The Fruit and Veggie Fairies

I visited with the Produce Fairies this morning. This gigantic box barely contained their bounteous offerings.

You can barely see it all, but I wrote a list because I can tell that you want to know just exactly what they brought me.

• 2 huge heads of green leaf lettuce
• 1 box of organic baby spinach (prewashed!)
• 4 pounds of potatoes
• 4 bell peppers - 2 each red and yellow
• 1 pineapple
• 2 big cucumbers
• 3 gorgeous zucchini (yes, that's the technical term)
  
• 2 pints of grape tomatoes
• 5 navel oranges
• 5 D'Anjou pears
• 1 pound of broccoli
• 1.75 pounds of red seedless grapes
• a 7 pound cantaloupe
  

I've prewashed most of the produce (including some strawberries and blueberries I picked up in addition to the fairies' provisions) so that the kids can snack on it at anytime. My scavengers have nearly polished off the grapes already, helped themselves to some bananas (a rare treat around here), and snacked on some fruit salad in addition to lunch.

Did you know that half of a seven-pound melon yields an IQ of 70 approximately 4 1/4 pounds of fruit? I am not completely sure what I'll do with this much melon, but I am already thinking about popsicles or some other frozen treat....

Oh, and for those of you who want details about the Produce Fairies... we didn't get the box from actual fairies. We joined a co-op, and I get to go pick up a lovely box like this every Saturday morning at 8am (until the week it's my turn to do the shopping at 6am...). The fruits and vegetables were more beautiful than what you see in the grocery store, and the price was unbeatable. I can't wait to see what comes each week, and excited about the new recipes I'll be trying with all of these fresh fruits and veggies!