Home & Garden

The new convenience food: butternut squash
The convenience of buying butternut squash that is already peeled and cubed eliminates a semi-daunting task of chopping it up on your own.

Poor man’s asparagus: winter leeks in the garden
Like a giant green onion, leeks somehow manage to make it through most winters. You can pull the fleshy, thick stems out of the ground until it’s freezing outside.

The right apple for the right job
More than half the apples eaten in America come from Washington state.

Persimmons: winter lanterns lighting up dark days
One persimmon contains half your daily vitamin A and a fourth of your daily vitamin C needs. Persimmons are a great source of fiber and are high in all kinds of trace minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

The magic of spinach – any time of year
Whether you pick it from your garden in the summer or get it at the store in the fall and winter, spinach is nice to use fresh in salads and smoothies, and cooked in egg dishes, stir fries, pasta dishes or even sweet or savory spinach pies.

Fall meals: slow cooking beans for comfort
Slow cooking is a great way to develops the flavor of beans for your fall meals.

Eat the fruit, not the juice
Many Americans consume more than 25 percent of their recommended daily calories in juice, soda pop, flavored coffees and energy drinks.

Sweet times with Sweet Peas
There is nothing as sweet as peas right off the vine. Not only are peas delicious, they are a good source of vitamins A, K and C, folate and are a great protein source.

Rhubarb - The Pie Plant
This versatile plant can be served as a sauce or in pies and crisps. It's now at the peak of the season.

The challenge of cooking for one
These tips will make it easier to cook if you're cooking for just one person.

Chocolate, the fourth food group
Chocolate’s fat molecules have a unique melting point just below body temperature. This gives chocolate its creamy texture and “melt in your mouth” feel.

A different kind of flower—cauliflower!
Brightly colored cauliflowers have more nutrients than the white: more vitamin A in the orange and more antioxidants in the purple.

Enjoying the $4 meal
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive. You can save money and eat healthy on less than $4 a meal for four people if you shop wisely.

Fill half your plate with veggies
Average Americans eat less than half of the fruits and veggies they should. This is especially true for seniors, whose fruit and vegetable consumption has decreased in the last 10 years.