At the farmers market today, I was drawn to the beautiful red and black raspberries.  Their sweet, yet tart, flavor always calls me back for more.  Berries are colorful, fun, festive and dress up any meal.

From breakfast to evening snacks, berries are great served alone or with cereal, yogurt, and salads. Pureed, they’re delicious in smoothies made with yogurt. Drop a few in spritzers made with sparkling water.

Fresh berries, including strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries may spoil quickly, so always check your fruit thoroughly after you get home.  It’s best to store berries by spreading them on a shallow plate or pan, covering with paper towels and then with plastic. When ready to serve, rinse the fruit, drain and gently pat dry.

 To freeze berries, wash and drain them thoroughly, then spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Place them in the freezer until frozen and then transfer them to a freezer bag. 

Berries are nutrition powerhouses.  They’re low in calories, approximately 50-70 calories per cup, rich in phytochemicals, important “fighters” against cancer and heart disease, and fiber.

What’s your favorite way to eat berries?

My garden is bursting with fresh, young, tender lettuce and I’m loving it!  I planted several different varieties this year, including green and red leafy mixes, butter crunch and a head variety. 

Fresh lettuce is beautiful in the garden and tasty at the table. It’s very low calorie with only about 10 calories per cup.  It provides fiber, vitamins A (beta carotene) and C, and potassium.  The darker the lettuce, the higher the beta carotene content. 

Lettuce is so refreshing and light since it contains about 95% water.  It can be easily dressed with a light creamy dressing or vinaigrette.  Rinse fresh lettuce just before serving in cold water.  Dry in a salad spinner and/or pat dry with a clean towel.  Salad dressing clings better to dry leaves. Tear lettuce instead of cutting with a knife because cut edges may discolor quickly.  Toss with your favorite dressing right before serving because fresh lettuce leaves wilt quickly after dressed.

Hope you all enjoy the light, fresh, tender taste of fresh garden lettuce this season.

March is National Nutrition Month, a campaign sponsored by the American Dietetic Association (ADA).  The ADA is the nation’s largest organization for food and nutrition professionals and has more than 70,000 members. This year’s theme is “Nutrition from the Ground Up.”  To celebrate National Nutrition Month, The ADA has been invited to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ stock exchange, the largest electronic equities exchange in the U.S. 

According to ADA, the NASDAQ closing ceremony is broadcast live at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, and on NASDAQ’s Web site at: http://www.nasdaq.com/about/marketsitetowervideo.asx.  If you can’t catch the ceremony live, you can view it later in the NASDAQ video archive section at http://www.nasdaq.com/marketsite/marketsite_events.stm.

I love the theme “nutrition from the ground up” because it embraces the goodness of eating locally grown foods and/or growing your own food.  This weekend, I had the pleasure of doing both.  It was a gorgeous gardening Saturday in mountain Maryland and I got out in my backyard garden and raked and turned and dug in the dirt and planted onions and peas.  Gardening truly is therapeutic and yields delicious returns.  I’m already anticipating the tasty fruits (or should I say vegetables) of my labor.

On Sunday, we visited the Pennsylvania Maple Festival in nearby Meyersdale, PA. This year the festival celebrates its 63^rd year.  Famous singer, Kate Smith, pronounced the local syrup to be the “sweetest she had ever tasted” on her radio show in 1947. According to local historians, this publicity furnished the impetus to promote Somerset County maple syrup and the festival was born. 

A few interesting maple facts:

• A maple tree is usually 30 years old or more before it is tapped.
• The ‘mapling’ season may last for 8 to 10 weeks, but during this period the heavy sap may run only 10 to 20 days.
• The harvest season ends with the coming of spring’s warm nights and the first stages of bud development of the trees.

For more information, visit www.pamaplefestival.com.

How do you  celebrate healthy eating “from the ground up?”

It is, according to futurist Faith Popcorn, who predicts 2010 is the year of LO-CO, meaning local cocooning.  What is local cocooning?

A term that Popcorn coined in the 90’s, cocooning is the need to find a safe space to protect oneself from the harsh, unpredictable realities of the outside world, leading to more people working, shopping and socializing from home.  According to Popcorn’s firm BrainReserve, local cocooning is an outgrowth of the dominant trend of icon toppling, a socioquake transforming mainstream America and the world, as the pillars of society are questioned and rejected. 

Brainreserve predicts that consumer skepticism will drive an “anti-big” movement.  People will reach for their roots (anchoring) and belong to groups that represent common feelings, causes or ideals, validating one’s own belief system (clanning).  Anchoring and clanning will provide our new touchstones for trust and our safer havens are local. Thus, the year of LO-CO emerges. 

One of the top trends in the year of LO-CO is that farmers’ markets and the community-supported agriculture movement (CSA) will continue to grow.  Americans are paying attention to where their food comes from. And locally grown food continues to grow in popularity.  Even the White House has a garden (again)! 

Remember, eating fresh locally grown foods helps save money and energy, supports local growers, and is great for your health.  And how can you ever get bored with eating if you’re choosing fresh foods in season? To find farmers’ markets in your area, visit http://www.localharvest.org/  or http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/.

So, how about you?  Do you care about where your food is grown?  Do you shop at your local farmers’ market?  Do you plant a backyard garden or are you planning to this year?  Now is a great time to start planning for your spring garden.