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SMALL/LARGE Veggies with Fruit

LETTUCE: Store in a plastic bag in the fridge. Don’t wash until you’re ready to use it. Use within a week.

SWEET POTATOES: Store your sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place, and use them within 4 weeks. Peeling is optional. Bake, roast, boil, or mash them.

FENNEL: Cut off the stalks where they emerge from the bulb, and if you want to use the feathery foliage as an herb, place the dry stalks upright in a glass filled with two inches of water. Cover the glass loosely with a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for few days. The unwashed bulb may be kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator drawer for 2 weeks.

BROCCOLI: Store in the fridge in a plastic bag. Chop off the very bottom half-inch of the stem before eating. Cook the stems a bit longer than the tops.

OR ASPARAGUS: Stand the asparagus up in a glass or jar with about an inch or two of water, making sure all the ends are sitting in the water. Loosely cover the asparagus with a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Or, store in a plastic bag in the drawer of your fridge for up to 3 days.

SWISS CHARD: Store these in a large plastic bag in your fridge and use within 5 days. The stems can be chopped and added to stir fries for a bit of crunch. The leaves can be used as wraps or subbed for wherever you might use spinach. Try them in smoothies too.

OR BABY BOK CHOY: Store this green in a plastic bag in your fridge and use within a week. Wilt these down in sauces or soups. Or try grilling them in a cast iron pan. The stems are also great chopped up in a stir fry.

CARROTS: store the roots in a plastic bag and use within 4 weeks.

CHIVES: Keep unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week.  Top hot soups, stir fries, and scrambled eggs with chives. Salads of all sorts benefit from finely chopped chives—egg, potato, crab, chicken, Waldorf, shrimp, fava bean and pea—anywhere you’d want a touch of onion flavor.

          How to Dry Chives in the Oven

APPLES: store these in a bag in the fridge; will last a couple weeks. Pink Lady is a crisp semi-sweet apple. Golden Delicious are a softer and sweeter apple with golden-green skin. Both are good for eating and cooking. 

LARGE Veggies with Fruit:

The items listed above plus:

SNAP PEAS: Refrigerate in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer; best used within 5 days, but can keep longer. Wash well. Snap off the ends and remove the string if desired. An edible-pod pea, you do not need to shell snap peas. Put them on top of a salad. Add raw peas to stir-fry or soup in the last stages of cooking. Steam peas until just tender-crisp, 3 minutes. Toss with butter, olive oil, cream, vinaigrette, or pesto.

BEETS: If your beets still have greens attached, cut them off, leaving an inch of stem. Keep the greens unwashed and refrigerated in a closed plastic bag; use within 5 days. Store the beet roots, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator; they will keep for several weeks,. Various colors. 

SCALLIONS: Store in a dry plastic bag in the fridge for up to a week. You can trim the green tops of the scallion and use them to garnish tacos or salads or meat dishes. You can also chop them up and freeze them for later use! The tips are often used in salad dressing vinaigrettes, on salads, or enjoyed grilled with a little olive oil and s/p. May be purple or white.

MINT: Wrap in a paper towel and store in a plastic bag in the fridge. Use within a week. Try adding to salads

OR PARSLEY: Store parsley in a plastic bag with a paper towel in your fridge. It will last about a week.

FRUIT ONLY

RHUBARB: Wrap in foil and place in the fridge. Best within a week; can keep longer but it will start wilting. Remove the leaves and bottom inch of the stalk. Chop or mince. Add to pies, cakes, muffins, scones, jello, or sauce. Try eating rhubarb raw as a snack, dipped in sugar!

APPLES: Store apples in your refrigerator in a plastic bag. They are odor-absorbent, so keep them away from strong-flavored items. Red Delicious: are a sweet apple with dark red skin. Pink Lady: are a semi-sweet pink, crisp, green skinned apple. Granny Smith: is a firm, tart, all-green skinned apple. All three varieties can be eaten raw or used in cooking. Adjust the sugar as needed based on the sweetness/tartness of the apples you use.

Rhubarb Apple Crisp

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