Our Thanksgiving Feast

Topher and I spent Thanksgiving with his parents at their house in North Carolina, as we have the past two years, and had a fabulous feast.

We started the day off right with a breakfast of pumpkin pie and coffee. Then Topher and his dad spent the next several hours in the kitchen preparing the turkey and all the sides (including two dishes from Bobby Flay's recent "Thanksgiving Feast" Throwdown). Thanksgiving dinner - that ambiguous is-it-lunch-or-is-it-supper meal - commenced about 2:30pm.

What We Ate:

• Oven-roasted turkey with stuffing
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes with gravy
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranates and Vanilla-Pecan Butter
• Homemade cranberry sauce
• Buena Vista Carneros - 2007 Ramal Vineyard Dijon Clone Chardonnay
• And for dessert: Chocolate cream pie (topped with a beautiful meringue)

And then I spent the rest of the afternoon walking off the calories. :)

A few pictures from the day:

Topher and his dad stuffing the turkey (it was dramatic)

Topher (a la Viking) enjoying the fruits of his labor

His majesties Bandit and Smoky

Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Excited

We've had our plans for Thanksgiving in place for several weeks now, but it just hit me today that Thanksgiving is in two days. And I got really excited.

Topher and I are driving down to NC to spend Thanksgiving with his parents, like we did last year. And although a stuffed and roasted turkey is the centerpiece of the meal, my in-laws are also quite good at the accompanying side dishes.

Last year we had homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed Brussels sprouts with toasted walnuts, and a savory pumpkin soup, made with a little bit of peanut butter and garnished with sour cream & cilantro - an interesting flavor combination, but so good. Their stuffing was pretty awesome too, made from turkey livers and gizzards, along with diced carrots, celery, and bread crumbs. Topher supplied dessert: an amazing apple cake (full of cinnamon and brown sugar) with ice cream. It was a delicious, colorful spread.

I can't wait to see what they come up with this year! My mouth is already watering.

What are you serving (or just eating) this Thanksgiving? Are there any dishes that show up on the table every year that you're particularly looking forward to? Are you trying out a new recipe?

If you're still deciding what side dishes you want to accompany your turkey, check out the following links from the New York Times - they've got lots of recipe ideas for incorporating autumn vegetables (like kale, butternut squash, and celery root) into your meal.

- Mark Bittman's Sustainable Thanksgiving

- A Star Chef Celebrates Fall Vegetables

- Vegetarian Thanksgiving blog posts, including recipes

I hope you have a safe, relaxing, and delicious Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Note: Images are from here.

Food That Heals

On my flight home from Savannah on Sunday (more on that trip later this week), I read an article in the October issue of Vogue about Dr. Daphne Miller, a Harvard-educated family physician who has a private practice in San Francisco. She's also the author of The Jungle Effect, a nutrition adventure/travel memoir about the benefits of traditional diets from around the globe.

Miller is among a growing group of health professionals that believe in the healing power of food. As part of a normal check-up, Miller asks her patients about what vitamins & minerals they're taking and what they eat on a regular basis. And frequently she prescribes foods instead of pills.

Why? Because, she says, too often OTC or prescription drugs cause multiple unintended and unpleasant side effects: "[M]edications often produce a buckshot-like effect, hitting organs far beyond their intended target," ("Doctor Uses Some Foods as Medicines," The Washington Post, 26 May 2009). For example, when a patient comes in with a cold, instead of offering a decongestant or a fever-reducer, she prescribes mushroom ginger soup (recipe below): ginger is a natural decongestant, and mushrooms boost the immune system.

Another point she makes: " 'Today, people are so crazy-busy, they say they don't have time to cook,' she adds. 'But when they get sick, they have time to go to the doctor'," ("Dr. Daphne Miller's jungle diet," San Francisco Chronicle, 29 June 2008).

I recently saw a sign outside an auto repair shop that read, "If it ain't broke, maintain it." The same holds true for the human body: instead of waiting until something goes wrong and then heading to the doctor, it's easier to make healthy lifestyle & diet choices along the way that will help prevent long-term problems.

Miller's book (which is on my "to read" list) focuses on five "cold spots," places where a certain chronic disease is rare or nonexistent: "colon cancer in Cameroon, heart disease in Crete, depression in Iceland, diabetes in Mexico, and breast & prostate cancer in Okinawa."

What she found in each place was basically the same: "They all ate a traditional diet of locally grown fresh foods, eaten in combination and in sequences that enhanced their nutritional and disease-fighting qualities," (SF Chronicle). Back in the states, she's trying to use that ancient culinary wisdom to treat a variety of ills.

She's also studied food synergies: how certain ingredients, when eaten together, heighten each other's nutritional benefits. For example, when tomatoes and carrots are cooked in olive oil, "the healthy antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene are more easily absorbed by the body" ("Force of Nature," Vogue, October 2010). Eating fermented foods like vinegar and yogurt with a carb-heavy meal helps slow the absorption of the sugars, which prevents the typical blood sugar spike & crash (Vogue). And treating tortillas with lime may help boost their nutrient content (SF Chronicle).

Check out the full Vogue article (click on the thumbnails below):

If/when I get sick this winter, I'm definitely going to try her soup (and perhaps follow it up with a hot toddy).

Mushroom Soup with Ginger (from the Washington Post)

• 1 ¼ cup shiitake, white button, maitake, cremini, or oyster mushrooms cut in ¼ inch slices
• ½ inch cube of fresh ginger (or more, if you really love ginger)
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 tablespoon white or red miso paste
• 1 tsp Mirin, sake or rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp finely chopped scallion

Put mushrooms, ginger and water in a pot with a lid and bring to a boil; then immediately turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and take out ginger. Put ¼ cup of broth in a bowl, and stir in miso paste and Mirin. Stir this mixture into the pot. Serve topped with scallions.

Serving size: 1 dose

Still Trying to Eat More Veggies

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published a report on trends in fruit and veggie consumption among US adults over the past decade.

"In 2009, an estimated 32.5% of U.S. adults consumed fruit two or more times per day ... The percentage of adults who consumed vegetables three or more times per day was 26.3% ... Thus, no state met either of the Healthy People 2010 targets related to fruit and vegetable consumption among adults."

Several media outlets followed up on the report with articles of their own, including USA Today ("Americans' diets still short on fruits and vegetables"), the Washington Post ("Can the government get us to eat our veggies?"), and NPR ("Americans Are Flunking Easy Goals for Healthier Eating").

But the article that stuck with me the most was one from the NYTimes: "Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders Fries." A few quotes ...

"People know that vegetables can improve health. But they’re a lot of work. In refrigerators all over the country, produce often dies a slow, limp death because life becomes too busy. ... 'Before we want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,' Mr. Balzer said."

"Melissa MacBride, a busy Manhattan resident who works for a pharmaceuticals company, would eat more vegetables if they weren’t, in her words, 'a pain.' 'An apple you can just grab,' she said. 'But what am I going to do, put a piece of kale in my purse?' "

As much as I hate to admit it, I can relate to Ms. MacBride's complaint. It's easy to grab an apple, banana, muffin, or granola bar from the pantry and go; but I can't stick leafy greens or root vegetables in my purse. It's much harder to incorporate veggies into a breakfast or lunch on the go without prior planning (i.e. cooking on the weekend for the upcoming work week).

It's equally challenging when eating out at a restaurant. Veggies often are relegated to the status of "side dish" or even "garnish," while the (usually animal) protein takes center stage on the plate - and consequently in our diets overall.

So how can I eat more veggies? At restaurants, I try to find a side order of sauteed spinach or mixed greens or Brussels sprouts on the menu. I try to think ahead, buy the ingredients, and get up early enough to make a green smoothie or a veggie omelet for breakfast. I try to plan lunches that include tomatoes, avocado, spinach or arugula salad, or a quinoa salad with veggies (double benefit: protein from plants, not animals, and green veggies).

But sometimes I simply run out of good ideas. If you've got one, please share! I'm trying to eat the recommended four and a half cups of fruits & veggies a day, but I'm still probably in the 74% of Americans that aren't making it.

More Food for Thought: Bad Habits Are Hard to Break

I recently heard the following statement (or something pretty close to it) in the middle of a story on NPR's Morning Edition: "For some people it’s just as hard to stop eating badly as it is to quit smoking."

I'd never really thought of the problem that way: bad eating habits are just as hard to break as smoking. Most good habits are learned when we’re children, and healthy eating is no different. If kids are raised on junk food, they’re going to eat junk food as teens and adults too, partly because it's what they know and partly because it's what their bodies crave. If you typically eat high-sugar, high-fat, high-sodium foods, meals and snacks that are low in sugar and sodium are going to taste bad simply because your body isn't used to them.

You’re going to eat what you have in the pantry or the fridge, so if you buy junk, you’re going to eat junk. But if you don’t buy it, it won’t be in the house to snack on when the munchies hit. For example, if you spontaneously grab a bag of chips and a box of cookies at the store, that's what you'll eat at home when you're hungry. But if you buy carrots, bananas, yogurt & honey, apples & peanut butter, avocados, or trail mix (dried fruit & mixed nuts) instead, then that's what you'll have on hand and that's what you'll eat.

(Confession: I hardly ever drink soda, unless I'm eating pizza. But last Friday my husband bought a six-pack of Coke for a guys' movie night at our house. A few bottles were left over, so I grabbed one on my way out the door yesterday morning and drank it on the way to work. Why? Because it was there.)

So don’t get distracted at the grocery store. Plan ahead: how many nights this week are you going to be home for dinner? Choose a healthy meal for each night you’re going to eat at home, and make a list of the ingredients needed for those meals. Do the same for lunches and snacks. When you get to the grocery store, stick to the list.

And keep a food diary. Initially, this might sound a little obsessive, but it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to calculate calories or grams of fat & carbs (unless you want to); just write down what you eat. Every once in a while, look over it. Are you eating enough servings of fruits & veggies? Are you drinking too much, caffeine, or alcohol? Are you drinking enough water? How often do you eat dessert? How often do you eat, period?

There are a limited number of people in the USA, and each of us can consume only so many food calories per day, week, or year. Thus, we usually spend a (relatively) set amount of money each week, month, or year on groceries. (For more on this, check out Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.) Food marketers are literally fighting for us to spend our money & calories on their products, which results in some not-so-honest advertising and packaging. We get duped into thinking that some things are healthy (or at least not unhealthy) when that’s far from the truth.

It's best to stick to the perimeter of the grocery store: not only is there less packaging (aka distractions), but the foods are usually fresher, less processed, and more nutritious.

Further Reading:
"Americans Are Flunking Easy Goals for Healthier Eating" from NPR's Health Blog (Sept 2010) - the article that inspired this post
"CDC: Americans' diets still short on fruits and vegetables" from USA Today (Sept 2010)
"Low-carb Diets May Negatively Affect Health" from HSPH (Sept 2010)

"The bottom line is that not all low-carbohydrate diets are created equal,” said Frank B. Hu, a professor of nutrition at the School of Public Health and the study’s principal investigator. “The original Atkins diet, which was loaded with animal fats, is certainly not ideal. Versions of low-carbohydrate diets that are high in vegetable protein and fats are significantly healthier.”

"Controlling the American Appetite" from NPR's On Point (July 2009)

Breakfast at the Greenmarket

This past weekend I flew to NYC to visit my dear friend Anne for a couple of days. When I landed on Saturday morning, she was working; so I took advantage of the glorious weather and walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

Afterwards I hopped on the subway and rode up to the Flatiron District to visit the Union Square Greenmarket, a huge outdoor farmers' market ...

... with dozens of stalls for local & regional producers selling everything imaginable - tomatoes, peppers, apples, pears, carrots, turnips, mushrooms, lettuces, herbs, baked good, cheeses, seafood, poultry, meats, fresh flowers -

... all right in the middle of downtown Manhattan! It's so strange to smell such fresh, earthy odors, then to look up and see skyscrapers & high-rise apartment buildings.

For breakfast, I picked up a blueberry banana cinnamon muffin and apple cider from Red Jacket Orchards.

WRPC Community Garden Update: Fall Crops

It's after Labor Day, so I feel like it's okay to talk about fall ... although I don't want to rush summer away! But whether you're looking at a calendar or not, it's easy to tell the change of seasons by walking through a garden and looking at what's still producing and what's not.

The WRPC Community Garden was incredibly successful this summer, and for that I'm truly grateful. It's been an awesome ministry to be a part of: through it I've met so many neighbors, fellow church members, and long-time Suffolk locals.

A couple of weeks ago, our director wrote to us: "The Community Garden has thrived in its first year thanks to volunteers and community participants. ... The goal of the garden is to give people an opportunity to work and earn money to provide for their families. Thanks to all of you who have made that goal possible!"

With the change of seasons comes the change of crops, and our garden is no different. A few weeks ago we pulled up the yellow squash, zucchini, & cucumber plants - they just weren't producing any more in the late summer heat. Thankfully, the tomatoes and bell peppers are still going strong (we've got more bell peppers than we'll ever be able to use, so we're making pepper jelly!). But soon we'll need to make room in the garden for our fall crops.

What are we growing this fall, you ask? Well, we've already planted broccoli, onions, butternut squash, pole beans, and collard greens, and we're hoping to grow potatoes, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, 2-3 kinds of lettuce, leeks, beets, and radishes. And we'll still be selling both on Saturdays (at the Suffolk Farmers' Market) and Sundays (at WRPC between services).

Let the bounty continue!

Note: The photo above was found here.

Headed to Market

While I was in DC last week, my husband Topher went to Columbus, OH for work, and he brought back pictures from North Market near Goodale Park and the Greater Columbus Convention Center. He went there for lunch one day and got a crepe with Balsamic, tons of fresh spinach, red peppers and goat cheese from Taste of Belgium - they make crepes to order, both savory and sweet. Sounds yummy to me!

He was also impressed with their poultry & game menu: whole fryer rabbits, and duck confit & foie gras! (I wish he'd had a cooler to bring some home, but I doubt it would have traveled well on the plane.)

Topher said it reminded him of Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philadelphia, a place I loved to visit when I lived in Philly. I would often meet friends there for lunch during the week, and we'd split two crepes from Profi's Creperie - one with chicken, spinach & tomato, and one with bananas, stawberries & nutella. For lunch they also offer mediterranean & Middle Eastern (at Mezze and Kamal's), Southern (at Delilah's and the Down Home Diner), Pennsylvania Dutch (at the Dutch Eating Place and the Grill at Smucker's), and of course hoagies & cheesesteaks.

Reading Terminal Market is also a great place to buy fresh flowers, produce, meats, seafood, and Italian breads & pastries. It can get a little crowded and crazy, but it's such a fun place to walk around, especially on weekends when farmers from Amish country come into the city to sell their stuff (especially cheese!). And if you want to learn even more, check out the Taste of Philly Food Tour.

North Market also reminded us of West Side Market in Cleveland, Oh - a place we visited while we were dating. (I lived and worked in downtown Cleveland for three months, and Topher came to visit me a couple of times.) One weekend we did a tour & tasting at Great Lakes Brewery, then stopped by West Side Market to get groceries for dinner (veal piccata!) at my studio apartment. While we were there, I got sidetracked at a candy shop: they were selling chocolate-covered jalapeno peppers!

The Scoop:

Reading Terminal Market (Philadelphia, PA) is on Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.

North Market (Columbus, OH) is on Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.

West Side Market (Cleveland, OH) is on Yelp.

Green Smoothies

This afternoon I spent an hour online trying to find a good recipe for green smoothies -- you know, the ones that taste like fruit but secretly have a lot of leafy green veggies in them. I didn't realize it until I started my recipe search, but apparently August 15 is International Green Smoothie Day (who knew?), so this post is unintentionally timely.

A few pieces of background:

• I used to love making smoothies & milkshakes - I even own "The Smoothie Deck," a box of 50 recipe cards - but I haven't made one in a long time. The reason? When I moved out of my apartment before Topher & I got married, we put most of my stuff (including my blender) in a storage unit on Virginia Beach Blvd. and there it remains. No blender = no smoothies.
• I love Odwalla Superfood. It's a slightly off-putting shade of green, but it tastes delicious (or maybe it's an acquired taste like V8). Anyway, several years ago when I was working in DC for the summer (and living on government per diem), I would drink one each morning for breakfast. But they're a little expensive, so I got out of the habit.

This past week I made a Target run for my good friend Heather (who is currently pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest) and while I was there, I picked up an inexpensive blender so I can start making breakfast smoothies again.

Since The Smoothie Deck is also in my storage unit, I decided to look online for recipes, and I wanted to find some that would help me in my continuing quest to eat more veggies for breakfast. Last week I made a nutritious breakfast sandwich of fried egg, sliced avocado, sliced tomato, and provolone cheese on toast with light mayo; this week I'm going to experiment with green fruit smoothies. Here are a few recipes that I want to try:

Blueberry Kale Smoothie (from a very strange-looking site called Dick's Blog)

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 2 frozen bananas (wait until they're ripe, then cut them into 1-inch chunks & freeze in a Ziplock bag)
• 2 handfuls chopped kale
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup orange juice
• a handful of ice
• 1 T ground flax seed* (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender, and puree.

*Ground flax seed supposedly adds omega fatty acids, fiber, and protein without interfering with the flavor. I've never had it before, but I'm going to give it a try! For more info on flax seed, look here and here.

Get Your Greens Smoothie (from the Whole Foods blog "Whole Story")

• 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk or soy milk
• 1 ½ cups packed baby spinach
• 1 ½ cups frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries will work)

The first recipe uses water, juice and ice; the second uses almond or soy milk. I'm not sure yet which one I'll like more - probably the one with almond/soy milk - but I want to experiment with both, using different fruits (frozen peaches or grapes, chopped apple, etc.) and different greens (maybe swiss chard or romaine). I'll let you know how it goes!

Other recipes call for yogurt. I don't have any plain yogurt on hand, but I do have plain Greek yogurt, so I might play around with that as well.

Our Green Smoothie Recipe (serves 4)

• 2 cups frozen fruit
• 2 bananas
• 4 cups baby spinach
• flaxseed
• honey

Here are a few other recipes that I found online:

• Groovy Green Smoothie
• Ode to My Green Drink
• Mixed Fruit Smoothie (doesn't actually include greens, but it's a good recipe, and greens could easily be added)
• Blueberry-Banana Smoothie (ditto)

If you have a favorite recipe for green smoothies that you're willing to share, post it in a comment - I'd love to try it!

Note: The picture at the top was found here.

Meatless Mondays

This morning on my drive to work, I heard an NPR story about Syd Lerner, the 79-year-old former ad exec behind the Meatless Mondays campaign. He says that his biggest challenge is “[turning] the mundane idea of ‘moderation’ into something irresistible.” But the idea is catching on. A quick Google search of “meatless Monday” returns ~60,900 hits, and almost all the links on the first page of results are dated 2010.

The website for the non-profit initiative Meatless Monday states, “Our goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.” The website for their partner, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that “[b]y adopting Meatless Monday, individuals can improve their health and potentially reduce demand for meat products, particularly industrially-produced meat, which use huge amounts of natural resources and pose significant public health and environmental risks.”

I should add here that there’s little to no chance of me ever becoming a vegetarian. I’m too big a fan of bacon, spaghetti with meatballs, and all forms of seafood to ever be able to completely give those up. But I can understand the arguments for reducing my weekly intake of animal protein.

Eating less meat can help …

• reduce risks for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity
• reduce my carbon footprint & (indirect) water consumption
• encourage me to eat more fruits, vegetables, legumes, & whole grains

Michael Pollan points out in Food Rules,

“While it’s true that vegetarians are generally healthier than carnivores, that doesn’t mean you need to eliminate meat from your diet if you like it. Meat, which humans have been eating and relishing for a very long time, is nourishing food, which is why I suggest ‘mostly’ plants, not ‘only.’ It turns out that near vegetarians, or ‘flexitarians’ – people who eat meat a couple of times a week – are just as healthy as vegetarians. But the average American eats meat as part of two or even three meals a day – more than half a pound per person per day – and there is evidence that the more meat there is in your diet – red meat in particular – the greater your risk of heart disease and cancer. Why? It could be its saturated fat, or its specific type of protein, or the simple fact that all that meat is pushing plants off the plate.” (Rule #23, pp.53-54)

So it’s no surprise that the idea of one day a week sans meat is gaining traction. San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, Australia, Great Britain – the movement has gone global. And the meat industry isn’t sitting idly by: they’re fighting back with a campaign of their own to make sure that the national dietary guidelines still include recommendations for two servings of meat per day.

But if you're ready to take the plunge and try being a "flexitarian," don't worry: there are plenty of delicious recipes out there that don't include tofu or seaweed. For ideas, check out Foodie Tots, Meatless Monday's recipe archive, and EatingWell.com. Since I've gotten in a breakfast rut - a small carton of OJ and a Kashi granola bar every weekday morning - I'm gonna try the Cheddar Egg White-wich (it's got avocado in it!).

If you're looking for a Meatless Monday restaurant option in Hampton Roads, check out Press 626. On Mondays, in addition to their happy hour and ladies' night specials, they also feature a vegetarian entree made with local produce.

If you know of other HR restaurants that participate in Meatless Monday, please leave a comment - I'd love to hear about it.

WRPC Community Garden Update

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm serving as the sales coordinator for our church's community garden, and I wanted to give a little update on how things are going.

The garden is doing really well. We're growing zucchini, yellow squash, English cucumbers, tomatoes (including Roma and Lemon Boys), okra, butter beans, green and red bell peppers, and green beans.

Sales are also going well. We're selling on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at the Suffolk Farmers' Market, and on Sunday mornings after each service at a picnic stand by the garden. Both WRPC members and Mercy Ministry clients have been helping with sales. Come visit us!

Fresh tomatoes, anyone?

New (Part-Time, Volunteer) Job

I'm so excited about an opportunity that I have to help out with a new ministry at our church: a community garden!

The garden was started this spring as part of WRPC's Hope for Suffolk mercy ministries. People from the church or the Suffolk community can volunteer to help weed, plant, and harvest; tools & seeds are provided/donated. The food grown in the garden will supplement WRPC's Food Bank. Folks that are unable to afford groceries will be able to come to the church, get a bag of non-perishable foods, and pick up some fresh veggies.

We'll also sell produce from the garden at the Suffolk Farmers' Market on Saturdays and at the church on Sundays throughout the summer, and my job is to serve as a sales coordinator.

Check out WRPC and the Community Garden on Facebook.

Garden Delight

This weekend Topher and I went to NC to visit his parents for Father's Day. They have a little garden in their backyard where they grow tomatoes, eggplants, strawberries, lettuces, jalapeño and green bell peppers, herbs, and sunflowers. They sent us home with a bag of tomatoes and peppers, so tonight we had a delicious salad with fresh cherry tomatoes for dinner. Yum!

Veggies for Breakfast

This morning, my friend Heather & I met for breakfast at the delightful D'Egg Diner in downtown Norfolk. I usually don't eat breakfast (I know, I know, "it's the most important meal of the day"), so this morning was a treat. Plus, I've been trying to find ways to eat more veggies for breakfast, and this morning's meal fit the bill perfectly.

What I Ate:

• a three-egg omelet with spinach, feta, mushrooms, & tomato, with orange juice and coffee

The Scoop:

D'Egg Diner is located at 206 E. Main Street, Norfolk, VA 23510. They're open for breakfast & lunch, 7 days a week, 7am-3pm. You can reach them at (757)626-EGGS.

I recently found another yummy recipe to help incorporate veggies into my breakfast: Eggs Baked with Spinach & Feta in a Tomato Shell from NPR's Kitchen Window. Doesn't it look yummy? I can't wait to try it!