Ten Ways to Use Your Late Summer and Fall Produce

You have your late summer and fall fruits and vegetables. You went to the farmer's market over the weekend and stocked up on squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, green peppers, and lettuce. You bought raspberries, apples and plenty of pears. Now, you wonder what to do with this late summer and fall produce. What are some ideas of how to use your late summer and fall produce? This article will explore ten uses for your late summer and fall fruits and vegetables.

1. Pasta sauce. This is to me the best use of fall fruits and vegetables, but I am biased because I happen to love pasta. Cut up pieces of green pepper, onions, squash, zucchini and tomatoes and put them in a sauce pan with butter. You want more tomatoes than anything, to help make the sauce. Lightly season the vegetables with your choice of seasoning. I like to use Italian Seasoning. Throw in a bit of garlic. Sautee the vegetables in the pan until they are just cooked. At the same time, cook up some pasta noodles in a pan. When both are cooked, mix them together and add a bit of olive oil. Your pasta is ready to serve!

2. Vegetable salad. Instead of just having a salad with lettuce and carrots, use all of your late summer and fall vegetables. Put squash and zucchini and green peppers, the works, on your salad. This is much healthier for you than just eating lettuce alone, even if it's spinach.

3. Fruit pie. Raspberries make wonderful fruit pies. These are probably my favorite pies ever. Berry pies tend to cost a bit more to make because the fruit costs more in general, but the taste makes it worth every penny. You can alternatively try to use apples or peaches. Here's an idea: make an apple raspberry pie. You'll get some raspberry flavoring without having to spend the money to make the whole pie full of raspberries.

4. Vegetable soup. Wow, this is a favorite of mine. My mother makes some of the best vegetable soup in the world. She uses fresh vegetables from her garden for most of it. Use a slow cooker. You want to cut up the vegetables into small pieces. You can use your choice of the vegetable combination. You could use carrots, cabbage, green peppers, potatoes, squash, any type of beans, corn, and lima beans, for example. In addition, use a larger amount of tomatoes as compared to the other vegetables. If you don't like the taste of the soup like this, you can add a can of tomatoes or some tomato paste to thicken the soup. Flavor it with your preferred spices. The tomatoes will make up most of the soup broth, so you don't usually need to add much water.

5. Fruit salad. Cut up your different types of fruit and make them into a summer or fall fruit salad. Berries all mixed together make a nice berry fruit salad for the end of summer. Or, try mixing peaches and blueberries. The peaches give the blueberries a great flavor. For fall, mix apples and pears together for your fruit salad.

6. Fruit and fruit dip. Cut up your fruit and then make a dip. Use apples, pears, strawberries or any fruit you like. The fruit dip is made from a mixture of your taste of marshmallow topping and soft cream cheese. You add strawberry or raspberry jello mix to flavor and color the fruit dip. It's pretty simple.

7. Veggie fruit beverage. You don't have to have just vegetables or just fruit to make a great drink. Mix all the fruits and vegetables together in a blender, and add some water or apple juice. You'll get a great beverage that adds to your healthy lifestyle.

8. Fruit milkshakes. Get some vanilla ice cream and add a fruit of your choice with some milk, and blend in the blender. You've got the perfect milkshake. I personally like to use blueberries with oreo icecream. This is my favorite milkshake ever!

9. Decorations. Use your fall veggies as decorations for your home to give it a fall theme. Place pumpkins, gourds and yellow squash all over the house. The best thing to do is to rotate them out and eat them before they go bad. This way, you don't waste them.

10. As a host to another dish. Stuffed peppers is an example. You put crab meat inside of a pepper for a tasty dish. Get creative and try something on your own. For examplel, hollow out a gourd and use it as a drinking glass for a fall vegetable beverage. Or, clean out a half of a pumpkin and use it as a soup bowl for your fresh vegetable soup.