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Batch Meal Plan: Black Bean & Zucchini

September 27, 2019 by Eve | Last Modified: September 8, 2020

weekly-Meal-Plan

Our main ingredients for this week’s batch meal plan are black beans and zucchini since they are in prime season! Plus, they are a healthy food option. This week’s five meals tend to be a little more southwestern in nature though they are not necessarily spicy. Most of the recipes this week serve 4, except the first day which makes enough for 8. Any leftovers can either be brought for lunches or frozen. Since zucchini & black beans are currently in season you should be able to purchase them for cheap. Here is a breakdown of the weekly batch meals:

5 Days of Dinners

  • Day 1 – Chicken Tortilla Soup
  • Day 2 – Veggie & Shrimp Kabobs
  • Day 3 – Black Bean & Veggie Baked Tostadas
  • Day 4 – Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
  • Day 5 – Crockpot Shredded Chicken Tacos

Click on the batch meal plan below to see a larger version:

What is a Batch Meal Plan?

Our batch meal plan is a five day dinner plan with one comprehensive ingredient list and simple directions for prepping all the food so for the reminder of the week you will be able to quickly make the dinners. By having one grocery list you will be able to save money by purchasing in bulk and you can easily see all the ingredients in one list. The one day of batch prep saves a lot of time because you do all the chopping, peeling, and washing on one day rather than before starting every meal. Batch meal planning is a great way to save money and time!

Filed Under: Meal Plans Tagged With: Vegetarian meals

Fruit and Vegetable Halloween Costumes

September 15, 2019 by Eve | Last Modified: November 25, 2020

Fruit Halloween costumes

Scary pumpkin decoration Halloween

              Scary Pumpkin Halloween Decoration – Autumnal Background

Fall is in the air, which means it is time to start thinking about what you will dress up as for this Halloween.

In the spirit of the blog and eating healthy, we think you should dress-up as a fruit or vegetable! Here are some good ones. You and/or the kids could dress-up like a green asparagus, an aubergine, a fat purple grape using balloons, or create your very own homemade scarecrow costume (of Oz) with a splash of blood painted.

There are hundreds if not thousands of halloween costume ideas to experiment. Go see for yourself at our Fruit and Vegetable Halloween costume ideas Pinterest board. We can guarantee that you’ll find some great halloween’ costumes for women, couples, kids and babies.

Before we go on..

Do you know when the first Halloween started?

Halloween began as a European Celtic festival. The old written books described that the early days of Halloween traditions originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear evil costumes to scare the ghosts off.

Fun fact: Halloween include multiple activities such as: apple bobbing, divination games (ways of foretelling one’s future) and much more.

Hallows’ Eve, it is tradition to reflect in the eating of certain plant-based foods, this would include: apples, soul cakes, potato pancakes, etc.

And then.. it’s in north America that Halloween festivity has really taken off. Hallowe’en was brought by the Irish and Scottish immigrants when they first arrived in the States early 1800s.

It’s good to know that modern day trick-or-treat didn’t really catch on in some parts of the United States until begin 1920s. And to this day it remains hugely popular.

Hope this short history moment could help you understand how it all started.

If you missed the link above, we’ve also started a Pinterest page with Fruit and Vegetable Halloween costume ideas. You’ll see the large, fun variety of costumes. From the turnip, the pumpkin to the dyi halloween costumes for women.

I particularly like the pineapple costume and the carrot baby costume is adorable.

Which is your favorite veggie/fruit adult costume? Do you have what it takes to make a fruit or a fancy vegetable costume at home?

I think that’s a yes and we believe in you!

Enjoy this board of Fruit & Vegetable costumes and let your creative juices flow!

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Halloween costumes

Pruning Tomatoes for Maximum Harvest

September 22, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: March 29, 2021

Pruning tomatoes

Tomato plants need weekly love in order to help them produce larger tomatoes and to maximize the harvest. Pruning also helps keep the plant healthy and free from potential diseases and bugs.

As a tomato plant grows it starts to develop new growth in-between the main stem and already grown branches.  These additional growths/ are known as “suckers”, because they suck nutrients from the developing tomato plant.

Pruning First Suckers

Pruning tomatoes should be done about once a week by pinching off the “suckers” in the “V” of the main stem and branches (See below picture). If the suckers have grown too large they should be cut with pruning shears, carefully, so that the plant is not damaged.

These suckers are great to through into your compost pile.

Pruning tomatoes

Additional Tomato Pruning Tips

In addition to removing the suckers, the best practice for pruning tomatoes requires removing other unneeded branches. For example, the leaves that are below the first cluster of fruit are not necessary for the plants survival. Therefore, these lower branches can be removed.

Also, if the plant starts to grow taller than you would like, you can cut the top branch off to reduce its height.  Once all of the fruit has ripened and been removed from the stem, the leftover stems can be cut off as well.

How to Prune Determinate Tomatoes at the End of the Season?

Determinate tomatoes also known as bush tomatoes grow on average up to 3 and half to 4 feet. And they naturally stop growing. The prunning must be done at lower level, target the lower leaves and/or suckers at the bottom of tomato plants. The main reason and benefit of this practice is that will improve airflow which in return may help reduce foliar diseases.

A well kept up tomato plant will produce large, flavorful tomatoes and it will be producing abundately until the temperatures drop, if it is an indeterminate tomato variety.

About 4 weeks prior to the first frost it is recommended that the extra tomato sucker and its new flowers be cut off the plant.

This will also allow the plant to focus on ripening the fruit that is currently hanging on the plant’s branches much quicker, to ensure you are able to harvest the tomatoes before it freezes outside.

Happy Tomato Pruning!

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Gardening tips

How to Save Seeds

September 11, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: September 23, 2020

Seed Saving

Seed Saving

It’s almost Fall which means it is time to start saving seeds for replanting in the Spring!  Fruits and vegetables are known as angiosperm plants, which means their seeds will either come from the flower/pod of the plant (dry) or inside its fruit (fleshy).  Here is a quick overview of how to save seeds for the beginner seed harvester:

DRY FRUIT
The types of plants that fall into this category include: cilantro, carrots, flowers, lettuce, peas, broccoli, nuts, and grains.  Saving seeds from this category is straightforward. Allow the seed, pod, or flower to remain on the plant until it begins to dry and turn brown.  At this stage, cut off the flowering heads or pods and place them upside down in a paper bag.  Over a few weeks most of the seeds will drop to the bottom of the bag.  At this point you can transfer them to an envelope for permanent storage.

Some types of dry fruit plants do not form seed pods or flowers until their second year. These types of plants are known as biennial.  Usually the plant is left in the garden over the winter and in the Spring it will bolt, leaving you with seeds!  In some colder harsh environments, the plants must be dug up, stored in a cellar and then replanted in the Spring.  Examples of biennial plants include: root crops, onions, cabbages, parsley and brussels sprouts.

FLESHY FRUIT
These types of seeds come from the inside of the fruit or vegetable and are usually surrounded by a fleshy, soft substance that we consume.  Examples include tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, grapes, apples, and oranges.  These types of seeds are best when the fruit or vegetable has grown past the point of eating; the bigger the fruit, the bigger the seeds inside will be.  You should also be conscious to harvest seeds only from disease-free fruits and vegetables.

It is a little more time consuming to save these seeds.  First scoop out the seeds, place in a bowl of room temperature water, and remove as much of the fleshy part as possible.  If some seeds float to the top, throw them away as they are usually non-viable. Once the seeds are clean and free of debris, spread them onto a ceramic plate to dry in a well-ventilated area that does not go over 96°F.  After a few days the seeds will be dry and ready for storage.

**Tomato seeds are unique in that they require fermentation before storage.

Other tips to keep in mind when saving seeds:

  • Storage tips: Store seeds in a dark, cool and dry environment.  Most seeds can be saved for a least two years, but some are up to five years.
  • Cross-pollination: Certain plants can cross-pollinate, so you might not get the same exact variety that you had the year before.  To avoid cross-pollination, only plant one variety of a certain fruit or vegetable at a time.
  • Adaptation: Seeds and the respective plant adapt to your garden over time.  By saving your seeds every year, you will soon create your own plant variety that thrives in your backyard.
  • Germination Testing: A few weeks before you are ready to re-plant, do a germination test to make sure your seeds are still alive.  Place about 10 seeds on a damp paper towel and place in an unclosed zip lock bag.  Leave it at room temperature for a few days.  Count the number of seeds that have sprouted.  You can find your germination rate by taking the number of seeds that sprouted divided by the number you started with; if 7 out of 10 grew, then the germination rate is 70 percent.

Seed saving is a beautiful part of the life cycle.  To harvest seeds the plant has to die or you have to give up some of the edible fruit, but that sacrifice gives new life in the form of a seed.  And I love that one plant from one tiny seed yields more than you could possible use the next year.  Fruits and vegetable plants are reproducing machines!

Happy seed saving!
Eve

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Gardening tips

Recipes using Fresh Peaches

September 7, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: March 19, 2021

Ways to use peaches

Multiple ways to eat fresh peaches

10 Ways to Eat Fresh & Crisp Peaches

I live in Palisade Peach country… some say, we have the best peaches in the world!  We also have an abundance of them.

Surely you’ll find this type of fruits where you live, as long it’s the season. But do remember that fresh peaches tend to go from rock solid to super mushy within 1-2 weeks, so it is important to keep an eye and eat or use them up quickly.

And to help you with that, we’ve listed some great recipe ideas for you learn and make it at home.

Here are some recipes ideas using fresh peaches

1. Peach Salsa
By the time I have an abundance of fresh peaches, I also have a plethora of tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños.  Peach salsa is the perfect mix of spicy and sweet. I enjoy this peach salsa recipe from Ree at The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Instead of using canned peach, use fresh ones, remember to peel the skin as they taste better.

2. Peach Cobbler
The perfect summer dessert! It puts peaches on center stage.  I love this Fresh Peach Cobber recipe from the “A Sweet Pea Chef”.  Most of the ingredients you probably already have on hand, so you can get baking right away.

3. Peach Sorbet
The best part is that you can freeze the whole peaches, which saves you so much time.

4. Peach Muffins
Incorporate peaches into your breakfast through muffins or other breads. Just dice them up without skin and add them into any pre-made batter. My favorite is – using a blueberry muffin mix and adding in peaches, the flavor  is simply devine.

5. Oatmeal & Cereal Topping
I eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning & my favorite topping is a diced peach. Try it, you will love it!

6. Smoothies
You can freeze peach slices to throw into smoothies throughout the year. To freeze peaches get rid of the skin, cut them in cubes or slices, and then pack and freeze in a ziplock bag with a tiny bit of water.

7. Peach tarte tatin
Tart Tatin from Online Culinary School – this is a famous French upside-down on the apple tart. Easy to make it by covering the bottom of a shallow baking dish with butter, sugar, then, well.. watch it. Fun 🙂 to make with clear instructions .

8. Grilled Peaches
Everything is better on the grill, and there is no exception when it comes to peaches.  The grill marks add a great finishing touch.

9. Juice
Peach juice is delicious!  It can be high in natural sugars, so try to control how much you consume in one sitting. When juicing be sure to throw away the pit as it is said to have trace amounts of sinai in it.

10. Canning
Of course if you have a surplus of peaches, you can always can them to eat through the year. Don’t know how to can?  Try finding a canning class at your local community college.

And if you really like this fruit and fancy discovering where you can use them in your diet why not trying Taste of Home: 35 fresh Peach recipes

Get out and enjoy making recipes using fresh Peaches!

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Dairy-free, Peaches for dessert, Summer desserts

Natural Vegetable Dye

September 3, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: August 21, 2020

Most store bought food coloring contains toxic ingredients such as FD&C Yellow 5, FD&C Red 40, and Propylene glycol.  Instead of feeding our bodies these harmful chemicals, you can make your own homemade safe and natural food coloring that can be used to dye eggs, create art on plates, and more!

To begin choose your vegetable of choice; I used beets, sweet potatoes, and kale. Using a mandolin or knife thinly slice the veggies and dehydrate until almost crispy.  Then place in a blender until a fine powder is created.  

Note: If you don’t own a dehydrator you can purchase already dehyrated vegetables in most natural grocery stores.

Food coloring samples-01

At this stage you can use the edible vegetable powder to add color to dishes.  The powder is mostly flavorless, but creates a visually pleasing look.

Kale

Create homemade vegetable food coloring by adding water to the powders and then straining through cheese cloth or a find mesh strainer.  Some particles will be left in the solution, but I think they add a colorful dimension.

Using a spoon dab some of the vegetable dye onto white plates for an artistic look!

Plate Dye 02 Plate vegetable Dye 03

Use can also “paint” the entire plate using a silicone basting brush.  Allow the thin layer of vegetable dye to dry at room temperature. You will then have an edible, colorful plate to present your food upon!

Natural Vegetable Dye and food coloring

This natural vegetable food coloring can also be used to dye eggs.  However, instead of using water to create the dye, use vinegar as it will help the color to soak in.  The eggs will turn a soft pastel color, perfect for Easter time!

Food Coloring 04

The possibilities of color combinations are endless and you can also use fruits such as blueberries, pomegranate, plums, and cranberries to create the dyes.

Have fun playing with your food!

Filed Under: Articles

Garlic Scapes

September 1, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: January 30, 2021

Garlic Scape

Garlic Scape Bunch

                                        Fresh Garlic Scape Bunch

What is it?

In late June at the Farmer’s Market you might find some fascinating hard green stocks with a closed flower at the end … they are garlic scapes that you can eat! They are the flower bud of the garlic plant and are removed to encourages growth of the bulb.

Where does it grow?

You will find that garlic is grown worldwide.

Garlic Scapes buds

How to eat it?

Depending on the variety the stems you might or might not be able to eat.  In the variety pictured above, the stems are extremely hard and would not be good for eating.

The most edible part is the flower bud, which is exposed once the “petals” are peeled back.  The florets can be cut off and used just like minced garlic.  They are less potent than a bulb of garlic, so you will need to use more than the more amount in a recipe.

Selection & Storage:

Garlic scapes can stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or on the counter for a few days.

Garlic Uses

  • Garlic Bread – Toast bread with a thin layer of olive oil spread on it.  Once it is toasted spread the garlic scape florets on it. You can enjoy immediately!
  • Flower Bouquets – Garlic scapes add a visually pleasing element to a bouquet of flowers.  They are unique and are a great conversation starter.

Filed Under: Produce Index

What to do with Oversized Zucchini

August 29, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: March 29, 2021

How to use a large zucchini?

Have you ever walked into your garden and found a zucchini that is HUGE… you know the one that is a 2 feet long (shown above) and weighs 10 lbs. Extra large zucchini tend to be seedy and tough, but don’t throw them away just yet.

Note: At maturity age, they can grow to nearly 1 metre (~2 feet) in length, but they are normally harvested at about 15–25 cm.  Read more at: Wikipedia

Here are 5 ways to use those oversized zucchini

1. Make Zucchini Noodles using a mandolin or spiralizer.  If you don’t have one of these specialty tools, you can also use a peeler and turn them into zucchini ribbons.  The outside skin and immediate outer layers are the best part of the gargantuan vegetable.  To make the “noodles” slice each side of the zucchini until you reach the seeds, which you will discard or move onto #2 below.  Throw the “noodles” into a pan with olive oil, garlic, and salt.  Cook for approximately 5 minutes.  Top with thinly sliced basil. Bon Appetite!

2. Carve out the seeds to make Baked Zucchini Seeds.  This will require patience and time, but the end result is worth the effort.  Spoon out the seeds, place them in a colander to remove as much of the fiber as possible, and then pat dry.  Spray the seeds with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  They are a great crunchy, nutty snack!

3. Zucchini Bread is a great option for these oversized vegetables.  I love this zucchini bread recipe from Liz at Love Grows Wild.  Make sure to grate only the outside, non-seed layers of the zucchini and then squeeze out all of the water.  If you have excess zucchini shreds, you can freeze them for future use.

4. Bake some Stuffed Zucchini Boats using this recipe from Lori at Recipe Girl. Your large zucchini will easily be able to feed 4-6 people, just be sure to cut accordingly.  Once you have scraped out the seedy inside to make your boat, use the remnants in suggestion #5 below.

5. If none of the above options sound appetizing you can always cut it up and Compost it!  You could also use it as a club, help your kids turn it into a car, or feed it to the pigs.

What is the best way to cook zucchini​?

And, in case you are wondering what is the most convinient way to cook a zucchini​ – we’d say without hesitation, it’s a sautéed Zucchini.

Whatever way you decided to cook your zucchini – just remember and say to your kids that it is fully packed with important vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. It also has a high fiber content and a low calorie count. Fiber plays an important role in digestion and its has other health benefits such as: helping maintaining weight and lowering your risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.

We hope you have fun tackling that mammoth-sized zucchini. Let us know how you end up using yours in the comments below.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Zucchini Fruit Aka Courgette

How to Freeze Bananas

August 22, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: March 19, 2021

How to Freeze Bananas for Ice cream, Smoothies and Muffins

Frozen bananas make the best smoothies, ice cream, and chocolate dipped snacks!  If you ever have some over ripe-bananas sitting on the counter, freeze them instead of throwing them away.  Follow these simple steps and you will have frozen bananas within a few hours.

How to Freeze Bananas in 5 easy steps…

  1. Peel the bananas.
  2. Cut them into 1 inch slices.
  3. Place them on a piece of thick tin foil.**
  4. Place in freeze for several hours.
  5. Once they are mostly frozen transfer to a plastic bag for storage up to 3 months.

**By placing the bananas on foil, it facilitate and makes the next steps really easy to remove the banana cuts and bag it in a zip-loc bag.

Doing this its so quick. I rip off a large piece of foil, fold it over 3-4 times to make it thicker and then create 4 side walls.  The foil is now stronger, has a nce shape and can be stored in the freezer or wash it and store in the cupboard for future use.

Diced banana prep

View my Chocolate, banana, and maca smoothie recipe for the perfect mid-day energy booster.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Freezing fruits

Garlic + Stomach

August 22, 2015 by Eve | Last Modified: November 26, 2020

Garlic-Makes-Stomach-Ache

Garlic and Stomach Ache

Could garlic be the cause of stomach aches?

Have you ever experienced a stomach ache after eating garlic?

When eating garlic, some people may experience abdominal discomfort or severe pain. This happens because they consume foods that are very high in fructans which you wouldn’t know or thought about it.

I took a cooking class in Rome and I learned an interesting fact from my Italian instructor. He informed us that if you eat the middle green part of garlic that it will make your stomach gurgle and feel unpleasant.

So now every time I cook garlic, I always remove the middle sprouting part.

To remove the green sprouting part, cut the garlic in half length- wise and then peel out the middle. The end result should look like this…

How to fight garlic allergy?

Many adults, do suffer from asthma that are caused by short exposure to certain types of chemicals, dust and pollution during their daily lifes.

For the purpose of this post we will talk about garlic allergies.

Be aware if you are asthmatic with frequent shortness of breath when closely exposed to raw garlic. The reason being is: dust. You walk through a market or supermarket alley and suddenly you feel tired and/or have some difficulty to breath.

This may trigger a serious asthma attack and can quickly escalate if not treated due to other types of dust around you.

Another potential complication from a garlic allergy is anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially fatal allergic reaction. But be reassured this is quite rare.

A very low percentage of humans will suffer from anaphylaxis (thanks God for that) which can be caused by garlic allergy. Experts say that it’s more likely to occur from exposure to raw garlic bunches.

Bonus tip:

You can read on Dr.Axe’ post and discover how to create some natural home remedies. to fight this unwanted and nasty condition.

What are your thoughts on garlic in general?

Filed Under: Articles

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