| |
Veg4Health
Newsletter
Focus on Peaches
Peach season is right
around the corner. Okay, it has already sprung forth but the
best is yet to come. Although we live in Florida
, we anticipate
Georgia
peach season more than we do our own citrus
season. Georgia peaches
are our favorite - although we do thoroughly enjoy California
and New Jersey varieties.
I think it may be that we typically find
Georgia
peaches earlier than the others, and we get
hooked
on their special taste. We love to eat peaches in a variety
of
ways, but our two favorite ways are in peach sorbet and peach
cobbler. When I don't feel like heating up the kitchen to
make an
out of this world cobbler, I head straight for my Vita Mix and
throw together a frozen peach sorbet. The smooth and sweet
taste
of sweet peaches, frozen into a slurry of all that is cold and good, is
a wonderful treat. I simply combine 4 fresh diced
peaches,
some sugar, a hint of vanilla flavoring and a couple of cups of
ice. I blend on high for approximately 1 minute, or until the
sorbet is thick and frozen. Nothing cools down a hot summer
day
like a fresh sorbet. Click here
for my
peach cobbler recipe.
Fast
meal ideas
for
people
on
the go!
Life
is hectic and busy for all of us and eating healthy foods often takes a
back seat to convenience. It doesn't have to be that
way. It's easy to get a healthy meal on the table in
only a
few minutes by keeping a few basic ingredients in your pantry and
refrigerator. Try some of these ideas for those nights when
things haven't gone as planned, everybody is hungry and no one feels
like cooking.
- Top a frozen
pizza with extra tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms and broccoli
.
- Top a baked
potato with veggie chili or sautéed veggies for a super meal
.
- Add Italian
dressing to leftover cold veggies for a quick salad. Add
cooked whole wheat pasta to make it go even further.
- Heat some
fat free refried beans. Add salsa and corn and roll in a
whole grain tortilla.
|
|
|
Welcome to my
kitchen!
Fresh
and tasty cantaloupes, watermelons, peaches, strawberries and
blueberries are beginning to grace our tables again and we are
beginning to consume large quantities of wonderful fruit.
Life
never seems as sweet as it does right now when our side dishes and
desert trays are filled to overflowing with fresh fruit!
|
Here are some great tips for
selecting fresh peaches.
It may take some practice to pick the perfect peaches, but even those
that aren't perfect can still be used in a variety of
recipes. We
love to take peaches that are too soft or have too many bruises to eat
and use them in peach cobbler.
- Smell the peach. The peach is a member of the
rose family and should have a pleasingly sweet fragrance.
- Look for a creamy gold to yellow under-color.
The red or "blush" of a peach is an indication of variety, not ripeness.
- Peaches should be soft to the touch but not
mushy.
- Look for a well defined crease that runs from
the stem to the point.
- Don't squeeze peaches; they bruise easily.
- Place firm peaches on the counter for a day
or two, and they'll ripen.
- Promptly refrigerate ripe peaches and eat
them within a week of purchase.
- To peel a peach, dip it into boiling water
for 30 seconds, then in cold water. The peel should slide off easily.
- To keep sliced peaches from darkening, add
lemon juice or ascorbic acid.
Conversion Tips
I
hate to have to figure out how many peaches to use in a
recipe.
Some recipes give the number of peaches, some give the number
of
cups and some give the number of pounds. The best rule of
thumb is 3 medium sized peaches is equivalent to approximately
1
pound of peaches. This also equates to approximately 2 cups
of
sliced peaches.
|
|