A dear friend, who not only creates and prepares some of the most delicious meals on the planet, but also writes exquisitely about food, wrote an enticing and slightly sexy piece about figs. I was inspired. Although when it comes to figs, I’m easy.

This ancient fruit may indeed be the first cultivated fruit in the Middle East, but for those of us living in the US, we can be grateful that California has risen to become the third largest producer of figs in the world, just behind Greece and Turkey. For some riveting facts about figs and their rich history, the California Fig Advisory Board supplies a healthy dose of interesting tidbits.

This unlikely sexy food only makes a brief appearance and sadly does not last very long nor refrigerate well – I suppose this is why dried figs are so popular!

Figs are attributed with mighty powers and without going into serious research as to the veracity of these claims, I will only say that there are some wild claims as to this fruit’s ability to cure or heal everything from ’sexual weakness’ (?) and venereal disease to bowel health, diabetes, earaches, abscesses and asthma.

All I know from experience is that experiencing fresh, ripe figs is a sensual experience – with their plump, round shape and multi-textured sweet meat and fun tiny seeds, figs are a riot of taste and sensation.

What is slightly more documented is the Fig’s potent mineral and fiber content. Figs are high in vitamins A, B1 and B2 and minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese. According to one Suite 101 writer, dried figs have 250 mg of calcium / 100 g, which is more than 100 g of whole milk, which only contains 118mg!

I was really turned on to the magic of figs a couple of years ago when attending a Suppers Program, which is a program about getting back to basics in whole food nutrition. It was held at a woman’s home in Princeton and we all went out to raid her garden and each of us came up with a recipe (she had obviously purchased some of the main course/protein stuff). I was immediately attracted to her fig tree, which was full and ready for my greedy hands. I created a simple and delicious Fig & Tomato salad (the recipe is at the end of the old post in the previous link) using fruit from her garden. Yum.

I’ve got fig tree envy, but know without any doubt that the vigorous and tenacious critters that dwell near our home would never let one grow in my back yard. I’ll have to rely on my local producers (or my grocery store if desperate) during the short growing season.

My advice is to RUN don’t walk to find some of these sensual treats!

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

There’s no denying that the green divas are foodies! We love to play with locally sourced, sustainably grown goodies, cook it, play with it, eat it of course, talk about it and eat some more . . .

So, tonight’s show is all food. We have two interviews folks. The first is with Kendrya Close, Executive Director of the Food Shed Alliance, which is based not far from our studio in Blairstown, NJ. The Food Shed Alliance is an amazing organization that has helped to support and promote area farmers and bring more awareness to the surrounding communities through a variety of events, including really yummy farm-to-table dinners hosted at some of the local farms. Kendrya will tell us about all their wonderful programs.

Then, our second interview will be with Misty Krupier, owner of a Brooklyn-based food business that is dedicated to using locally sourced food that is sustainably and responsibly grown. Through her business, Lucas Fine Foods, Misty will be starting a program to provide healthy lunch boxes for local kids. Can’t wait to hear more about that!

And of course, if you haven’t already heard, it is National Farmer’s Market Week, so if you haven’t been to yours yet, make sure to get to one this week – the harvest is ripe for the taking!

Tune in and turn on a friend!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

Image Thanks to My Fine Feathered Friend, Leslie Binch: Head Hen

I have chicken envy. A young couple that we know moved to the ‘country’, which is to say they abandoned suburbia for a cute cottage in the middle of a couple of fields in Western New Jersey. Anything ‘outdoors’ is alien to the young man, and his sweet wife has gently introduced him to the joy of camping and fishing — he went not so gently into that peaceful night, but he survived.

Getting into the spirit of this new rural lifestyle, he met several people through his local, retail business who had chickens and various livestock for sale. His wife had been a little down, so he decided it would be entertaining to bring home a chicken as a gift. So, with little preparation, he got an adult chicken and had it put in a large cardboard box (he wasn’t going to touch it or anything) and brought it home to his unsuspecting wife. Here’s the hilarious video of Cindy Meets the first Chicken.

Of course since then, they’ve both become chicken experts and have built a substantial chicken house and yard and have a few new feathered friends to add to their growing family, which by the way also now includes their adorable 4-month old son.

So, while I don’t have any chickens yet and am reasonably certain my neighbor would have a stroke if I did, I’m convinced that someday soon, I’ll manage to do the backyard chicken thing.

I was thrilled to receive the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raising Chickens to start my education. I’ve been corresponding with the author, JD Belanger and he has agreed to come on the radio show tonight and talk about the expanding backyard chicken craze and the basics of what we need to know to get started and have a fun and healthy experience with our chickens.

Like Jen and I JD is a publisher, having started Countryside magazine in 1969. He also founded sheep! magazine, Dairy Goat Guide, and Backyard Poultry — which is now the leading hobby poultry journal.

Frank Mentesana, Facilitator of EcoSPACES

Imagine a school that has a 4500 sq. ft. rooftop garden where kids not only learn about growing food sustainably, but grow food that is used in their lunches - all while making the connection between farming, food and healthy nutrition . . .

With the help of faculty like, Frank Mentesana, St. Philip’s Academy in Newark, New Jersey has created such a program and they call it EcoSPACES (Eco-St. Philip’s Academy Cultivating Environmental Sustainability).

Frank is a former food stylist and co-founder of Manhattan restaurant, Once Upon a Tart. As a father, he got involved in his son’s school by helping them create a garden and when he heard that St. Philip’s Academy was developing a program to help teach better nutrition and farming to the kids, he jumped at the opportunity to get involved.

Since getting involved in 2008, he has turned the once-ornamental rooftop garden into one that produces food and has helped teachers develop plots relevant to their curriculums. For example, as third graders learned about Native American history, they planted a “Three Sisters” garden of corn, beans and squash and used their harvest to create traditional meals.

Tonight the Green Divas will be talking with Frank Menesana about what’s going on at St. Philip’s Academy and what’s next on the menu . . . Don’t miss tonight’s show!

Thursday, March 11, 2010
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

So Meg calls me one day and says, “Jen I got this amazing crate of fresh fruit to try from The FruitGuys.”  “There’s so much here – more than my family can eat.  I’m going to drop off a  box for you.”

Well, I’ve never seen such a beautiful array of fresh fruit – kiwis, avocados, mangoes, blood oranges, tangerines,bananas, pears and apples.  Each piece was picture perfect, blemish free and aromatic!

Who are The FruitGuys?  The FruitGuys, a green and sustainability-focused company, delivers farm-fresh, organic and conventional fruit to offices and homes across the country. The FruitGuys works very closely with local farmers to help them succeed and employ green practices. During peak season 70-90% of the fruit mixes offered are locally grown within the regions they serve (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) and go from the farm to home or office within 3-4 days.

Videos of select farmers The FruitGuys works with can be seen here.  Also, all fruit is packed in earth friendly crates, constructed with recycled cardboard and printed with soy based inks.

Here in the Northeast it’s a temperate climate.  It is recommended for optimal health to eat mainly cooked fruit in the colder months.  So, I decided to make a pear and apple crisp. It was a winter weekend and we all were craving something warm and sweet.  Topped it with some vanilla soy ice cream and boy was it yummy!  Here is the recipe:

Pear & Apple Crisp

6 – 8 cups pears and apples sliced (I leave the peel on – could be 6 or 7 pieces of fruit)
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of each allspice, nutmeg and ground cloves
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
5 TBSP melted butter
1/4 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Combine sliced fruit in 9-inch square pan. Sprinkle with sugar. Mix together remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Sprinkle over top of fruit and pat into place. Bake uncovered 35-40 minutes or until top is crisp and light brown and fruit is bubbling. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

The Green Divas will speak to Jake Wall of ExperienceProject.com, a ‘passion-based’ network that calls itself the largest living collection of shared experiences in the world. The ExperienceProject.com teamed up recently with Haagen Daz (yes, those crazy delicious ice cream makers) to help the honey bees. They helped raise awareness about the plight of honey bees, who have been dying off in record numbers. The effect on our agriculture system is devastating.  (read more about this on Green Diva Meg’s post, The Buzz with Honey Bees)

Tune in tonight to catch up with the Green Divas, learn about how to help the honey bees and the social experiment network experienceproject.com.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

The county park staff in my area are growing more and more talented!  On a recent visit to the Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Center in Boonton Township with my two-year-old, Benjamin, to participate in Nature’s Little Explorers yielded much more than we expected a couple of weeks ago.

The class theme was ‘Digging in the Dirt’.  We learned about and put our hands in buckets of soil, sand and rocks and then took a short hike with little shovels in hand to look for the same in the woods.

After our hike,  Miss Janis, our instructor for the 6-week course, said she had a special treat for all – some ‘edible’ dirt!  She made this yummy vegan chocolate pudding and had some for everyone to sample.  My Benjamin was not impressed, but Mommy was thrilled!  It was delicious.  She said that she makes vegan treats because kids today have so many food allergies.  So it was not made with eggs, dairy or sugar.  AND she shared the recipe which I promptly attempted at home about a week later to the delight of my husband and older son, James!

Here it is.  It’s quick and easy and very delicious! Oh, likely low-fat and low-sugar content as well:

1 cup soft tofu

1/4 cup oil  (I used Canola)

1/2 cup sweetener (I chose Agave syrup for it’s low glycemic index)

4 Tbsp cocoa powder  (I used Green & Black’s organic)

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Blend everything together in the food processor until smooth and enjoy!

It’s still raining zucchini!

Well, maybe not literally, but it can feel that way at this time in the year, when home gardens, farmer’s markets and fresh produce aisles abound with these versatile and prolific veggies.

There is something kind of funny about these little green monsters. It could just be the word ‘zucchini’, which by the way has its roots in the very food-associated Italian language. ‘Zucca’ is the Italian word for squash. Not to get bogged down in an etymology thing . . . the point is that zucchini has been party to many silly jokes, such as:

What is a zucchini’s favorite sport?

Squash . . . of course!

All silliness aside, the zucchini has some serious qualities as well. While we mostly use it in a savory capacity in cooking, it is actually considered an ‘immature fruit’. No. I’m not trying to be funny, although it does have a comedic if not sort of sarcastic sound to it. Even worse is the description of it being the ’swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower’!

Okay, now we’re going to get serious, really . . . the zucchini has a lot of nutritional punch per bite. One cup of raw zucchini is only 3 calories! Those three calories are high in folate, manganese, potassium and vitamin A. According to NutritionData.com, it also has a zero glycemic load.

The zucchini is an old standby in the Americas and archaeologists have traced its origins back to Mexico between 7000 – 5500 BC! An integral part of the pre-Colombian diet, it is still a staple in Mexican cuisine known as one of the ‘three sisters’ – corn, beans and squash.

Odd as this may sound, our current cultural introduction to zucchini did NOT come from our continental neighbors, but from europe! When early european explorers were bringing back booty (after some nasty looting often), they came back with what would make its way back to Italy and be named zucchini, where it quickly gained in popularity. It made its way to France and England too, where it is called courgette.  Along with some other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo and is also referred to as summer squash.

Click here for one of Green Diva Meg’s favorite Zucchini recipes!

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

It was a happy day that the package arrived at our front door with our Soup to Nuts lunch kit from Citizen PIP.

My little guy, Benjamin was at the door to receive the package, swiftly opened the box to reveal the contents and immediately adopted them for his own.  He is most fascinated with opening the zipper on the lunch box.

Mom is thrilled to know that this whimsically colored set is eco-friendly — the lunch bag made from recycled materials and the containers all lead-free, BPA-free, PVC-free and phthalate-free — rather than made or lined with teflon, plastic or aluminum.  I  have a clear conscience when packing lunch or snacks for both of my boys.

This awesome lunch kit includes:

• • 1 insulated lunch bag with nametag and carabiner that   easily attaches to a backpack
• • 1 stainless steel water bottle
• • 1 stainless steel insulated food jar
• • 4 BPA-free airtight food containers
• • 1 stainless steel fork + spoon set
• • 5 100% cotton napkins

Here’s what all the pieces look like:

citizenpip makes it easy to go green with products that are designed to be fun and stylish for kids, and practical and convenient for parents. munchgear reusable lunch kits by citizenpip come with everything you need to pack a waste-free lunch.

Margaret Noon of Slow Food New Jersey will be in the studio tonight to talk about this weekend’s farm-to-table event, called Sustenance on the Farm, @ Starbright Farm in Andover, New Jersey. These delicious, informative and wonderfully social events are inspired to help engage people in greater understanding of the important role local farms play in the community and to have a connection to their neighborly farmers. 

As it turns out Jen and I share a CSA share from Starbright Farm’s CSA program and get farmer John Krueger’s weekly newsletters on how things are going on the farm. While he is extremely busy getting ready for this weekend’s event, he might just take some time out to come to the studio and talk with us tonight . . . you’ll have to tune in to find out!

John Krueger will host and chef Andrea Carbine, a James Beard Award semi-finalist and co-owner of A Toute Heure in Cranford,NJ will prepare an elegant farm-to-table five-course dinner centered around Starbrite Farm’s organic and heirloom vegetables, as well as grass-fed meat and poultry from a nearby farm. Dessert will be prepared by Chef Diane Pinder of Donna & Company Artisan Chocolates – yum.

Proceeds from the event will go to Slow Food New Jersey’s earth stewardship and food justice programs.

The event is scheduled for this Sunday, August 23 from 4 – 7pm. Visit the event website to get all the details. Hope to see you there!

or you can tune in tonight and hear all about it!

Thursday, August 20, 2009
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org