Fruit & Food Tips

When I was at Trader Joe’s last week (before I was scolded about the in-store photography) I saw this This How to Pick a Good One sign in front of their outdoor watermelons for sale.

And hey, outdoor photography is fair game, right?

Skylar spoofing around trying to take a nibble of the “watermelon” while I was taking pictures brought me some laughs.

After nibbling, dancing, spinning, and twirling until you get dizzy we went inside and finished our shopping.

And I also bought a watermelon.  Sadly I think w-melon season is wrapping up.  Sigh.  I love summer.

1. In the past I’ve given tips about how to select a perfect watermelon: look for a large yellow/white spot; it means it was on the vine longer and will be sweeter, juicier and just a better melon

More watermelon selecting tips here

2. Need tips on how to select perfect, whole, pineapples?

(See This Post for more & visuals)  How to tell if the pineapple is ripe:

Look near the base of the pineapple and it should be golden yellow.  A green pineapple from base to tip is like a green banana.  Not ripe.

Look for the golden yellow and that means it’s ripe.  

And if it’s overly ripe, the golden area will be more orange, and/or will start getting mushy. 

3. Need tips on how to clean a pineapple in 2 minutes flat?

So many people are afraid to or have never cleaned their own pineapple. <—  Change that.

Since avocados are technically a fruit…

And let’s just say you wanted to make Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse (half or even quarter the recipe as needed)

And fool everyone, every time, that this dessert is both raw, vegan, gluten free, and not baked, made with eggs, and doesn’t take longer than 5 minutes to make

4. But that your avocados were not ripe…

You’d put them in a paper bag on the counterop to speed up the ripening process.

And then once they’re ripe, if you didn’t want to make Mousse you could make Vanilla Avocado Banana “Ice Cream”

This “ice cream” recipe consistently generates positive reader emails and comments that everyone you’ve made it for, i.e. including resistant-to-a-plant-based-diet husbands and boyfriends, to come around and lick their bowls clean.

It happens to be a “healthier dessert” without tasting like one.  And I never try to “healthify” desserts.

5. If your bananas have gone a bit too ripe, peel them, break them into chunks, and store in a container in the freezer for smoothies

Technically you don’t “have to” use frozen bananas for smoothies but I think it makes the texture creamier, fluffier, and just better

Try frozen bananas in a Chocolate Coconut Princess Smoothie

Or use them in softserve such as Vegan Mango Banana Vanilla Softserve

And if you don’t want to use your ripe bananas in beverages, use them in dessert!  <–now we’re talkin’

For example, try Coconut Banana Cookie Bites (Vegan, GF, and you can bake or dehydrate them) with your ripe bananas

Or try Vegan GF Peanut Butter Banana Bread with your ripe bananas

Not for the faint of heart.  This is one dense, happy, moist, rich loaf.  And it’s so good with a huge slab of peanut butter in it.

Tip: I also have an entire post on Banana Recipes & Ideas: Banana Snack Ideas, Banana Dessert Ideas, & Ways to Use Extra Bananas

From my last post on One Leg at a Time, I liked hearing about whether or not you get excited for the fall (or spring) fashions in the stores and how much you tend to buy at this time of year.  Or not buy.  If I could borrow your credit card, I’d buy a whole lot more!

Questions:

1. Do you have any Fruit or Food Tips?  Any little secrets or tidbits you’re dying to share.

Sharing is caring.

Here’s another one:  When you open a bag of brown sugar, if you’re unlike me and it takes you awhile to use it up, put a piece of bread inside the sugar bag (or container you store your sugar in) and it will keep it softer/moister for a longer duration.

2. Is there anything you’re stumped on in the kitchen, with produce, with a meal, you name it and could use a little explanation or tutorial?

One food I cannot make and have given up trying is eggplant.  It’s either too mushy, too rubbery, overdone, underdone, watery, raw, slimy, bland, over-salted, you name it, I cannot get it right.  I stopped trying.

You don’t have to write in telling me how to make it better.  I’m just going to wait to go to someone else’s house and eat it there.  ha!

Now with that said, the woman who admits she sucks at eggplant, if there is something you’re stumped on and I can, I’d love to help out if I can in a future post and tackle some reader questions.  

I get so many questions in my mailbag about can I substitute this for that, white for brown sugar, almond butter for peanut butter, gluten free blend flour for almond flour, how do I save money on my groceries if I can’t afford all organic, I can’t make tofu that turns out right (hint: see Tofu Preparation & Cooking Tips and make anyone a believer) but if you have something your stumped on, maybe I can help in a future post.

P.S. I’m glad you’re excited about the Attune Foods Healthy Free Food Giveaway, too.   It ends Thursday so don’t delay on getting your entries in.