You’ll make the most nutritious—and delicious—produce choices when you buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables that are in season. It’s also the most economical way to shop the produce aisle.

Mushrooms and oranges join this month’s peak-season list, while eggplant moves off.

Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top peak-season choices:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Oranges
• Pears
• Sweet potatoes

Click here to find a farmer’s market near you.

10 Recipes to Inspire You

1. Florida Orange and Sweet Oso Onion Salad
2. Grilled Flatbread with Olive, Orange and Fennel Relish
3. Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette
4. Blood Orange Marga-Tea-Tas
5. Sautéed Mushroom Salad
6. Moist & Savory Stuffing
7. Mushroom Sauté with Toasted Walnuts
8. Broiled Italian-Style Portobello Mushrooms
9. Brussels Sprouts with Mushrooms
10. Pugliese Mushroom Scafata with Green Olive Crostini

Photo:

You’ll make the most nutritious—and delicious—produce choices when you buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables that are in season. It’s also the most economical way to shop the produce aisle.

Broccoli joins this month’s peak-season list, while cantaloupe, corn and peaches move off. As noted in Salads: 5 Must-Have Veggies:

Broccoli “contains phytochemicals, substances found in produce that can help prevent heart disease and certain types of cancer. Added nutrients include vitamins A, C and K, as well as calcium, folic acid and fiber.”

Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top peak-season choices:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Eggplant
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Pears
• Sweet potatoes

Click here to find a farmer’s market near you.

Recipes to Inspire You

• Cheeky Cheese Turkey Pockets
• Sesame-Ginger Frittata with Broccoli and Shrimp

Pears are one of my favorite fruits, and they’re currently in season.

Two new organic pear products have found their way into my grocery cart: Zhena Caramelized Pear Tea and Wallaby Nonfat Bartlett Pear Yogurt.

The Caramelized Pear Tea is a blend of organic ingredients: 100% Fair Trade green tea, pear pieces, marigold flowers, and caramel and pear flavors. The 15 biodegradable tea sachets, made of GMO-free corn silk, are packed in a recyclable, airtight tin.

The Bartlett Pear Yogurt also features all-organic ingredients: cultured pasteurized nonfat milk, evaporated cane juice, pear juice concentrate, natural flavor, pectin and locust bean gum. A 6-oz. container has 130 calories and meets 25% of your daily calcium requirement. Click here to find a store near you.

Pick up some organic pears at your local farmers’ market, and try four favorite recipes:

1. Romaine, Pecan and Pear Salad
2. Wilted Greens with Pinot Pears
3. Marjoram-Scented Pears with Gorgonzola
4. Pear and Chocolate Spread

Also: Check out an old favorite, Dishmate Pear Ultra Concentrated Dish Washing Liquid.

You’ll make the most nutritious—and delicious—produce choices when you buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables that are in season. It’s also the most economical way to shop the produce aisle.

So, what’s in season this month?

Apples and sweet potatoes join the peak-season list, while cucumbers, tomatoes and summer squash move off.

Choose firm apples with no soft spots. Sweet potatoes should be firm, dark and smooth.

Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top choices:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots
• Corn
• Eggplant
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Peaches
• Pears
• Sweet potatoes

Click here to find a farmer’s market near you.

Recipes to Inspire You

1. Grilled Sweet Potato Steaks with Maple Pecan Butter
2. Sweet Potato Pie Smoothies
3. Curried Sweet Potato
4. Granny Smith Guacamole
5. California Waldorf Salad
6. Warm Griddle Salad with Chicken and Apples
7. Apple-Celery Stuffing

Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission

Eating a healthy breakfast can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, aid in weight loss, and improve memory and concentration.

For children, skipping breakfast has been associated with headaches, fatigue, restlessness, irritability and other problems.

We tend to forgo breakfast when we’re rushed or bored with the same old morning menu. But solving this quandary is easy: Be creative, stick to simple ingredients, and add a flavorful “wow factor.”

Our weekend recipe is a perfect example of delicious, easy-to-prepare breakfast fare. With only three ingredients, it’s a high-fiber antidote to no-time-for-breakfast excuses.

All of the ingredients should be readily available at your local natural and organic food store.

Mandarin Orange Cereal Bowl

Makes 1 serving

1 cup shredded-wheat cereal
2/3 cup mandarin orange segments and their juice (about half of an 11-oz. can)
1/4 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt 

1. Place cereal in serving bowl. Top with mandarin orange segments and juice.
2. Top with yogurt.

Recipe courtesy of Post Classic Cereals

We’ve had a rough time with Chinese exports over the last few years: melamine in pet food, drug residues in seafood, lead in children’s toys and poisonous chemicals in toothpaste.

But we can thank China and her neighbors for a beloved American fruit: the lemon, whose seeds were first introduced to us by Christopher Columbus. They were later planted by Catholic missionaries in Arizona and California, states that now produce 95% of the lemons we consume.

If you enjoy cooking, it’s hard to live without Citrus limon. The versatile fruit adds a pleasing pungency to teas and other beverages, fish and poultry entrees, vegetable dishes, salad dressings and marinades, and baked goods and other desserts. For future culinary reference: One medium lemon contains approximately 3 tablespoons of juice and 3 tablespoons of grated peel.

Available year-round, lemons have only 30 calories per 1/2 cup (sectioned and peeled). This serving size offers 90% of your daily vitamin C requirement and 3 g dietary fiber (about 10% of your daily requirement).

When choosing an organic lemon, look for a firm fruit with a bright yellow color. Pass on lemons that are soft, shriveled or have spots. A juicy lemon will feel heavy and have a thin skin. If the skin is green-tinged, expect a more acidic fruit.

I mix fresh lemon juice with water when I freeze ice cubes—a great way to add extra flavor to cold beverages. Before squeezing, roll a whole lemon along your kitchen countertop; this trick helps you produce more juice.

Lemons can be stored at room temperature for roughly 2 weeks. You may also refrigerate them for up to 6 weeks.

Tune in tomorrow for our weekend recipe: an Asian variation on traditional lemonade.

Suggested Reading

• Rosemary-Laced Lemonade Tea
• Sparkling Sangria Tea
• Spiced Lemon Rice
• Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Hazelnuts and Lemon-Garlic Sauce
• Gremolata-Crusted Fish Fillets
• Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette
• Organic Meyer Lemons

You’ll make the most nutritious—and delicious—produce choices when you buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables that are in season. It’s also the most economical way to shop the produce aisle.

So, what’s in season this month?

Pears join, and strawberries come off, last month’s peak-season list.

Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top choices:

• Avocados
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots
• Corn
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Peaches
• Pears
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes

Click here to find a summertime farmer’s market near you.

You’ll make the most nutritious—and delicious—produce choices when you buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables that are in season. It’s also the most economical way to shop the produce aisle.

So, what’s in season this month?

Eggplant joins, and oranges come off, last month’s list. Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top choices:

• Avocados
• Bananas
• Bell peppers
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots
• Corn
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes

Click here to find a summertime farmer’s market near you.

Yesterday, I provided tips on selecting a juicy organic watermelon. Today, we feature a Fourth of July recipe for a festive Americana Basket.

All of the ingredients should be available at your local natural and organic food store.

Americana Basket

1 oblong-shaped watermelon
Honeydew
Blueberries

1. Using an oblong watermelon, slice 1/4″ off the bottom, lengthwise, to provide stable base.
2. Use a pencil to draw lines for handle placement and basket opening.



3. Cut the handle first, wide enough to hold stars; then make zigzag cuts with a paring knife, all the way through the rind. Be careful not to cut through the handle base on either side.
4. Carefully remove sections, pulling out large chunks of flesh. Cut them into 3” x 3” squares.
5. From squares, trim off 3/4” thick slices to cut out stars. Use 1½” to 3” star-shaped cookie cutters to create them.
6. Next, cut out 5 large star-shaped pieces from the leftover rind. Use a paring knife, if necessary, for the handle. Trim off red flesh, and attach to basket handle with white side out, using half toothpicks.
7. Use an ice cream scoop to remove flesh from inside of basket, and cut scoops into quarters for the fruit salad. Place in bottom of the basket.
8. Use a white-fleshed melon like ripe honeydew to cut out white “stripes” for salad.
9. Garnish top of fruit salad with watermelon stars, melon stripes and blueberries.

Recipe and photos courtesy of the National Watermelon Promotion Board

Watermelons are a classic summer favorite. Sweet and refreshing, they perk up picnics and bring the cool to any cookout.

While some people like to thump a watermelon and listen for a certain sound, here’s the best way to choose the perfect fruit:

• Look for a round, oval or oblong-shaped watermelon that feels heavy for its size; this indicates it’s juicy and fresh.
• Inspect the watermelon’s exterior. Look for a firm, symmetrical watermelon that’s free of bruises, cuts or dents.
• Turn it over. The underside of a watermelon should have a creamy yellow spot from where it sat on the ground and ripened in the sun.

Don’t forget to wash all fruits and vegetables, including watermelon, in fresh running water. Dry with a clean paper towel before slicing and serving.

FYI: On average, a 5-pound watermelon will yield 11 cups of edible fruit.

Tune in tomorrow for our Fourth of July recipe: a party-ready Americana Basket.

Photo courtesy of the National Watermelon Promotion Board