Happy February! The sun is shining and the snow is melting as I write this, and I am happy about that.
What makes your heart happy? Good food? Family? Friends?
If you really want to make your heart happy and healthy, you need to feed it the right things. Thankfully, that is easy to do at market.
The Mayo Clinic lists several steps for heart health, including:
• Get more exercise. That one is easy if you are coming to market. The winter market is located at the Port Moody rec centre. Take an exercise class, go for a skate, enjoy a workout or hike the nearby trails.
• Choose fruit. Harvey’s Orchard carries a great assortment of organically grown apples as well as apple chips and dried fruit. The soluble fibre found in apples can help keep cholesterol levels in check. Country Village Farm brings its frozen blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, which are perfect for making smoothies and stirring into muffin batter or yogurt. These berries are also beneficial for lowering cholesterol levels thanks to the high levels of the antioxidant anthocyanin.
• Choose veggies. While there is not a lot of fresh local produce available at this time of year, what is available is so good for you. NutriGreens brings baskets of fresh sprouts on a regular basis. If you are craving something green, this is for you. Microgreens can have up to 40 times more nutrients per serving than their full-grown counterparts. One vitamin, Vitamin K, is thought to assist in the prevention of calcification in the blood vessels. Then there are the beets. Forstbauer farms bring their organic beets to market every week. Beets are rich in nitrates, which the body converts to nitric oxide — a compound that relaxes and dilates blood vessels, turning them into superhighways for your nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood. That means better circulation, and possibly lower blood pressure.
• Eat more lean meat. This one is easy. Redl’s Beef, Rockweld Chicken and Wild Westcoast Seafoods all have a huge assortment of lean meats available. All of the proteins from these vendors are ethically raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free and amazing.
• Eat whole grains. A Bread Affair and Gesundheit Bakery have wonderful whole grain breads to increase your uptake. Gabi and Jules and Gesundheit both have artisan granola, and James Lewis Foods and Sweet Thea have granola bars.
• Add spice to your diet. Another easy market solution. Amazing Food make a huge assortment of spice blends. Some include turmeric and cinnamon, both of which are renowned for their heart health benefits. Samaya Delights makes wicked good turmeric muffins, Bobali Foods spices its tapenades and dips with garlic, pepper and turmeric, and Simply Delish also uses a wide array of lovely spices and herbs.
Even in winter it is easy to get healthy healing food at market.
Karen Curtis is the Lemonade Lady (www.kicslemonade.ca and kicslemonade.blogspot.ca) at the Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam farmers markets. Her column runs monthly.
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MASON BEE HOUSES
Mason bees are important pollinators in B.C. and building houses for them helps to keep them viable.
This Sunday, Feb. 19, Veronica Wahl from the Institute of Urban Ecology at Douglas College will teach participants about caring for mason bees as well as their importance in your backyard ecosystem.
Participants will walk away from the workshop with their own mason bee house for their backyards. Also included is a voucher to purchase cocoons to get started.
If you attend, bring an empty two-litre pop bottle or two-litre milk carton for the workshop and, because it will be held outside under a tent, dress for the weather. Workshop registrations are transferable, but non-refundable.
Cost is $20 per person. To register, go to eventbrite.ca and search “mason bee houses.”
Note: Next month’s workshop is all about starting a backyard garden so those little mason bees have somewhere to pollinate.
And now, the recipe:
ONE PAN CHICKEN & ROASTED VEGGIES
Preheat oven to 425 F.
8 chicken thighs
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp thyme
4 tbsp olive oil
Combine spices with olive oil in a glass bowl big enough to hold the chicken. Add the chicken to the mixture and massage into the chicken. Set aside. Then prep the veggies.
4 potatoes
4 small beets
4 carrots
2 onions
Peel all the veggies and cut them into bite-size pieces, keeping the beets separate. Remove the chicken from the marinade, saving the marinade in the bowl. Place chicken on a lined baking sheet. Toss the carrots, potatoes and onions in the marinade, taking care to coat them with the mixture. Remove them from the bowl using a slotted spoon and place them next to the chicken. Then toss the beets in the mixture. Remove the beets and place them in a row next to the other vegetables. (You can combine all the vegetables but you may end up with pink potatoes!) Place the sheet pan in the oven and roast for 30 minutes or so.
