Delicious Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cakes

Many of our longtime readers - ha - know that we started out as a simple pushcart in the Boston area:  Giacomo sold potatoes, onions, and other fruit and vegetables each day in the market.  He took care of his cart, managed the inventory, and managed all of the sales.

Although we have expanded to fruit and gift baskets, our heart is in the Produce Business

Today we are sharing with you one of our favorite receipts 

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cakes

It's a recipe from our dear friend Oprah:

Gather these ingredients (and we have been known to cook without checking to be sure we have our mis en place, so we really do recommend that you gather these things! Measure, too, b/c no one wants to run to the store for that missing 1/4 cup of quinoa!

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound kale, large stems removed and leaves finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3/4 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4" dice
• 2 cups (12 ounces) quinoa, rinsed and well-drained
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• Olive oil for frying

The specific steps are here: recipe instructions

These were a hit with the crowd!  Even the most skeptical eaters gobbled them up (after trying to say quinoa a few times)

Let us know how you made out with the recipe!

Recipe of the Week: Sweet & Savory Pear Kugel

 

Drooling and driving. It has many causes. Maybe you're driving by a bakery in the pre-dawn hours when all the fresh goodies are coming out of the ovens. Perhaps you pass a billboard with a gigantic juicy hamburger, several feet tall, staring back at you with its glistening onions and pickles. Or, perhaps you hear something delicious on the radio. Certainly this is one of the less common causes of drooling and driving, but it happened to us just the other day! Flipping stations, we heard the word "pears" (seriously, we're attuned to that sort of thing) and stopped. It was our local NPR affilate and on the eve of Hanukkah, a guest was sharing her favorite holiday recipes. Well, this lady had such a way with words, we could practically taste the dense pear and prune sweetened bread and savory sauted onions as she described her go-to recipe for kugel. Don't worry, we didn't try to write it down as we drove. We arrived safely home, looked it up on the Web and now share it with you. Happy Hanukkah and happy eating!

Sweet & Savory Pear Kugel

You need:

• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 pounds ripe Bosc pears
• 2 small onions (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
• salt to taste
• 1/2 loaf thick white bread, about 7 ounces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons butter or pareve margarine, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups pitted prunes
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• juice of one lemon
• 1 cup+ water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease 9-inch springform pan with 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil
3. Peel the pears and cut all but one of them into 1-inch cubes
4. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat
5. Lightly saute the onions until translucent; remove from heat, salt lightly, cool slightly
6. Soak the bread for a few seconds in lukewarm water and squeeze dry
7. Put bread in large bowl and mix with 1/4 cup of the sugar and butter/margarine; stir in the eggs, onions and half of the diced pears
8. Pour batter in springform pan and bake for 2 hours
9. While kugel is baking, cook the compote - in a heavy saucepan combine 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, prunes, cinnamon, lemon juice and remaining pears, set on medium-high heat and cook uncovered for 30 minutes
10. Finely grate the remaining pear and stir into the cooked compote
11. When kugel is finished baking, remove from the oven and set on rack to cook for about 20 minutes
12. Remove kugel from pan onto serving platter, spoon half of compote over kugel, serve the remaining compote on the side.

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!

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Recipe of the Week: Ultimate* Cranberry Sauce



The holiday season. It's a time for folks to gather together in peace and harmony. Well, the same is true of fruit. No, really! A couple of weeks ago on this very page (screen) we shared the story of the delightful union of the cranberry and the pear. Today we revisit these fine fruits to find they've forged a fantastic new friendship. The pear, the cranberry, the apple and the orange are all coming together for Thanksgiving and the result is an irresistable combination you'll love to invite to your table every year! (Also, there are pecans. Boy do we love pecans, and their role in this dish is one of the best we've seen outside of a pie-setting.)

*not to take anything away from the Cran-Peary Sauce recipe, but this one is pretty amazing.

Ultimate Cranberry Sauce

You need:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
• 1 orange, peeled and pureed
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 pear, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 cup chopped dried mixed fruit
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, boil water and sugar until the sugar dissolves
2. Reduce the heat to simmer and stir in the cranberries, pureed orange, apple, pear, dried fruit, pecans, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
3. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until the cranberries burst
4. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!

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Recipe of the Week: Cran-pear-y Sauce

When the pear first spied the fetching, ripe cranberries it was love at first sight. Sure, they might sound like an odd  pear-ing, but when these two fall flavors combine you'll agree they were meant to be. In fact, they're such a great couple, we recommend inviting them to your Thanksgiving dinner. In addition to being delightfully warm and possessing great taste theywon't overstay their welcome -  in fact, we're pretty sure they'll be gone before dessert.

Cran-pear-y Sauce

You need:

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large ripe pears, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine water, sugar and cinnamon
2. Add pears and bring to a boil over medium heat
3. Stir in cranberries
4. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally
5. Serve warm
6. Makes two servings

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!
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Recipe of the Week: Gingered Pears

Halloween is coming and to get into the spooky spirit, this week, we bring you a recipe that will appeal to your sweet tooth and get you that all important serving of fruit!

We are also pleased to have the opportunity to use this creepy pear picture. Something about it just gives us the willies. Weird, right? It's like "ooooh, bewaaare the peaaaaar!"  But we digress.

After Halloween night, you'll have plenty of super-bad-for-you, highly processed candy to satiate your sweet tooth (not that there's anything wrong with that - can't wait for peanut butter cups!). But until then, we invite you to keep it real with this easy to make palate-pleasing pear treat.

Gingered Pears

You need:

• 4 medium ripe pears, peeled and quartered
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, place pears in water
2. Cover skillet and cook pears over medium heat for 25-30 minutes or until tender
3. Turn the pears over
4. Combine sugar and ginger then sprinkle mix over pears
5. Cover skilled and cook 5-10 minutes longer
6. Serve warm

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!

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Recipe of the Week: Easy Apple Dumplings

It happens everytime we go apple picking. Intoxicated by the crisp fall air, blue skies and the smell of leaves, we run from orchard to orchard filling bag upon bag with every sweet looking fruit we see. Gala, Granny Smith, McIntosh - we'll take one of each... make that a dozen! How lucky we are to live in the Northeast at this time of year - we'll have pies, caramel apples, candy apples, apple cake, apple cider, apple sauce!

And then... we plum run out of things to do with our apples. And yet, we certainly haven't run out of apples to do things with. So this week we bring you a super simple recipe that will use no less than 15 of the little guys, meaning you can both fill your tummy and clear your counter tops! How do you like them... nah, too easy.


Easy Apple Dumplings

You need:

• 3 (12 ounce) cans of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 15 medium apples, peeled cored and halved
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease two 13x9 baking dishes
3. In a bowl combine sugar, water, butter and vanilla and set aside
4. Flatten biscuits with hand
5. Wrap each biscuit around an apple half and place seam-side down in baking dishes
6. Pour half the sugar mixture into each pan
7. Sprinkle cinnamon over dumplings
8. Bake, uncovered until dumplings are golden brown and apples are tender; about 35-40 minutes
9. Serve warm

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!
_____________________________________________________
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Recipe of the Week: Pear Scones

Hmmm, decisions, decisions. All the fruit in that box looks tempting, but we're gonna go with the pears. And it's not just because they're in season and so yummy and full of nutrients.

No, those are all great reasons but to be honest, we're picking pears because we have this great recipe for scones that calls for pears. And, as previously mentioned, we kinda have a thing for breakfast so when the opportunity to incorporate pears into our morning meal presented itself we jumped at it with arms (and mouths) wide open!

Pear Scones

You need:

• 1 cup chopped pear
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup butter, chilled
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt
3. Cut in butter until the mixture has a crumbly texture
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and half-and-half
5. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until combined
6. Stir in the pear
7. Drop large spoonfuls of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet
8. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes
9. Rest on cooling rack before serving

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!

_____________________________________________________

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Recipe of the Week: Autumn Apple Salad

So, it has come to our attention (mostly as we shvitz our way from the parking lot to the office) that while autumn has officially arrived, summer is having some trouble letting go. In other words, it's kinda hot. So this week we'll take a little break from the recent belly-warmers we've been serving up and concede to the summer's last ditch plea for attention.

We've still got your traditional autumn flavors, but this week we're putting them in a cool, yummy, easy to make salad. Apples, cranberries, cherries and almonds - all make an appearance, just not in their usual roles. All the same, we think they put in a stellar performance!

Autumn Apple Salad

You need:

• 4 tart apples, cored and chopped
• 1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 1 (8 oz.) container vanilla yogurt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the apples, almonds, cranberries, cherries and yogurt until evenly coated
2. Chill
3. Enjoy

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!
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Recipe of the Week: Amazing Apple Pancake Topping

What were we just talking about? Oh yeah, breakfast! This week as we officially bid a fond farewell to summer, we want to embrace the autumnal equinox the best way we know how - with pancakes! The afternoons may still wind up balmy, but chilly mornings are here to stay for awhile, so why not make the most of them with something warm and comforting? 

 

And since these are the first pancakes of the fall season, they ought to be special. No low-sugar, reduced calorie syrup in a squeezy bottle that's been on the door of your fridge since March. No, we've got something much, much better that  - naturally - includes your morning helping of fruit!

 

Behold:

 

Amazing Apple Pancake Topping

You need:

• 4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 Red Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 teaspooons ground cinnamom
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat
2. Stir in apples, brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon and pecans
3. When mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat to low
4. Simmer until apples are soft and syrup has slightly thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes

 

Looking for more great fruit recipes? Click here!

 

_____________________________________________________

 

Always have fresh fruit on hand - join Ruma's Royal Fruit Club or purchase a monthly plan for a friend! Shipping is FREE!