June 06, 2011

A Fruitful Summer

Summer is my favorite time of year. I like the heat (for the most part) and I love the sunshine. Plus, I always look forward to eating fresh fruit. Cold fruit is the perfect snack after an outing to the pool.
This year, my daughters are actually putting in requests for which fruit they want me to buy. I typically buy strawberries, blueberries, grapes and bananas. Lately, they've also been asking for raspberries, blackberries and mango. While I don't care for tomatoes, I've been buying grape tomatoes because two of my girls really like them.
My girls are really into talking about how "colorful" their plates are when they're filled with fruits and vegetables. It's a fun way for me to explain (in simple terms) health and nutrition. They're starting to understand that the more colors you have on your plate, the healthier your meal is.
Still, if anyone has tips for storing raspberries, send them my way. Keeping them in the plastic containers they come in seems to result in mold within a day or two.

8 comments:

MaryAnne said...

How neat that they love all the colors on their plates!

I think raspberries just don't keep very well. Keeping them in the fridge is the only thing I know of that helps, but even then they have to be eaten pretty quickly...

Christina said...

I love summer for that reason too, I love our fresh veggies out of the garden and all the fruit I can get my hands on. =)

Quadmama said...

We had hoped this would be the summer that we start our own garden. It didn't happen, but at least even the fruits and veggies at the grocery store seem fresher than normal!

Novabella said...

They will keep better if you sprinkle them with sugar. Probably not what you had in mind but... they make their own juice if you do that, they don't go moldy, and they are beyond fabulous with a little ice cream or frozen yogurt.

I come from a long line of raspberry growers, and I can't look at them without thinking about BEES and how much I complained about picking them when I was a little girl. But now I'd be happy for bees to come and visit my berry patch!

Renae said...

I definitely look forward to the fresh fruit options that come with summer. We've been eating a ton of strawberries and blueberries and grapes, but I do find that we have to eat them up pretty quickly or they'll start to spoil. Fortunately, my kids gobble them up, and then ask for more. I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to eat nothing but fruit if I'd allow it. I suppose there are worse things a kid could be hooked on.

Quadmama said...

I'll have to try that sugar tip!

MandyE (Twin Trials and Triumphs) said...

Our girls love almost any kind of fruit. We eat all the staples you mentioned, and we've been enjoying a lot of fresh pineapple lately, too. For some reason I rarely bought it before this season, but I've been able to find it very reasonably priced, and it's so incredibly sweet. We also enjoy kiwi, and we've had great luck with watermelon and canteloupe so far this season.

On a veggie note, I was surprised when I discovered our girls like fresh cucumber. At first I cut it into small pieces and stirred in a tiny bit of sour cream and a dash of salt. Then one day I was out of sour cream, and they ate it just as well with nothing on it. Easy side dish!

Quadmama said...

We go through a ton of watermelon, too. My girls all like cucumbers, preferably with ranch dip.

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