I am so excited to present something to you today that is the product of many months of hard work on the part of my husband and I.

Introducing: RipeTrack –  A searchable produce seasonality calendar to help you keep track of when your favorite fruits and vegetables are in season and at the peak of ripeness!

We’ve been working on this site for several months, but the real catalyst came several years ago. Allow me to tell you a little story about me and sour strawberries…

For years, I had the bad luck of buying carton after carton of gorgeous red strawberries that would all inevitably turn out to be sour and unripe. Strawberries are one of my very favorite fruits, favorite foods even, and I hadn’t had a sweet one in years. Not to mention that berries are notoriously expensive, so I was even more angry that not only was I not getting the experience I wanted from those finicky little fruits, but I was throwing money away as well.

Last year I made the decision that I was going to try my hardest to not buy some of the more sensitive fruits and vegetables out of season. I ran into one major problem with my shift toward more seasonal eating though, I had a very hard time finding out just when I could expect each item to become ripe in a typical year.

Searching online would often turn up vague seasonality information if at all and usually the answer was hidden deep within a lengthy article. I wished that there was a faster way for me to find out when the best time was to buy my beloved strawberries, and really, the best time to buy all of our produce.

Jeff had been asking me to come up with a project to work on together in our spare time (he’s a programmer/web developer,) and suddenly it hit me that together we could build a database of the seasonal ripeness information for every fruit and vegetable imaginable and make it available on the web!

And so, RipeTrack was born!…

There are 3 ways to use RipeTrack: You can search by the individual item you’re looking for, you can search by month to view everything that’s ripe during that time, or you can search by keyword to view everything of a certain topic.

For example, here I’ve searched for “berry.”

The results are displayed for all berries in the database, neat huh!?

To read the graphs, just move your cursor over the graph and up pops a grid showing the months of the year. The bracketed area represents what part of the year we’re in now.

See, I took this shot on the last day of March, and that’s the bracketed area.

The yellow and green areas show when the item is ripe. For the strawberry shown above, you can expect it to be considered ripe from late April to early November. But to insure that you get the sweetest and juiciest strawberries, purchasing during the green “peak season” is more likely to get you the best berry for your buck.

The red areas correspond to when the item is not ripe. You will still probably be able to find the item in stores, but you can bet that it was either grown in a greenhouse or shipped from across the world. For some items, you won’t notice a diminished quality during the off-season, but for others like the tomato, they just won’t be nearly as good in October as they will be in June.

The really cool thing about RipeTrack though is that it’s interactive. If you come upon an item that doesn’t have any information on it yet, and you think you know when it will be ripe, just submit a feedback form and we’ll add your input to the site!

We’re hoping that over time, the information on RipeTrack will get more and more accurate with user feedback to become the most complete and reliable source for seasonal shopping on the web!

So, I really hope that you guys are as excited about this website as I am. I know that it’s something that did not exist on the web previously and that it’s something that I have really needed.

We have many more features planned for RipeTrack in the future including how to choose a ripe fruit or vegetable at the store, a monthly newsletter of what’s in season and what’s not, and even a way for you to save your favorite produce and compare lists with other users!

If you have a moment, please visit the site today and experiment with searching for items, months, or keywords. I would love to hear your ideas on how we could improve the site or any other suggestions or comments you may have. I may link to a short online survey about it soon to get some of your opinions anonymously as well.

That’s the big announcement. NO, I’m not pregnant, sorry everyone. 😉 But RipeTrack has been my little baby for the last few months and I’m as proud of it as a new mom. Please tell me what you think!

April 4, 2011 Alayna Discussion 24 comments

Before I get to what this post is really about I wanna show you one more way to use the Thai red curry coconut peanut butter I showed you the other day. So many times I’ll read about a cool recipe and think, “That sounds so good but what would I actually use it for beyond just licking it off the spoon?”

Last night I used the peanut butter to make some absolutely amazing Thai turkey burgers with sweet potato fries.

I mixed together:

• 1/2 pound of ground turkey
• 1/2 cup That red curry coconut peanut butter
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. each of soy sauce and fish sauce (optional)
• sprinkle of garlic powder and salt

This made exactly two patties that I cooked in a pan for about 5 minutes on each side. The chia seeds really helped to soak up some of the moisture without drying them out, so they held together really well. For the sauce on top, I just squirted some sriracha into the last dregs of sour cream we had and stirred it up. Killer.

I thought they were easily the most delicious burgers I’ve ever tasted, and I’m not just saying that.

Ok, on to the real business at hand…..

I have hinted around the blog world for a few months now that I would have some exciting news coming up. The time has finally come to make a big reveal on a project that I’m really proud of.

On Monday, I’ll be making an announcement about something that I think many people will find as exciting as I do. If you read or write healthy living blogs, or both, I’m positive that this debut will be of interest to you.

<—- See this little guy right here? That’s all I can show you for now. 😉

Check me out Monday for the big reveal!

Have a great weekend!

April 2, 2011 Alayna Discussion 4 comments

Thai food is definitely making a resurgence in our household. Jeff and I have been to Garlic Thai for dinner 4 times in the past month and I still have the cravings left to make it at home too.

Case in point: Last night’s Thai peanut noodles with tofu…

So creamy and delicious!

Here’s how to make it: First, press and cut up a block of firm tofu. Coat lightly with oil and bake on a sheet pan for about 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

While that’s in the oven, toast some cashews in a dry pan until they’re as browned as you like em.

Set those aside and add about a tablespoon or so of sesame oil to the pan. Sautee a bell pepper and a couple caps of sliced shiitakes or any other mushroom.

Next add a can of coconut milk and about a half a cup (packed) of my Thai red curry coconut peanut butter. Add 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and fish sauce. Whisk until smooth and creamy.

I turned the heat all the way down to low while my soba noodles were boiling. When they’re done, just drain them and add them straight to the sauce.

Serve it up topped with the baked tofu, toasted cashews, and sliced scallions.

You can use any noodles you have available, and to make it vegetarian or vegan, just eliminate the fish sauce.

I think this would be even better with a sour punch. Maybe lemongrass or kaffir lime leaf. I’ll have to play around with it some more but Jeff and I were both mmmm-ing the whole time so it’s definitely a winner already.

So, so good. It’s like asian alfredo!

Thai peanut noodles with tofu

Creamy Thai peanut noodles with a kick of red curry.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 to 3 servings

Ingredients

• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 1 handful shiitake mushrooms
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 cup Thai red curry coconut peanut butter
• 2 portions soba or other asian noodles
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• handful of cashews and scallions for garnish

Cooking Directions

1. Bring water to a boil for noodles.
2. Press excess liquid out of tofu and cut into cubes.
3. Bake tofu for 25 minutes at 375 degrees on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Toast cashews in a dry pan until brown, set aside.
5. Saute bell pepper and shiitakes in sesame oil until soft.
6. Add coconut milk, seasonings, and peanut butter and whisk to combine.
7. Add noodles and toss to combine.
8. Serve topped with baked tofu, toasted cashews, and sliced scallions.

April 1, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 9 comments