“Super” Snacks for the Big Game

Fresh produce wants in on the big game this year - go for it!
(Source: watermelon.org)

Aside from family and friends, food may be the single most important factor for fans looking to enjoy the Super Bowl each year. We know some of you may be planning to serve chips, fried finger-foods or the occasional frothy beverage at your gameday get-together, but there are healthier, alternative snacks that are sure to score big with you and your guests. What do you have to lose?

Root for the home team

While our favorite pro athletes are grinding it out on the football field, North Carolina producers continue growing it in the farm field. Even in the dead of winter, chances are good you can find local apples, carrots, peanuts, squash and sweet potatoes at retailers and farmers markets. Try these fun party snacks for a sure win this year!

•  “Pick 6” Veggie Tray
  Choose six of your favorite vegetables (try to include a couple of local options), cut them into finger-friendly pieces and serve with a dressing. If you’re not careful, someone may snatch this one and take it to the house! Create single-serve portions by spooning some dressing into a clear party cup and pre-loading it with veggie sticks (carrots, celery and peppers, for example).

• The Trick Play
  Every team has a trick or two up its sleeves. Make sure to include celery and zucchini sticks with those chicken wings and place pepper strips next to the veggie tray with the more traditional items, like baby carrots. Slices of lettuce, onion and tomato always find their way onto burgers and sandwiches when available. They’ll never see it coming!

• Touchdown Fries
  What vegetable looks more like a football than the sweet potato? Click here to get the full recipe for these delicious roasted sweet potato wedges or chips (your choice). If you’re really in the spirit of the sport, decorate a couple of baked sweet potatoes by using thin strips of cheese for laces on top.

• The Berry Bowl
  Break out those berries you froze last summer (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries) and combine with grapes or other fruit in a large bowl. Serve with a ladle and bowls to avoid too many fingers in the food. This is one worth celebrating! 

Taking Control of Your Resolution to Eat Healthier in the New Year

The new year offers us an opportunity to start fresh and take another step toward better health. For many folks, that step may be losing weight, eating healthier, exercising or a combination of all the above. A worthy cause to be sure, but as Time Magazine pointed out earlier this year, dieting is one of the most commonly broken New Year’s resolutions! We’re here to share some advice to help keep you on the healthy track in 2012.

Plan for Success

It’s been said before, but one of the best ways to improve your diet is to incorporate more fruits and vegetables every day. Without putting pressure on yourself, assess a typical weekly eating plan. How many fruits and vegetables do you eat for each meal? If fresh produce doesn’t make up half of your plate for every meal, then you’re skimping on your health. (USDA’s My Plate program and Super Tracker service are a great help!) It also could be helpful to develop a daily eating plan that gradually increases the amount of fruits and veggies in your diet (two extra servings/day for first week, three extra servings/day for the second week, etc.) until you’ve reached your goal.

Know Yourself

Part of the problem with maintaining a healthy diet resolution (in our opinion) is the amount of pressure people put on themselves to make as quick and dramatic a change as possible. It’s OK to allow yourself a treat from time to time (you’ll earn it!) so long as you develop and grow healthy habits and consistently include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Just because you indulge in a soda or enjoy a piece of cake at work (it would be rude to refuse, right?) doesn’t mean your diet is shot and you should revert back to your 2011 ways. While discipline is certainly important, it’s more important to be mindful of what works for you or else this New Year’s resolution could be resolved by Groundhog Day.

(See our New Year’s 2011 post for five simple guidelines to maintain a resolution for a healthier diet. The Hoppin’ John recipe is a Southern favorite and could bring you good fortune!)

Another common issue we hear is that it’s too time consuming to shop for and prepare healthy, home-cooked meals. It doesn’t have to be this way! As with anything, careful planning goes a long way.

• View “What’s in Season?” – a chart of locally available produce – to make a shopping list of items you can get fresh and easy from the farmers market.
• Get the whole family on board to increase your odds of success. Watch our video on 10 Tips for Getting Children to Eat Fresh Produce and take along the Farmers Market Treasure Hunt to introduce the children to fruits and vegetables.
• Prepare dishes that are quick, simple and nutritious – not to mention tasty – like the ones on our Recipes page.
• Browse our collection of short, informative Videos to find tips for selecting, storing, preparing and preserving a wide variety of fresh produce.

Take control, be strong and have a happy, healthy New Year! Be sure to check out the January 2012 newsletter to see our program’s “Year in Review.”

Protein…from Plants!

When we think of consuming protein, we typically think of meat, but protein is also found in plants, including legumes, nuts, seeds, grains and even fruits and vegetables. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recommended daily allowance of protein is 10 to 35 percent of your calorie intake, dependent on age. Proteins are found in every cell and tissue of our body promoting growth and repairing bone, muscles, tissues, blood and organs. Proteins are the basic building blocks of human cells and one of three nutrients the body uses for energy (the other two are fat and carbohydrates). Here’s a closer look at how plant proteins stack up.

Photo credit: Naypong

Legumes contain proteins, while also providing a source of carbohydrates, fiber and other micronutrients. Legumes include dried beans such as soy, pinto, navy, black, kidney, chickpeas or garbanzos and lentils. You can add beans to soups, salads, casseroles and tacos. Or you can make beans into a spread, such as hummus, for a dip or to use on a sandwich.

Soy is a legume, but there are many soy foods in addition to dried beans. Edamame, tofu, tempeh and soy milk are a few other forms of soy. Soy is one of the only plant-based complete proteins, meaning it contains all of the essential amino acids. Other plant proteins are “incomplete” and must be eaten in combination (such as rice and beans) to get the full complement of essential amino acids.

Photo credit: Justin Moore

Nuts provide protein, fiber, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (the good fats). Regular consumption of nuts has been shown to help lower blood cholesterol levels. Nuts also include seeds and nut butters. Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds offer a good selection of protein-rich nuts to choose from.

Grains such as wheat, rye, quinoa, oats and barley are a few choices with a reasonable supply of protein. Quinoa is the grain with the highest amount of protein, but perhaps is the least familiar. Quinoa is actually the seed of a plant that is related to beets, chard and spinach. Like soy, quinoa is also a plant-based source of complete protein. Cooked quinoa is fluffy and creamy, yet slightly crunchy with a somewhat nutty flavor.

Vegetables and fruits offer little protein in comparison with the other plant proteins I’ve mentioned, but there are a few vegetables that do pack in the protein. Spinach and broccoli are two recognized leaders with four to five grams of protein per cup (compared to tempeh, which boasts 41 grams per cup). Fruits generally offer even less protein that vegetables, with peaches and dried figs topping the list for fruit-based protein content.

Plants provide more than vitamins and fiber. Their available protein offers a low-fat, low-calorie alternative to meat-based proteins. If you’re looking for a healthy recipe to offer a meatless meal, check our website, www.theproducelady.org for easy, tasty dishes.

Gifting a Carolina Christmas

Black Friday has come and gone. Personally, I’m not one to lose sleep (and possibly sanity) over saving a few bucks. Last year, I enjoyed shopping from the comfort of home. That’s right, I turned to the Internet. I bought a popcorn popper for my husband from a national chain on Black Friday, but then I went to the Amish store nearby and bought purple popcorn and flavored seasoning salt to complete the gift. This year, I hope to skip the national chains, but I loved the freedom of shopping online—no lines, no parking lots and delivery to my door (often with free shipping). This year I have been introduced to quite a few North Carolina businesses through the N.C. Value-Added Cost Share program, and I think my gift list will include a few specialty items from these growing agri-businesses. The items are local, often edible and many can be purchased online. A few of my favorites are the Farmers Roasted Soynuts (perfect stocking stuffer), essential oil of lavender, organic wine and smoked trout. You can find more N.C. ag-inspired products online at the NCDA&CS General Store, or look for a holiday farmers market near you.

One of my favorite DIY gifts is to assemble a recipe card collection coupled with a dishtowel, hand-knitted dishcloth and a vintage mixing bowl. It’s a versatile gift, suitable for a loved one, a casual acquaintance or a blind gift exchange. This year, The Produce Lady will be my elf and she can be yours too!

Simply visit www.theproducelady.org. Select the recipe tab and download the printable pdfs available for select favorites. Print the recipes on card stock, trim and tie with a festive ribbon. Easy, fun and useful!

I hope you’ll join me this year thinking outside the heat-sealed plastic box for an agriculturally inspired Carolina Christmas. Only 27 shopping days left!

Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas from The Produce Lady

A Special Thanks

If ever there was a time to be thankful for friends, family and great food, it’s the fourth Thursday of every November. Thanksgiving, that most delectable of holidays, originated in the 17th century to give thanks for a community’s good harvest. Although good food has remained a centerpiece of the annual celebration, the sources of the food – our farmers, whose good harvests make possible our cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, pecan pie and even hot ham or turkey – more often go unnoticed.

This year we want to acknowledge the farmers and all that they do to feed our families on Thanksgiving and throughout the year. Now that thanks have been given, let’s get cooking!

Time to Eat

Some crops in our home state of North Carolina that are traditional favorites and in abundance locally for Thanksgiving are apples, pecans, sweet potatoes and winter squash. While they please many a palate served as sweet pies, apples, pecans and sweet potatoes can be plated up as appetizers, side dishes or even finger-food snacks.

• Apple Pecan Squash Recipe
• Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges Recipe
• Apple Crisp Recipe (wonderful lower-fat substitute for apple pie)

Watch our Winter Squash video for tips on selecting and preparing butternuts among others. The Roasted Butternut Squash and Fruit recipe is sure to become a family favorite!

Holiday Food Safety

As always, practice food safety! We’d be remiss not to point out that more than 4,000 home fires occur each Thanksgiving, often because cooking food is left unattended. Take these steps to help keep you and your loved ones safe:

• Stay in the kitchen while food is cooking.
• If using a turkey fryer, make sure the meat is completely thawed and dried before adding to oil. Monitor the oil temperature and turn off the fryer if it begins to smoke.
• Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and make sure smoke detectors are on and working.

Have a safe, happy and tasty Thanksgiving!