Vidalia Onion Season Here I Come!

I am a confessed "non" fruits and veggies eater. Long story short it stems from growing up with a father who had an illness that didn't truly allow the fresh fruits and veggies to be eaten. For that reason we rarely had them around and I, obviously, didn't develop a taste for them. I don't blame anyone for this faux pas, I see it as a reason for my dislike and often confusion when it comes to Striving for Five but I also see it as a clean slate to learn HOW to eat fruits and veggies.

Something I find quite useful in my quest to learn how to eat my 5 a day is a printout offered by Wegman's. It's called Fruit Veggie Cup Calories. A wonderful little quick fix when shopping or looking for the best options and comes in pdf format.

Wegman's stores are my favorite place to get my fresh fruits and veggies. I've rarely, if ever, been disappointed in anything I've purchased there. Many other grocery stores here locally haven't been so wonderful, often offering produce that has little to no flavor, too ripe or over ripened and even "rotted" on the inside produce that left me feeling ripped off. I've never had that happen at Wegmans, so I stay there! Sure, I'll pop into some of the local produce stands but face it, here in Erie, PA the growing season is truly remarkably short and a good 1/2 of the produce some of these little stands have are actually shipped in bulk to them for resale. Our strawberries, corn on the cob, squashes, potatoes, etc. are generally grown locally and I don't mind buying them from the local farmers at all but things like melons and various fruits in particular are often not a locally grown item! Knowing that Wegman's has a large system in place to provide the most produce possible at greatest quality & as often as possible from local farmers is enough for me!

May and June bring the OH SO LOVED Vidalia® Onion! These are, by far, the best onion you will EVER eat in my book! And yes... "Vidalia" is a registered trademark! And we all thought it was just where they were grown!?

My favorite way to use vidalias® are simple.... saute' them up in a little olive oil, some sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook up a huge batch, place in the fridge for instant gratification to any dish! Place these babies on a slice of toasted bread of any type and you have an instant sweet, mouth watering delight. Add them to a burger, a grilled chicken breast or a toasted cheese sandwich and you are in heaven!

Toasted Cheesy Vidalia Sandwich (4)

Yes, a toasted cheese sandwich and YES it's points friendly with reduced fat sharp cheddar (2), diet bread (1) and all the sauteed vidalias® you can pile in between, grilled on your indoor style grill with a spray of ICBNB or my fave 1 tsp. olive oil for a pannini style (1) to keep it from sticking! Add that to a cup of creamy tomato soup made with skim milk (1) and you can die a happy eater all for under 6 points!

Va-Va-Va-Voom Vidalia Chicken (4)

3-4 large vidalia onions, halved and sliced
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
sea salt
cracked fresh pepper
1/2 Cup fat free chicken broth
1 tsp. flour

Spread olive oil in fry pan and add Balsamic vinegar,& vidalia onions. Cook on med/high heat until clear & slightly browned, stirring often. Add flour, stirring to make a "roux", slightly thicker & golden brown.

Add fresh ground sea salt & cracked fresh pepper to taste.

Add chicken broth, stirring. Heat until bubbling. Add chicken breasts on top of onions, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Push onion mixture around to come on top of chicken; leaving chicken on bottom of pan, covered in onions. Increase heat to medium/high. Cover and keep a close eye on it so as not to burn onions. Cook until juices run clear from chicken (generally 20 min). Serve with 1/4 of the onions on top of each breast.

Great side dish, baked potato. I serve my chicken and onions right on top of the potato!

Some other Great Vidalia Onion Recipes From Other Sites

The Vidalia Onion Site - Recipes

(not always WW friendly but many can be easily tweaked to come out quite point friendly in the end!)

Onion Tart

Cooks.Com has Tons of Vidalia Recipes
(again, not always WW friendly, but tweak them to work!)