Kids Dish

In keeping with my “eat local” theme, here’s some good news about WIC. Though it’s been argued that eating fresh, local organic food is more expensive than eating processed foods, the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which has been around since 1992, offers women and children who receive WIC services the option to use coupons to purchase food at farmer’s markets. 45 states participate in this program and each state agency has a list of eligible purchases.

I had no idea programs like this existed. The food choices my teenage students made for themselves while they were pregnant were appalling. Since they generally left school late in their third trimesters I can’t really say what happened after, but I imagine chips and fast food made an appearance on the dinner table more than fresh, locally grown produce, probably because it was readily available. Most farmers markets don’t set up shop in low-income urban areas. Availability aside, it’s good to know that WIC at least offers its recipients the option to choose foods other than formula, peanut butter and processed American cheese. I understand that WIC has to have strict nutritional guidelines for eligible purchases, but from an outsider’s perspective it seems a shame that so many organic, pesticide free fruits and vegetables available at supermarkets are ineligible. The Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program is a great choice for women trying to raise healthy children if they have access to participating farmers markets.

A similar program exists for low income seniors, so if the seniors in your life tend to complain that fruit doesn’t taste like it used to, tell them they’re right and that they may be eligible for grants to purchase fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables.

WIC, eat local, low-income seniors, farmers markets

Tomorrow I pick up my vegetables from the CSA for the week. I’m unaccustomed to dealing with so many leafy greens so this past week was a challenge. Here are some of the meals we’ve enjoyed.

Since I had an entire head of red leaf lettuce I made a salad with dandelion greens, goat cheese and strawberries in a balsamic vinaigrette. It was so good I ate it for lunch two days in a row and Bob had it for dinner one night when I was out. Sam liked it too and shocked me eating the salad off of my plate. He seemed to be most interested in the slightly peppery dandelion greens, which are a little bitter. I incorrectly assumed he’d gravitate more towards the strawberries.

Sam ate some of the broccoli steamed over whole wheat pasta with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese for dinner one night. He ate the rest of the steamed broccoli plain or on the side of whatever he had for lunch or dinner and I dipped some in hummus for a snack.

I stir fried the bok choy in peanut oil with garlic and ginger and topped it with a bit of reduced soy sauce. Sam unfortunately slept through this meal and there were no leftovers. I’d never had it before and now I know that bok choy is delicious. I originally wanted to make a recipe that called for a peanut/hoisin/red pepper sauce, but I didn’t have any hoisin on hand so I’ll have to do that one another time. I hope it’s available for next week’s share since I placed my order for tomorrow before I knew how good it is.

I cooked the spinach and swiss chard together in a white sauce, like Kelly suggested. But I added a bit of feta to the sauce instead of nutmeg, and served it over whole wheat pasta. Sam, who generally doesn’t like feta, seemed to really like this combination.

The recipes are after the jump.
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I’ve always liked the idea of eating organic foods but it wasn’t until I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma that I realized eating locally is even better for the environment (and the economy) than eating organic. To support local farmers and to save myself from the pathetic produce at my local supermarket I planted my first small vegetable garden (which I’ll write about later) and joined a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Early in the spring I sent a check to a local farm. In return, for the next 26 weeks I’ll be able to select 10 items from a list and a box of produce will be delivered to my neighborhood.

Today I put Sam in his wagon and my friend Jen (who’s splitting the share with us) and I walked down to the pickup point a few blocks from my house to pick up our box. Back on my front porch we split up the produce. The box contained a quart of strawberries, a bag of spinach, two small bunches of broccoli, green onions, a head of green lettuce, a head of red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, dandelion greens, asian stir-fry greens, a basil plant, and a bunch of radishes. It’s a bit heavy on the greens but considering how early it is in the season I’m impressed with the selection. I’ve never cooked with swiss chard or the stir-fry greens which may or may not be bok choy, and I don’t know what to do with the dandelion greens (I guess you just put them in salad?) but I’m looking forward to cooking something new.

The best part of the box was the strawberries. The strawberries are a perfect example of why local is superior to organic. I recently picked up a box of organic California strawberries from the market. They tasted fine I guess, but the huge, refrigerated, washed-out, organic strawberries didn’t hold a candle to the tiny, freshly picked strawberries that dripped all over my kitchen floor when Sam got his hands on them. How could they? Who knows how long ago they’d been picked and how long it took them to get from the farm across the country to my supermarket? The strawberries I ate today were picked yesterday at the earliest and they were grown by a farmer interested in growing food that’s good for the community, not just his wallet.

It’s too late now to get a CSA share, but there are plenty of ways to support your local farmers. In Pennsylvania, The Buy Local PA website lists farms, farmers markets, restaurants, grocers, caterers and bakers that use and sell fresh, local food. ( I was pleased to see Honey’s Sit ‘N Eat, a restaurant owned by my friends Ellen and Jeb on the list. ) If you don’t live in Pennsylvania and don’t know where to start, check out Local Harvest where you can search for farmer’s markets by zip code. The Eat Local Challenge, a group blog written by bloggers across the United States who are interested in eating food grown and produced in their area, list 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food.

Now what should I do with the swiss chard?

Mac, a Philadelphia blogger who was kind enough to let me use the photo of the strawberries from her own garden, eats locally and has the pictures to prove it.

eat local, CSA, community supported agriculture, farm share, organic