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Chef Nikk’s Live Cooking Event

Holiday Prep Cooking Demo

Chef Nikk helped us dive in and get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday! We had so much fun cooking along with her and learned some helpful tips just in time for the holidays!

Just a few highlights:

  • Quiche creativity: Lots of discussion about how quiche can be adapted to create new inventions and flavors. Quiche can be made ahead and frozen – a great option when you are having guests and it can be served for any meal!
  • Veggie versatility: Chef Nikk shared some great tips on how to use the right veggies for the right dish.

We loved all of the participation from the group!

Click here to watch Chef Nikk’s cooking demo.

About Chef Nikk

Chef Nikk has been cooking since she was 12 years old and has worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years. She loves cooking with her family and often cooks with her son Avery. Two years ago she took her passion and talents to create Chef Nikk’s creations, a catering and private chef services business.

Feel free to click on the image and download the recipe for future reference.

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our neighborhood market managers – 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.

Jamila’s Educational and Entertaining Live Cooking Event

Brinner Bundle Cooking Demo

We held our first Seasonal Roots live cooking event in late October.

Jamila helped us whip up a delicious Brinner Bundle featuring Sweet Potato Hash and Spinach Apple Salad.

In addition to demo of the recipes, Jamila shares:

  • Tips for versatility in the kitchen
  • Ideas for cutting/prepping and subbing out recipe items
  • Some dancing and an essential pinch of humor

While Jamila is magic in the kitchen, her emphasis is on keeping things real and simple. The event is as entertaining as it is informative.

Click here to watch Jamila’s cooking demo.

Jamila Talbot has been with Seasonal Roots for 8-years. She leads the team that delivers Seasonal Roots goodies across all of Virginia and parts of Maryland. Oh, and she and her husband have 5 girls, 1 dog and a gazillion house plants.

The recipes for the Sweet Potato Hash and Apple Spinach Salad are below. Feel free to click on the image and download the recipe for future reference.

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS

Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our neighborhood market managers – 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.

Easy chicken recipes from Karla in the news!

Healthy eating made easy with humanely raised local chicken

Easy chicken recipes were in the news when Karla dropped by WAVY-TV’s studios for The Hampton Roads Show on August 27.

For those that would like to sign up for Seasonal Roots, be sure to use special code HRSJOIN10 to join for just $10!

Click here to watch Karla’s Hampton Roads Show interview

During the course of one short interview, Karla whipped up three quick and easy chicken recipes. (You could also use tofu or any protein of your choice.) Every ingredient she used came from Seasonal Roots, all locally grown or locally made.

First, she sauteed a panful of chopped up local chicken that was humanely raised with no antibiotics or growth hormones.

From that single batch of chicken she then made three dinner entrees. Each one is so simple that its description is the recipe!

  • Eggplant halves topped with chicken tossed in basil pesto sauce, diced mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
  • Stuffed bell peppers filled with chicken mixed with pico-poco salsa and topped with avocado-cilantro hummus and grated cheddar cheese.
  • Lettuce chicken wraps, each made in a cup-like hydro bibb lettuce leaf topped with chicken, matchstick apple slices, curry aioli sauce, and a sprinkle of chopped fresh chives.

Still got questions? Just watch the 8-minute interview, above, to see how they’re done! Or, scroll down for the full directions and ingredients lists below.

Seasonal Roots makes healthy eating easy

When you eat local food in season, you’re eating food that is fresher. That makes it more flavorful and, most importantly, packed with more nutrients. All those good things fade away the farther produce has to travel and the longer it sits on the shelf. So eating seasonally is really good for you and good for your taste buds, too.

And when you cook at home using real food like local produce and chicken, you know exactly what’s in it. No preservatives, no dangerous chemicals, no unhealthy high fructose corn syrups, no surprise allergy triggers.

Plus, eating a variety of foods ensures you’re getting all the nutrients your body needs!

More tips & tricks for eating seasonally and healthfully

Check out the tips & tricks Karla has shared in other TV gigs:
How to Eat Seasonally
Creative Ways to Enjoy Fresh Local Peaches
Max out Flavor & Nutrients with these Produce Storage Tips
Why Fresh Local Produce Supports Healthy Eating & Boosts Immunity

And now… 3 easy chicken recipes!

 

Stuffed Eggplant Caprese

Eggplant caprese recipeIngredients:

(All available at SeasonalRoots.com when in season locally)

  • Eggplant
  • Diced chicken
  • Diced tomatoes
  • Fresh mozzarella
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Basil pesto (2 cups fresh basil leaves, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic)

Directions:

  • Slice an eggplant in half, scoop out some of the middle.
  • Cook at 350 for about 15 min.
  • Then stuff with cooked, diced chicken, diced fresh mozzarella, diced tomatoes, basil pesto.
  • Put under the broiler until the cheese is browned, and top with fresh basil.
  • You can also cook up the scooped out eggplant and add that to the mixture to not waste anything.
  • Of course, it also makes a great vegetarian dish. Remove chicken and add Tempeh or chickpeas.

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

(All available at SeasonalRoots.com when in season locally)

  • 3 bell peppers any color!
  • Diced cooked chicken
  • Salsa
  • Avocado Cilantro Lime Hummus
  • 2 Tbsp. Garlic, minced
  • 1 Shallot, diced
  • Olive oil
  • Grated Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

  • Cut the tops off the peppers and core them, then throw in boiling water for 3 minutes.
  • Stuff peppers with cooked, diced chicken mixed with salsa.
  • Top with Avocado Cilantro Lime Hummus and grated cheddar.
  • Be creative! You can add beans or rice, mix with refried beans and top with salsa, change up the cheese, use poblano instead of bell peppers. Make it your own.

Curry Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

(All available at SeasonalRoots.com when in season locally)

  • Lettuce
  • Cooked chicken
  • Bury Me in Curry Aioli
  • Thinly sliced tart apples
  • Chives
  • Optional add-ons whatever you have on hand: peppers, carrots, onions, grapes, etc.

Directions:

  • In a curved piece of lettuce add cooked chicken
  • Mix in Bury Me in Curry Aioli (yum!), thinly sliced tart apples, and sprinkle with chives.
  • Be creative! You can add sliced peppers, carrots, onions, or whatever you have on hand.
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.

Karla shares her Peach Cobbler Recipe in the News!

Our very own Karla Robinson was featured in the news in Hampton Roads! This time it was to share an easy and delicious recipe for Peach Cobbler using fresh local fruit. 

On July 9th, she was asked to share her know-how on WTKR News Channel 3’s Coast Live.

Click here to watch Karla’s latest Coast Live interview

Karla shared some great tips and tricks about peaches, including: 

  • The different types of peaches you might receive in your Seasonal Roots order like the yellow, white, and flat peach! 
  • Always wait to wash your peaches and other produce because the moisture makes things go bad faster! 
  • Don’t put them in the fridge if they’re not ripe or if you don’t want them to ripen. They tend to dehydrate and the skin will wrinkle. 
  • Freeze them to prevent them from going bad. Peal and cut first. Perfect for smoothies!
  • A quick tip for peeling: put the peaches in boiling water for 15-30 seconds, and then put them into ice cold water and the skin will come right off!

Finally for the best part! Karla’s delicious Peach Cobbler recipe! 

Ingredients: 

  • 6-8 cups of sliced peaches
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 cup flour 
  • 1 cup sugar 
  • 1 tsp. baking powder 
  • ½ tsp. salt 
  • 1 large egg 
  • ½ cup melted butter

Directions: 

  • Mix the fruit, cinnamon, and nutmeg together place in a baking dish. 
  • Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. 
  • Add the egg and with a fork press the egg into the mixture without mixing too much. 
  • Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit. 
  • Drizzle melted butter and bake at 350 for 40 min. 

Enjoy!

 

 

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.

In the news! Karla shares tips for storing produce

Tips and tricks to max out flavor and nutrients

Karla’s tips for storing produce will help you get the most out of your delicious, nutritious, fresh local produce.

On June 18th, she was asked to share her know-how on WTKR NewsChannel 3’s Coast Live.

Click here to watch Karla’s latest Coast Live interview

Karla shared some great tips and tricks for storing produce, including:

  1. Store tomatoes on the counter. They may last longer in the fridge, but the texture turns a little mealy. They’re also not as flavorful when they’re cold. But if you gotta chill ’em down, just give them time to warm up to room temp before you eat them. The flavor, if not the texture, will be almost as good as before.
  2. Wait to wash your produce until you’re ready to use it. The moisture and bruising that comes with washing will make the produce turn mushy and moldy faster.
  3. Avoid crowding. Fresh produce needs its space, especially fruits. Cramming them tightly together allows moisture to build up, and once again the produce will turn to mush more quickly.
  4. Feel free to freeze. Frozen produce lasts up to a year in the freezer, and hangs onto almost all of its original nutrients and flavor. Frozen blueberries make a great snack or addition to smoothies and pancakes. Simply wash them, let them dry, and store them in a single layer in a resealable bag. Then you can grab a handful anytime.
  5. Put stems in water. If your greens, herbs, or asparagas have started to wilt, cut off the tips of the stems and put them in a jar or vase of water. They’ll perk right up like a bouquet of flowers.
  6. Eat sweet corn right away. It’s best when eaten within a few days of harvest because it’s mostly sugar, so it breaks down fast into starch. You can tell when sweet corn is fresh-picked because the silk tassels are still green-gold and the husks are still green. It also has some weight to it because the kernels haven’t dehydrated yet.

Not a Seasonal Roots member yet?
Save $25 (that’s 50%!)
when you SIGN UP for home-delivery of fresh local produce using promo code TIPSANDTRICKS

 

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.

Karla Robinson from Seasonal Roots Team, Discusses Healthy Eating, Immunity on “Coast Live” TV Show

On April 19, people all across Hampton Roads got a healthy slice of Seasonal Roots.

That’s because our very own Karla Robinson, Director of Teams at Seasonal Roots in Hampton Roads, appeared on Coast Live, the popular lifestyle TV show on WTKR NewsChannel 3 (CBS news outlet in the Norfolk/Va Beach area).

Karla chatted about the variety of healthy local produce and artisan goods we offer to customers in Virginia and Maryland. She also discussed the importance of healthy eating to boost immunity, fun smoothie ideas and more.

Click here to watch Karla’s Seasonal Roots interview

 

In honor of Earth Day, you can use

Promo code EARTHDAY

to join for just $25 (that’s half off). Be sure to join before May 1st to take advantage of this promotion.

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 produce

Eating Local Helps Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Eating local helps reduce your carbon footprint. Local food doesn’t travel as far as most food you find in the grocery store.

Compared to the global industrial food complex, food from local farmers and artisans uses less fuel and produces less CO2 – 17 times less! So local food belches fewer greenhouse gasses and fights global warming.

Supporting local farmers also saves nearby farms from getting paved over and developed. That’s especially helpful when you’re saving small family farms, because they farm differently from factory farms.

Factory farms plant miles and miles of monocrops. That’s unnatural, and it forces them to fight nature with more pesticides and artificial fertilizers.

Our family farmers use sustainable methods that work with nature. Sustainable methods create healthy ecosystems that are good for the soil, water, and air – a rich patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, and ponds. That kind of greenspace actually takes carbon out of the atmosphere. Plus it’s the perfect habitat for wildlife.

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.

recycle boxes reduce carbon footprint

2 easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / September 13, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

2 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT…
…you’re already doing at least one of them!

The first thing you can do: Eat local food.
The second thing: Reuse your Seasonal Roots delivery box.

So first things first: You’re already eating local food from Seasonal Roots. Here’s why that reduces your carbon footprint. Local food doesn’t travel as far as most food you find in the grocery store.

Compared to the global industrial food complex, food from local farmers and artisans uses less…

Continue reading about reducing your carbon footprint, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

Newsletter 2017-09-20 FINAL pg1

Newsletter 2017-09-20 FINAL pg2

reduce carbon footprint recycle

2 easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint

Eat local and recycle the box!

By the Veggie Fairy Team

The first thing you can do: Eat local food. The second thing: Reuse your Seasonal Roots delivery box. Now let’s get into the details.

Eat local food

So first things first: You’re already eating local food from Seasonal Roots. Here’s why that reduces your carbon footprint. Local food doesn’t travel as far as most food you find in the grocery store.

Compared to the global industrial food complex, food from local farmers and artisans uses less fuel and produces less CO2 – 17 times less! So local food belches fewer greenhouse gasses and fights global warming.

Supporting local farmers also saves nearby farms from getting paved over and developed. That’s especially helpful when you’re saving small family farms, because they farm differently from factory farms.

Factory farms plant miles and miles of monocrops. That’s unnatural, and it forces them to fight nature with more pesticides and artificial fertilizers.

Our family farmers use sustainable methods that work with nature. Sustainable methods create healthy ecosystems that are good for the soil, water, and air – a rich patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, and ponds. That kind of greenspace actually takes carbon out of the atmosphere. Plus it’s the perfect habitat for wildlife.

Recycle your box for reuse

As for the second thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint, it’s so easy! Just help us reuse our boxes. On delivery day, leave your empty Seasonal Roots delivery box from the week before next to your cooler. Your neighborhood market manager will whisk it away so we can use it again next week.

As you can see from the photo, veggie fairies like Margo L who deliver your local food really love it when you leave out last week’s box so we can all save energy and trees!

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.