Holiday Crunch

We hope that everyone will join us as our Pathfinder Produce Market reopens this Thursday, Dec. 4, for the freshest tastes around.  We’re open from 2 to 5 p.m. and hope to see you during the holiday season! 

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Each Thanksgiving many pledge to avoid over-eating during this season of plenty.  But with so many holiday meals, parties and other celebrations, it’s always difficult to toe the line.  I managed to not over load my plate during recent meals, opted out of the extra slice of pie, and made sure to take some extra walks over Thanksgiving weekend.  During the weeks between now and Christmas, I will try to keep walking during my lunch break, and maybe hop on the stationary bike that sits neglected in the garage.

Of course, with so many treats tempting our sweet-tooth, it’s also a good idea to intentionally add more fruits and vegetables to our diets.  I’ve been seeing some photos on Facebook and Pinterest with festive fruit and veggie trays.  One friend shared an imaginative tray arranged as a Thanksgiving gobbler; it featured lots of raw veggies like cauliflower, broccoli and celery.

Celery is a vegetable that was always part of our holiday celebrations when I was a kid, however the way we served it – packed with regular cream cheese - is a modern no-no.  A better variation on this is to serve celery sticks with a healthy ranch dressing made out of Greek-style yogurt.  A healthy recipe may be found at the blog, Wellness Mama. 

Celery has long been turned to by dieters (and comedians needing a visual representation of dieting) because of its high fiber, low calories, and many other health benefits.  According to the World’s Healthiest Foods website, “Recent research has greatly bolstered our knowledge about celery's anti-inflammatory health benefits, including its protection against inflammation in the digestive tract itself…. In addition to well-known antioxidants like vitamin C and flavonoids, scientists have now identified at least a dozen other types of antioxidant nutrients in celery.”  These antioxidants have been shown to prevent oxygen damage to our cells, blood vessels, and organ systems.

If you have concerns about sodium intake, you need to factor in that celery is naturally sodium rich (35 milligrams of sodium per stalk).  The folks at World's Heathiest Foods recommend using celery within five to seven days of purchase, storing it in the refrigerator as to retain its healthful nutrients.  They also add that to get the maximum benefit from cooked celery, it is best to steam it for 10 minutes. 

A quick cruise around the internet reveals some innovative and delicious sounding celery-rich recipes, but celery is one ingredient that can be added to most soups, stews, or cut up raw and added to green, fruit or tuna or chicken salads.  Here’s a link to the New York Times Well Blog that offers a sampling of menu ideas, including a hearty minestrone, and a broccoli and celery soup.

Until next week, eat well and be well!

Lori

Cranberry Creations

We hope that you’ll join us this week at Pathfinder Produce, our fresh fruit and vegetable market held here each Thursday afternoon at the Village Commons, from 2 to 5 p.m.  Remember: this is your last chance to shop Pathfinder Produce before Thanksgiving!

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[Note: Lori is on vacation this week, so I’m filling in as Guest Blogger]

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and with it thoughts of feasting on traditional foods of the day. One such food is cranberries. Cranberries are a Native American crop, and tradition holds that cranberries sweetened with syrup or honey were served at the first Thanksgiving celebration.

According to the website World’s Healthiest Foods (www.whfoods.com ), cranberries are loaded with nutrients such as Fiber, Manganese, Vitamins C, E, K, Copper and Pantothenic Acid. Cranberries can aid in immune support and have cardiovascular benefits. Cranberries also act as an anti-inflammatory in the digestive tract, and there is now research being done regarding the berry’s use in prevention of stomach ulcers. (A word of caution: those with a history of kidney stones should ask their doctors about consuming cranberries because in many cases they can exacerbate the condition.)
 

A less common—but more entertaining—name for cranberries is “bounce berries.” I found the following story on the Ocean Spray website: “An early New Jersey grower, John ‘Peg-Leg Webb, first noted this special property of the cranberry. Because of his wooden leg, he couldn't carry his berries down from the loft of his barn where he stored them. Instead, he'd pour them down the steps. He soon noticed that only the firmest and freshest berries bounced down to the bottom; the soft and bruised ones didn't make it. This led to the development of the first cranberry bounce board separator, a device we still use today, to remove damaged or sub-standard berries.” http://www.oceansprayfoodservice.com/about/where.aspx

I can’t imagine a Thanksgiving spread without cranberry sauce, and it’s fast and easy to make your own:
 

Combine 1 cup water with 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add a 12 oz. bag of cranberries and boil gently for 10 minutes. The cranberries should start to pop open. Remove from heat, cover and cool to room temperature, then store in the refrigerator until serving time. Makes 2 ½ cups. You can use less sugar for a more tart sauce. You could also use honey or agave nectar to sweeten your sauce; in this case, I would recommend starting with ½ cup of sweetener and then adding more to taste before cooling.

For those of you who prefer relish, here is my mom’s recipe. It’s always a big hit at the church turkey dinner:

Run one bag of cranberries, one cored apple and one cut up (unpeeled) orange through a grinder. Stir in ¾ cup sugar. Put in a covered jar and refrigerate for at least 1 week before serving.

A great place to find cranberries and many other produce staples for your Thanksgiving meal is at the Pathfinder Produce Market! Come out this week to do your holiday shopping! (We are closed Thanksgiving Day.)

A word about canned cranberry sauce: Some Thanksgiving tables (admittedly my own) aren’t complete without the dish of canned sauce. As a child I insisted that my mom slide it from the can onto the serving plate whole; I loved that it still looked like the inside of the can. With all of the lovely homemade cranberry dishes on the table, however, the canned sauce often gets pushed aside. If you are looking for uses for your leftover canned cranberry sauce, the Beekman Boys from nearby Sharon Springs offer a dozen tasty options. You can find them on their website http://beekman1802.com/leftover-cranberry-sauce-hacks/

All of us at Pathfinder Village wish you a Happy Thanksgiving; you make us truly thankful.

Martha

No Shave November!

We hope that you’ll join us this week for another “delicious edition” of Pathfinder Produce, our fresh fruit and vegetable market held here each Thursday afternoon at the Village Commons, from 2 to 5 p.m.  We have two weeks of the market until we’ll be closed for Thanksgiving Thursday … we’re grateful for all the great support we receive from our patrons all year long! 

Throughout the year, most of my blog entries focus on nutrition and how adding fruits and vegetables to one’s diet may improve one’s health.  But another piece of the wellness puzzle is to pursue non-food related activities that also are important to maintaining good health.  Our local Edmeston 5-2-1-0 program has presented local opportunities for fitness; the basis of the program also encourages people to spend less than two hours doing recreational screen activities (television, computer games, tablets, etc.) to get one hour of daily physical activity, and to cut down your number of sugary drinks to zero.

This week, I’d like to be a nag and remind people to sign up for their regular cancer screenings.  If you come to Pathfinder Village during November, you may see some of our normally clean-shaven staff members are looking a little fuzzier than usual:  These friends are taking part in “No-Shave November” as a way to raise cancer prevention awareness.  The idea is to show off our hair (which many cancer patients lose) to raise public awareness of the disease, which is predicted to affect over 1.6 million patients in the U.S. each year.  No-Shave participants are encouraged to sign up and share the No-Shave November website , and send in a donation equal to the amount that is typically spent on shaving and grooming products for a month.  Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society to help educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and help those fighting the battle.  (No-Shave isn’t just for guys either, but it isn’t mandatory for anyone to not shave if you’re not really comfortable unshaven … just sign up and send in a gift to ACS).

Another upcoming cancer awareness event is The Great American Smokeout, which takes place on Thursday, November 20 (it’s always the third Thursday of November each year).  ACS encourages smokers to use the date to quit or plan to quit.  According to ACS, tobacco use is yet the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death, yet about 42 million Americans (nearly one out of five) still smoke cigarettes.   For resources on how to quit, please visit the ACS’s online Great American Smokeout resource pages.  (We encourage everyone to give  up all forms of tobacco … snuff, chewable or pipes/cigars.  There’s enough evidence that indicates all of these increase your chance of getting cancer).

All of that aside, how you eat may also affect your likelihood of contracting cancer:  A 2002 study in The Lancet by Dr. Timothy J. Key, DPhill, et al, states, “Dietary factors are thought to account for about 30% of cancers in western countries, and thus, diet is second only to tobacco as a potentially preventable cause of cancer. The contribution of diet to risk of cancer in developing countries is lower, perhaps around 20%.”  This study is inconclusive about specific foods or food substances causing cancer, but advises the public to eat a well-balanced diet with a goal of maintaining a healthy weight, as a way to ward off abnormal cell growth.  An article at the MD Anderson Cancer Center website, specifically on sugar’s relationship to cancer development, also advises, “… too much daily sugar can cause weight gain.  And, unhealthy weight gain and a lack of exercise can increase your cancer risks.”

The ACS website also has guidelines about what cancer screenings are recommended, how often, and at what age.  While we hear news stories about changing recommendations, it is still important for people to see their healthcare providers for regular mammograms, pap smears, prostate checks, colonoscopies, or whenever there is a notable appearance in moles or other skin features.  TRUE, none of these are pleasant experiences, but if your doctor can detect atypical cells early, your chances of beating cancer improve dramatically.  For example, if one looks at the 2014 survival relative survival rates for breast cancer, people with Stage 0 and 1 have a 100% chance of surviving for five years; stage 2 drops to 93%.  Stage 3 and 4 survival rates drop quite a bit … 72% and 22% respectively.  Overall, ACS states, “The 5-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 2003 and 2009 is 68%, up from 49% in 1975-1977.  The improvement in survival reflects both progress in diagnosing certain cancers at an earlier stage and improvements in treatment.”  (To see detailed information regarding different cancers and survival rates for that time period, see the Cancer Facts & Figures report).

I’m grateful for the people in my life who have battled cancer and won, and encourage anyone who reads this post to be vigilant.  So … pick up the phone, and make your appointment for your screening today.

Until next time, be well,

Lori 

Variations on a Mushroom Theme

We hope that everyone will join us for another tasteful Pathfinder Produce market at the Village Commons, this Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m.  The market is featuring fall flavors and we hope everyone can stop by to stock up on great tasting produce.

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Mushrooms … what an incredible taste to add to salads, soups, stews, and pizza!  With their distinct, earthy aromas and flavors, they enliven and add subtle hints to any food, and are clearly a favorite with “foodies” and aspiring chefs.

Technically, mushrooms are not vegetables, as botanically they are classified as fungi, “organisms that lack chlorophyll, leaves, true stems, and roots, reproduce by spores, and live as saprotrophs or parasites.”  Saprophytes get their nutrition from decaying organic matter, and hasten the process through enzyme action. (Think of the decaying stumps with clusters of fungi and toadstools in our wooded areas). 

Today’s popular edible mushrooms at the market—button or white mushrooms, baby bella (cremini), and Portabellos—are all variations on the same species, Agaricus bisporus, which is cultivated throughout the world.  According to the website, thekitchn.com, the difference comes from the age of the mushroom at time of harvest.  The white mushrooms are the youngest, the baby bellas are slightly older, and the Portobello are fully matured, with a large, meaty cap. 

Historically, people have eaten mushrooms for millennia, and the earliest written account of commercial farming was by the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in the 18^th century.  Farmers at that time would try to find wild mushrooms and transplant them into growing beds; they had varying success, as along with the spawn (spores and organic matter) required for new mushrooms to grow, pathogens would get transplanted in the new beds.  Things took a giant leap forward in the 1890s, when scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris developed sterile growing medium.  Today’s white mushrooms were developed in Pennsylvania in 1926, a result of a mutation; Pennsylvania remains a key growing region for mushrooms. For more on growing edible mushrooms from kits, visit the websites of Better Homes & Gardens or the National Garden Association. 
 
I for one am content to buy mushrooms from our market; most of us do not want to make a mistake collecting wild specimens and getting poisoned.  Common mushrooms are easily confused with the aptly named destroying angel (Amanita bisporigera and Amanita ocreata.), or with the less poisonous (but still unpleasant) Agaricus xanthodermus.  If mushroom hunting is of interest, I would learn from an experienced person to identify wild mushrooms.

In a quick survey of my co-workers, a simple and delicious way to serve mushrooms is to grill portabellos.  So to close, here’s a simple recipe from All Recipes to enjoy while the weather still allows for some grilling.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Ingredients
Serves 4, prep & cook time: 1 hr. 10 min.

4 large portobello mushrooms

1/3 cup of canola oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

5 cloves garlic, minced (this may be reduced if you’re not a fan of garlic)

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Clean mushrooms and remove stems.  Place caps on a plate with bottom facing up.

Mix other ingredients and pour evenly over mushroom caps and let stand for 1 hour.

Grill over a hot grill for 10 minutes, serve immediately. 

 
Some who tried the recipe indicated online that you may want to only grill the mushrooms on one side, to help retain the  marinade inside.  Others said they served it on a sandwich roll, and that it was well received by both vegetarians and meat lovers.

Until next time, be well!

Lori

Soup Season

Happy Halloween! We hope that everyone will join us this Thursday for another tasteful Pathfinder Produce fresh fruits and vegetables market.  This week as part of our “21 Paths to Wellness,” our Vocational Staff will be serving up some Savory Butternut Squash Soup for our customers to try.  We’re open at the Village Commons from 2 to 5 p.m., and we hope to see you here! 

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Now that our weather is getting colder, there’s nothing like a big bowl of hot soup to take the chill off.  Homemade soup is another comfort food, and there’s no end to the different ingredients and flavors that can inspire a hearty impromptu meal.

This week at Pathfinder Produce, our healthy recipe of the week is for Savory Butternut Squash Soup, which uses winter squash and carrots, and is bursting with flavor and beta carotene.  It also adds a bit of flair by using a few apples and vegetable stock.  It takes some time to make, but there’s no reason you can’t start the process and tend to other chores or hobbies nearby while it is simmering. (The recipe was also modified to use almond milk as a lighter and healthier alternative to heavy cream).

Butternut is admittedly my favorite winter squash and it tastes great simply roasted or mashed.  Back in my youth, I remember my aunt, who offered afterschool cooking lessons for our local 4H Club members, showing us how to carefully split the squashes lengthwise, and baking them with a brown sugar glaze.

Somehow I’ve always thought that butternut was an “old time” variety, but according to the web blog, applecountryliving.com, the squash was developed in Massachusetts by a former life insurance company executive, Charles A. Leggett, in the 1940s.  Looking for a marketable crop, he crossbred gooseneck squashes with Hubbard squashes (which are really tough skinned), hoping to get something that was compactly shaped, medium-sized, and fairly easy to cut.  He was able to get both chefs and agronomists interested in this new variety, and it didn’t take long for it to become popular worldwide.

Growing butternut squash is relatively easy … you plant the seeds in well-tilled soil that is made into hills.  Squashes don’t do well if they have their roots disturbed, so it is best to directly plant the seeds once the threat of frost is past.  Once the seedlings are a few inches high, they do best if they get steady amounts of water, according to backyard vegetable gardening.com.  Other sites advocate mulching the young plants and indicate that the soil needs to be fertilized, as squashes tend to use lots of nutrients.  (As you may recall from an earlier post, the Native Americans would add several fish to the squash hills, and would plant beans, squash and corn all together as these plants “work together” for the benefit of each plant). 

Savory Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash; peeled, de-seeded, and cubed

2 carrots, cut in thick slices

1 medium onion, cubed

2 gala apples, peeled, cored, and cubed

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. of dried sage

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1 cup almond milk

32 oz. vegetable stock, pre-made or from scratch

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss squash, carrots, onion, apples, and garlic in large bowl with olive oil and the dried herbs. Spread them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or tin foil. Roast in oven for about 40 minutes, or until squash is tender and lightly browned. Remove from oven and place the vegetable mixture into a large crock pot on high.  Add your vegetable stock, either homemade or store-bought as time permits.  Cook the soup for 1 hour in the crock put, then working in 2-3 batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth.  Add more vegetable stock if the soup is too thick. Stir in almond milk until thoroughly mixed and serve! 

Until next time, enjoy this recipe for squash soup, and be well.

Lori