In this issue:
Happy Valentine's Day
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Happy Valentine's Day
 Each
February, we celebrate a day of caring, love and romance.
It's Valentine's Day. On this day, it's traditional to
exchange greeting cards, gifts, flowers and candy with loved
ones.
The staff here at
Goodness Greeness would like to wish you a Happy Valentine's
Day.
While we can't help you
with the flowers or the candy (although we are available for
taste testing), we can help you prepare a special gift for
your loved ones.
Give a gift of love with
a romantic meal at home, using our featured items for this
week:
Organic
asparagus
Organic broccoli
Organic strawberries
We'll supply these
delicious and healthy ingredients, along with some ideas for
tantalizing recipes. We'll leave the rest to you.
About
Valentine's Day
The origin of Valentine's
Day is not clear. There are many legends, including
one of an imprisoned St. Valentine, who fell in love with
his jailer's daughter and secretly smuggled gifts to her.
What is clear though is
the popularity of this holiday:
According to
Hallmark, 192 million Valentine's cards were exchanged
in the US in 2004 (not counting electronic cards),
Candy sales
in the US in February topped $3 billion in 2004, and sixty
per cent of these involved chocolates (yes!),
A search of
Google or Yahoo returns thousands of references to
Valentine's Day, including many gift ideas and recipes.
Symbols of Valentine's
Day are widespread and familiar and have become icons of
romance, including roses, red scarves, lace and heart
shapes.
Another symbol of
Valentine's Day is the romantic, intimate meal - often at a
favorite restaurant. Those of you working hard to
improve your diet may not be able to find a restaurant menu
that is organic or low in saturated fats. Others may
prefer dining in the intimacy of your own home or apartment.
For you, we have these organic specials for your lovingly
prepared home meal.
Organic
asparagus
 This
week, we have a great supply of fresh, early season
asparagus from the Southwest. The color is rich and
the spears are tender, tasty and nutritious. (I had
some steamed several nights ago with a mild yogurt and mayo dip and
the flavor was outstanding).
Here are some fast facts
on asparagus:
1. We all think of
asparagus as green. But did you know that it is also
available in white or purple?
2. Asparagus is a
nutritional powerhouse. It is one of the most
well-balanced vegetables in existence, providing a wealth
and range of nutrients.
3. Asparagus is a good
source of fiber and a great source of folic acid (which,
among other things, is important in the prevention of liver
disease).
4. Asparagus is a very
versatile ingredient in your cooking. There are lots of ways
to prepare and serve asparagus.
You can find a nice
introduction to cooking with asparagus (plus a great chef
picture) at
vegetarian-fun.com.
Here are two creative
recipe ideas for healthy dishes using asparagus:
1. Fettuccine with
Dungeness crab and asparagus (from the
Oregonian)
2. Salmon and asparagus
in foil (from
Low Fat Cooking on About.com)
And finally, you have to
check out our Issue # 19 from last year on
Asparagus
Scoop.
Organic
strawberries
 We've
also had an unusually strong supply of early season organic
strawberries, also grown in the Southwest. They have
good size, great color and excellent flavor for early
strawberries.
Consider using fresh
organic strawberries as an alternative to candy in your
Valentine's Day menu.
Here's an interesting
fact - the US Census Bureau reports that the average yearly
consumption of candy for an adult in the US has plunged from
27 pounds in 1997 to 4 pounds in 2004.
Here are three fun ideas
for using strawberries in your Valentine's Day menu:
1. Start your day with a
strawberry smoothie.
2. Serve
Meringue nests with strawberries for a healthy dessert.
3. Surprise your
sweetheart with
chocolate dipped strawberries.
(You knew that we'd work
chocolate into this article somewhere, somehow). All
three of these ideas are from Low Fat Cooking on About.com.
Enjoy your Valentine's
Day and happy cooking with organics.
Contact
us
You can find
early season organic asparagus, broccoli and strawberries - along
with a broad selection of fresh organic
fruits and vegetables - from Goodness Greeness at your local market.
Email us
at
newsletter@goodnessgreeness.com if you can't find them and we'll help you
locate them.
Access
newsletters online
As you know if you've
been reading this weekly newsletter each week, there is a
lot of information provided on organic fruits and vegetables, their
nutritional qualities, availability, shopping and
preparation tips, as well as some recipes.
You can now access most of
the past issues of Organics for you on our web site (www.goodnessgreeness.com).
Click on the Newsletter link at the top of any page on the
site. There you'll find a quick index to most of the past
issues.
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