Sustainable Table’s July Kid-Friendly Newsletter

In case you didn’t know, Sustainable Table sends out a newsletter every month, The Pasture Post, full of articles and information on sustainable food. Read July’s issue below, and if you would like to receive the news letter, sign up here.

Welcome to the July Kid-Friendly Issue of the Pasture Post, Sustainable Table’s newsletter! If you have ideas or questions about this issue or upcoming issues, please contact us at info@sustainabletable.org. Read on!

Summer can be one of the most memorable and enjoyable times for kids, with time spent outdoors, in the pool, mountains, backyard, or at the beach. Ideally, there is time to spend with friends, play games, or just relax and do a whole lot of nothing. For parents, summer can be a little more taxing – especially for those who are employed. How does one keep a child amused for weeks on end? Camp for a couple weeks, perhaps a summer vacation, but at some point the kids may get antsy. One way to keep the kids happy and healthy this summer is by cooking and gardening with them whenever possible. Kids love to be part of the food process, and it is important to start teaching them early about where their food comes from. Sustainable Table’s July newsletter is full of ideas to get the ball rolling (or the pot boiling).

• Feature Article – Little Green Thumbs from Mindful Mama
• Harvest Highlight – Zucchini, A Farmer’s Friend
• Cooking With Kids – Petit Appetit: Eat, Drink and Be Merry
• Kid-Friendly Recipe of the Month – Long-Life Noodles
• Slow Food’s National Time for Lunch Campaign
• Book Review – Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming
• Fun Food Happenings – Eat Real Festival in Oakland, CA
• The Daily Table Blog – Keeping Up with Food
• Join Sustainable Table on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter
• Spread the Word about Sustainable Food: forward this email to 5 people!
• More Ways to Stay in Touch with Sustainable Table and The Meatrix!

Feature Article – Little Green Thumbs

By Melissa B. Williams, www.mindful-mama.com

Confession: When I was a little girl, I used to sneak into the garden and eat all the carrots-and I mean all of them. It was no secret who did it: I was only about four, and I’d leave the telltale carrot tops lying around as evidence of my consumption. My mother would lecture me about sharing, but I now know-as a mother myself-that she was really glowing with satisfaction. What mama wouldn’t want her child to “sneak”  carrots instead of a Twinkie or cupcake?

In this age of iPods, cell phones, and the Wii, many parents feel it’s nearly impossible to get their children excited about the outdoors-and we won’t even talk about their lack of enthusiasm for veggies. But kids are interested in nature-they (and we parents, too) just might be too over-stimulated to notice.

Younger kids are naturally drawn to the dirt, essentially creating mud baths whenever the opportunity arises. Older children might not be as into getting dirty, but they definitely are interested in receiving rewards for their work (um, allowance anyone?), and nothing is quite as rewarding as growing your own food.

Read the whole article here.

A little about Mindful Mama: The Mindful Mama^TM community is a place to connect with parents and birth professionals from the comfort of your own home. Mindful Mama is a cutting-edge social media platform for natural parenting. They integrate the depth and inspiration of a favorite magazine into a collaborative and nurturing online space, connecting parents with birth and health care practitioners who share the common goal of building healthy and happy families.

Subscribe to Mindful Mama’s free e-newsletter!

Harvest Highlight – Zucchini, a Farmer’s Friend

Zucchini, also known as courgette to the French and British, is a gardener’s friend. Renowned for its abundant production, many gardeners even pick away the flowers before the fruit has formed so as not to be overwhelmed by the tasty green squash. It comes in various shapes and sizes, and can be yellow, green or both. Most people pick them when they are around 8-inches long, but Italians tend to pick them smaller when the taste is more delicate. Left to its own devices, a Zucchini will grow up to several feet, but it becomes quite watery in the process.

Zucchini belongs to an extensive family of plants known as cucurbits. Cucurbits all have vine-like qualities and most produce edible fruits, whether eaten as fruits or vegetables. Relatives to the zucchini in the cucurbit family include the watermelon, the cucumber and the elusive chayote and cassabanana. Like all cucurbits, zucchini started its development in Latin America. Remains of the zucchini’s ancestors have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 BC. During the period of European colonization, a form of squash was taken over to Italy where, through mutation, it morphed into the common zucchini that we know today. Zucca is the Italian word for squash, with zucchini meaning “little squash.”

Zucchini is low in calories and high in healthy goodness. According to nutritiondata.com, one cup of cooked zucchini contains 10% of the recommended daily value of magnesium, 40% of Vitamin A and 10% of Vitamin C. It is also an excellent source of dietary fiber, is touted as a digestion aid and, if summer’s got you feeling hot, apparently it will help cool you down.

Zucchini is prepared in a plethora of ways all over the world. In Mexico, the flowers are extremely popular and they are stuffed and fried or incorporated into quesadillas. In Italy, zucchini is often breaded and fried or sautéed in olive oil. In France, it is slowly sautéed along with tomato and onion to make ratatouille, or made into a gratin. Zucchini is incorporated into Thai and Vietnamese cuisine through quick stir-fried, and wrapped into light summer rolls. In Lebanon, it is stuffed with minced meat, rice and herbs, and baked, and in Greece the flowers are filled with Feta – obviously a very versatile veggie. To see Sustainable Table’s zucchini recipes, click here!

Cooking With Kids – Petit Appetit – Eat Drink and Be Merry

Lisa Barnes’ new book, “Petit Appetit: Eat Drink and Be Merry” is packed with recipes that kids will love to make and eat. With ideas for snacks, drinks, everyday dinners and special celebrations, there is a dish for every occasion. The book also contains useful information on buying organic, how to eat healthy at home and away, and useful symbols by each recipe identify which recipes are gluten free, vegetarian, milk free and no-cook.

Since the book emphasizes cooing with kids, Lisa emphasizes that even a toddler can help out in the kitchen, with this advice, “Keep in mind, even adults make a mess when they are creating in the kitchen, so expect children to have even more mishaps and build in enough time for mistakes and cleanup. Remember to remain calm and have a sense of adventure and humor!” Take a look at the list below to see what tasks your child can accomplish.

Age Appropriate Cooking Skills:

2 to 3 Year-Olds Can:

• Rinse vegetables or fruits
• Tear large pieces of lettuce
• Stir
• Pour with assistance
• Select ingredients they want to taste or use
• Recognize changes to ingredients during the cooking process
• Sort Ingredients
• Help identify ingredients in the grocery store
• Group utensils when setting the table

4 to 6 Year-Olds Can:

• Pour
• Mix
• Count and do simple measurements
• Cut with a plastic or butter knife
• Crack eggs
• Start to follow recipe cards and symbols
• Create their own recipes, and draw them on cards
• Identify images or diagrams of ingredients on your grocery list
• Set the table
• Do task listed previously

7 to 12 Year-Olds Can:

• Write your shopping list and read it to you at the store
• Help select which recipes the family will share at mealtime.
• Read and follow recipes
• Work with a heat source (supervised)
• Cut with a sharper knife (with instruction)
• Create their own recipes and write the steps
• Help wash dishes
• Do tasks listed previously

For more information on cooking with kids, check out Lisa’s “Petit Appetit” website!

Kid-Friendly Recipe of the Month – “Long-Life Noodles” from “Petit Appetit – Eat Drink and Be Merry” by Lisa Barnes

Celebrate summer with these Long-Life Noodles using seasonal ingredients!

Makes 8 to 10 (1-Cup) Servings

8 ounces rice noodles

2 teaspoons expeller-pressed canola oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup julienned organic carrot (1 large)

1 cup julienned organic red bell pepper (1 large or 4 mini)

½ cup chopped scallions

2 tablespoons gluten-free tamari

1 tablespoon peanut butter

½ cup organic vegetable broth

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Prepare the noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil on a medium, pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant and soft, about 1 minute. Add the carrot and bell pepper and cover. Cook until vegetables are tender but not soft, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add remained 1 teaspoon oil, scallions, tamari, peanut butter, broth and lime juice and bring to boil. Add the noodles and heat until hot, stirring to combine the vegetables and sauce.

Got too many tomatoes in the garden? Try making this super easy Tot’s Tomato Sauce.

If you’re tired of serving up regular soda or tired of your kids pleading for it, try this homemade Ginger Soda sweetened with agave nectar.

Slow Food’s National Time for Lunch Campaign

The Time for Lunch Campaign is a project of Slow Food USA, an educational non-profit with the goal of creating a world in which everyone can enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.

Time for Lunch is asking parents, teachers and every responsible citizen to speak up and tell our nation’s leaders that change can’t wait: It’s time to provide our children with REAL FOOD at school. The focus of the campaign is the federal Child Nutrition Act which governs the National School Lunch Program, and sets the standard for the food that more than 30 million children eat every school day. This federal Act is up for reauthorization by Congress in September and the Time for Lunch Campaign is designed to raise awareness and increase lobbying by Americans to demand improvements in the program.

The Time for Lunch campaign is asking people to organize Eat-Ins – potlucks that take place in public and gather people to support the cause. Many of these potlucks are to take place on Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, when people in communities all over the country will sit down to share a meal with their neighbors and kids. This National Eat-In will send a clear message: It’s time to provide America’s children with real food at school.

Find out more about the campaign and how to organize your own Eat-In at Time for Lunch!

Book Review- Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming

This review was written by Sustainable Table consultant, Laura Edwards-Orr.

Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, by Laura Stec with Eugene Cordero, is a treasure trove of facts and tidbits about what we eat and how it affects the health of our planet. Part cook book, part text book, part righteous party planning manual, this 2008 addition to the “good food” cannon takes a very different approach to coaching readers through the details of a carbon-friendly diet. Each chapter starts with several pages of discussion about the food industry and its connection to climate change.  The authors’ perspectives are augmented with sidebars demystifying the science behind each chapter’s and “Book n’ Cook Club” pages that list recipes (full recipes follow), suggested videos and books, field trips or activities, and a menu of small steps readers can take to spice up their shopping and eating in a climate-friendly style.

Read the whole review here.

Fun Food Happenings – Eat Real Festival

The Eat Real Festival will be happening in Oakland, California on August 28-30^th! Follow it on Twitter to find out more about the event, or become a fan on Facebook.

The Eat Real Festival is a social venture created to inspire eaters to choose tasty, healthy, good food. Through a vibrant, local festival in Oakland, CA, and a focus on delicious and sustainable “street food,” Eat Real puts eaters in contact with the real people – the farmers, chefs, and producers – who make our food. The festival will donate a percentage of its profit to several California organizations that promote access to healthy and affordable food, entrepreneurship and economic development.

The Daily Table Blog – Sustainable Food Updates

July 14^th, Adventures in Fermentation – Sauerkraut

July 10^th, Where are the Conservatives in Local Foods?

July 8^th,  Unraveling Organic

July 3^rd, In the Kitchen – Healthy Cooking, Healthy Cleaning

Read updates like these and more on our blog, The Daily Table.

Join Sustainable Table on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter

We are spreading the news about sustainable food and you can join us on Facebook, Myspace (Moopheus and Sustainable Table), and Twitter. Write on our wall, share your events, reply to our tweets! Maybe one of your comments will make it into our Daily Table blog!

Share Sustainable Table with your Friends

Help us get the word out about sustainable food and what we’re doing here at Sustainable Table and The Meatrix.  Please forward this newsletter to your friends and encourage them to get involved in the sustainable food movement. The only way we’re going to save family farms and be able to provide local, sustainable food for everyone is if we all join in and work together.

More Ways to Stay in Touch with Sustainable Table and The Meatrix!

Keep up-to-date on our blog, The Daily Table!

Ask questions and share your ideas in our forum, The Parlour

Listen to our podcasts on Gabcast

See great sustainable food and farming pictures on our Flickr account!

We’ll be back next month with even more information on sustainable food and what we’ve been doing.

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Thanks for supporting us and for helping to save small family farms!