Friday, May 28, 2010

Make Culinate Your "GO TO" for Seasonal Recipes


Before you make your shopping list for the next Cheverly Community Market, be sure to check out Culinate!

There will be plenty of strawberries at this market. Buy extra and freeze some for later in the season.

Make a strawberry rhubarb crisp for your Memorial Day picnic. Or how about rhubarb shortcake?

What to do with Arugula? Try Ina Garten's pizza recipe.

Bookmark Culinate and get inspired!
Strawberries * Rhubarb * Asparagus * Salad Mix, mild and spicy * Spring Onions * Spinach * * Beet Greens * Swiss Chard * Peas * Radishes * Arugula * Kale  *Collards * Hakurei Turnips * Garlic Scapes * Swiss Chard * Radishes * Herbs* EggsOysters * Free -Range Pork * Artisan Sausages * Sockeye Fillets * New England Dry Scallops * Smoked Keta Salmon *  * Ahi Tuna * Mahi * Chesapeake Rockfish Fillets  * Organic Breads and Pastries * Local Wine * Eve's Cheese * Martha's Jams * Mystic Water Soap * Cookies to Cocktails * Rose Fennel Pottery
Come Taste Spring: peppery arugula,  tart rhubarb, sweet strawberries, tender peas, leafy lettuces, and earthy asparagus. After a long dreary winter of  pushing shopping carts through florescent-lighted grocery stores, it's time to step out of your house and shop in the open air, share menu ideas with your fellow neighbors, and celebrate the first "real" fruits and vegetables of 2010.

Sure. You could go to the local Giant and shop and get your coupon for a discount on gasoline. Or you could go to Costco and load up your trunk with super-sized, over-packaged, irradiated and mass-produced produce many, many miles from the fields where it was grown. BUT.......

Spring is a time for renewal and hope.  This spring, I hope you review your shopping and eating habits and return to a tradition that is seasonal, local, and fresh.  I hope you take time to think about the source of the food you eat and the impact that your shopping habits have on the environment, local economy, your family's health, and the taste and quality of your meals.  Most of all, I hope that you come to market, shop with all your senses, take your market purchases home, and immediately experience the intimate reverie of eating food picked just hours ago, a few miles away, by a farmer who has directly benefited from your purchase.

So load up on strawberries this weekend. They won't be around for much longer. See you soon!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Informative Films on Food

Today, Cheverly Resident Lorey Hallada called and said she had recently watched Food Inc.

If you haven't watched it yet, I encourage you to do so. It changed Lorey's perspective on what kinds of food choices she will make for her family. "I will definitely be a loyal shopper at the Market this season," she said.

For those of you who have watched Food Inc, and are interested in other films, I strongly recommend The Future of Food It's a whole hour, so make sure you have some time. It will probably bore the kids, but if you like documentaries, it is classic.

If you missed Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution it's worth watching. This is a good show to watch with the family and have group discussion afterward.

Finally, Cooking up a Story is a collection of videos that serve up a powerful dose of food awareness in 5 to 9 minutes.

Watch and then get out and plant some tomatoes.