Grilled Cantaloupe and Peach Salad

I love grilled fruit.  Grilling brings out the sweetness and really intensifies the flavors.  You don't have to grill fruit for very long (in fact, too long and they'll get too mushy).  This salad, that I made at my Blooming Glen Farm demo, is a nice mix of flavors and textures.

I used lettuce at the farm since spinach and arugula weren't available and it was great.  But the spinach and arugula add even more variety to the flavors.

GRILLED CANTALOUPE AND PEACH SALAD (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3-4 ripe peaches, pitted
3 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 tsp garlic, minced
1/8 tsp kosher salt
3 cups baby arugula, about 3 oz
3 cups baby spinach, about 3 oz
1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cantaloupe, seeded and cut into 6 wedges
3 Tbsp walnuts, chopped and toasted

• Preheat grill to medium-high.  Clean and oil the grate.
• Place peaches, cut-side down, on grill.  Grill for 2-3 min or until starting to get grill marks and flesh is starting to soften.
• Rub more oil on grill grates and place cantaloupe slices on grill for about 1-2 min per side, or until starting to get grill marks and flesh is starting to soften.
• In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, lime juice, honey, oil, garlic and salt.
• Combine arugula, spinach, celery, onion and pepper in a large serving bowl.  Remove melon from rind and dice into bite-sized pieces.  Dice peaches as well.  Toss with greens.  Drizzle with dressing to taste.

Beet It!

Beets.  It seems that people either love them or hate them.  Or they never have tried them. 

Now, I wouldn't say that I'm a huge beet fan.  I don't eat them all that much.  But maybe I should.

Beets are incredibly healthy.  They are known to fight heart disease, birth defects and cancer (especially colon cancer).  They are full of good things like fiber, folate, potassium, vitamin C and more.  Many consider the beets used in borcht to be a factor why so many of those century-old Russians live so long.

But the pigments that give beets their intense color (whether red or yellow are the real health stars.  These pigments, called betalains, are major antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.  Interestingly, only about 10-15% of people are "betalain responders"--meaning that only some of us have the capacity to absorb and metabolize these compounds enough to get the full benefit.  It's worth the try, though.

There are all sorts of ways to prepare beets.  You could go Dutchie and pickle them.  I love them that way.  Their flavor intensifies when they're roasted.  You can even eat them raw.  And don't forget the greens.  Beet greens are very flavorful and so easy to prepare--just prepare as you would chard or spinach.

Here's a recipe from the New York Times for a beet salad that uses both the beet and their greens.  However you try them, enjoy their sweet taste and the great health benefits that you get from these tasty veggies.

Fruit & Veggies

Yet another study shows that most Americans don't eat the amount of fruits and vegetables that we should.  Most people, according to the survey, eat less than half of what the recommendations are.  The typical person eats about 1 cup of vegetables a day and just under a half cup of fruits.  (I would have thought it was the other way around.)  This, by the way, includes not-as-healthy veggies like potatoes (not French fries). 

Young children and their parents seem to be getting the idea--their intake of fruits and veggies are climbing.  But teens and the elderly tend to eat less. 

This information comes from a USA Today article that does a good idea of explaining about how it's actually fairly easy to eat the recommended amount of these foods.  One suggestion is to fill at least half your plate with fruits and veggies. 

Also, one of the experts quoted in the article says:

[E]very little bit counts: raisins in cereal, frozen berries in smoothies, vegetables in soup, tomato sauce on spaghetti, beans in chili, veggies on sandwiches, 100% fruit juices.

In general, one cup of raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice, or two cups of raw leafy greens, counts as one cup from the vegetable group. One cup (or one piece) of fruit or 100% fruit juice, or half a cup of dried fruit, is considered one cup from the fruit group. So if you eat an apple or banana, that counts as one cup of fruit for the day; a medium side salad could equal about one cup of vegetables.

My suggestion: Join a CSA!  Since we've joined Blooming Glen Farm, we eat way more veggies than we ever have before.  And there's not much better than fresh produce grown within a mile of home.  Or go to farmers' markets and buy local fruits--it's almost peach time!

Oh, by the way.  If you read the article, scroll down to the comments.  Some are incredibly idiotic and entertaining.

Local Veggies

This week's share at Blooming Glen Farm.

"Can I have some more turnips?"

How many times has that sentence come out of the mouth of a 6-yr old?  Luckily for me and Mary Beth, it came out of Jake's mouth last night at dinner.

We picked up our share at Blooming Glen Farm last night.  Turnips, strawberries, kale, escarole, spring onions, lettuce, kohlrabi, bok choy and Jake's favorite, fennel.  So we made a bit of a salad feast for dinner last night--along with some chicken and pesto pasta. 

Jake and his strawberry with a face.

Even before we had dinner, Jake was asking for some sliced up fennel and some water to drink with a fennel "straw" (the stalks are hollow, so you can use it as a straw for some licorice-flavored water).  Then he scarfed down his lettuce, turnips, strawberries and kohlrabi. 
It's so nice to see him really enjoy these tasty and nutritious foods.  And he's so excited to go to the farm and pick them up.

Jake is a very healthy kid.  And I have no doubt that his eating a diet full of fruits and vegetables has a big hand in that. 

So many kids these days don't even know where vegetables come from, let alone know what kohlrabi is.  (Do you know?)  I don't know how many parents I hear complain about how their kids only eat chicken nuggets or mac and cheese. 

I truly believe that exposing children to these foods--whether at a CSA like Blooming Glen or at a farmers' market--makes them more interested and willing to eat them.  Even better, growing your own garden--even if it's a small one--gives kids a chance to have some ownership of the food they eat. 

Sucking on fennel, surrounded by this week's loot.

Along these lines, I saw Michelle Obama on The Daily Show last night.  She is promoting her book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America, which helps to stress the importance that gardens and fresh local foods do to fight the childhood obesity problem that is rampant in this country.  See the interview here.  It made me feel good that we've turned Jake on to a view of fresh and local food that will help to keep him healthy and, hopefully, promote it as he gets older.

So if you have kids--or even if you don't--eat local.  Pick up some items at a farmers' market that has probably traveled less than 10 miles instead of buying supermarket produce that travels an average of 1600 miles from field to your plate--losing flavor and nutrition all the while.  You'll be glad you did and you might even hear a request for more turnips!

Be Strong to the Finish

Spinach.  It's one of the most healthy foods you can find--filled with loads of vitamins (especially A & C) and extremely high in antioxidants.  It's also considered to be high in folic acit, iron and calcium among many other nutrients.

But to some, spinach is just an ugly blob of goo sitting on their plate.  It doesn't have to be that way. 

Spinach does not have to be cooked very much (many like to eat it raw) and it only takes minutes to prepare by sauteeing, steaming, wilting, etc--making it a great weeknight side dish. 

Mark Bittman of the New York Times has come up with tasty and easy ways of putting more of this great veggie on your dinner plate. 

While there are many ways of cooking spinach, Bittman uses wilting, steaming, braising and super-slow cooking to create 12 distinct, but simple dishes.  Read about them here.

Fresh spinach should be appearing soon in your local farmers' market (if it hasn't already), so pick up a bunch or two and try these recipes--or your own favorite!

Be a Stalker

Celery in the garden.

Celery.  How does that make you feel?  Nothing too exciting, huh?  It's not like I said lobster or chocolate or even tomato.  But come on...the humble crunchy celery stalk should get a little bit of lovin'.

Without this member of the parsley and fennel family, Louisiana-style cooking wouldn't have the "Holy Trinity" (celery, onion and bell pepper) and French cooking's mirepoix would only be onion and carrot.  These traditional flavorings are the basis for many classic dishes.

In ancient times, the celery eaten was a wild variety--called "smallage"--much different from the veggie we know today.  It is smaller and with a very strong, somewhat bitter taste.  Many cultures (ancient China, for example) used wild celery for medicinal reasons.

Modern day celery, while not used as medicine, has plenty of health benefits.  It is high in dietary fiber and contains a number of cancer-fighting compounds.  It also gives some Vitamin A, C and the Bs, potassium, folic acid, calcium and much more. 

Celery seeds.

Some people are extremely allergic to celery.  Like some with peanut allergies, those with celery allergies can go into anaphylactic shock if they ingest celery or even come in contact with it. 

The stalk of the celery isn't the only edible part of the plant.  Celery root (or celariac) is an ugly, but tasty root that can be used in a number of different applications.  It can be used in many of the same ways as potatoes.  I really enjoy the crunchiness and mild celery flavor of raw celery root.  Really tasty with a nice dip. 

Celery leaves are more strongly flavored than the stalks and can be used in salads or to help to flavor stocks and soups.

Celery seeds are a great source of calcium and can be used as a spice to flavor many different recipes.  To me, egg salad isn't egg salad without a nice sprinkling of celery seed.

Celery root (celeriac).

So go ahead--go to your fridge right now and pull open that produce drawer.  Pull out that overlooked bag of celery and thank it for being such a healthy and essential part of our cuisine.  Or just rip off a stalk, smear some peanut butter on it and enjoy!  (Just don't go into anaphylactic shock!)

Oh, by the way, if you have droopy celery stalks, don't despair, it can be fixed.  Just cut off the bottom of the celery, put it in a container with clean water and after some time in the fridge, it'll be crisp again.  (Time depends on the droopiness.)  To keep your celery crisp longer, remove it from the plastic bag and wrap it in aluminum foil and keep it in the crisper.  Sounds weird, but it works.

Wrightstown Farmers' Market

We took a little trip down to Wrightstown on Saturday morning to go to the farmers' market there.  I've heard a lot about this market and now I wish I lived a little closer to it.

It's great that there are so many markets around these days, but some of them are a little sparse.  The market in Wrightstown is not one of them.

Lunch from the market--sliced fennel, berries and water through a fennel
straw.  (The bagel was from the freezer.)

There were at least 8 different farms selling fresh fruits and veggies, a number of meat vendors as well as various other items like prepared foods, soaps and organic pet foods.  There was a lot to choose from and it was fun walking around seeing all the wonderful stuff that comes from the ground here in Bucks County.  What a wide variety of things.  Not only the usual tomatoes, peaches, etc.  But also lots of okra, tomatillos, lemon cucumbers and other unusual items.

We got some incredibly delicious blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.  We also picked up some beautiful lettuce from Blooming Glen Farm's stand and well as a cucumber and some fennel for Jake. 

It made for a nice tasty and healthy lunch!  If you're in the Wrightstown area on a Saturday between 9AM and 1PM, stop in and check it out.  You'll be glad you did!

Where's the Beef?

In a recent New York Times article, Mark Bittman wrote:

The grill, as everyone knows, is the best place to cook a steak, but that doesn’t mean you have to cook a steak every time you fire up the grill.       

Very true.  I mean, a really good grilled steak is hard to beat.  But you can do so much more on a grill than just meat and poultry.  All kinds of veggies are great when mixed with the smoky goodness that comes from grilling.

If you read my last post, you would have gotten a great recipe for a grilled veggie salad.  Marinated veggies with those yummy black char marks.  Mmmm...

Although people don't think of doing it very often, grilling fruit can be a wonderful way of bringing out the subtle flavors of fruits like peaches, bananas, pineapple, melons and more.  This weekend I made a Grilled Pineapple-Banana Fool (a parfait-type dessert layering the grilled fruit tossed with a little honey and sweetened whipped cream). 

Grilled fruits aren't just for desserts, though.  Sprinkle pineapple slices with salt, pepper and something spicy (like cayenne) and grill them to use as a side dish for grilled fish or pork.  The possibilities are as endless as your creativity!

Read more about grilling meaty veggies in Bittman's article.  Then get the grill fired up!

Peas!

One of the best springtime veggies are peas.  Whether you like English peas, snow peas or sugar snap peas, this is the best time of the year to eat them--when they're incredibly sweet and tender.

Peas have been a staple of many culinary cultures for thousands of years.  Dried peas are great sources of protein and sustained much of Europe in the Middle Ages.  Soon, the English developed a variety (now known as English or garden peas) that were eaten in their immature stage. 

English peas from our garden

We are growing them in our garden for the first time and they're doing very well.  You don't eat the pod in this variety, but what's inside is well worth the work.  The peas taste as sweet as candy.  They're just as good raw as cooked--and you definitely don't want to overcook these little gems.  If you grow them yourself, keep them on the plant until you're ready to eat them.  Their sugars rapidly turn to starch once picked.  That's why you don't see these peas in grocery stores unless frozen.

 Snow peas

Snow peas are the flat pods with tiny peas inside.  The whole thing can be eaten and they can be very sweet and tasty--again, if they're picked close to the time they're eaten.  (Although this isn't as critical as with the English peas.

Sugar snap peas

Sugar snap peas are actually a relatively new variety.  During the 1970's, people wanted the sweetness and plumpness of the English pea and the convenience and crunch of the pea/pod of the snow pea.  So the sugar snap pea was developed as a combination of the two.

Whatever variety you favor, this time of year, you won't have to be told "Eat your peas!"

What's Up Doc?

Like most kids, Jake likes to snack on the "baby" carrots that every supermarket carries.  They're convenient, crunchy and healthy.  But taste one of these little carrots versus a freshly grown carrot and there's not comparison taste-wise.

"Baby" carrots aren't babies at all.  They're simply bigger carrots that are whittled down to make these smaller versions.  Unfortunately, most of the sweet taste of a carrot is in the parts that are cut away leaving the relatively non-tasty core.  So for snacking and dipping, go for the ease and simplicity of the "babies".  If you want real carrot taste, you'll have to go for the whole thing.

According to experts, most carrots don't come out of the ground perfectly shaped.  And these twisted, ugly fingers don't sell so well.  Maybe as much as 95% of them are turned into "baby" carrots or juice.  But with the great growth of farmers' markets, we're seeing more and more fresh carrots--and getting to enjoy their flavors...and colors.

Carrots come in a wide array of colors.  Many feel that the yellow ones are the sweetest and that the purple and red varieties have the most "rooty" flavor. 

Many people feel that carrots with their greens are juicier than those with the greens trimmed.  I don't know if this is true or not, but they do look nice with the greens. 

No matter what carrots you choose--traditional orange or other colors, greens on or off--they are a colorful, tasty and healthy way to brighten up your table.

Romanesco

Next time you're in the supermarket produce aisle, head (no pun intended) to where the broccoli and cauliflower are and you might see a vegetable that looks like a piece of art.  It's bright green and is composed of what seems like an endless number of little points that form a mesmerizing pattern. 

This is romanesco.  A vegetable grown for generations in Italy (in the area of Rome, as the name suggests), but is only recently becoming available in the U.S.

Although sometimes thought to be a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower (both of which are from the same family), it's actually a mutated version of cauliflower and tastes pretty much the same as the more common variety.  It can be prepared using the same methods as you would cook broccoli or cauliflower, but adds a great visual to your dinner table. 

Next time you see it in the store, take a head home with you and give it a try!  Read more about romanesco in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

Are You Eating Your Fruits & Veggies?

We're supposed to eat 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables to maintain a healthy diet.  Are you doing that?  Chances are, you're not.  And neither are most of the people you know.

According to a study noted in an NPR story, only 32.5% of adults are achieving that level of fruit intake and just 26.3% are eating that amount of veggies.  Yikes.

As you know, a diet with plenty of fruits and veggies helps to combat obesity, heart disease, stroke and maybe cancer.  Let's try to do better, huh?

Fresh Veggies!

I must smell like vegetables.  After my 2 farmers' market demos this past weekend, yesterday I set up at Blooming Glen Farm to cook while members were stopping by to pick up their shares.  It was a really good time--met a lot of nice people, used a bunch of wonderful produce and got to share some different ways to use their shares (pun intended). 

As I often do when using field-fresh veggies, I tried to make the preparation simple, not cover the flavors with strong sauces so the veggies can shine.  For example, I made one of my favorite dishes again (as I did at the markets)--Salad Caprese.  Tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, salt, pepper, good extra-virgin olive oil.  So simple, but so delicious.  July on a plate.

One of the biggest hits was also incredibly easy.  If you have been reading recently, you know about our Attack of the Yellow Squash.  Well, after muffins and bakes and stir-fries and sautes, I had to come up with another way to use these golden monsters.  Pickles!  Easy refrigerator pickles using squash instead of cucumbers.  And they're really yummy.  Sweet to start with a little heat at the end.  Here's how you make them:

Zucchini Pickles (or Squash Pickles) (or Zucchini and Squash Pickles)

INGREDIENTS

4 cups zucchini or yellow squash, cut in 1/8" slices

1 cup sweet onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• Combine zucchini, onion and garlic in a bowl or jars.
• Bring vinegar, sugar, red pepper, mustard seeds and salt to a boil in a small saucepan.
• Pour liquid over veggies, cover and chill for 24 hours.

It's that simple.  Very tasty.

If you're into pickles, you might enjoy this article from the Boston Globe about how the pickles are getting more and more popular.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

With more and more fresh produce showing up as we get further and further into the growing season, we can't wait to have a fresh salad at lunch or grill up some veggies with our dinner.  But what about breakfast?  Why, unlike most other countries in the world, are vegetables not a breakfast staple for us? 

Sure, we often have fruit on our cereal, in our yogurt or on our pancakes, but what about tomatoes or cucumbers or bell peppers?  (And I'm not talking about a veggie omelet.)  A traditional breakfast dish in Israel is tomato-cucumber salad (photo at left--by Eve Turow).  Pickled vegetables are often on the Japanese breakfast table.  I remember traveling in England and with EVERY breakfast, there were grilled tomatoes (in addition to the 4 different kinds of meats and potatoes). 

Here in the US, veggies are relegated to the later meals of the day.  But doesn't it make sense to start the day with fresh veggies?  As food writer Eve Turow says in an NPR.com article:

[E]ating vegetables early in the day provides vitamins and minerals. One cup of tomatoes has over half the recommended daily vitamin C, and bell peppers provide a day’s worth of vitamins A and C. One cup of broccoli has 5 grams of dietary fiber, while a medium artichoke has 10 grams of dietary fiber, 40 percent of the recommended daily allotment. As sources of antioxidants and dietary fiber, vegetables are a perfectly sensible way to start your day.

At the business EXPO I did last week, I made Bacon & Corn Johnnycakes--essentially cornmeal pancakes with bacon and corn in them.  There was a lot of batter left, so we cooked them up at home and froze them to eat later.  They're great for breakfast!  I know, corn is sort of a semi-veggie, but still, you wouldn't normally think of them for breakfast.  But drizzle a little maple syrup over top and it's a meal!

So as your gardens start to put forth their bounty and you visit all the great farmers' markets, think about how you might start your day in a fresh, nutritious way.  It's a lot cheaper than an airplane ticket! 

Read the rest of Eve Turow's article, including some great recipes, by clicking here.

Down on the Farm

Earlier than usual, we got our veggie plants in the ground last weekend.  I'm no gardener, but I love having a veggie garden.  To me, there's not much better than biting into a juicy tomato fresh from the back yard.  Mmm...can't wait until they're ready.

We have 2 beds, but they're not huge.  We have the usual suspects: a variety of tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, 2-3 kinds of eggplant, green beans, summer squash & zucchini.  New for us this year are watermelon, broccoli & ground cherries.  (By the way, if any of you know how to use ground cherries, let me know.  We just bought them because we thought it would be something different.)  We also have a bunch of different herbs--basil, cinnamon basil, parsley, etc.  (See my previous post about herbs.)  The beds aren't much to look at now, but we're hoping they'll be thriving soon.  We used mushroom soil this year--on the suggestion of many.

This year, Jake has his "Jacob Garden" (toward the top of the picture above) where he's got the green beans and broccoli growing--2 of his favorites.  He's also growing zinnias that he started at school and a sunflower that he got at the Ape House at the Philly Zoo, of all places.  He wanted the watermelon, but we needed more room for them that the Jacob Garden can offer.

Let me know about your gardens--what are your favorite things to grow, what new things have you tried this year, etc. 

Good luck!

Amish Country

On Saturday, we made our yearly pilgrimage to the Amish Country to pick up things for our veggie and flower gardens.  Every year we go out with my parents and make a day of it.  The weather even cooperated for most of the day.

As we usually do, we started with a trip to Sadie's Bakery.  Sadie's is one of those places where, if you're giving directions to get there,  you say something like: "Go into Churchtown; turn right after that one church.  At that one big farm, turn right.  Then after the field with the big work horses in it, go up the hill.  It's on the left.  You can't miss it."  Once inside, though, you just want sit down and start tasting each donut, pie, whoopie pie, cake, apple fritter....So good.  And fresh.  The creme-filled Long Johns are awesome.

We went to our usual greenhouses and stocked up on a bunch of tomato varieties, peppers, eggplant, herbs, melons, etc.  We don't have a very big veg garden, but it's big enough to supply us with goodies for much of the summer.  Luckily, we didn't have time to put them in the ground yet--with the freezing temps at night lately, they would have been in trouble.  So they sit on our porch with sheets over them until the weather gets better.  Just can't wait to be able to go out and pull off a delicious, fresh tomato.  Could very well be my favorite thing about summer--next to baseball, I guess.  Jake has asked for part of our veg garden as a "Jacob Garden"--we'll put green beans and other things he likes in there.  He's very excited about that.

It always amazes me how much earlier the growing season is out there than it is here.  And it sure is a beautiful area--the rolling hills and fields are something out of a postcard.  Not to mention the great produce and meats.  Next time we go out, we're planning on filling our pie holes with the Shady Maple Smorgasbord breakfast.  Now, where are those stretchy pants?