Well it's now January 74th and I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Memorial Day right about now. I shouldn't complain, Mother Nature has been pretty good to us so far in the Northeast this winter. We even had a 66 degree day last week that I took advantage of by getting out at lunchtime and taking a walk. With the winter season in full effect it is definitely a good excuse for comfort food and hot soups and beverages. I am in the process of adding recipes to this site and welcome any and all feedback. That being said, one of my favorite things to do any time of year, is to use organic frozen vegetables. They are a true time-saver (and most of the time a money saver, as you are not throwing away unused at the end of a week) and it makes it possible to still eat all of our favorites, even though they are not in season right now. The same goes for fruit - while there is nothing more satisfying to me than to wash a nice, ripe fresh strawberry and sink my teeth into it, the berries this time of year leave much to be desired. However, I have nothing against buying frozen and making them into smoothies or adding to overnight oats or chia seed pudding. You can even defrost them for a few seconds in the microwave, or just add them to cooked oatmeal. I recommend during any time of year that you should also be buying what looks good to you when buying fresh in the produce aisle - that doesn't always mean organic. There is something called the DIRTY DOZEN/CLEAN FIFTEEN that I've linked here:
You can use these links and information as a general rule of thumb when shopping for produce. I don't make myself crazy with it - because you really can let yourself get carried away with all the info out there. Sometimes if I need a certain item from the produce aisle and I can't find it or it just doesn't look appealing - then time to switch gears and use a different recipe or substitute in what looks good. Never be afraid to tweak a recipe. It's what I and many other foodies live by.