If I buy marked down produce, how will I keep it from spoiling?

The answer to that question is two-part.

1) I have a plan to use or freeze it right away (same day or within 2 days)

2) I understand how best to store it until it's consumed

I stopped in at the produce stand around the corner from my daughters' school yesterday. I needed fresh fruit for lunches, and mushrooms plus another veggie to add to stir-fry for dinner. I always check the markdown bins first. This is a completely open-air produce stand. They don't have refrigeration on site and produce needs to be sold promptly. Which means good fortune for bargain hunters, as they fill the markdown bins a couple of times per day. Woohoo!

Just look at these cantaloupes! Aren't they beautiful? They had a shopping cart full of cantaloupes marked at 25 to 50 cents each (I bought the 25-centers). These cantaloupes weighed in at about 1 & 1/3 pounds a piece, for a price per pound of around 18 cents. Found my fruit for lunches!

And as luck would have it, they had one bag (1/3 pound) of fresh mushrooms for 59 cents. Got that! And a good-sized bag (2 lbs) of cauliflower florets for 99 cents. Done with my shopping!

The cantaloupe was a great price. And I could have bought several more. But I decided to just buy what we could eat in about 3 days, which I guessed was 4 melons.

Melons this close to expiring need prompt attention. No leaving on the counter for a few days with these. Once home, I washed, sliced and trimmed the rind off the cantaloupes. As you can see, all this melon overfilled the bowl.

Some we had with dinner last night. I also cubed several slices for packing in today's lunches. The rest will keep nicely, covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. This cantaloupe will be our main fruit for the weekend, making part of weekend meal prep a bit easier.

With the mushrooms, as they don't like moisture, I spread them out on a tea towel, while waiting to slice and cook them. And I picked through the cauliflower florets, to use the oldest-looking pieces first in last night's stir-fry. The rest will be cooked and pureed as part of tonight's dinner (used as a topping for Shepherd's Pie  --  thanks Shara for the idea).

Yesterday's great finds at the produce stand will be history by the end of the weekend, with hopefully, no waste whatsoever!

Guacamole Salad Bowl (or how do you get a fish-hater to eat fish?)

First of all I just want to say thanks for the well wishes. I'm doing much better. Sometimes I just run myself into the ground. I've spent a good deal of the last few days just napping, or doing nothing in particular. And now, life feels much easier this week. But thank you for your kind messages.

What I want to share with you today is a recipe that my mom clipped out of a magazine back in 1962. (Isn't it fun to find old recipes, cut from newspapers or magazines, many years ago?)

I think I've mentioned that I am trying to eat more fish. However, I really do not care for it (okay, that's an understatement so grand it borders on a fib). You know how some things just smell "bad" to you? Well, fish just smells "bad" to me. Frankly I don't understand how anybody ever thought to eat it in the first place. But everybody says that it's good for me, so I am making an effort to eat more of it.

So, not being a fan of fish, I have to look hard to find a recipe that I'm even willing to try. My foray into salmon patties a few months ago, was a miserable one. The smell of canned salmon was so horrible that I kept asking the fam if they thought I had bought a can that was contaminated with some deadly bacteria. I ate one itty bitty salmon patty, while the family devoured the remainder. No one died, so I guess the can was safe, after all.

Then I remembered this recipe of my mom's. I actually made this several times in the earlier years of our marriage. And it's one of the few ways that I will happily eat canned tuna.

This is a pantry entree salad -- the kind of thing that you may already have many of the ingredients, sitting in your pantry right now. It's fresh tasting, has some crunch, and is covered in a creamy, avocado dressing. It's called Guacamole Salad Bowl. And it can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, start to finish.

I am always quite generous with the corn chips (so I won't be judging you if you use way more than the 1-cup called for in the recipe!!). I like the crunch and salty flavor. My mom always used Fritos, so that's what I prefer. I suppose if what you have is tortilla chips, they would work just as well.

Guacamole Salad Bowl

Serves 4 to 6

1/2 medium head of iceberg lettuce, washed (or 1 full head of either Romaine or Loose leaf lettuce --enough for 4 to 6 persons in a main dish salad)
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup sliced, pitted black olives
1/4 cup chopped green onions (I used shallot greens in this salad, but I've also subbed chives before)
1 cup corn chips
1 drained can of tuna, 6 1/2-, 7 1/2-, or 9 1/2 ounces (this recipe is from a time when cans of tuna contained 7 ounces in the US. Currently, most tuna is packed in 5 oz. cans. I use 2 cans of tuna for a recipe. For 5 of us that's 2 ounces per person)
1 recipe Avocado Dressing (you could use any guacamole, thinned with salad or olive oil)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
additional olives for garnish, if desired

Break/tear lettuce into a large bowl. Add tomato wedges, olives, green onions, corn chips and tuna.

Toss gently with Avocado Dressing. Top with cheese, garnish with extra olive slices and serve.

Avocado Dressing

1/2 cup mashed, very ripe avocado (I use 2 of the peewee avocados sold at our farmer's market. 1 medium avocado would also work well.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream (plain yogurt also works. I used mayo plus a little extra lemon juice, as I can't have dairy)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional, I skip it)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco (hot  pepper sauce) -- I subbed about 2 tablespoons mild salsa for the Tabasco
1/3 cup salad oil (or thereabouts. I use about 1/4 cup of oil)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, except oil. Blend in enough oil to a dressing consistency.

Enjoy! Even this fish-hater is happy to eat this salad!     :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)