Buying Fresh When You Can’t Go to the Farmers’ Market

It’s a shame the Downtown Farmers Curb Market isn’t open during National Farmers’ Market Week, but there are other ways you can get the freshest produce possible without even having to leave Lakeland.

Lakeland is the home of Publix, one of the best grocery stores around. Here, you can always fresh produce, including your favorite fruits and vegetables, along with life’s other necessities.

If you want to guarantee your veggies and herbs are the freshest, even more so than the grocery store, why not consider growing them yourself? Starting an apartment garden is easy for anyone to do! have a few plants on your balcony, or do your research to find low-light appropriate plants so you can place them anywhere in your apartment.

“Tea” is My Favorite Letter in the Alphabet

I admit it: I am a coffee person. But I don’t want to be anymore! I’m trying to refine my tastes and learn to love tea. I know there are several varieties out there, but where does one start on the road to tea drinking? In my brief research, I ahve found a few helpful tips on finding the right tea for you:

• Tea drinking is an experience, so it should not be rushed. It takes time to brew great tea, so you should really cherish the drink you’ve created.
• Black tea is the most consumed variety in the Western hemisphere. It has a bold, bright flavor. This sounds like it would be the perfect tea for me – it’s probably the closest tea to coffee!
• The darker the leaf, the hotter the water must be for brewing.
• If you like fruity flavors, oolong tea my be the variety that best suits you. It’s also commonly consumed when people are trying to lose weight.

One of the most interesting things I discovered on my search for the right tea for me is the Adagio starter set. For less than $20, you get an “easy-to-use” teapot, Adagio’s guide to tea, and four samples of some of their best teas. As they call it, it’s a great way to get introduced to the world of tea drinking, and for that price, why not try it out?

(photo courtesy of euphbass on flickr)

How Do You Celebrate Sushi?

I love food related holidays. National Doughnut Day wasn’t too long ago, but we haven’t had a really good foodie day in some time. That is, until today!

Today is International Sushi Day! It’s time to enjoy your nigiri, eat some maki, and celebrate your love of sashimi. Here are some ways you can celebrate this awesome, though unofficial, holiday:

• Head out in Lakeland and get a spicy tuna roll! If you don’t have time to sit down at a restaurant, consider going to Publix and get a fresh roll.
• Consider making your own maki and nigiri. Make My Sushi gives you step-by-step instructions on how to make the sushi you love.
• Introduce someone to this amazing food. It seems incredible to me, but there are still many people out there that have never had sushi before. I was one of these people only two years ago!

Free Dinner for a Year!

Donating to a great cause always makes one feel great, but a free meal along without doesn’t hurt either.

Black and Brew is starting a unique fundraiser today in hopes to bring awareness to The United Way and make at least one Lakeland resident a lucky winner. If you dine out at Black and Brew you’ll be given the option to donate $10 for one entry, $16 for 2 and $20 for three. You’re limited to 3 entries total, but that should be enough to give you a good chance to win a free meals for a year.

Oh, was that not mentioned? On May 21st, a representative from The United Way will draw 25 entries from all of the submissions and each winner will receive a free meal for 52 weeks straight. That winner could be you!

Go out, eat some good food, donate to a great cause & enter to win!

It’s National Nutrition Month

For this week’s green tip I want to inform everyone that March is National Nutrition Month. In honor of this, I would like to give you a way to start getting greener with your diet. Literally.

Getting more greens in your diet is essential to eating healthier. They provide tons of health benefits, one of them being that they strengthen the blood and respiratory systems.

And the darker the greens, the better. More deeply colored and brighter fruits & veggies are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

So get on the path to better health today & get greener in your diet!

(photo courtesy of flickr)

Do yourself (& the environment) a favor

Go green & save money in the process? I call this a win-win situation.

I’ve recently seen a statistic stating that Americans waste about 25% of their food. That number is outrageous! I am a huge fan of tupperware and I a l w a y s save leftovers. We need to stop being so wasteful & start being smarter eaters! Here are a few tips to help you both save money & help the environment:

• Don’t throw it away: a lot of times when fruit and veggies lose their toughness & go soft, we just throw them out. Don’t do it anymore! Softer fruit is great for smoothies and shakes.
• Write a list & stick to it: I am absolutely an impulse buyer, and this is the worst at the grocery store. I’ll grab anything on sale or  clearance, and it eventually gets thrown in the trash. Whether it’s that I didn’t get to eat it before the expiration date or I never really wanted it in the first place, I have wasted a great deal of food. Writing a grocery list will guarantee you buy only enough of what you need. The grocery store will still be there for your next shopping trip.
• Rotate your pantry: after you’ve completed your shopping, make sure to move the older food to the front to be eaten first. This will reduce your waste because you won’t let anything go uneaten before it spoils!

These are just a few ideas to help reduce our impact on the earth. More importantly, these will increase the size of your wallet!

Do you have any additional tips? Leave them in the comments section!

(photo courtesy of Masahiro Ihara on flickr)

yummmm cheese and broccoli

Well ok maybe not so much yummy broccoli but we have to try and eat healthy right guys? We all love cheese so if we throw a few veggies in with it then mission accomplished- at least that is what I like to tell myself.

I am hopelessly addicted to the Food Network so when I found this Sunny Anderson recipe (she’s the gal from “Cooking for Real”) I thought I would pass it around. Plus broccoli is in season right now so it should be also be good for your wallet.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, plus extra for casserole dish
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 pound shiitake or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar-Monterey blend
• 3 cups cooked rice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Special equipment: 1 1/8-quart oval casserole dish

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Butter casserole dish. In a large pot, melt 3 tablespoons butter and flour over medium heat until golden in color to make a quick roux. The roux should resemble the color of peanut butter. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, heavy cream and chicken stock. Add broccoli, 1 cup of the cheese and rice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour into buttered dish and top with remaining shredded Cheddar. Bake until cheese is melted and golden, about 20 minutes.

photo and recipe courtesy of foodnetwork.com