Cooking Tip: Avacados

Avacados provide some amazing nutritional benefits and can be used in anything from dips and soups to main dishes and even dessert.

When you are shopping for avacados, pay attention to both the color and firmness of the fruit. Avacados soften and ripen after they are picked, so a firm green avacado is the freshest but will ripen in 3-4 days. A softer, more mottled avacado may be used in 2-3 days. If you need an avacado to use right away, look for one with a dark green skin.

If the avacado has mushy spots, appears to be pulling away from the skin or has a rattling pit, put it back.

When you are ready to prepare your avacado, check out our slicer/peeler tool as a quick and easy way to get the most of your fruit without damaging it.

Bonus Father's Day Recipe: Balsamic Fruit with Sweet & Sour Cream Sauce

We just couldn't resist! Everyone wants to treat dad like a king on Father's Day, so we are giving you a bonus recipe this week! Just like our Recipe Wednesday this week, our bonus recipe comes from the Smokin’ with Steve Cooking Class in 2007. By the way, if dad loves to cook, think about giving him one of our cooking classes as a gift this year. Just click on our Classes tab and find the perfect class where he can learn and taste some new foods.

Balsamic Fruit with Sweet & Sour Cream Sauce

4-5 Peaches, Pears, Apples or other favorite fruit (halved and seeded)
2-3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
¼ cup Cinnamon Sugar (1/4 sugar combined with 1 teaspoon cinnamon)
1 cup Whipped topping or fresh whipped cream
4 oz. Creamed Cheese (softened)
¼ cup Honey
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

Leave peel on fruit. Sprinkle fruit with balsamic vinegar and cinnamon sugar. Place on hot grill flat side down. Cook until fruit yields to slight pressure and remove from heat.

Topping:
Combine honey and soy sauce and set aside. Place cream cheese in bowl and whip until you can combine the whipped topping and keep a good consistency. Stir in the honey, soy mixture. Place a nice dollop on top of fruit and serve.

Cooking Tip: Choosing Fresh Vegetables

This time of year the beautiful array of brightly colored fresh fruits and vegetables from bright yellow squash to hearty red tomatoes and brilliant green peas available at local farmers' markets and roadside stands attracts even the pickiest eater. But how do you make sure you buy the best, freshest produce for your family? Here are a few clues.

Appearance: 

• Choose vegetables with a bright, natural color and firm healthy skin.
• Avoid over-ripe vegetables that are darker and softer than they should be.
• Choose vegetables that are free of cuts, bruises and spotting.
• Look for strong, solid root vegetables that do not give when touched.
• Select smaller root vegetables for a better taste.
• Find sprout-free potatoes, onions and garlic.
• Pass on lettuce, spinach, greens and kale that are darkened, discolored or limp (a sign of wilting).
• Avoid lettuce that has been frozen or kept on ice.
• Shop for vegetables in season. To find out what's in season, talk to a grower at the local farmers' market or the produce clerk at your grocery store.

Handling:

• Keep fresh produce on top of other foods in your shopping cart. 
• Keep cut produce cold during transport  

Preparation

• Wash all fruits and vegetables with cool running tap water before eating but don't use dish soap or detergent. 
• Scrub melons with brush and running water. 
• Use clean utensils and cutting boards when preparing fruits and vegetables to reduce cross-contamination. 
• Cut away bruised parts of foods and removed the outer leaves from lettuce and cabbage before eating.

Cooking Tip: Cooking with Onions (Plus a special recipe)

When you are prepping onions are you crying like you're watching a Hallmark commercial? Tony Tantillo (The Fresh Grocer) swears by his method of storing onions in the refrigerator to keep you from crying over your onions. It's the unstable sulfur compounds that causes this reaction and colder onions seem to help with this problem. Most people will tell you not to store them in the refrigerator because of the moisture, but if you are like me (and, I love to cook with onions) then you won't encounter this problem.

As a special bonus with today's tip, here's a great salad so you can put this new onion chopping method to work!

Amy’s Summer Salad

2-4 tomatoes, sliced and then quartered

1 small onion sliced thin

1 package of mozzarella

1 avocado

1 jalapeno

Arrange sliced tomatoes, onion slices mozzarella and avocado on a medium sized platter.

Seed and dice your jalapeno and sprinkle evenly over top. Drizzle with lime vinaigrette below.

For Lime Vinaigrette:

3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

In a jar with a lid, shake together remaining ingredients. Pour desired amount of vinaigrette over salad just before serving. There will be leftover dressing.

Recipe Wednesday: FRUIT SALAD WITH HONEY-LIME DRESSING

FRUIT SALAD

Ingredients

Click here to order.

• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from about 3 to 4 navel oranges)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 apple
• 1 pear
• 1 banana
• 1 peach
• 3/4 cup melon (such as honeydew or cantaloupe)
• 1 cup pineapple chunks
• 3/4 cup seedless red or green grapes, cut in half
• 1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered

HONEY-LIME DRESSING

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup lime juice (from about 1 lime)

POUND CAKE CROUTONS

Instructions

1. To make the Fruit Salad: Place the orange zest, orange juice, and lemon juice in a large bowl.

2. Cut the apple, pear, banana, peach, and melon into cubes, adding the fruits to the bowl as you cut them to prevent discoloration.

3. Add the remaining fruits. Stir, coating the fruits with the juices, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

4. Mix thoroughly before serving.

5. To make the Honey-lime dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey and lime juice until smooth.

6. To make the Pound Cake Croutons: Heat the oven to 350º. With a long, sharp knife, slice the pound cake into cubes.

7. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, turning twice, until golden.

8. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the mint, if using, then add the toasted pound cake.

9. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden.

10. Spoon the salad into serving bowls, drizzle it with the Honey-lime dressing, and then top with Pound Cake Croutons. Makes about 6 cups.