Posts Tagged ‘spinach’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
With Halloween around the corner, I figured I’d take the time to start talking about things like witches, ghosts and monsters. But what I want to talk about is a different kind of monster…what kind of monster, you ask?
Ooh, ahhh…a green monster!
Image: Real Illusion/Shutterstock
Okay, so it’s not a real monster. It’s quite the opposite, actually. I’m not sure why it’s called a “monster,” but basically a green monster is a healthy green colored smoothie–made green from blended spinach or kale. By blending together spinach or kale with milk (of your choice, but soy or almond would be true to the ‘movement’), fruit, and health seeds or powders, this smoothie acts as a natural energizer, nutrient provider, and even skin clearer.
Image: V.J. Matthew/Shutterstock
Most “green monsters” are made with normal smoothie ingredients like frozen bananas and milk, but the addition of spinach or other leafy greens have enormous health benefits with a huge dose of antioxidants, iron, vitamins, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids if you add in something like flax or chia seeds.
Though it looks a little unappetizing, devout Green Monster drinkers swear by them for their delicious taste, quickness to make, and easy intake of your daily fruits and vegetables and other nutrients.
Here’s the most basic Green Monster recipe, from the Green Monster Movement site:
2 cups organic spinach
1-1 ¼ cups milk (any kind)
1 tablespoon flax (optional)
1 banana
Handful of ice
Blend everything together on high speed in your blender for about 1 minute.
Check out the “Movement” for more information, and if you’re feeling brave during this Halloween season, why not try something a little healthier than candy?
-Julia Harbo
Arlington County is for Fall Vegetable Gardening
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Entomologist Don Weber showing off his transplants (Image: Johnisha M. Levi/Northern Virginia Magazine)
Wednesday was a beautiful night to spend outdoors, so I headed over to Arlington’s Central Library demonstration vegetable and herb garden, where Don Weber, USDA-ARS Entomologist and Plot Against Hunger volunteer, gave a talk and fielded questions about fall vegetable gardening. At the close of the night, attendees received seeds (including Bolero carrots) as well as collard, (Win Win) bok choy, and broccoli transplants for their own gardens.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about gardening, but it was clear that many of the approximately 35 attendees have been regularly getting their hands in the dirt (including a woman who brought a leaf from her pumpkin plants so that Weber could diagnose its ills—turns out her worries were ill-founded). Weber’s message for the night was that gardening fun does not have to end with the harvesting of warm season crops such as tomatoes, sweet corn and cucumber.
The end of summer and early fall is the most pleasant time of year to work in your garden, as the weather is milder. And your soil likes this season too—it retains water better. Generally, you will experience less of a pest problem (although the dreaded Harlequin bugs—related to the stink bug and also called “Sherman bugs” because they arrived in the South from Central America during the time of the Civil War—can wreck even more havoc in the fall.)
So what can you plant between now and mid-September? Cool season crops (broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage, lettuce and peas) prosper during the cooler days of autumn and can withstand light frosts; and frost-hardy crops (carrots, leeks, kale, Brussel sprouts, spinach, and turnips), as suggested by their moniker, are harvestable long after freezing weather.
Collard Transplants (Image: Johnisha M. Levi/Northern Virginia Magazine)
Takeaway points of the night were:
1) Time of planting is essential.
2) Make sure that your soil is well taken care of before planting. You can use compost or some other nutrient amendment. Plant seeds deeper into the soil than you would for spring planting and consider placing a board (not cedar or pressure-treated) over the seeded soil until sprouts are visible.
3) Transplants are more resistant to heat, drought, and pests as opposed to seeds, so you may consider planting these during August and September. If you use seeds, you may want to invest in pelletized seeds for plants that are slow to germinate, like carrots, celery and spinach. These seeds are coated in clay, thereby retaining hydration better.
Weber presented attendees with a vegetable planting guide (available here), which details depth for planting, spacing of crops, and fall planting dates. He cautioned that it was specifically tailored for Arlington’s microclimate (where the first killing frost arrives around early to mid-November), so don’t expect to have the same success in, say, Leesburg. (To create your own guide for other microclimates, he suggests using the Johnny’s Selected Seed calculator.)
Are you a curious gardener who wants to get regular advice from the experts? Here are a few invaluable resources:
- Stop by the Plants Clinic held at the Central library by the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.
- Visit the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia tables at three area farners markets (Arlington from 8-11 a.m.; Old Town, Alexandria from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m.; and Del Ray from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.)
- Get help year round by calling the Master Gardener Help Desk: (703) 228-6414.
(Image: Johnisha M. Levi/Northern Virginia Magazine)
Other upcoming events at the library include an August 31 talk on both composting and “bodywise” gardening (i.e., how not to hurt yourself ) and inside the library in September, a lecture by Dan Redmond on the agricultural history of Arlington County.
Happy gardening! And speaking of gardens . . . be sure to read tomorrow’s Gut Check for more information on the Arlington Central library’s demonstration garden and the Arlington Food Assistance Center’s Plot Against Hunger program.
-Johnisha M. Levi
You Must Chill! USDA Launches Food Safe Families Campaign
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, June 30th, 2011
John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler admonishing Jeremy Piven’s-drunken-mess-of-a-character in Say Anything was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard about this week’s launch of the Food Safe Families Campaign:
The $2 million multimedia public service campaign is spearheaded by the USDA, in collaboration with the FDA, the CDC and the Ad Council. The launch was scheduled just in time for the Fourth of July, a holiday that may have originally celebrated independence (for some Americans) but has now become justification for a national day of outdoor beer-guzzling, carnivorous gluttony. The USDA figures that grilling season is a time of increased risk and therefore the perfect time of year to get our collective attention.
Each year, there are an estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States; 325,000 hospitalizations; and 5,000 deaths.
The Food Safe Families message seems simple enough, as the campaign is built around four food safety “steps” (as in “Check Your Steps,” the motto).
CLEAN: Clean kitchen surfaces, utensils, and hands with soap and water.
SEPARATE: Separate raw meats from other foods by using different cutting boards.
COOK: Cook foods to the right temperature by using a food thermometer. (160 Fahrenheit for those hamburgers!)
(and finally, my favorite)
CHILL: (You must) Chill (!) raw and prepared food promptly.
But NYU Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Marion Nestle raises an excellent point in reaction to Food Safe Families. She calls the campaign “cute” and “humorous” but validly questions its efficacy in light of the fact that so much of today’s outbreaks actually stem from food that has been contaminated way before it gets into the hands of the home cook (e.g., raw sprouts).
Nestle’s answer? To “stop food safety problems at their source” by implementing “a functional food safety system. This means rules that require all producers to follow food safety procedures and a government with the authority and resources to make sure they do.”
While this is clearly an important long-term solution and goal, we all could do well to take some simple precautions in our kitchens in the meantime to control what we can: mainly, cross-contamination and time and temperature abuses. (Stay away from the TDZ, the temperature danger zone, which is 41 to 135 Fahrenheit. This is when nasty things, i.e. bacteria, begin to multiply in your food. If your meat and potato salad is out for more than four hours this holiday, throw it away!)
To learn more about the campaign, or to get your Fourth of July grilling questions answered, join @FoodSafetyGov and @USDAFoodSafety in a live Twitter Chat at 1:00 p.m. EDT, using the hashtag #checksteps.
-Johnisha M. Levi
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, January 10th, 2011
Beets, Winter Squash, Spinach, Apples, and Celery Root are just some of the foods that are in season in the month of January. In the spirit of the cold season, try incorporating these foods into your diet this month.
Beets- Roast some beets with avocado dressing, find the recipe here (scroll down on the page). Lyon Hall offers a delectable beet salad with goat cheese and arugula. Carlyle also incorporates beets with their lamb chops.
Winter squash- You can bake, roast, steam, or even microwave squash. Check out the recipe for Chef Bertrand Chemel’s butternut squash soup at 2941 here (scroll down on page).
Spinach- substitute or incorporate some hearty spinach for lettuce or other greens in your favorite salad.
Apples- Find the best, freshest apples at farmer’s markets. There are so many easy things to do with apples. Integrate slices of apples in your salad or slip them into your turkey sandwich. The apples will give you a sweet, succulent bite in contrast with the potentially boring-predictable greens or lunch meat. Make a new apple dessert instead of the ol’ apple pie, like Ina Garten’s French apple tart.
Celery Root- Have no idea what to make with celery root? Neither did I, but I did do some research, and it turns out you can do all kinds of things with them- braise, grill, mash, roast, chip, fry, puree and more (I’m guessing you can do almost anything). You also can make some hash browns or mix them in with a potato gratin.
You will be able to find all these products at farmers markets that operate and sell their goods during the winter.
(image: sixburnersue)
Here is a list of NoVA’s Winter Farmer’s Markets:
Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market • 301 King St., Alexandria – Sat, 5:30-11 a.m.
Arlington Farmers Market • N. 14th St. & N. Courthouse Road, Arlington – Sat, 8-noon
Clarendon Farmers Market • 3100 Wilson Blvd., Arlington – Wed, 3-7 p.m.
Del Ray Farmers’ Market • E. Oxford & Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria – Sat, 8-noon
Falls Church Farmers Market • 300 Park Ave., Falls Church – Sat, 9-noon (Jan-Mar); Sat, 8-noon (Apr-Dec)
Fredericksburg Farmers Market • George and Prince Edward Streets, Fredericksburg – Mon-Sat, 7-6 p.m.; Sun, 12:30-4 p.m.
Leesburg Farmers Market • 20 Catoctin Circle S.E., Leesburg – Sat, 8-noon (May-Oct); Sat, 9-noon (Nov-Apr)
Smart Markets • 2854 Hunter Mill Road, Oakton – Sat, 10-2 p.m.
Old Town Manassas •9431 West Street, Manassas -Sat, 10-2 p.m.
-Rebecca Kim
Chef Jose Andres Talks Budget-Friendly Recipes on NPR
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Photo by giffconstable/Flickr
Yesterday on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Chef Jose Andres, the Spanish mastermind behind Café Atlantico and Jaleo, shared his recipe for a thrifty yet fabulous meal — a garlic and saffron-infused Morrocan-style chickpea and spinach stew — that feeds four people for under $10.
Chef Andres, who the Washingtonian credits with introducing the small plates concept to the area, first tasted the stew when his then-new wife prepared it for him — with less than economical results. It wasn’t the pinch of saffron that broke the budget; it was the long distance call she made to her mother to walk her through the recipe from start to finish:
Andres tells NPR’s Michele Norris. “I remember how good it was, how affordable it was. But the telephone bill is something I will remember forever.”
To bring down the cost of this dish, skip the staggering long distance bill by checking out the recipe here, and use dried chickpeas instead of canned. The trick to cooking dried chickpeas, according to the Chef Andres, is to 1) soak them overnight with a pinch of baking soda and 2) learn the language of peas so that you, like a skilled lover, can tell when they are supple, willing and ready:
“You’re going to look at them, talk to them,” he says. “What if you’re not fluent? I’m talking to them, touching them, and with a little pressure in your fingers, you see they are very soft thing. The chickpeas is telling me, ‘I am ready.’
Those are some lucky garbanzos beans.
Do you have an arsenal of cost-effective recipes that will tide you through the recession? Share them with NPR’s “How Low Can You Go” challenge by May 1, and your recipe might be mentioned on air. Or you can just skim the 60+ recipes that have already been submitted to find something to make for dinner tonight.
– Christina Lee
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Northern Virginia breakfast
Chris Bifano
Executive chef, Elements on Level One at Dulles Hyatt
Wanna dazzle your loved ones one early morning? Elements toque Chris Bifano swears his regionally inspired repast looks and tastes great, without too much fuss. “This simple recipe can be reproduced in any kitchen and will make you look like a professional chef,” he stated.
Photography by James Kim
PREP TIME: 5 min.
COOK TIME: 25 min.
SERVES: 4
INGREDIENTS
Spinach and egg cup
8 ounces shaved Smithfield ham
4 local organic eggs, scrambled
4 ounces local tomatoes, diced
8 ounces fresh spinach, chopped
4 ounces aged, Virginia white cheddar
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Tomato chutney
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large local tomatoes, diced
4 ounces small white onion, diced
1/2 bunch fresh basil, chopped
1 ounce fresh garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
PREPARATION
Rub sliced potato with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until tender. Set aside.
Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until translucent. Add tomatoes, and cook for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste; fold in fresh basil before serving.
Meanwhile, grease 2-ounce muffin pan with butter, and arrange ham in pan to create bottom. Place spinach, tomatoes, cheese and pepper in the ham-lined cup. Pour egg on top of other ingredients. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 F.
Place potato slices on platter. After eggs have rested (about 5 minutes), remove from muffin pan, and surround with potatoes. Serve chutney on the side for dipping.
(November 2008)