Tag Archives: Local

It’s all about the packaging.

I am not gonna lie here, I am so all about cute packaging.  I love cute cards, wrapping paper and trimmings and as a foodie, I have to admit, I love when my food is displayed beautifully or packaged up with care.

So…I was drawn to this cute little popcorn box. Such simple graphics that say, ‘buy me’ I am healthy and good for you.

I do love popcorn.   Popcorn + movie =bliss.

Popcorn is a nutritious high fiber, low calorie snack.  And this popcorn, just kicks it up a notch.

Quinn’s popcorn comes in other yummy flavors (like Parmesan Rosemary and Lemon and Sea Salt) BUT with my little sweet tooth, this Vermont Maple and Sea Salt caught my eye. Or should I more accurately say, grey sea salt harvested in Brittany and pure Vermont maple sugar…sounds pretty special, right?  Well, hey, we all deserve a little special treat.

Even the inside packaging is cute.

It walks you through the steps in case, perhaps you don’t know how to flavor your little popped goodies.

Well, low FODMAP diet followers can delight in this maple sugar infused treat and so can ordinary folks too.

Check out Quinn’s popcorn–a local to me Massachusetts based company! And by the way, no genetically engineered popcorn is used, no hydrogenated oils, no preservatives–all natural good ingredients.

 

Cinnamon Raisin Farmer Cheese

Back in my college days at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, I used to visit a great farmer’s market that had yummy farmer cheese.  It was slightly sweet with a hint of cinnamon and raisins.  Recently shopping at the grocery store I stumbled upon plain farmer cheese and thought I would have to re-create this delicious cheese spread!

Farmer cheese is an unripened cheese that is made using rennet and a bacterial starter to coagulate milk creating the cheese.  The curds separate from the whey and the whey is drained off along with most of the lactose. Farmer cheese can be made from cow, goat or sheep milk.

To create my recipe today, I used Friendship farmer cheese which is carbohydrate free with just a trace of lactose.  (Yes, making it very FODMAPs-friendly!) The plain farmer cheese provides 4 grams of protein and just 2.5 grams of fat and only 40 calories for 2 TB.

This tasty cheese spread is great on toasted bagels (of course GF and FODMAPs friendly if you are following the low FODMAP diet), rice cakes, or even as a dip for carrots sticks. 

All you need is some raisins, cinnamon, maple syrup and the farmer cheese and you are all set to make this yummy recipe!

Hope you give Farmer cheese a try!  Here’s the recipe.

 

Print
Cinnamon Raisin Farmer Cheese (low FODMAP)

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. farmer cheese
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 TB maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup golden raisins

Instructions

  1. Stir ingredients together and refrigerate.
  2. Spread about 2 TB on your favorite cracker, bread or use as dip for baby carrots.
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http://blog.katescarlata.com/2012/07/01/cinnamon-raisin-farmer-cheese/

 

 

F is for Farm, Food and Fun!

Say yes, to fresh local produce!

An enthusiastic hard working group of Medway, Massachusetts Memorial School fourth grade classes certainly does say, “YES!”, especially when they worked so hard growing their very own produce at Medway Community Farm!

As a registered dietitian, Medway resident and Medway Community Farm Community Supported Agriculture member, I was thrilled to visit with the children of the fourth grade classes of Mrs. Nash, Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Hickman and Mrs. Butler as they worked, sold their produce, dug in the dirt and planted vegetables on the farm. These fantastic fourth graders have been tending their veggies so they could in turn sell their harvest to raise funds to support the Medway Community Farm and provide their farm fresh produce for the Medway Food Pantry.

What a wonderful Community Service Learning (CSL) project which allows the kids to put their science, mathematics, language, writing and newly found farming skills to good work! This is the third spring growing season for the project, one that is a sustainable CSL project in partnership with the farm.

This year the kids designed a farm museum, which highlighted facts about farming in Medway.

They also had a taste-testing table! YUM!

Of course, homemade scrumptious lemonade was available.  Delicious!

Here is Dominic  juicing a lemon!

Meet John another hard-working lemonade stand worker!

To prepare the produce for sale, the veggies are rinsed.

Here’s Mitch giving the cilantro a quick bath.

Max, Hanna, Mackenzie, Andrew, Danny, and Sam harvest spinach and lettuce with Brittany, the farm manager.

Cashiers Rory, Kylie, Lauren and Tessa collect the money from sales of their beautiful farm fresh produce.

Look at that great kohlrabi I am purchasing! Last year I purchase kohlrabi and baked up some kohlrabi chips.  Check out my recipe and last years post here!

Olivia and Christa ‘man’ the recipe table, which is filled with many creative  ways to prepare the farm fresh harvest.

What a wonderful learning experience for children!  The kids truly beamed with pride explaining what types of produce they had available for purchase.

In a time where American’s waistlines have never been bigger…exposing children to all the wonderful, nourishing farm fresh food offers them a fighting chance to get back to the healthy basics and enjoy food the way nature intended for them.

I hope you say, “YES!” to locally grown farm fresh produce!

If you are local to Medway, Massachusetts you are in luck!

The Medway Community Farm farmer’s market will be open to the public Thursdays starting July 5 from 3-6 PM at the Medway Garden Center … if you live in the area, you can enjoy farm fresh produce, fresh baked artisan breads from Proofed Artisan and Traditional Breads and Julie Z’s Breads (including some gluten free), Lawton family farm’s grass fed beef, cheese and eggs and Fior D’Italia’s freshly made pasta!

The farmer’s market will also have a rotating community booth showcasing a different community organization each week.
I hope to see you at the farmer’s market!

Farm Love.

I have to admit, I am somewhat addicted to visiting farms.  I’m not sure I would like to work on one 24/7 but I love walking around, checking out the animals, looking at the plants grow, and just the general vibe.

It’s peaceful on the farm.  At least in my little farm world.  I come and go, cut some lettuce, kale, herbs and head home.  I know the lettuce just didn’t pop out of the ground untended.  I know it took lots of hard work, love, sun, water and the weather to cooperate for the plants to grow. [Not to mention some pest control!]

I am grateful for the hard working farmers that work tirelessly so that I can drop on by and pick produce for my family.

This year I joined Tangerini farm’s CSA (community supported agriculture) spring share  in Millis, Massachusetts.  A CSA is when consumer’s buy “shares” in the farm and in return the farm provides produce for the consumer.  The money you provide for your share helps fund seeds and materials in advance for the farm to grow wonderful fresh produce.  To learn more about CSAs, check out localharvest.org.  I have joined Tangerini’s CSA before, but this was my first try at their spring share…and I like it.

My first week on the farm I ran into the field, cut arugula and headed right on home. I do love arugula!

We had the most amazing fresh arugula salad that evening.  I especially appreciated seeing my son, Brennan munch the arugula leaves like he was eating a bowl of potato chips.  Pure nutritionist heaven.

I dress my arugula with lemon, good quality Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.  Here’s a quick recipe for you from a past post.

This week, my daughter  Chelsea, Brennan and I headed to the farm to grab some fresh cilantro, kale and lettuce.  I had chicken tacos on the menu and some fresh cilantro and lettuce would definitely dress it up.  Laura Tangerini pointed out the tasty kale, lettuce and cilantro and away I went chopping and bagging. Here I am in my glory…

And chopping down a big head of lettuce!

We came home with this absolutely beautiful Russian Kale too!

Brennan requested Kale chips to be made immediately upon returning from home…so Chelsea and I whipped them up and Brennan devoured 95% of them with a little help from Chelsea and I.  YUMMMMM….{FODMAP followers….Kale hasn’t been checked for FODMAP content yet}

If you haven’t joined a CSA before, I highly recommend it! I have found joining a local CSA  has provided new experiences for me and my family.  We have  tried produce we had never eaten before, harvested corn and other vegetables by hand, and simply eat more vegetables!  Farm fresh produce weekly for you and your family…you can’t go wrong!

Destination: Puerto Rico

Russ and I headed to Puerto Rico for well-needed down time.  Why Puerto Rico?  We wanted to visit a tropical location that we have never visited.  We also wanted to get there on a non-stop flight.  Puerto Rico fit the bill and exceeded our expectations.

First, the people of Puerto Rico were very friendly and seemed to be always laughing.  I like that!

You have got to love the colors in Old San Juan.

So beautiful, right?The old town center was so quaint and had such visual appeal.

The highlight of our trip was an excursion we signed up for to go zip lining in the rain forest.  Hmmm….I did not know that part of a relaxing vacation required putting on a helmet!

We just signed up and really were not sure what to expect.

In fact, I really did not expect to be scaling wet slippery rocks up a waterfall.  This was not on my “relaxing” down time plan….but we had a blast!

Seriously….did I sign up for this?

After the hike, we were treated to one of the tour guide’s Aunt’s home cooking.  How cool is that?

Including an assortment of appetizers…I particularly loved the little corn meal fritters on the right.  So yum!

Empanadas, fried batatas (Batatas Fritas) and sorullitos (corn meal fritters).

We also visited a local farmer’s market….because that’s what nutritionists do on vacation.{or maybe that’s just me!}  Russ is so good and always goes along with my fun plans….

We found all sorts of local produce…

and…this looks cool but not sure what it is!??

and even found some aloe.

And of course, we drank rum from a coconut.  

We also acted like tourists and visited The Castillo de San Cristóbal,  a Spanish fort that was built to protect the city of San Juan from outside attacks. This San Juan national historic site is definitely worth a visit.

Very cool place and it’s amazing that it was built in the 1500′s!

Great sites.  (Including that cute guy,right?)

I love this sculpture that represents the legend that a prayer procession of the women of San Juan, led by the Bishop, praying for salvation of their city during a British siege of San Juan ultimately led to the British turning away from the attack.

Puerto Rico is  island is full of culture and although a part of the US, is so rich in it’s own culture…you really feel quite far away.

Walking the beach, relaxing poolside, exploring and even zip lining….Puero Rico delivered.

But as always, it’s great to be back home.