I sort of wanted to finish up going over other ways of adding fruits and vegetables to your meals. We haven't really covered roasting, soups, stews, or casseroles. It just doesn't feel right to do it now.
I suppose some of that comes from recent experience. There was a recipe that I wanted to try for soup where I actually had all of the ingredients. It had baking potatoes, sweet potatoes, and ham, as well as some milk and broth. The weather had been fairly grey and cool, but the day when I actually cooked it, it started to get sunny and bright, and it just wasn't as well received. It wasn't exactly too warm to cook or eat soup, but it was getting there.
With a slow cooker you can in some ways get around the issue of heating the house too much in warm weather, but still, there is a feeling that it is not the right time of year for pork roast with carrots and potatoes. Now, if instead that was slow cooker pulled pork, and you served it on hamburger buns, it feels completely different.
Obviously, a lot of it is psychological. And, yesterday I was talking to someone who had just come from Montreal where everything is frozen, and some double potato and ham chowder would probably be well received there. Here, I think we are just going to have French toast tonight, but I am planning on cutting up some bananas and oranges.
That probably still sounds not as healthy as it could be, but we are looking at working with what you have and then making improvements. As we move into summer, we use the oven less and skillets more, and that feels right. Because of this, we eat a lot of breakfast type meals. We never actually have these things for breakfast (no time), so it works out. We will also do more sandwiches, and stir-frys, and salads. Some of these will be fairly healthy, some of them will be delicious, and if I can hit both healthy and delicious, it feels like a win.
Part of this is being able to enjoy what is fresh and in season and local. Clearly, our oranges and bananas are not. However, I have found that it is never worth buying strawberries from California. Wait until they are in season here. We used to freeze them, but they don't thaw well, so all you can do is make jam, pouring in a lot of sugar, and we like raspberry jam better anyway. So, we eat fresh strawberries for about a month and then we are done for the year.
I do still freeze blueberries and blackberries. They thaw differently, especially depending on how you freeze them, and they make good pies. This does involve a lot of sugar, but feels worth it.
As you focus more on fresh and local, you can work out a nice variety. Asparagus are special when you have them, because in a little while, you won't. However, then you start getting summer squash, and corn.
It will not always make things less expensive, but you should find your produce to be better tasting, and that makes getting it eaten easier.
Obviously a garden can be a great way of having fresh produce and being in touch with the seasons. I have been very happy with Early Girl cherry tomatoes and Quinault strawberries. I have also not kept either of them going, and gardening is a weak point for me. I should fix that, but for now, at least we live in a great area for agriculture. There are farmers' markets, fruit stands, and U-pick fields all over the Metro area, not to mention multiple options for Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs).
http://www.tricountyfarm.org/
You can find something that will work for you.
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