produce

slicing peaches, nectarines and other stone fruitI love peaches and nectarines probably more than any other fruit, and this week I’m sharing my tip for slicing up stone fruit for snacks and fruit salads over at the Plan to Eat blog:

This time of year, I tend to buy as much stone fruit as I can because the season never seems to last as long as I’d like it to!

I’m happy eating peaches and nectarines whole, but I also tend to slice lots up for fruit salads and snacks.

The classic way to cut up a peach is to cut it in half all the way around the pit and then gently twist the halves apart and cut your slices from there.

However, I prefer to cut them in half and then continue cutting my slices while the fruit is still attached to the pit.

Read more about how and why I slice my stone fruit…

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Bluapple

This giveaway is now closed! The winners are Sam (samnkids@…), Shana (nineteen19@…), Stefanie Bunning (smbunning@…)!

All living plants — especially fruits, vegetables and flowers — give off ethylene gas as a chemical signal to help speed up ripening. While this obviously has its place in nature, when we store fruits and veggies in our refrigerator, the ethylene gas builds up and produce begins to quickly ripen, which leads to spoilage and waste.

BluAppleThe BluApple is based on technology that has been used in ships, warehouses and trucks for many years. It doesn’t release any gas or chemical but rather absorbs and neutralizes the ethylene gas buildup.  With the rising cost of food, this is an easy and effective way to keep produce fresh longer.

In addition to using the BluApple, keeping produce cold and at the right humidity level will also extend the life of your fruits and veggies.

BluApple offers a money-back guarantee, but out of hundreds of thousands of purchases, they’ve only had — literally — about 20 refund requests. Most users easily recover the purchase price within a few weeks with less spoilage, and the Bluapple continues to deliver value for many months.

So where do you get it? You’ll find BluApple at retail locations such as Whole Foods Markets, Giant Foods, Stop & Shop, and many others, or you can order it online directly from TheBluApple.com.

This week, three lucky Life Your Way readers will each win a set of 2 BluApples plus 12-month refills!

To enter, visit BluApple to learn more about the technology behind this little blue apple. Then, come back and tell me one fun fact about them. For example: How exactly does it work? What else can you do to extend the life of your produce? How will you know when the filter needs to be replaced?

This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 6/7. The winners will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their names as well!

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Stock Your Freezer with “Overripe” Bananas and Save

April 22, 2011

Yesterday I shared my love of “overripe” bananas on the Plan to Eat blog: I probably look like a crazy woman when I head to our local grocery store and load up my cart with bags of “overripe” bananas, but because they’re so versatile, I usually buy as many as the store has available. The [...]

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Homemade Produce Wash for Your Fruits & Veggies

April 15, 2011

I’m excited to be contributing regularly to the Plan to Eat blog again, after a hiatus while I worked on the book manuscript, and today I’m sharing several ideas for making your own produce wash: With growing concern about the safety of conventionally grown fruits and veggies — and the relatively exorbitant prices of organic [...]

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Quick Tip: How to Cut a Pineapple

April 8, 2011

Pineapple is one of our very favorite fruits, and we go through at least one a week. For a long time, I was intimidated by the idea of cutting a pineapple, so I stuck with canned, but it’s actually really easy. They offer special pineapple cutting tools, but they’re unnecessary. Here’s how I do it [...]

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How to Eat a Kumquat

January 24, 2011

A couple of years ago, I didn’t even know what a kumquat was when Shaina from Food for My Family nicknamed her oldest son “Kumquat” on her blog. But last week when I saw them next to the blueberries and blackberries at Walmart, I couldn’t resist buying a pack to try them for myself. The [...]

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