I LOVE This Time of Year!!!
Posted by: | CommentsAll day yesterday I was singing the song in my head, “It’s the most wonderful time…of the year…” (And now you’ll be singing it too…sorry.)
But it just really is one of the most wonderful times of the year, when so many yummy fruits and veggies are ready for harvest. We LOVE it!!
One of our favorite things to do this time of year is to take a trip to “Ms. Madge’s house” where we get to pick apples and pears. She always thanks us for taking so many apples and pears off of her hands. Um, you’re welcome. Oh, how I love being able to “serve” others this way… :)
Asa picking apples…
Elias picking apples…
Unknown boy picking apples… (Just kidding, it’s Justus)
Malachi helping Ms. Madge pick pears
There are two more boxes just like this one! Woohoo!
Then we came home and picked peaches off of our own tree!
And tomatoes and peppers out of our garden…
Looks like it’s time for some salsa!!
And…based on all the pictures you’ve seen here…it looks like you’ll be seeing some upcoming posts on how to can applesauce, peaches, pears and tomato sauce!! Guess I’d better get busy in the kitchen!
Wanna come over and help?!
