Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Two wins

Green scored two wins this week, one national and one local.

On the local front, the City of St. Louis passed a Complete Streets policy with a unanimous vote in the Board of Alder[people] — good first step for continuing to create opportunities of active and green transportation in my city!

On the national front, the U.S. Senate voted against the resolution that would have gutted the Clean Air Act, which prompted the following remarks in the Repower America announcement email:

Yesterday, thanks to your hard work, the U.S. Senate did the right thing — voting with the climate science and against a resolution that would have stripped the Clean Air Act’s protections against climate pollution.

The Senate is to be commended for defeating Senator Lisa Murkowski’s disastrously misguided proposal. But the truth is, in the face of the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, Senator Murkowski’s resolution never should have even reached the Senate floor.

The fact that we had to work to defeat this legislation is a testament to the continued strength of the fossil fuel lobby. But the fact that we did defeat it gives us fresh momentum for the months ahead, as our nation confronts the costs of our dependence on fossil fuels more directly than ever.

Master of pubic health

I compulsively check job postings in my field, and  I recently came across a posting with an interesting experience requirement:

“Formal training in health communication and/or pubic health”

Classic example of the danger of not closely proofreading your PUBLIC health job postings.  That one little “L” makes such a big difference.  I suppose I could contact them and let them know about the typo, but why ruin others’ fun?

Tending my pot

Volunteer amaranth took over this pot of celery.

Before

In a relatively short amount of time, I set things straight in the celery pot.  Fortunately, amaranth leaves are edible.  At this young, tender stage, you can eat them raw.  Later, you can cook them like spinach.  If the plants mature, they produce seeds (i.e., amaranth grain) with high nutritional value.

After

The amaranth leaves add amazing color to this salad (and match the color of the shamrock leaves).  Their flavor is very mild; I added dill and arugula to punch up the flavor, plus sunflower seeds for crunch (and protein).  Served with a side of sugar snap peas.  Dressed with a mixture of seasoned rice vinegar, cider vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic, and a dash of sesame oil.  (Sorry, I don’t measure on the dressings — drives DH crazy!)

Eat food

Gardens and farmers’ markets are in full swing, and, oh, the fabulous food we eat!

Some recent combos:

Stir fry with basic homemade teriyaki sauce (used fresh ginger and garlic instead of powdered) with snow peas*, broccoli*, black beans**, and edamame.  Minimal cooking keeps the snow peas nice and crunchy!

Mixed green salad* (arugula, spinach, tatsoi, red leaf lettuce) with radish*, hard boiled egg**, green onions**, and sunflower seeds.

Curry with napa cabbage**, snow peas*, rutabaga*, and yellow squash*.

We used coconut milk and red curry paste (both NOT local!) for the curry.  The chef tossed some onion and garlic in there, too.

Strawberry salad

Mixed greens*, sliced strawberries**, goat cheese**, olive oil, and our special balsamic vinegar.  Simple and delicious — good balsamic is the key!

*From the garden.

** Locally grown/raised.