food
By Jodi Brown
Kitchen Tips From The Ultimate Kitchen Commando So
you’ve done all the right things. You’ve gone out and purchased fresh produce, and your bags are overflowing with big, beautiful bunches of greens, fruits and veggies. You feel invigorated and excited about it until you unpack it and try to put it all in the refrigerator. Suddenly you have one of those “what was I thinking?” moments. Don’t fret. Here are some tips on how to deal with some of our more common market purchases. Much of our conventionally bought produce is picked long before ripening and shipped thousands of miles before it actually hits the produce department of your local grocer. The end result is dry, tasteless and oftentimes mealy items that not only lack flavor but have little to no nutritional value. We are blessed to be living in Florida and to have so many great year-round crops. Buy as much as you can of locally grown produce. They stay on the tree or vine longer and bring much more value to a meal from a flavor and nutritional perspective. If you want your kids to eat more fruits instead of junk
food, put quality items in front of them. They will eat it if it has an opportunity to become what it should be. How you store your purchases will give them a longer life and make them easier to use when you want to throw a quick nutritious meal together in little time. Nothing discourages good food choices like a long preparation time. What stays out on the counter until it’s ripe: tomatoes, bananas, avocados, apples, pears, all citrus, grapes, melons, pineapples, stone fruit, (apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines), and garlic. Put these items in a basket or ventilated wire/plastic bowl. If you put citrus next to bananas, the bananas will ripen more quickly. If you want to speed up your avocado’s ripening, put it in a bag with some bananas and close it up tightly. They will both ripen faster. When they start to get soft, put them in the fridge to extend their life a few more days. Ripe fruit is sweeter and tastes better.
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What goes into the fridge right away: All greens and lettuces, fresh herbs, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, hot peppers/chilis, beets, ginger, green onions, mushrooms, berries (unwashed), eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, zucchini and summer squash. Greens are the single best nutritional gift you can give to yourself, but quite frankly, they take up a lot of space. I always over-buy when produce looks fabulous, always. I
have remedied my problem by buying a juicer. I can juice and drink an entire bunch of beet greens in one sitting. I guarantee this approach will open up some space for you very quickly. I shop with the intention of giving myself 20-30 minutes when I get home to get things ready and organized for refrigeration. Fresh herbs are one of my favorite handy dandy items to have ready to use. They can make a simple
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STEPS FOR FRESHER HERBS AND GREENS.
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dish a fancier one with a healthy dose sprinkled on top or folded in at the last minute. Try this to keep them fresh: Wash and fill your kitchen sink or a big pot full of cold water. Hold the herbs by the stems and push them up and down in the water and give them a good swish around. Then, take the bunch and walk over to your kitchen door, open it and shake the water off the greens as hard as you can (pretend it is the blessing of the fleet). Bring them back inside and stand them up in a glass/jar until they are completely dry. Then take a good quality paper towel, completely wet it and then wring it out. Place it flat on the counter and lay the herbs across it diagonally (see photo). Fold and wrap it up nicely and stuff it into a plastic bag and refrigerate. I guarantee you that in a week the herbs will look exactly the way they do the day you put them into the refrigerator. Many greens and lettuces, especially locally grown, can be a little gritty. Ultimately, when you are washing them, what you are trying to achieve is having the dirt and sand fall to the bottom of whatever you are soaking them in. Break the greens into bite-sized pieces with your hands (or peel them off the stem for tougher greens like kale and chard) and put them into a deep container or sink filled with cold water. Swish them around well with your hands. If there is a lot of dirt at the bottom of your washing container, you might
want to drain and rinse your receptacle and wash a second time to be sure you get it all. Gently lift them from the water and spin them dry in a salad spinner. Box or bag them only when they are completely dry. Hearty greens like kale will last in a bag, ready to use, for over a week. More delicate lettuces should be used as soon as possible, but most will last five to seven days if prepared in this manner. Now you have greens and lettuces ready for the entire week. Eat them raw, sautĂŠ some quickly with other veggies to top a big bowl of quinoa or use them in your morning smoothies. Planning ahead makes realizing your healthy food goals much more attainable. Every positive thing you do to improve your health counts. Build on your successes not your failures. Small successes always add up to bigger ones. I promise. About the Author: Jodi Brown is the Ultimate Kitchen Commando and loves to turn people on to delicious and healthy foods. She assists people with food transitions and teaches healthy cooking classes. She shares her time between New Orleans and Pensacola. To learn more, visit www.ultimatekitchencommando.com.
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