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Savoring Summer Produce—what’s in season and how to use it by Frances Largeman-Roth

May 30, 2014

Savoring Summer Produce—what’s in season and how to use it

Colorful seasonal produce not only looks and tastes amazing, but including it in your diet reduces your risk of chronic health issues, including cardiovascular disease, and may help protect against certain types of cancers. And because they’re so low in calories, fruits and veggies can help you shed a few pounds, and who doesn’t want that with beach season finally here?

 

Here’s a rainbow of ways to brighten up your family’s healthy meals this summer:

 

Red: Strawberries

Strawberry season runs from April through September. Packed with vitamin C and just 46 calories per cup, strawberries make a sweet, low calorie treat. All those little seeds you see also contribute to the fiber in the berries—1 cup has 3g of it. The ruby colored berries are also a significant source of folate, which is important for a healthy pregnancy and plays a role in keeping your heart healthy.

What to look for: Strawberries should be brightly colored and uniformly red. The tips should not be seedy looking, and the caps should be green and unwilted.

Ideas for enjoying them: Slide them onto short skewers with pineapple and mango chunks and dip into vanilla yogurt for a fun snack for adults and kids. Slice them up and layer the berries in a granola parfait, or use them to dress up a bowl of cereal. And don’t forget to toss some sliced strawberries into green salads.

Orange: Apricots

Apricots make a brief cameo appearance from May through July, with the peak month being June, so get your hands on them now! They are a fantastic source of the antioxidant beta-carotene, which is the precursor to vitamin A and is important for a healthy immune system and eye health.

What to look for: Apricots should be plump and feel medium-firm when gently pressed.

Ideas for enjoying them: A ripe, juicy apricot needs no adornment, but they’re fun to pair with raspberries, sliced almonds and vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt in an easy and colorful dessert. They also make a juicy addition to salads and are amazing when placed on the grill for a few minutes.

Yellow: Corn

Along with tomatoes, corn is probably the most quintessential summer staple. A medium ear of boiled corn on the cob is just 100 calories, has about 3g of fiber and 260mg of potassium.

What to look for: The cornhusk should be light green and slightly damp (if it’s dry, that’s an indication that the corn was picked several days ago). When you peel back the husk, the silk should be light yellow and not show any signs of rot. The kernels should look juicy and be tightly spaced.

Ideas for enjoying it: Once you’ve boiled or grilled corn, you can use it in so many ways. Simply remove the kernels with a sharp knife or corn stripper, then use them in one of these tasty ways:

  • Try a succotash: Combine the kernels from a few ears of corn with small boiled potatoes and grilled eggplant and toss with a light vinaigrette.
  • Make a bean salad: Combine a can of rinsed black beans with the kernels from one ear of corn, ¼ cup fresh cilantro, ½ minced jalapeno and a diced mango. Toss with lime juice, zest, salt and cayenne pepper. Makes an awesome BBQ side!
  • Whip up crab toasts: If you like crab cakes, you’ll love these. They’re just as tasty, but even easier! Combine the kernels from one ear of corn with ½ pound of jumbo lump crabmeat, a minced red pepper, and some canola mayonnaise. Add some fresh lemon juice, zest and sweet paprika and pile onto toasted buns. I love using Rudi’s Organic Pretzel Rolls because they’re sturdy enough to hold up to the mixture, and they have 7g of protein.

Green: English peas (aka garden peas or green peas)

In season now, these wonderful little green orbs will be available through July. Unlike sugar snap peas and snow peas, the pod of English peas is not edible—just the tender peas inside. Use fresh peas soon after buying them, within two to three days. English peas are a good source of fiber, iron and protein.

What to look for: If buying the whole pods, look for ones that are bright green and firm. If buying the peas already shelled, the color should also be bright green and the peas should be round and juicy looking.

Tasty ideas: Simply shell the peas, sauté with a little bit of butter and toss with fresh mint and hot pasta. They are also excellent cooked with shallots and then mashed with fresh ricotta to make a spread for crostini. Yum!

Blue/Indigo/Violet: Blackberries

Blackberries are in season from May through September. One cup of these sweet-tart berries has just 62 calories and nearly 8g of fiber. They also contain high amounts of polyphenols, including anthocyanins, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer benefits.

What to look for: Blackberries should be shiny and plump, with no signs of mold.

Tasty ideas: It’s tough to cook with blackberries because they’re usually devoured before you can do anything with them. But if you can be patient, try them lightly smashed with some sugar or agave nectar and served with a dollop of crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream. They also make a nice addition to spinach salads.

 

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Spelt Reuben Quesadillas

May 25, 2014

With summer just around the corner and having all your kiddos home from school (and let’s face it, their friends too), it’s as important as ever to have tasty and healthy snack ideas in your recipe arsenal to whip out at a moment’s notice! We know you and your family are on the go this time of year, so we came up with a recipe that is easy to make, easy to take with you on your summer expeditions, AND is fun to eat… spelt reuben quesadillas!

Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Lay out one Spelt Tortilla. Spread with ~2 tbs. Spicy Ranch and cover with slices of cheese. Add slices of pastrami and 1/2 cup sauerkraut. Top with a couple more slices of cheese and the other tortillas.
  2. Toast in convection over for 3-5 minutes or until cheese melts and tortillas becomes crisp and begin to brown around the edges.
  3. Remove from oven and slice into triangles.
  4. Optional: pour more Spicy Ranch into a separate bowl to use as dipping sauce.
  5. Bon appétit!

 

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Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich

May 23, 2014

The spring and summer months are all about hanging out and enjoying cooling foods and those that you can prepare outdoors, on a grill. If you do not have an outdoor grill but still want the appearance or feeling of grilled food, then a grill pan used indoors is a fantastic option!

Whatever you have, you will want to try these delicious mushroom (affectionately known as “shroom”) burgers. They are a great alternative if you are entertaining vegans or vegetarians; even those who enjoy meat will find these extremely tasty, too.

The secret is in the marinade. For optimal taste, you’ll want to allow these to marinate at least four hours, so that all of the seasoning can soak in!

Okay, enough of Chatty-Cathy, let’s get to the recipe. Here is what you will need:

 

Ingredients (makes 4 sandwiches):

  • mushrooms4 organic portobello mushroom caps (cleaned and gills removed)
  • 1 sliced shallot
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ¾ cup avocado oil
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon Spike salt-free seasoning (or your favorite dried seasoning)
  • 2 teaspoons of agave (or other sweetener)
  • 4 Rudi’s Organic Wheat Buns

 

Optional Fixings (all organic!):

  • Lettuce (I like Earthbound Farm’s Herb Blend)
  • Tomatoes
  • Pickles
  • Onions
  • Vegan Mayonnaise
  • Mustard
  • Ketchup

 

  Preparation:

    1. In a large bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, avocado oil, garlic, shallots, salt, Spike and agave.
    2. Using a small paring knife, create slits in the grill side of the mushrooms.
    3. Place the mushrooms into a resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over the mushrooms. Marinate for 2-3 hours.
    4. Move the mushrooms from the marinade and place on the grill for 2-3 minutes. If you are using a grill pan on top of the stove, place over medium-high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender.
    5. Place a marinated mushroom with fixings, on your favorite Rudi’s organic or gluten- free hamburger bun.closed sandwich

 

  1. Enjoy!

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Sadiya faceSadiya Wims is an EduTaste™ facilitator and health coach dedicated to helping others get into their kitchens to create easy, yummy, vegan cooked and raw meals. Please take a minute to look around VegLight. You’ll learn how simple and interesting incorporating vegan food can be. You can follow VegLight on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

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Spring Omelette Breakfast

May 13, 2014

One of my favorite parts about springtime is being able to wake up on Sunday morning, make my family a nice big breakfast, and sit out on the back patio enjoying our meal in the warm sun! Our spring omelette breakfast recipe is sure to get you excited to get out of bed. Have a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice to make this recipe a real breakfast treat!!

Ingredients:

Omelette:

  • 2 large eggs, organic
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, organic
  • 1 rip plum tomato, organic
  • 1/2 cup grated fresh mozzarella, organic
  • salt and pepper to taste

Fruit Salad:

  • 1 mango, organic
  • fresh strawberries, organic
  • fresh blueberries, organic

Seared Rainbow Chard:

  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 leaves chard, organic

Toast:

 

 Preparation:

  1. In a bowl, crack eggs. Whisk until well mixed
  2. Pour eggs in a non-stick skillet. Let sit until bottom is cooked; flip over and let sit again until top is cooked.
  3. Chop up tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil and place over 1/2 of the eggs. Flip other half over to make an omelette.
  4. For the fruit salad, peel and slice mango and mix together with strawberries and blueberries.
  5. Take rainbow chard off the steam and chop it into thick chunks. Heat olive oil in a pan and place chard in. Let it sear for 1 minute
  6. For the toast, simply stick a slice of Honey Sweet Whole Wheat in the toaster until golden brown.
  7. Place all your breakfast items on a plate and enjoy!

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Ways to a Healthy Planet

April 23, 2014

We’ve been told over and over how important it is to keep our environment as clean healthy as can be! After all, we want our children, grandchildren, and any family thereafter to be able to enjoy Mother Nature as much as we have. With hope to further this effort (and to commemorate Earth Day!) we’re offering up some tips on how to make our Earth last lifetimes!

 

What you can do AT HOME:

  • Recycle: a lot of things you wouldn’t expect to be recyclable are! Check out a list of all things recyclable here!

 

  • Compost: instead of throwing all your ground coffee beans or apple cores in the trash, take an extra 2 seconds to walk out to the garage and throw them in a compost bin! Also, many waste management companies now offer services for composting.

 

  • Turn off lights: while this is quite possibly the mostly simple measure to take, turning off a light switch before leaving the room saves immense amounts of energy (and it’ll cut down the costs of your electric bill).

 

  • Plant a garden: nothing beats a home-cooked meal like having home-cooked vegetables to go with it! Growing your own food means that you don’t have to worry about the food industry pumping chemicals into your veggies and disposing of the waste improperly.

 

  • Use renewable energy sources/high efficiency appliances and cars: while a little more pricey than planting a garden, installing solar panels and/or purchasing a more efficient car can do wonders for cutting back your carbon footprint!

 

What you can do in your COMMUNITY:

  • Bike to work: instead of using fuel to drive to work or school in the summer, try taking a bike (or the bus)!

 

  • Support GREEN business: try finding companies in your area that are committed to going green and support them by using their product or their service(s) instead of another, more generic company.

 

  • Encourage others to follow in your path! Nothing travels faster than word of mouth, so by encouraging your friends and families to follow suit can make a HUGE difference!

 

  • TELL US: comment below or let us know on Facebook what we can add to this list to keep our home happy and healthy!

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Organic Matzo Pizza

April 14, 2014

Spring is in full swing which, for our Passover-celebrating Rudi’s fans means matzo ball soup, unleavened bread, and countless rounds of Deiyanu! There is one downfall to Passover – YOU CAN’T EAT BREAD!

This year, we’ve set out to use matzo for more than just the sedar plate and the afikoman.  This matzo pizza recipe will win the hearts (and tummies) of your matzo loving and non-matzo loving friends and family!

Matzo Pizza

 

Ingredients

  • 1 piece of matzah (organic)
  • 4 Tbsp. pizza sauce, organic
  • 4 thin slices of mozzarella, fresh
  • 1 Tbsp. basil, fresh
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Aluminum foil

Preparation

1.     Set oven to 350 F
2.     Place matzah on a piece of aluminum foil
3.     Add pizza sauce to matzah and spread around entire sheet leaving a little off the edges to act as a “crust”
4.     Place mozzarella, basil, and garlic all around the matzah
5.     Once oven is heated, place matzo in the oven for 10 minutes

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How to Avoid Azodicarbonamide – and Other Chemicals – in Your Family’s Diet

April 11, 2014

By now, many of you may have probably heard the news that Subway will remove the “yoga mat chemical,” azodicarbonamide, from its breads next week. While we at Rudi’s are encouraged that this announcement is helping to start a conversation about what actually is IN the food we eat and feed to our kids, we feel like a major part of the conversation is missing—how we can avoid ingredients like azodicarbonamide, and ultimately choose foods that are made only with cleaner, healthier ingredients for our families and the environment.

 Here’s a simple solution for you.

 Did you know that one easy way you can avoid foods made with ingredients like azodicarbonamide is to purchase organic options? By definition, certified organic foods cannot be made with artificial additives, preservatives and GMOs.

 What’s more encouraging is that organic options can provide more nutritional value. You may have seen the news coverage late last year that Washington State University released a study that showed organic milk has a healthier ratio of fatty acids than conventional milk due to a greater reliance on pasture and forage-based feeds on organic dairy farms, for instance. Additionally, in 2012, The Organic Center released a study, “A Closer Look at What’s In Our Daily Bread,” that found that 63 percent of packaged organic bread ingredients are significant sources of important nutrients, compared to 27 percent in conventional packaged bread. Plus, the study found that organic bread has more whole food ingredients at 49 percent than conventional bread at 12 percent.

While recent studies and food labeling debates about GMOs have, no doubt, encouraged more people to read ingredient lists, much still needs to be done to build awareness of what’s actually in our food and to encourage larger producers to use only those ingredients we feel good about.

 For our part, we can proudly share that we believe there is a better way to bake bread and that includes a commitment to using only the best ingredients that you can recognize and pronounce, like organic whole wheat flour, salt and yeast. We’ve always said no to the junk and never used chemicals, artificial additives, preservatives or GMOs in our breads.

We’d love for you to try our breads and hear what you think about this conversation. Check out our Facebook page for coupons, or visit our Loaf for Less page. You can find a store near you that carries Rudi’s Organic products by visiting our Where to Buy tool, too.

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Not Your Everyday Eggplant Parmesan

April 7, 2014

We realize that on game day,  during a get together, or when your kids invite all 10 of their closest friends over after school, it’s difficult to get a healthy snack or meal on the table that everyone will enjoy! For the next time you need to whip up a tasty treat on a whim, try out this easy and  healthy Eggplant Melt over Rudi’s White English Muffins!

Ingredients

 Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Peel and dice eggplant into small squares. Brush tops of eggplant with olive oil and place in oven for 7 minutes or until pieces begins to brown.
  3. Remove eggplant and divide pieces evenly on top of English Muffin halves.
  4. Cover eggplant with a thin slice of Parmesan, a sprinkle of Cheddar cheese, and a dash or paprika.
  5. Place English Muffin halves on a baking pan and place back in the over for 2 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.
  6. Remove eggplant melts from oven and let cool.
  7. If desired, cut eggplant melt in quarters and top with a pinch of sprouts.

 

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Chocolate Almond Butter Bread Pudding

March 30, 2014

National Nutrition Month is coming to an end but that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue eating healthy and clean for the rest of the year! This lightened up Chocolate Almond Butter Bread Pudding is a great way to treat yourself on a Sunday night! Cozy up with this healthy dessert, and an old school classic movie to make your Sunday night the best.

Lightened up Chocolate Almond Butter Bread Pudding!

Ingredients:

1 loaf Rudi’s Honey Sweet Wheat Bread
½ C. chocolate almond butter
½ C. egg whites
¼ C. honey or agave
1 ¼ C. almond milk
½ C. raspberries 

Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice bread into cubes and place on a baking sheet. Toast 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool completely.
In a large bowl, combine Chocolate Almond Butter, egg whites, honey and milk. Stir in toasted bread and let soak for 10 minutes. Fold in raspberries.
Transfer mixture into 6 ramekins or a 8” x 8” baking pan coated with cooking spray.
Cook 25-30 minutes. Using a sifter, dust bread pudding with powdered sugar and serve warm
Yield: 6-8 servings.

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Avocado Fries with Cilantro Lime Sauce by Guest Blogger Marissa

February 28, 2014

I could eat avocado every day, not even kidding.

Avocados on sandwiches, in salads, on top of black bean burgers… you name it. This silly looking fruit contains lots of heart healthy fats and makes a delicious, creamy addition to almost any recipe.

You can even make fries out of them! Yep, you heard that right. FRIES.

Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Paired with a tangy (+ slightly spicy!) cilantro-lime dipping sauce and you’ve got a game winning combination.

Ingredients (yields about 16 fries):

  • 2 large avocados
  • 4 slices of lightly toasted Rudi’s Organic Honey Sweet Whole Wheat bread (or any other type of organic bread!)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of coconut oil (for frying)

 

Preparation (sauce):

  1. 8oz cup of plain greek yogurt
  2. juice from one lime
  3. 1/3 cup of cilantro
  4. 1 tsp garlic salt
  5. 1/2 small jalapeno (can add more depending on spice preference)

 

Preparation (avocado fries):

  1. Heat coconut oil on medium in a deep pan while preparing the fries.
  2. Process Rudi’s bread into fine crumbs in either a high-powered blender or food processor.
  3. Slice avocados in half lengthwise and cut into 1-1 1/2 inch thick strips.
  4. Combine bread crumbs, cumin and garlic salt in a medium sized bowl.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until yolks and whites are combined.
  6. Dip avocado slices in the egg mixture and then immediately coat in the bread crumbs.
  7. Fry avocados for about 45 seconds on each side, or until golden brown.
  8. Remove from pan, place on a paper towel and let excess oil drain off.

avacado1branded

To make the sauce, combine the Greek yogurt, lime juice, jalapeno, cilantro and salt into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

The sauce is more of an art than a science, so feel free to add more jalapeno or even another type of pepper if you’re feeling crazy!

Avocado fries should be eaten right away for best tasting results, but will keep in the fridge for about 3-4 days. I will warn you though, they aren’t as crispy on days 2-4!

Enjoy!

 

 

marisssa

Marissa is the active lifestyle blogger behind Barefoot Colorado, a blog documenting her adventures in CrossFit, running and exploring the Rocky Mountains.

 

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