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Basic Dining Strategies, Berries and Grapes, Careers Services Austin Be at Ease School of Etiquette Over the Counter Etiquette, Dining Etiquette, etiqugde, Fruit as Frugal Cocktail Food, Harold Almon, Male Business Dinner Etiquette, Organic fruit, University Dining Etiquette, university etiquette
- Be at School of Etiquette in Austin
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Fruits can be served as a snack and as a cocktail food. Note: “Nearly half of all food poisonings were attributed to produce in general, when illnesses from fruits and vegetables were added in.” You can spray your produce or wash each surface thoroughly first with vinegar and then with hydrogen peroxide. Then rinse the produce under running water or wipe the surface with a clean wet sponge. In foreign countries 5 drops of chlorine per gallon of water are used to dip vegetables in for five minutes to kill field bacteria, and then the produce is thoroughly rinsed. You can omit the above practices and elect to just ensure your produce is thoroughly rinsed. You could rinse them in a vegetable spinner or in a colander. In the world of fruit and vegetables there are “The clean fifteen:” foods you want that you do not have to buy organic, and which may deserve special consideration. And then there are “The dirty dozen:” food you want to buy organic. After being thoroughly washed fruit can be sliced and cut as required. At home, get a separate cutting board or pad for cutting fruit. Suggested fruit as a # counts as 1 serving (1s) or 1 cup (1c) and grams of fiber (gf) as listed. As a rule of thumb 1 cup fresh is equal to 1/2 cup cooked or dried. Get hard
organic apples and set them in a bowl separate from other fruit. It is a good look. It keeps them from ripening other fruit. Each apple can be cut on a bias or into sections with a fruit slicer, placed on a plate, and served alone or with cheese, or drizzled with lemon and placed in a container for eating later. You only need a thin sliver of the meat and the skin. Each apple can be cored and cut into slices crosswise and used as a crisp, or each sliced piece can be cut in half and used as a dipper with a peanut butter, honey, and yogurt dip. 1c 1s with skin = 4.4gf. You can wash apples, plate each, and cover with a bowl, and microwave each in under eight minutes. Each apple may be opened and topped with ice cream and or cinnamon, (or scooped out and placed over oatmeal or cake).
Apricots may be served whole, sliced, or dried.
Avocado can be used as a condiment topping or as a dip. You can cut an Avocado skin around the length of it and split it in half; then using a knife blade, hit the seed and remove it with the blade. Get a mini-grinder/food chopper. With it and re-cycled jars you can make many a dip. With an avocado you may make
Guacamole: essentially
Avocado scooped out of its shell to which you add
Grated garlic Lemon juice
Salt Cilantro or parsley
Minced onion, and
Diced tomatoes (drained).
To this you can add diced
Mangos and top with some Monterey Jack. You could miix this by hand.
You may add hot pepper sauce or jalapenos and if you would like, you may add sour cream to extend this dip or any dip in which there is a cream. Finally you could add Worcestershire sauce. It stopped being frugal right after the tomatoes. But add new things. Tasting them can be fun. Cilantro and parsley can be stored in the refrigerator in water in a jar.
Bananas can be served alone whole, halved, or in quarters with or without the skin left on, or in slices. Bananas can be peeled and sliced or not stored in bags and frozen for use later. Bananas can be added to peanut butter on a bagel or bun, yum. Bananas can be separated into thirds lengthwise, just by pressing your finger in from the tip of one, and used as part of a topping. (*1c 1c) Each can be coated with quick shell chocolate and rolled in nuts, and placed on wax paper in a refrigerator until it hardens. These can be eaten alone or cut up and placed in oatmeal or cereal. Everyone knows you can use these to make smoothies with berries.
Organic Berries can be full of fiber: listed as __#grams fiber per cup Acai, Blackberries (7.4gf), Blueberries (3.5gf), cranberries, and Raspberries (8gf). Organic strawberries are nice as cocktail foods. You can add to them whipped cream, cream, powdered sugar, syrup, and /or chocolate: outside and in or you may let them stand alone, and eat them by the stem. You could serve strawberries with black pepper and vanilla. *8 c 1 cup 1 ¼ cup c 3.8gf. You can store rinse strawberries in a bowl of water. Thanks Jeff. Get a small vegetable peeler to use to poke an opening in the back of berries so that dark chocolate can be inserted into them. You can dip them in quick shell chocolate, and place them on wax paper in the refrigerator until it hardens.You could serve Mixed Berries or a mixed berry salad tossed with honey and lemon juice. Other fruits that can be served as cocktail food include
Red cherries, Coconuts (in pieces) and
Cucumbers, served
alone, with tomatoes, or as Tabouli.
Citrus can be served as cocktail food: Citrus fruit is to be included in or before meals where possible. It can be squeezed in water or placed atop it.
Clementines, or
Grapefruit can be selected for morning, and eaten alone or you can supreme grapefruit and top it with sugar. For lunch or at night, you can cut a grapefruit in half, cut the sides of each segment and top the fruit with brown sugar and almond flakes before setting it under a broiler for six minutes. This is more an appetizer than a cocktail food.
It is said grapefruit can help break down protein, eat what you can of the white part. Check with your doctor to see if this fruit and juice are to be avoided when taking medicine. 1c 1c.
Organic Lemons
Organic Limes
Organic Nectarines and
Oranges can be cut or segmented and served. 1 counts as 1 cup. Organic is best for when you zest.
You can learn to make a hot citrus fruit salad called – Trinidad Chow. Engine search this. Lemon juice can be placed over other cut fruit to keep it looking fresh.
Dates or Figs 10c make a creative cocktail food alone or stuffed.
Organic Black or red grapes can be served as cocktail food. Each is to be sniped or cut into clusters. Individual grapes can be placed in a bowl and picked up using a serving spoon. *32 counts as 1 cup.
Organic White grapes can be dried and served as raisins. *1/2 cup counts as 1 serving.
Organic Seedless white grapes can be dried and served as sultanas or golden raisins.
Organic Black (Zante black Corinth) grapes could be dried and served as currants. Mixed raisins may be served as cocktail food. The other currants black, red, or white are not grapes but berries. These black berries can be bitter. The red and white berries are for eating out of hand.
Other foods to be served as cocktail foods are
Kiwi or
Egg Plant; (this can be made as a dip or a dish called Baba Ganoush.)
Mangos
Melons
Cantaloupe
Honeydew, and Papaya melons and Watermelons can be served as cocktail food. You could serve mixed melons or a mixed melon salad tossed with honey and lemon, and maybe a little vanilla, and optionally a touch of pumpkin spice.
Dried Okra can make a cocktail food. It can be purchased in bulk, and used as one or as a snack.
Fermented olives green and black, and peppers red and yellow can be added to a relish tray, or each can be minced and made into Muffaletta to which you can add capers, and or Jalapenos, and oil. You can make an Olive Tapenade. What to do:
2 Cups Black Kalamata olives
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons capers
1 cup parsley or 2-3 basil leaves and stop. You may add
2 or more anchovy fillets (rinsed or not)
¼ cup fresh rosemary 1 orange peel zest and
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Place it all in a food processor/chopper and pulse. You may adjust the recipe to your pantry or liking. This you can spread on a sliced baguette, toasted or not. You may also use this mixture to top or stuff poultry.
Pears with skin 5.5gf and organic peach slices can be a good source of fiber. Get a place knife, and enjoy your work.
Organic bell peppers and peppers like chili peppers, Chipotle peppers, ghost peppers, Habaneros, Jalapenos, Pepperoncinos, Trinidad, Scorpion and Butch T peppers, can be served as or with a snack. But just for some.
Learn to add hot peppers, (cut up or whole) to any tray which will be shared with a man. (This is macho.) Cut Chile or in half, or in quarters, and deseed each pepper. Provide a tray of peppers, hot salsa, and chips. This is super macho. No one will have to ask for milk.
Persimmons, pineapples, plums 5c, (prunes 1/2c when they are dried, or as prune juice,) can be used as or in lieu of a snack.
Pomegranates are good also, (if you have the patience.) You can cut pomegranate skin around the circumference and split the pomegranate in half; then using a spoon, hit the skin and knock the seeds into a bowl. A faster way of getting the seeds if you don’t have the patience is to submerge the split pomegranate, push apart the fruit with your hand, and lift the fruit from the water with a scoop.
You could serve
Organic potatoes (yes, a fruit, hard to list here, even for me.) The upside is, you can wash and place each on plate and cover with a bowl, and microwave in under eight minutes. You may cut them in half then into wedges, grill or microwave each. You could coat them in olive oil, add salt and pepper, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. But this is cooking, and I digress.
Pumpkin seeds and
Star fruit make a great snack or cocktail food.
Tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (best eaten cooked to release more lycopene) can be sliced and served as a standalone fruit or diced and used as a part of a dip. Tomatoes waiting to be used are to be stored top down.
On a meal plan you can practice making a fruit plate, or tray, from the fruit cart. Get a bowl and take fruit from that cart in to dinner with you. It can make a neat mini-centerpiece. You may even make a fruit and cheese plate. Get the cheese from that sandwich making station.
Fruit can be juiced and served as a first course or as a beverage. Drink celebration fruit juice smoothies every day and you will wear each as you walk away. Fat free and low-calorie are not the same thing.
I am told some people can eat fruit whole seeds and stem, that it may help cure what’s wrong with them. I could do this if I were not feeling well. I might stop doing this when my health got better.
Fruit can be used to make a frugal fruit salad. Avoid skipping the fruit; you could need the fiber, pectin, and lysine. You might elect to eat only fruit that has a low Glycemic index.
Get a strainer or colander to assist in washing fruit (and vegetables.) Keep fruit sliced. Keep your fruits (except for bananas and bell peppers) pre-cut, airtight, and up high.
“Vegetable bins are where fruits and vegetables go to die.”
You may serve a dish of a dried fruit or mixed dried fruit. Dried fruit might make a snack or cocktail food; but these need a small serving spoon or metal scoop.
Zucchini, bell peppers, and squash, can be tossed in olive or safflower oil and fresh herb dressing, grilled, and served. There, these are fruits I know literally from A- Z.
Fruit is to be selected fresh, frozen, dried, or canned, fermented or pickled in that order. Canned fruit is to contain no added sugar and no corn syrup, were possible.
Fresh fruit whole or pureed is to be used in lieu of juices.
Learn fruits you can serve as a side and eat to burn. Eat whole fruits. You can juice them or just slice them in cubes and eat them with a fork, ball them and eat them with a spoon, or part them in segments, and eat them with your fingers. Fruits high in soluble fiber include citrus fruits, strawberries and apple pulp. Fruits can be high in insoluble fiber in the form of apple skin. Wash it off. Eat the sides of the apple including the skin, the rest you can eat or not. You can elect to eat fruits which are low-calorie and or that have a low Glycemic index. Engine search this. Know what you are eating and serving. Know if it has been genetically modified. Fruits and vegetables have stickers (PLUs – Price Look up Codes.) PLU stickers that have 4 digits and begin with a “3” or “4” can mean produce is “conventionally” grown.
PLU stickers that have 5 digits and start with an “8” may mean produce was genetically engineered.
PLU stickers that have 5 digits and start with a “9” could mean produce was raised organically. Curious about other variations of codes you can go to fruitsticker.com
Fruits can be most frugal when eaten in season.
Portion *1 cup or 1 counts as 1 cup
Servings 2 Servings
Exception Avocado 2 Tbsp or 1/8 piece, yeah right
Some say ¼ to ½ per day.
Calories 25% of your lunch can be fruit, cucumber and tomatoes raw, cooked, or marinated count.
Look up night shades. Some may need to avoid these.