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Labor Day grill local food

Labor Day ideas: Grill local food!

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How to throw just about all your local food on the barbie

– By the Veggie Fairy Team

You can cook a whole Labor Day meal on the grill, even if the food you’re making varies in how it should be cooked.

The secret

The secret to doing it is to create two zones, one for direct heat and one for indirect heat. So in a gas grill with two burners, turn one to medium high, the other to medium low; in charcoal grills, heap the coals to one side. The hotter side is your direct heat zone – the rest of the grill is the indirect heat zone.

Direct heat

This is ideal for small, tender foods that cook quickly. Things like sliced vegetables and fruits, corn on the cob, burgers, steaks, chops, boneless chicken, fish fillets, and shellfish. Direct heat sears the surface – developing flavors, textures, and caramelization – while cooking through to the center.

Indirect heat

This is better for larger, tougher foods that require longer cooking times. Think whole potatoes wrapped in foil, other dense root vegetables like turnips, and whole chickens, roasts, and racks of ribs. It’s also the best way to finish whole potatoes cooked without foil and bone-in cuts that are seared first over direct heat. Or vice versa for bone-in, skin-on chicken legs where you want crispy skin: Roast them first over indirect heat, then crisp the skin over direct heat.

Resource guides

Here are a few resources for grilling veggies, fruit, and meat:
A guide to grilling vegetables
A guide to grilling fruit
A guide to grilling meat

Naked or dressed?

Some things, like peppers, are perfect when you grill them “naked”, with nothing but some olive oil and salt. Other things are great when marinated. Here are some suggestions for marinating and combining your fresh local food on the grill this Labor Day. The marinades work just as well on veggies as on meat; marinate veggies or meat for at least an hour and then fire it up! You can find more ideas on our Pinterest page. Speaking of which, look at the old pin we found on our peach board!

HERB-GRILLED ELEPHANT GARLIC
Ingredients:
1 head elephant garlic, separated into cloves, sliced to desired thickness
1½ T olive oil
2 t fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 t fresh sage, finely chopped
½ t sugar, plus salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Toss garlic slices with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, sugar.
2. Place on preheated grill for about 3 minutes each side.
3. Remove and cover with foil to continue cooking and keep warm.
4. Eat on freshly baked local bread, garnish grilled meat or veggies, or eat it straight up!

GRILLED GREENS & FRUIT with FETA
Ingredients:
1 bag Tuscan kale, washed, torn into bite-size pieces
4 peaches, halved
¼ c Greek feta cheese spread
¼ c olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder, to taste
1-2 T lemon juice
Optional: ¼ lb ground sage sausage
Directions:
1. Prepare ingredients while grill heats up.
2. Toss kale in a bowl with salt, pepper, garlic powder. Place it on foil and fold up to make an airtight pouch that’s still loose enough that kale can steam inside.
3. Toss peaches in bowl with oil.
4. Optional: form sausage into patties.
5. Place kale pouch, peaches, and optional sausage on heated grill. Peaches should be cut side down. Leave kale on grill for 10 – 12 minutes. Leave peaches until they’re thoroughly caramelized. If using sausage, cook it until it’s cooked through and through.
6. Make a bed of the kale. Top with peaches and crumbled sausage. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with feta.

MUSHROOM & SWISS BURGER
Also delish with pastured ground turkey or brats as a substitute for beef
TIP: If you go for handmade local brats, they’re delicate, so simmer them in beer in a saucepan on the stove until they’re cooked through, then finish them on the grill over direct heat.
Ingredients:
1¼ lbs grassfed ground beef
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
¼ c onion chives, diced, or 1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 buns or 8 pieces of Bibb lettuce to wrap
2 T oil or butter
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Prep grill for medium heat. Divide ground beef into 4 patties. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Heat oil or butter in a medium pan. If using onions, add to pan and saute for about 2-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until tender, about 4 additional minutes. If using chives, add once mushrooms are done.
3. Grill patties about 5 min per side, until cooked to desired doneness. Toward end, add buns, cut side down, to toast.
4. Remove buns. Divide mushroom mixture among burgers, top with cheese. Cover grill for about 1 min to melt cheese.
5. Top with lettuce, or if you’re not using buns, use the lettuce to wrap the burgers in place of buns.

CITRUS MARINADE
Works on fresh local veggies just as well as on local pasture-raised chicken
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c lime juice
1/4 c olive oil
1 T orange zest
1 T fresh rosemary
1 T fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t salt

SWEET & SOUR MARINADE
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c ALFREDO’S BEEHIVE honey
1/4 c vinegar
1 T cornstarch
1 T water
1-1/2 t fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 t black pepper

SAVORY GARLIC MARINADE
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 c soy sauce
3 T minced garlic
2 T honey
2 T olive oil
2 t black pepper
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t onion powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t liquid smoke flavoring
pinch cayenne pepper

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

fight food waste eat raw food

Why you should eat raw food & keep it on hand…

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…even if sometimes it goes bad before you can eat it!

– By the Veggie Fairy Team

Your body needs the live enzymes found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Enzymes activate and carry out all your body’s biological processes, including digestion and nerve impulses – and it’s theorized that those enzymes need to be replenished regularly for you to stay healthy.

So what’s the #1 way to replenish enzymes?

Eat raw food.

Actually, for overall good health, you should eat a mix of raw and cooked food — cooking makes some nutrients more accessible to our bodies while killing other nutrients. Spinach is good example of the unexpected pros and cons. So a mix of raw and cooked covers all your bases.

Anyway, keeping fresh fruits and vegetables on hand is worth it for the live enzymes, not to mention antioxidants, vitamins, and other fragile things that are good for us… even if those fruits and veggies go bad occasionally before you can eat them all.

Still, why let any fresh produce go to waste?

To avoid wasting produce, prioritize it. Eat the stuff that goes bad the fastest first, like salad greens or green beans. Once they’re eaten, the more long-lived produce will be waiting for you, with most of the nutrients still intact. Asian pears, for example, store well: 2-3 weeks at room temp, several months in the fridge. That should give you plenty of time to:

  • Serve Asian pears on a cheese platter (skip the crackers).
  • Add thin slices to sandwiches.
  • Add chunks to salads.
  • Make Asian pear slaw. (Scroll down to the bottom of the link for the recipe.)

    • Fight food waste and save money… and the world!

    When you don’t waste food, you’re saving yourself some money. But you’re also helping change our world for the better — you’re blooming where you’re planted. Because the fact is, in America we throw away 40% of our food supply every year!

    We’ve talked about ugly food before, and why we love it (as long as it’s fresh and local!) — it just tastes better. For example, in the peak of the season, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has tomatoes of all shapes and sizes and colors because they’re grown for their nuanced flavors, not their looks. Grocery store tomatoes, on the other hand, are grown by Industrial Agriculture with a list of other characteristics in mind – good looking is one, tough enough to travel is another. (Flavor’s not on the list.) Tomatoes that aren’t pretty enough for the industrial system are thrown away.

    In a country where many go hungry, it’s unconscionable to discard nutritious food simply because it isn’t cute enough. It’s a crazy system that needs to change. As a Member of Seasonal Roots, you’re already helping to bring sanity to our nation’s food system.

    But even so, this time of year it’s easy to wind up with more fresh local tomatoes than you can eat raw all at once, even if they are loaded with live enzymes and other good things.

    More ways to fight food waste

    Here’s how you can get those fresh local tomatoes (and other veggies) eaten, with most of their nutritious benefits still intact:

  • Drizzle with olive oil, roast, and use them to top a salad, bruschetta, or pasta.
  • Simmer into sauce and can or freeze. (Check out our 3-part series on maxing nutritional value by freezing, along with other tricks.
  • Skin, seed, and simmer to a paste.
  • Bake into a tomato pie or tart.
  • Make tomato jam.
  • Add to fruit salad.

    • Bottom line: Eat fresh and local

    So… eat ugly food. Eat raw food. Eat cooked food. Just make sure it’s fresh local food! If it’s fresh and local, it’s so good for you that it’s worth it to always have plenty on hand… even if it goes bad now and then.

    But there’s no need to let that happen. If you can’t eat it all fast enough, just throw it in the freezer. When you defrost it later, if it’s not as appetizing to eat raw, it’ll still be great cooked… and just about as nutritious as it would have been if you’d cooked it instead of freezing it in the first place.

    Parts of this post were adapted from Sherri Brooks Vinton’s EcoCentric blog post “Taste it, don’t waste it: Tomatoes”.

    ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

    Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

    avoid junk food shop local food

    Use this simple trick to avoid junk food

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    The solution is online

    – By the Veggie Fairy Team

    That candy in the checkout line – is it calling to you? Do those processed foods in the supermarket aisles have the power to turn your good intentions to mush?

    Apparently, the best way to stay strong, reduce impulse purchases, and keep junk food out of your life is to shop online.

    Impulsive much?

    In a new study, 60 college students filled out questionnaires that assessed their levels of impulsiveness. The questionnaires also probed how they respond to the presence of food.

    Previous research had shown that people who are more impulsive may be less healthy than less impulsive people. In a grocery store, impulsiveness could lead to a shopping cart filled with junk food.

    So after filling out the questionnaires, the students were told they had $48.50 for grocery shopping, and were asked to fill an online shopping cart with nutritious, affordable, and tasty foods.

    When they were done, researchers calculated the nutritional value of all the food in each student’s online shopping cart. The result: There was no link between the foods a student chose and how impulsive the student was.

    But if they’d been shopping in a grocery store, the impulsive students probably would have gone home with more junk food than they’d planned on. Shopping online seemed to help them make better choices.

    The findings are preliminary, and more research is needed to confirm the results, but the study suggests that online grocery shopping can help you stick to a healthy diet.

    Not all online shopping is created equal

    Shopping at your online farmers market boosts the health benefit even more. That’s because local food is fresher than the produce you can typically get from supermarkets and grocery stores, whether you’re shopping those supermarkets in person or online.

    The grocery store system takes at least a week to deliver produce from the farm to the store. The Seasonal Roots system takes just a couple days from Dirt to Doorstep®. The fresher the food, the more nutrients (and flavor) it still has. When it comes to healthy eating, you just can’t beat it! Get more details here.

    ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

    Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

    National Farmers Market Week

    National Farmers Market Week: What’s in it for you?

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    5 reasons why markets are worth celebrating every week!

    – By the Veggie Fairy Team

    National Farmers Market Week is all about the markets that serve as a bridge between farmers and families. Whether they’re in-person farmers markets or online farmers markets like Seasonal Roots, local farmers markets…

    farmers markets increase access to nutritious food

    #1 Increase access to nutritious food

    Online markets use today’s technology to restore an old school connection to our food. 91% of market shoppers use mobile applications, the most convenient way to build bridges between families and farmers, and save time, too. Seasonal Roots home-delivers affordable local food within about 48 hours from Dirt to Doorstep(R), compared to a week or more at grocery stores. And the more fresh it is, the more nutritious it is!

    farmers markets support healthy communities

    #2 Support healthy communities

    Proximity to farmers markets is associated with lower body mass index. Shopping at a farmers market produces healthier eating habits. Shoppers know it from experience. Leslie M posted about it on Facebook, writing, “I absolutely love receiving my fresh, local produce deliveries each week from Seasonal Roots. The selection and options and the amount of produce you get is just fantastic. We eat so much healthier with these fruits, veggies, eggs, etc., arriving at our door each week.”

    farmers markets promote sustainability

    #3 Promote sustainability

    Locally or regionally sourced produce typically travels 27 times less far than grocery store produce. All Seasonal Roots farmers rely on sustainable farming practices like integrated pest management, low- or no-spray, cover crops, crop and livestock rotation, reduced tillage, on-site composting, and reduced water consumption. Nationally, 81% of farmers market vendors do the same.

    National Farmers Market Week

    #4 Stimulate local economies

    Growers selling locally create 13 full time jobs per $1 million in revenue earned. Those not selling locally create only 3. Locally owned retailers, such as farmers markets, return more than 3 times as much of their sales to the local economy compared to chain competitors. Seasonal Roots provides work for more than 100 people and supports dozens of local farmers and food artisans.

    farmers markets preserve farmland

    #5 Preserve farmland and rural livelihoods

    The US loses an acre of farmland to development every minute of the day. The market is the sole source of income for 25% of farmers market vendors. Farmers markets provide one of the only low-barrier entry points for new farmers, allowing them to start small as they learn and test the market.

    View this post as an infographic.

    ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

    Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

    industrial agriculture drought vs fresh local food

    Industrial agriculture vs fresh local food

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    What happens when the water runs out?

    – By Duane Slyder, Head Veggie Fairy & founder of Seasonal Roots:

    A few years ago, I visited California’s Tulare County (pictured) with the Northern Neck Growers Association and 21 of Virginia’s finest farmers. We toured fields full of almond trees, sweet potatoes, lettuce, radicchio, and more.

    Tulare County is the top agricultural producing county in the U.S., even though its natural state is desert-like. Average rainfall is just 7 inches. When intensive farming started there 50 years ago, farmers relied on snowfall in the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains to provide water for their summer crops. But then came years of severe drought. There was little snow to be seen when I was there.

    Industrial agriculture has its limits

    So we were walking with one of Tanimura & Antle’s field managers, Rob, in a 1500-acre field of mixed lettuce. I suddenly realized that I had actually bought some of their heads at a Virginia Kroger during our winter holiday hiatus that year – small world! Rob said with the drought, he and other farmers had been denied access to the mountain water they’d always relied on. They were forced to get all their water from wells, which were drying up. With so little experience on the land, they don’t know what they’re going to do in the long term.

    California’s long drought was a warning: In the future, America may not be able to rely on far away places like Tulare County to provide so much of the nation’s produce. Experts say California will be short of water forever.

    Farmer Joe Step came with us on that trip. His family has been farming their 120 acres in Virginia – growing broccoli, barley, and cucumbers – for 130 years. He plans to keep on farming. His family knows how to survive droughts and grow produce sustainably with the future in mind. Because he’s local, we can then deliver his produce to you within a couple of days, Dirt to Doorstep(R), while it’s still full of nutrients and flavor.

    Support local farmers today… so they’ll be here when we need them tomorrow

    This is why we founded Seasonal Roots: To make sure farmers like Joe, who know how to feed us, can keep on farming… so you can keep on getting the freshest food possible. That’s only possible when it’s local. When it comes to maximizing nutrients and flavor, industrial agriculture just can’t deliver. Thank you for making this important local food mission part of your life!

    ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

    Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

    fresh local food - sustainable agriculture - lettuce

    This is why fresh local food is better for you

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    The most delicious way to take your vitamins

    – By the Veggie Fairy Team:

    What’s the most delicious way to take your vitamins? Eating fresh local food direct from local farmers! It’s not just more delicious — it’s also better for you than trying to get your vitamins from supplements or even grocery store produce. Here’s why.

    Fresh local produce is whole food

    According to the Mayo Clinic, whole foods like the farm-fresh produce you get from Seasonal Roots give you three things that dietary supplements can’t:

    1. More nutrition. Whole foods are complex. That means they have a variety of the micronutrients your body needs — not just one. Take leafy greens, for example, like the lettuce pictured here, grown by Gerardo Flores and his son Omar on Virginia’s Northern Neck. It’s got vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B-6, plus thiamine, riboflavins, beta carotene, folates, zeaxanthin, iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Whew! Scientists think all these compounds probably work together to help your body process those nutrients and get the most out of them. A lot of the vitamin content in a pill is wasted without the supportive team of natural compounds your body needs to absorb it.

    2. Essential fiber. Whole foods, which include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, give you dietary fiber. Fiber does more than keep you regular. Most high-fiber foods are also packed with other essential nutrients. Studies show that when your healthy eating includes fiber, it helps prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

    3. Nature’s body armor. Fruits and vegetables contain naturally occurring substances called phytochemicals. These little guys may help protect you against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Many of them also protect you with antioxidants, which slow down oxidation — a natural process that leads to cell and tissue damage. That kind of damage is associated with aging and cancer.

    But oxidation isn’t just your enemy. Vitamins have enemies, too. Which brings us to grocery stores.

    Local + fresh = more vitamins

    A fresh-picked peach is a sweet, delicious way to get 11% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamins C and A, and 5% of the RDA for vitamin E… that is, IF you eat it while it’s still fresh.

    Vitamins are more vulnerable to oxidation than almost any other nutrient. Air, light, and heat are part of the oxidation process. As soon as a fruit or vegetable is picked, those three things start doing their best to kill the vitamins in the produce. It’s a race against time.

    So the fresher your produce is, the more vitamins it still has. That’s why the produce you get direct from local farmers is better for you than produce from the grocery store. Store-bought produce travels at least a week to get there, on average… and often longer. By then those fragile vitamins are fading away, along with the flavor.

    The local produce at Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market comes to you straight from the fields of our family farmers. No middlemen, no storage, no long distance travel. So when you take your first bite, it’s still fresh and vitamin-rich – not to mention full of delicious flavor, too.

    WHEN it’s picked makes a difference

    Our farmers wait until their produce is fully ripe before they pick it. This allows the sun and rain to maximize the flavor and vitamins inside every fruit and vegetable.

    That stuff in the grocery store from California, Mexico, or beyond — conventional and organic alike — it was all picked early ahead of its long journey. By the time it gets to you, it may look ripe. But it’s an empty shell compared to the amount of flavor and vitamins in field-ripened produce.

    Fresh local food is Grandma’s healthy eating

    Modern varieties of produce have been developed to meet the storage and rough handling needs of industrial agriculture — at a price. Modern produce looks good but it’s short on nutrients.

    Since our farmers’ produce doesn’t have to endure long, rough trips, they can grow old-fashioned heirloom varieties that have still got all the flavor and nutrition of yesteryear. The old-school broccoli your grandmother ate was much better for her than the broccoli you’ll find in grocery stores today. With fresh local food, you can go back in time and eat that healthful broccoli too.

    Sustainability gives you a vitamin boost, too!

    All our local family farmers are committed to using sustainable farming practices. Not only does that lower our carbon footprint. It also adds to the benefits of healthy eating that you get from fresh local food. That’s because sustainability includes:

  • Low- or no-spray. Our farmers work with nature instead of against it to manage pests.
  • Healthy soil. Our farmers use crop rotation, cover crops, reduced tillage, careful water management, and more to enrich the soil naturally instead of relying on chemicals. You can see some of those methods demonstrated in Gerardo’s lettuce crop, pictured above.

    Bottom line: Healthy eating starts with fresh local food!

    ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

    Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, pastured eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

    • Eat Better Live Better / Feb 1-2

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    WHERE DO YOUR EGGS AND MEAT COME FROM?
    And why are ours so much better?

    In 2009 Keith Farrish noticed that, while many things in life made him happy, few compared to driving his tractor. After 20 years in the buttoned-up business world, Keith and his wife Wendy started SADDLE RIDGE FARM.

    It’s a small family farm near Culpeper, Va., where they raise chickens, pigs, and cows in open pasture. Their goal is to maintain and improve the mental and physical health of the families who eat what they raise. So they take care of their land and animals in a sustainable way that predates newer, “modern” farming practices…

    Read more below or view as a PDF with clickable links.

    newsletter 2017-02-01 p1

    newsletter 2017-02-01 p2

    Join us and eat better live better!

    The Secret to Meal Planning: Part 5 “Make it work!”

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    By Shanna Demers, neighborhood market manager:

    About 10 months ago, I decided to give meal planning one more shot, determined to MAKE it work. I can happily say, it’s here to stay! I’m rarely stressing at 4:30 about what we’re having for dinner, I have reduced our food waste, and we’re saving money! Meal planning is one key to my family’s happiness each week.

    Over the last four blog posts I wrote about my family’s meal planning secrets:

    1. Throw away the rules (not the fresh veggies)! Find a plan that works for your family. Chances are, prefabricated plans will not fit your life perfectly, and that’s okay. You CAN change it!

    2. Before you shop the grocery store, shop at home! Before you go shopping, know what you have and what you ordered from Seasonal Roots. Being aware of inventory is a step towards saving money and reducing waste.

    3. Each week, know your family’s schedule! Schedules are always changing. Maybe you have an odd evening appointment coming up. Instead of forgetting about it and scrambling, be aware and prepare.

    4. Each member of your family can be helpful in the process. If your spouse/partner doesn’t enjoy cooking, have them help with shopping or choosing meals. Get your children involved and help them learn valuable life skills. Involvement gives ownership regardless of age. Don’t forget, teamwork makes the dream work!

    Implementing these four things helped us transition from a family that eats on the fly to a family that plans. Hopefully it will help you too!

    Check out the Seasonal Roots Pinterest page and newsletter this week for some of the recipes I use in our meal planning rotation — including one for the delicious stuffed gluten-free sweet potato pictured with this post!

    EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER / Jan 18-19

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    TROPICAL FRUIT IN VIRGINIA?!! — Tropical fruits are an important part of a healthy diet, as pirates and other seafarers discovered when they got scurvy! But citrus doesn’t grow in Virginia. So as part of our commitment to eat food from the closest farms possible, we’re partnering with V&B Farms in Florida. Coming from nearby in our region, V&B’s tropical produce will travel far less than produce from California or Central and South America. That means it’s fresher, riper, tastier, and still packed with nutrients. And it’s better for the environment, since less travel equals less pollution. The farmers behind V&B are Tommy Vick and Brandon Boyd, who have known each other since they were in diapers…

    Read more below or view as a PDF.
    newsletter 2017-01-18 p1
    newsletter 2017-01-18 p2

    Eat Better Live Better
    #EatBetterLiveBetter
    #SeasonalRoots

    The Secret to Meal Planning: Part 4 “Teamwork”

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    By Shanna Demers, neighborhood market manager:

    Teamwork makes the dream work! Five words that never fail to bring my family smiles and remind us that we are in this together. But if teamwork is so important to our family, why was meal planning and cooking ALL on me?! Involving my family in the planning process was a game changer.

    I was selecting all the meals when I was following prefabricated meal plans. It was easier this way, but I found myself frustrated when my family (mainly my daughter) wasn’t interested in eating what I had prepared. We all have unique palates and I was only cooking to mine. Meals became more enjoyable for everyone once I started asking my husband and daughter for their input. This is yet another example of why following someone else’s meal plan is not always sustainable. Simple changes really do make big differences.

    My family helps plan meals each week, which keeps us on track because we are all invested. Involvement gives ownership. This is important for children as well. Including children in the planning process helps them to learn healthy eating habits and will make them more excited about what’s on the table for meals. They’re more likely to try new things if they helped choose them.

    My daughter helps me choose the items in our basket every Friday when the Seasonal Roots menu comes out. Not only is she helping me plan, she is learning where our food comes from. Many children are not aware of how our food production system works. Food doesn’t come from the grocery store — that’s simply a place where we can purchase it. When we order from Seasonal Roots, we can choose our items and see which family farm it’s coming from.

    Knowing where our food comes from and how to prepare it are important life skills. I’m helping my daughter learn by inviting her into the kitchen. In turn, she’s more willing to try new foods and eat what we prepare together. A win-win situation!

    So this week I’m challenging you to get everyone involved with as much of the planning and cooking as possible. Teamwork makes the (meal planning) dream work!