summer recipes Archives - Wild Blueberries

Easy Fall Soup Recipe for Busy Moms: Butternut Squash Soup with Wild Blueberry Relish

Is it starting to feel like fall in your neck of the woods? Some people are sad to see the warm weather of summer dwindle down, but I’m super excited for it to get chilly again. I can’t wait for pumpkin spice everything, sweaters, and best of all: soup!

The fall also ushers in a busy season of after-school and weekend activities, sometimes making it a little harder to eat together as a family. My daughter has soccer practice three nights per week, so having a dinner plan on those days is really important.

Using my Instant Pot is one of my best strategies for having a meal ready and waiting for dinner on busy weeknights. I also love making blended soups. There’s nothing more comforting than cozying up with a big bowl of freshly made soup, and my butternut squash soup with Wild Blueberry relish is the perfect way to bring everyone around the dinner table for a healthy meal.

This butternut squash soup with Wild Blueberry relish literally tastes like fall in a bowl with the perfect sweet and savory flavor combination. I always like to add a little texture to blended soup, right before serving. You can top your bowl with pumpkin seeds, kale chips, chopped herbs, glazed onions — or you can try my tangy, fruity Wild Blueberry relish!

If you thought Wild Blueberries were only for the summer time, think again. Wild Blueberries are available in the freezer section of your grocery store. I cook with Wild Blueberries year-round and love knowing they’ve been harvested and frozen at the peak of freshness, when they’re perfectly ripe and chock full of antioxidants.

You’ll love the pop of color and freshness you get from this Wild Blueberry relish. It’s a great complement to the richness of the butternut squash and adds the perfect amount of texture to this blended soup. You could also use this relish as a topping for bruschetta or even roasted turkey.

Since frozen Wild Blueberries are available year-round, they’re the perfect complement to plenty of my other favorite fall dishes, too. Check out my wildly popular Twice Baked Sweet Potato with Warm Wild Blueberries or these Wild Blueberry Sweet Potato Stacks for more fall-inspired dishes.

Have a Wild Blue Summer – and win a NutriBullet PRO!

Summer is here! The kids are out of school, the sun is shining and we’ve (finally) unpacked our summer wardrobe. While we enjoy relaxing by the water, be it a pool, lake, river or pond, many of us are also looking for creative ways to keep ourselves and the kids cool during summer’s heat. We don’t mind the warmer temps here in Maine because that means the Wild Blueberries are ripening in the barrens and harvest is around the corner.

To help you and the family stay cool this summer, we’re kicking off our Wild Blue Summer Sweepstakes today! We’re giving away a NutriBullet PRO, the official blender of Wild Blueberries, every Wednesday and Friday now through July 26^th – that’s a total of 6. NutriBullets are an awesome must-have kitchen gadget – great at blending together some amazing recipes, especially smoothies using delicious frozen Wild Blueberries. If this is something your kitchen is missing, enter now for six chances to win throughout the month of July.

Here’s how to enter:

Visit our Wild Blue Summer Sweepstakes Page.
Enter your email address.
Press the submit button. Easy!

As a “thank you” for entering, you will receive our Wild Blue Summer E-recipe book as a FREE download. It contains eight easy-to-make, tasty, summer recipes from some of our favorite registered dietitians and food bloggers that will help you keep things cool during hot days. The refreshing summer recipes include smoothies for any time of day, on-the-go recipes and even some no-bake sweet treats everyone will enjoy.

Be sure to enter our Wild Blue Summer Sweepstakes starting TODAY. We will select winners to receive a NutriBullet PRO every Wednesday and Friday starting July 7^th.

For more great recipes featuring Wild Blueberries visit: www.wildblueberries.com/recipes

Shake Up Your Smoothie Routine with 14 New Smoothie Recipes

Right now, the Wild Blueberry Barrens of Maine and Eastern Canada are simply bursting with gazillions of purple-and-blue, anthocyanin-rich, scrumptious Wild Blueberries. These little wonders are fulfilling their biological destiny—ripening to perfection over thousands of acres of remote, wide-open barrens—just as they have been doing for over 10,000 years in only one special place on earth. It’s a marvel to behold, and to taste.

What better way to celebrate the splendor of this unique annual phenomenon than to travel North in August, rake Wild Blueberries for yourself, and engage in a creative competition to test your smoothie-making prowess.

Recently, we did just that. A group of 14 exceptional bloggers, writers, and journalists from around the United States, joined us on a 3-day exploration of the Wild Blueberry Barrens of Maine. A highlight of the trip was a spirited smoothie making competition that brought out a playful competitive spirit and some serious creative genius. If you’ve managed to fall into something of a smoothie rut, have a look at these interesting ingredients. Just a couple new ingredients can really spice up your smoothie and bring in a host of new vitamins and minerals that your body might be craving.

Over 40 Great Ingredients

In all, our competitors had over 40 ingredients to work with. The only rule was that each smoothie must include Frozen Wild Blueberries, picked at the peak of ripeness and flash-frozen to lock in their nutrition. Here’s the list.

How many of these ingredients are in your go-to smoothie “pantry”?

Frozen Wild Blueberries	Lemon	Spinach
Bananas	Lime	Protein Powder
Strawberries	Almond Milk	Maple Syrup
Pineapple	Low-fat Milk	Honey
Watermelon	Coconut Water	Medjool Dates
Dragonfruit	Yogurt	Cacoa Powder
Avocado	Cream Cheese	Vanilla Extract
Hemp Seeds	Walnuts	Cardamom
Chia Seeds	Cinnamon	Turmeric
Almond Butter	Fresh Mint	Matcha Powder
Coconut Butter	Fresh Basil	Graham Crackers

The smoothies were judged for taste, texture, and visual presentation by Wild Blueberry nutrition advisor Kit Broihier, MS, MD, LD, and Bar Harbor Inn Executive Chef Louis Kefir. Two first place winners were selected, and the prize was a 900 Pro Series NutriBullet.

14 NEW Inspiring & Healthy Smoothies

Explore the list of out-of-this-world recipes created by our entire team of writers. Each has its own unique character, flavor, and appearance, so try them out (and check out the cool names):

Summer 2016 Wild Your Smoothie Contest.

The Winners!

Drum roll, please. After careful consideration by our two judges, the following two smoothies were selected as contest winners. Spice Market Smoothie by Regina Ragone, Food, Director at Family Circle, was selected for its exceptional taste and the use of cardamom, which adds serious interest and uniqueness. The Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie by Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine, was selected for its fresh flavor, beautiful color, and overall appeal.

557_ReginaBtB — Spice Market Smoothie by Regina Ragone, Food, Director at Family Circle

557_MarnieBtB — Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie by Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine

Bottom Line

Making great smoothies is a healthy way to get a tasty and easy on- the-go meal. Sometimes, we get into a smoothie routine that needs to be shaken up a bit. Try adding some new ingredients now and then. Variety will spice up your life and add new vitamins and minerals too. Who doesn’t want to feel healthy, happy, and spicy?

Enter the Strawberry

A Season of Picking, Festivals & Shortcake Begins

by Greencolander

When strawberries are in season, no one will blame you for dropping everything to get to the nearest fruit stand – whether it’s an expanse that covers acres, or just a girl with a glass jar and a folding table. Cartons bursting with shiny crimson-colored fruit are all you need to start feeling like summer is truly here.

Strawberries are beloved for their sweet delicious flavor, and when they are picked fresh from the field, there is nothing like them. They are, like wild blueberries, a strong contender for a powerful antioxidant food. They are also associated with exciting new brain health studies that show that they, along with blueberries, hold big promise under their colorful skin in the prevention of age-related brain deterioration, including Alzheimer’s.

Low in calories, strawberries are high in vitamin C, folate, potassium and manganese. Their anti-inflammatory properties that help preserve brain health also fight certain cancers, provide cardiovascular support, help regulate blood sugar and decrease risk of type 2 diabetes. PickYourOwn.org even tells us that strawberry juice can serve as a salve for feverish patients and cool a sunburn!

Most of all, strawberries are a fun, versatile ingredient that thrill the palate in everything from pies to salsas. So open the door to summer and surrender to this ruby red fruit. It’s time to indulge in all things strawberry.

Fields & Festivals Devoted to Strawberries

Locals will tell you, Maxwell’s Strawberry Farm is a goldmine for growing and picking strawberries in Southern Maine. Located in the Two Lights area of Cape Elizabeth, they invite pickers to pick to their heart’s content for $2.39/pound. Be sure to call the Strawberry Hotline (207-799-3383) beforehand to make sure the fields are not closed for ripening.

To make the most of the season, Maxwell’s is host to the 2012 Strawberry Festival which takes place Saturday, June 30th. It’s real kicks-off is Friday evening, though, with a Lobsterbake & Pig Roast Fund Raiser. The next day at the festival, visitors will encounter strawberry treats, music, a wide range of artisans and vendors, and plenty of activities for kids, including tractor rides, and hot air balloon rides.

Or, head south on Saturday to South Berwick (it’s right on the New Hampshire border) to the annual South Berwick Strawberry Festival where the usual shenanigans of this self-described small town country event ensues, including entertainment, food, artisans, and plenty of strawberry shortcakes.

Strawberry Recipes to Kick Off the Season

It’s no crime to eat your berries straight from the carton, but using them in extraordinary recipes may be what they were created for. Just in the nick of time, The Portland Press Herald offers recipes for the season from local Maine culinary experts, including Strawberry Crepe Cake from Erin Lynch, kitchen manager of Rosemont Market & Bakery, and Strawberry and Finger Banana Fritters, a wow of a dish, compliments of Chef Carmen Gonzalez of the Danforth Inn.

Southern Living has has in-season recipes like Strawberry-Fruit Toss with Cornmeal Shortcakes, and Strawberry-Turkey-Brie Panini to put strawberries to work in something other than dessert. Also in keeping with the season, Cooking Light is a mouth-watering resource for all things strawberry, among them Strawberry Granita and Lavender-Scented Strawberries with Honey Cream. (They have layer cake, too.)

Finally, Food52.com, where home cooks spread their wings, has a Strawberry Salad that is a stunner for summer. It’s a combination of strawberries, balsamic vinegar and greens; making it exclusively from farmer’s market loot is a must. The salad is a runner-up to the grand prize winner, the utmost in summer desserts, Strawberries with Lavender Biscuits. Tender biscuits with delightful undertones of lavender separate this lovely interpretation of the traditional shortcake from the pack.

Berry Synergistic

One of the best things about strawberries is their palate-pleasing pairing with wild blueberries. Together, these berries offer a complex flavor with surprising sweetness and tang, and an antioxidant burst that pumps up health benefits to the max.
“When you combine different antioxidant foods, you get synergy,” says Dr. Dan Nadeau, Medical Director for Diabetes and Endocrinology Associates of York Hospital and co-author of The Color Code. Synergy refers to combining healthy foods in a way that results in an even bigger benefit to health than the two would have apart. For example, combining wild blueberries and walnuts or strawberries can increase the impact they have when eaten separately, creating a burst of protection when it comes to our bodies.

Synergistic dishes for strawberry season that are high in nutrition and bursting with color include Confessions of and Overworked Mom’s Strawberry Blueberry Crumble Pie. Martha Stewart has her say with a Red and White Blueberry Trifle, a synergistic recipe that is perfect for the 4th of July.

Find a “pick your own” farm in Maine, or close by in New Brunswick.

Summer Foods Adopt a Blue Hue

Wild Blueberries Create New Traditions in Seasonal Fare

Right now, wild blueberry barrens throughout Maine and Nova Scotia are being fertilized and closely checked for growth and pests as farmers anticipate the coming harvest season. Around here, it seems like everyone has wild blueberries on their mind. Of course, there’s no reason to wait for August when today’s quick freezing technology makes blues straight from the field available anytime, but the thought of thousands of acres of this Maine fruit simultaneously bursting with deep blue color just seems to trigger our taste for the sweet, tangy wild blueberry.

There’s no forcing wild blueberry pie off the most-loved foods list, but there are some other less traditional ways to encounter the area’s indigenous ingredient that have burgeoned in popularity. Recently, the Portland Press Herald discussed the penchant for some to indulge in non-traditional lobster rolls (consider the convention-busting wasabi roll, or the BLT-style roll), and we’re doing the same with wild blueberries. We consider these outside-the-box specialties the new summer essentials. Incorporating them into your summer fare will steer you clear from the hum-drum and satisfy your hankering for the uniquely sweet taste you long for. There are plenty of options perfect for a season ripe for something small, cool and blue!

Blueberries & Seafood: A Sizzling Summer Pairing

Pairing wild blueberries with seafood has been a culinary secret held by the best chefs in the nation. Now it’s yours: blueberries create an ideal flavor profile for all types of proteins, but especially seafood, which comes to life when complemented by a bright, tangy sauce. Wild blueberries fit the bill perfectly due to their particularly complex flavor that’s like no other fruit or berry, and the result can be exquisite.

For example, wild blueberries paired with hearty fish, like this Grilled Halibut with Blueberry-Pepper Sauce from Heart Healthy Living is the perfect foray into seasonal eating. Think lobster and blueberries make an unlikely pair? Catherine Ryan Quint’s Baked Stuffed Lobster (reprinted here by Maine Travel Maven Hilary Nagle) says differently. Her recipe has a history of taking home the gold at the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival – can hundreds of Down Easters be wrong? The crabmeat and blueberry stuffing is the surprise. Another summer favorite from Food.com gets a new lease on life with Lobster and Crab Cakes with Wild Blueberries. Wild takes these cakes from same-old to seconds-please.

Blueberry Brews – A Summer Basic with a Twist

Hanging out around festivals tents, backyard barbeques, or under umbrellas on the deck of a local brewery this summer? Then you know that beer is a summer standard. Clearly, local breweries know the flavor for the season: it’s blueberry, and using Maine wild blueberries is imperative for a perfect brew. Atlantic Brewing has the idea with their Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale (their all-ages Blueberry soda is made with Maine blueberries, too). Sebago Brewing, not to be outdone, offers Bass Ackwards Berryblue Ale, brewed exclusively during the Maine blueberry harvest. (They suggest a Black and Blue – Bass Ackwards mixed with Lake Trout Stout – for a killer quaff.) Sea Dog Brewing Company makes their mark as well with Bluepaw Blueberry Wheat Ale, a sud beloved for its fruity, nutty flavor. Try all three and more with Bacon Wrapped Blueberry Jalapeño Poppers, a bar-side favorite with a twist that hails – who knew? – from the South.

Popsicles: Cool Blue Beats the Heat

The best summer treats are cool and blue, and what’s more, they come on a stick! Homemade popsicles with real fruit is ingenious – they cool you down during the heat wave and take advantage of what wild blueberries have to offer in addition to powerful health-preserving antioxidants: big fruit taste. If you don’t have these fruit-forward missiles in your freezer from June to August, then pack up your big-brimmed hat, summer just isn’t for you.

Start with Martha Stewart’s Banana Swirl Popsicles, or these classically cool Blueberry Pops (use frozen just as easily without sacrificing nutrition, taste or convenience). Or, put some Blueberry Pomegranate Pops in your freezer. They are colorful, cute, and cold, and they require just three ingredients and one minute (give or take) to make.

Salsa: The Ultimate Summer Side, Improved (with Blue)

Why is salsa so summer friendly? It’s a chilly side that incorporates some heat (if you like), and it transcends super snack status by also being a super entrée side. Why wild blues? They represent the epitome of fruit flavor – more so than their cultivated cousins, according to Chef Steve Corry of Portland’s 555 – which turns this classic into something exciting. Dip tortillas in it, pair it with chicken, pork or fish dishes, or heap in on a turkey sandwich for the ultimate solution to the bland dish that incorporates the crucial but sometimes overlooked part of the dietary color spectrum. Here’s an elegant recipe for Blueberry Salsa from Whole Living – the Kitchen Is My Playground takes you through the all the visual steps. It uses the typical ingredients, including cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice, and takes it all to the extreme with the smashing taste of blueberries. Or, dip into Mango Blueberry Salsa. Its big taste is courtesy of an expert Maine chef, Executive Chef Louis Kiefer Jr. of the Bar Harbor Inn. You can also use your own garden bounty (or someone else’s) to make this Blueberry and Basil Habanero Salsa from Closet Cooking, a savory salsa that provides fresh taste with some heat.

Got a summer recipe that uses wild blueberries? Whether it’s a classic dish or an extreme creation, tell us.

Be a Culinary Star!

Delicious Wild Blueberry Dishes Will Turn You Into a Top Chef

Why do chefs love cooking with wild blueberries? Steve Corry, Owner and Chef at Portland’s 555 and Petite Jacqueline Restaurants (and a Food & Wine pick for its 10 Best Chefs) breaks it down: deeper color and more intense flavor than their cultivated cousins. Wild is a requirement for recipes at Corry’s restaurants where there are no compromises, and for many award-winning chefs wild means better performance in the kitchen and better reviews in the dining room.

Feel like channeling a top chef? With summer upon us, wild blueberries provide vibrant color and uniquely sweet taste that creates seasonal dishes worth raving about. Plus, if you live in Maine or Canada, serving dishes with a nod to the region is simply de rigueur. Here are three recipe ideas that exemplify these virtues to kick off your own personal culinary extravaganza.

Super Summer Salad

Spicy Tortilla Salad with Wild Blueberries elevates salad with an inspired mixture of fruit and warmth that is dazzling to look at and utter fun to eat. Apples and peppers combine with wild blueberries, flour tortillas, and goat cheese to complete the flavor profile. (Check out other delicious salads for summer.)

An Ideal Duck Pairing

If you are looking for a special entrée that shows off the unique sweet-sour taste of wild blueberries, try duck. Duck with wild blueberries is a signature combination at Corry’s restaurants – its popularity is due to a flavor that works tangy blues against savory duck. Wild blues are also ideal to add acidity and cut the fat content of the dish. This Duck Breast with Wild Blueberry Sauce is the perfect example. You can buy conveniently packaged duck breasts at most the grocery stores (and stop by the freezer section to stock up on wild blues).

Summer Cocktail

It may not be first on your list of ways to use wild blueberries, but in fact, this underrated drink ingredient shines in summer cocktails. This Wild Blueberry Baselito is one example of how blues play a part in celebrating the season. Wild blueberries, basil and rum (though this drink is fantastic with or without) make an ultracool cocktail for sipping on the porch.

Top Maine Chefs Love Wild Blueberries. Watch What Makes Chefs Go Wild and see why area chefs use exclusively wild, and how they are inspired to use them in award-winning baked goods and dishes.

Find more wild blue recipe ideas at WildBlueberries.com.

Wild Blueberry Favorites – Your Top 5 Recipes

Need a Healthy Eating Idea? These Favorites are Tried, True & Blue

Looking for a new dining or dessert idea that’s big on health and just as big on taste? We’ve assembled the top most-viewed recipes from wildblueberries.com from the last twelve months and made them into our – that is, your – countdown of the Top 5 Wild Blueberry Recipes. Of all the unique, creative ways to use wild blueberries, why do these recipes keep coming out on top? The answer is palpable. Here, you be the judge.

#5: Wild Blueberry Chicken Breast

We were delighted to see a non-dessert recipe show up in the past year’s Top 5: This one is perfect for its easy pairing of protein with the sweet, tangy taste of wild blueberry sauce. The secret: deglazing the pan with red wine, wild blueberries, lemon rind and salt. It turns chicken into a superfruit specialty. Using frozen wild blues means you can keep this recipe up your sleeve for any time you want something unique, easy, and big on healthy ingredients.

#4: Wild Blueberry Crisp

The jury is in: we simply can’t resist a crisp – the crunch, the sweetness, and the satisfaction is what makes this dessert a true favorite. This crisp recipe delights over and over again because of its fruit combination (apples paired with blues) and its ease. Add chopped pecans if you wish for an additional nutty crunch – undeniable dessert excellence.

#3: Brownie Dominoes with Wild Blueberry Cinnamon Sauce
Brownies are a consistent, seasonless favorite, and this recipe comes in at #3 for its winning combination that rose quietly above the rest. It must be its chocolately flavor that pairs so wonderfully with blueberries. Served with wild blueberry sauce as recommended gives them the crave-worthy quality that makes them a list topper. Hard to believe, but these are Color Code health-approved, too.

#2: Wild Blueberry Pie

The second place spot for popularity over the last 12 months is no surprise – it’s a pie classic that stands the test of time because it is always flawless and delicious. Winning out over more inventive desserts, Wild Blueberry Pie reigns for its supreme beauty (and rustic lattice-top crust, if you choose) and its bountiful six cups of wild blueberries that flow past its corners. Wildly delicious? Agreed.

#1: Wild Blueberry Smoothie

What makes this recipe the top visited recipe of the last year? There’s no secret that the smoothie is a beloved way to get healthy antioxidants. While nutrition experts advocate eating the whole fruit rather than those in juiced form to preserve desirable fiber, the Wild Blueberry Smoothie fits the bill. It contains all the fiber of the whole fruit, and all the dark blue skins where beneficial phytos reside. Add the benefits of yogurt and honey to this naturally sweet concoction, and yep, it’s the best of the best.

Runner-Up: An Easy Summer Dessert. Looking for an easy, colorful, warm-weather dessert that everyone will love? Try #6 on our list, Wild Blueberry Cassis Mousse Cake, a perfect choice for summer.

Check out our new look! A brand new design for wildblueberries.com means searching for all our best recipes is even easier and more fun, whether it’s for breakfasts, snacks, salads, entrees, desserts or a delightful summer drink. (Bookmark us for when you need a delicious, antioxidant-rich dish any time of day!)

It’s National Farmers Market Week!

Celebrate By Targeting These 5 Market Fresh Foods

Farmers’ Market by NatalieMaynor, on Flickr

by NatalieMaynor It’s not unusual to get a hankering for a bag of farm fresh potatoes (bursting with a variety of phytonutrients). Around the time when the urge hits, wouldn’t it be great to watch them instantly turn into a Garden Vegetable or Zesty Corn and Potato Salad? You can! Maine Foodie Finds digs deep into Maine’s farmers markets and comes up with gorgeous red potatoes and glowing yellow string beans, all fresh from the ground and vine, then uses a little culinary magic to turn these summer nuggets into foodie gold.

It’s easy to get inspired with seasonal ingredients when there is so much pleasure in the hunt. Take a lesson, and hit your own kitchen with your take. It’s the perfect activity for National Farmers Market Week. In July, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack proclaimed August 7th to the 13th, 2011 as National Farmers Market Week – again. It marks the twelfth year markets have been given the national nod.

According to the USDA, the number of farmers markets have multiplied continuously since in 1994, increasing by 16% just last year – these beloved gathering places for fruits and veggies (and other things, like meats, breads, and cheeses, of course) currently number 6,132 nationwide. Year-round markets have increased as well. It means better access to local, fresh food for more people more often. That’s something to celebrate.

In honor of National Farmers Market Week, the Portland Farmers Market in Portland Maine is challenging everyone to prepare at least three meals this week using ingredients entirely purchased at the Market. The food gauntlet is down!

5 Fresh Fruit & Veggie Finds for August

What’s healthy and delicious in August for your (at least) three market-sourced meals? Here are five fruits and vegetables that are likely to populate your local shopping hot spots this month. Get them while you can, and make the most of this seriously servings-rich season.

Wild Blueberries

The verdict is in! It’s harvest time for the tens of thousands of acres in Maine and Canada currently being stripped of their glorious blue color. If you aren’t already smothering your plate with antioxidant-rich disease-preventing wild blueberries, now is the time to start a healthy habit. Initiate yourself with a handful for your salad, sauté some up with a little red wine for a sauce or vinaigrette, use them to lend a spark to fish (try this Tuna Carpaccio with Wild Blueberry Wasabi Sauce), chicken or pork (Wild Blueberry Rhubarb Pork Chops anyone?), and finish with a charlotte or a crumble. The big, blue world is open to you!

Corn

Nothing tastes more like August than corn fresh from the garden. August is the month when those pencil-thin stalks start growing to edible size, and the golden gems of summer offer up their sweet taste straight off the stalk, if you like. Get your fill of the essential summer taste of corn by grilling it with a shake of cayenne or cilantro. Make some summer corn chowder, or use it in a colorful salad. While buttered and salted may be a family favorite, we’re up to our ears in ways to leverage this classic summer veggie. Here’s ten sweet recipes from The Kitchen.

Tomatoes

Whether you put their taste on display in a classic caprese salad, in an elegant tomato and lemon mascarpone tart or stuffed with fresh summer corn, tomatoes are the best ever in late summer. There’s simply no taste like a late summer tomato warm from the sill, and thanks to their lycopene, they provide superior health benefits to boot. Eat up, or save your take for a midwinter marinara by preserving them says, the Portland Press Herald.

Peppers

There’s a lot to love about peppers, and while bell peppers can be found year round, late summer they are at their shiny, tasty best. Peppers are a good source of vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6, beta carotene, and folic acid, and they contain large amounts of phytochemicals, providing exceptional antioxidant activity. Not to mention, they are a perfect ingredient: they provide sweetness, crunch, and bright color to hundreds of recipes. If you love a stuffed pepper (go meat!) now’s the time. But don’t limit yourself to stuffing. Make it simple, with a sweet and sour bell pepper salad, or try Gourmet Magazine’s logic-defying Chilled Red Bell Pepper and Habanero Soup, a sensational cold soup that’s also hot.

Summer Squash

Summer squash peaks at summer’s end and these long, green vegetables are plentiful for good reason. While they may not be known as one of the antioxidants powerhouses, summer squash is a very strong source of key antioxidant nutrients, including the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which could play a role in preventing memory loss, vision loss and heart disease. The skin of summer squash is particularly antioxidant-rich, so leave it intact when you can. (You can read up about the health benefits of summer squash at Livestrong.com.) This versatile veggie can be your go-to summer food during all of August and beyond. It is perfect for stuffing, grilling, tossing with feta and tomatoes, or even putting it in a cupcake.

How are you preparing your (at least) three meals this week using ingredients entirely purchased at the farmers markets? Tell us!

Can You Still “Summer” with the New Food Plate?

It’s cool, it’s colorful, and it has both nutritionists and consumers saying good riddance to the pyramid.

It’s the New Food Plate, and it may be ushering in a new era of clarity in the world of nutrition, food labels, and portion sizes by helping us make choices about our health out of knowledge, not bewilderment.

The New Food Plate was released by the USDA at the beginning of this month, and it is meant to provide the U.S. Dietary Guidelines in the form of a plate, not through the former “food pyramid”. Using the plate as a visual guide, it clearly indicates how much of what food groups should be on our plate for every meal.

The New Food Plate is also interactive, making the modern makeover official. Click on any part of the Myplate.gov plate to get more information about each food group.

When you’re done clicking, you can get printable healthy plate from WebMD which includes suggestions for each group, and a reminder of what you should have more of (fruits and veggies) and less of (sugars, refined grains). It’s suitable for hanging – right on your fridge.

Fruits and veggies make a prominent appearance on the New Plate – our plate should be half full of them – and that’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Part of the plate also involves showing clearer portion sizes, that is, smaller ones, to help us eat less and take in fewer calories.

So, see ya later, pyramid.

But now that we’ve ushered in the New Plate, how do we deal with summer? Summer means sandwiches on the go, lots of grilling and lots of grazing at gatherings and picnics. It begs the question: Now that we’ve got the plate, can we still embrace summer?

We can.

It’s true that food doesn’t always separate itself onto sections of a plate. But as long as your dinner doesn’t come in a bucket, the plate will work for most meals, metaphorically, if not always literally.

Here’s a few ways to parse your New Summer Plate and extract some hidden advantages.

Not Eating More – Eating Further.

First, the New Food Plate is a tip of the hat toward variety. While the old pyramid accompanied pieces of wheat and pictures of iconic apples, the new food plate doesn’t make the same clip-arty suggestions. One of the goals of the plate is to eliminate a meat-and-potatoes rut with our meal plans – there are no pictures suggesting types of food, and the idea is to open up a world of options.

It’s a perfect message to send: eating a lot of fruits and veggies doesn’t have to be dull. For instance, Fruits & Veggies More Matters suggests going exotic to fill your new plate. They have a database of 200 fruits and veggies (and growing) in hopes that there’s something there to catch your eye. Ever tried purple asparagus? How about cracking open a durian? It could be time. You’ve got a whole half of a plate to use up.

And because it’s summer, why not fill your New Plate with a wash of summer color and flavor? Consider “thinking outside the pyramid” as the first step in jazzing up that all-important half of your plate, and giving some fruits and veggies that you’ve been short-changing a chance. Let F&VMM help you figure out what’s in season, and get more ways to eat a cherry than you thought you needed. (Think cherry chutney and cherry and peanut butter sandwiches!)

You can also try these summer recipe ideas from Eating Well. They include Summer Crepes and a Tropical Cucumber Salad that you’ll want to pile high on your new plate (ok, not too high). With fresh local produce around, you’ll have your plate half full with fruits and veggies in a flash.

Sandwich & Sides

It could be a plate conundrum. It’s summer, and some staples simply aren’t plate-dependent. Summer soups, summer sandwiches, quiches, and casseroles aren’t easily separated into sections on a plate in a way that makes it clear what we’re eating and how much.

Let’s start with the biggest challenge: the sandwich. Doesn’t a sandwich defy the confines of the New Food Plate?

Sort of – but you can avoid a fate of eating your sandwich in parts by first loading up on the greens. Sandwiches are fantastic delivery systems for nutritious, plate-filling veggies. This list of summer sandwich ideas from Food52.com doesn’t stint when it comes to ingredients like spinach, avocado, and peppers, and their passion for the open-faced variety cuts refined grains in half. If it helps, picture your sandwich after a high wind hits it and it topples onto your plate – how would those portions look? If you need to add or take something away before you bite, do it.

Then, opt for wheat bread for a healthier plate. Finally, couple those Dagwoodian delights with berries or melon rather than chips, and you’ll have your noshing licked. For instance, when it’s hot, watermelon is an easy substitute for less healthy sides, whether carved, cubed or wrapped in prosciutto, and it makes for nutritious eating. It’s provides healthy lycopene, and high levels of vitamins A and C and vitamin B6.

Two Words: Grilled Fruit

Summer means spending more time with your barbeque, and why not? Stripes of char marking up your food is a sure sign the dog days have arrived. Grilled veggies are a given – sweet corn, pepper kabobs, and eggplant are perfect summer grill buddies. But you are remiss if you go an entire summer without enjoying grilled fruit. It’s a great way to fill a healthy (paper) food plate.

Grilled pears, peaches, and pineapple make perfectly sweet companions for grilled meats or BBQ. The Stir can tell you how to grill the perfect fruit. Then turn to Chaos in the Kitchen for the steps for grilled fruit kabobs, and try out this kid-friendly idea for grilled avocado from Cook Time with Remmi. You’ll swoon in fumes of good fat.

Think wild blueberries are too small for the grill? Ok, they may not be ideal for kabobs, but residents of wild blueberry country in Down East Maine and parts of Canada tolerate no excuses. Blueberries are a crucial part of summer picnics – blueberry BBQ sauce creates a killer summer grilling taste explosion. Check out Grilling Companion for the recipe. And sure, salsa and pies rank high, but wild blues can also can be found sweetening up summer salads and zucchini breads, grill optional. Find some unique recipe ideas and start filling your plate this summer – no sweat.

How Are You Putting Your Food Plate into Action?

As part of this new initiative, USDA wants to see how consumers are putting MyPlate in to action. Here’s how you can help:

1. Take a photo of your plate

2. Share on Twitter with the hash-tag #MyPlate

You can also share MyPlate photos on the USDA Flickr Photo Group.

For information from USDA about the plate and ideas about meal plans, go to Choosemyplate.gov.

Bite-Size Guidelines for a Cookout that Sizzles, Guaranteed

Love, don’t dread, your summer cookout. Cookouts are great ways to go healthy and still indulge—no sacrifices necessary. Whether you are hosting, bringing the dessert, or fingered for grill duty, here’s the scoop on stellar cookouts that don’t put health on the back burner.

Veggie Up

Did you know the average ear of corn has 800 kernels, arranged in 16 rows, with one strand of silk for each kernel? This amazing emblem of summer is a perfect way to indulge in great taste and get big nutrition too. Corn provides fiber, folate, thiamin, phosphorus, vitamin C, and magnesium.

WebMD provides a recipe for Grilled Corn Confetti Slaw. You can also try grilling corn in the husk at your next gathering. It’s a delicious and dramatic way to serve a veggie.

Dietitian Nancy Dell offers some advice for healthy summer picnic s which includes doubling up on the carrots, celery, onions, zucchini and summer squash that get added to traditional macaroni or potato salads. The goal is to get as much color into those white dishes as possible, for health and for aesthetics.

Get Fruitastic

If you are in need of something impressive to bring to your summer gathering, remember that fresh fruits are in their glory, and color is the way to dazzle up a dish and provide disease-fighting antioxidants at the same time. The Wild Blueberry Association always has recipes that bring a rich, vibrant splash of blue to the potato salad beiges and burger browns. Start with daring Veggie Sticks with Ricotta Wild Blueberry Dip and end with Wild Blueberry Cassis Mousse Cake. Love lemon glaze? It’s creates the perfect profile with wild blueberries. A Lemon Glazed Wild Blueberry Cake is a simple crowd pleaser that won’t stick around for long. Also, serve or bring watermelon instead of chips – that’s a summer no-brainer.

Grill Something Good

Grills seem to call out for butter-slathered buns in the summer, but there’s more to grilling than burgers and dogs.

Opt for shrimp and chicken. Ginger-Garlic Shrimp with Tangy Tomato Sauce and Grilled-Vegetable Gazpacho are part of these good-food cookout recipes at delish.com. You’ll be missing nothing when it comes to standard cookout fare, and you can still enjoy the flames.
Cover the grill with veggie-laden kabobs. They are colorful and fun party eating, and even with bite-sized beef included, they cut meat intake and coerce eaters to take in a pepper or a mushroom before they get to it. Sneaky!
Grill lobster for a veritable cookout event. There’s plenty of dipping sauce ideas out there so you don’t have to soak them in butter.

Cook a Portobello Burger. Loaded with veggies and some tasty condiments, this faux burger is no sacrifice—anecdotal evidence suggests they are even better than their meat counterparts. Bring on the compliments.
Grill fruit. That means apples, pears, pineapples, strawberries…Chaos in the Kitchen soaks their grilled fruit kabobs in rum. Delicious. Enough said.

Be a Burger Buff

If you are at a summer cookout, you’ll be exposed to burgers and hot dogs – it’s a summer fact. If you either fear or love the burger, pull up a chaise and relax. Here’s the fix:

Use a 100% whole wheat bun.
Use low fat content meat.
Go for a turkey dog or turkey burger to cut the fat.
Say no to the cheese, skip mayo in favor of mustard.
Load it with veggies.

Know the Low Down on Char

Even when you’re in the party mood, take a moment to get serious about charring. Grilling leads to charred food, and ingesting that char can increase cancer risk. Here’s the low down:

Research has revealed that preferences for high temperature cooked meat were generally linked with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. In terms of overall consumption and doneness preferences, those with highest intake had 70 percent higher risk than those with the lowest intake.

Also, taking in smoke from the grill can be dangerous, and that’s no summer myth. Wood smoke is 12 times more carcinogenic than equal amounts of tobacco smoke, and the American Cancer Association says inhaling the smoke from or eating well-done, charred meat regularly may increase your risk of pancreatic cancer by up to 60 percent.

That’s enough to put a damper on your family barbeque. But you can keep health and safety in mind and still enjoy the festivities:

Stay upwind of grill smoke and keep exposure to a minimum.
Cut charred areas of meat off before eating or serving.
Turn down the heat to avoid char.
Microwave meat for a few minutes before cooking on the grill so it’s cooked through without necessitating char.

Enjoy

Finally, stay conscious of grazing, eliminate soda sipping in favor of other healthy liquids, and when the family Frisbee competition starts up, join in.

Now you’re ready. Go forth and cook out – summer won’t last forever. Enjoy!