Black Bean Veggie Patties - Jersey Fresh recipe

Ingredients:

• Canned black beans
• Green pepper
• Onion
• Garlic cloves
• Egg
• Chili powder
• Bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste 

Recipe link: https://findjerseyfresh.com/JerseyFresh/recipes/black-bean-veggie-patties

For gluten-free, simply use GF breadcrumbs! Enjoy!

Lentils, Beans and Peas in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Legumes - Plant-based Protein

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are underway! Nutrition experts on the DGA Advisory Board have been busy over the past few years with researching the updates that aim to promote better health to prevent disease. The DGA gets updated every five years by the US government's Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture. Public comments have already been received. In fact, they received the most comments ever so far in DGA history with greater than 9,900 comments to date. Another public comment period is still open until February 10, 2025.

At the DGA last recorded meeting in 2024, the nutrition team were discussing considerations for reclassification of beans, lentils and peas from the vegetable subgroup to either their own category or perhaps to the protein food group. Personally, I think the shift to the protein food group in MyPlate would be good because it will highlight plant-based protein options. 

Legumes like beans, lentils and peas are full of vitamins and minerals, especially iron, zinc, potassium, folate and dietary fiber. Legumes are also known to be sustainable foods, which is helpful for the environment; a win for public health and a win for the planet!

Below is a video about the many varieties of lentils that can add nutrition to your meals.

#haveaplant

 

Related Links

Scientific Report of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines

How to Cook Lentils

Nutrition benefits of Peas 

Power Packed Proteins all about Beans

Blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Secondary Research Study of Prediabetes in Adolescents and Sugary Drinks...

Easy steps to make a Veggie Quesadilla

Debunking the paleo diet | Christina Warinner | TEDxOU #gardencuizine

Health at Every Size video essay

Celebrate Diversity!

I hope you are all doing well! It has been a long time since I've posted. I've been quite busy between work and graduate school. Yes, I'm back in school at my old age! I'm working to get my Masters of Science in Applied Nutrition by next summer. Learn, learn, learn until it is time to retire. 

I'm inspired by Harry, Mom (RIP...), colleagues, and my Rowan graduate students. Students in Cohort 4 are busy learning in their clinical rotations now in their supervised practice. I'm very happy to see them building on their dietetics knowledge base and wish them all the best.

Our beautiful gardens are wrapping up with colorful fall blooming asters and goldenrod. We didn't have very many monarch caterpillars or butterflies this season. Overall less bugs of every kind. There were smells of pesticides at times during the summer. Sigh.... We have lots of native plants for pollinators here too. I hope people don't use as much pesticide sprays next season. 

Anyway, this post is to share my latest video creation on Health at Every Size®. It is only 3-minutes if you have time to take a look.

Health at Every Size® (HAES) is a non-diet approach to health and wellness. It promotes acceptance of all body shapes and sizes. Weight stigma and bias can be harmful to all ages, especially children. HAES promotes intuitive eating instead of weight management.

Over the years, as an outpatient clinical dietitian, I've experienced many adults and children crying in my office over their body weight. Weight shaming by family, friends and/or the public weighs heavy on their hearts and minds and can be hurtful, especially to children. 

HAES is controversial, especially for healthcare professionals. What do you think about this topic? Should society and healthcare professionals try and shift from weight management to health promotion?

Thanks for watching!

Related Links

Association for Size Diversity and Health 

Today's Dietitian article

Blog post and video (C)Copyright Wind. All rights reserved.

 

Make Every Bite Count with The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025

How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli #GardenCuizine

Kayaking lesson in NJ Pinelands with Harry! @PinesAdventures @PinesAlliance #fun #physicalactivity

Smile Harry!

Harry and I learned basic kayaking skills in an introductory 3-hour class yesterday hosted by Pinelands Adventures in Shamong, NJ. No one in our group tipped over. If we can do it, you can do it! The weather was perfect too, as you can see in the photos. For us, this great outdoor activity was even a better workout than canoeing.

We decided to try kayaking since our canoe is too big for some of the twisting and turning rivers here in NJ. A smaller, 8-13 foot kayak can better maneuver than a 16.5 foot canoe.

Before we began, as with any outdoor sport in the summer, we made sure to start with eating a hearty breakfast. We took our hiking water bottles filled with plenty of fresh water to stay hydrated in the hot afternoon sun. We also packed bananas for a healthy snack along with good 'ol PB and J for lunch. 

Here is a really short video clip that I took during a break while floating on the water. There were songbirds, turtles and lots of yellow blooming water lilies.

We practiced our newly learned paddle strokes on Paradise lake, a calm, quiet and peaceful, private lake that was once a cranberry bog. Special thanks to John Volpa for teaching us.
 
This was our third event at Pinelands Adventures. We look forward to going back for more fun and adventures. Maybe our next trip will be a self-guided kayak paddling trip.

Photos, video and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Healthy Kids Snacks educational story video #GardenCuizine @CUMaurice #eaglesknowbest #preventdiabetes

Provide Kids Healthy Snacks to Prevent Childhood Obesity and Diabetes

Over the past few years New Jersey's endangered American Bald Eagles have made a strong return, especially in South Jersey, not too far from where I work in Cumberland county. 

American Bald Eagles get illustrated in story telling and are the symbol of strength and power featured in designs on the US National seal, passports and money.

The recovering Bald Eagle population is wonderful news. Especially for bird watching enthusiasts, biologists and environmentalists who knew that Eagles had rapidly declined after pesticide use of DDT in the 1950's through 1972 when it was finally banned. 

According to Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, there was only one Eagle's nest left in NJ by1982. Since then a lot of people have worked hard to save the American Eagle from extinction.

Today, majestic Bald Eagles can be seen soaring throughout the state of NJ, usually near water. The majority fly near their huge nests, built in tall trees, along the Delaware Bay in Salem and Cumberland counties. Eagles lay their eggs right now, from mid February to early March.

Harry and I were thrilled to tour that beautiful area with the group Citizens United Maurice River. The winter morning we went was misty and cold. As we looked across the wetlands, three, white, mute swans photo-bombed my attempt at photographing Eagles! That photo turned out to be one of my favorite pictures, "Misty Mute Swans Soaring South Jersey Wetlands."

Anyway, the CDC story below caught my attention since it includes a wise Eagle. It is taken from one of a series of Eagle books written by Georgia Perez. She features Native American children (who have high risk for diabetes), Miss rabbit, a tricky coyote and a wise Bald Eagle. 

• Mr. Eagle encourages the children to drink water instead of soda and to select healthy snacks like carrots and cherries instead of chips and cookies.

• Eating a healthy diet along with exercise has been shown to help prevent childhood obesity and related diseases like diabetes.

• Bald Eagles know best about good snack choices. We can all learn skills from Mr. Eagle on how to better navigate the environment when others (coyotes) tempt us with tricky treats.

This story inspires me to inquire about being a vendor at the Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival next February in 2020. Keep learning about Eagles and the importance of protecting their habitat. And, remember that healthy food choices help to prevent childhood obesity and diabetes.

Related Links
Conserve Wildlife Endangered Species

Blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved. Tricky Treats video story illustrations are by Patrick Rolo and Lisa A. Fifield. United States Seal image courtesy of Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Today in our Garden #GardenCuizine #stormrecovery #NJ #gardenchat celebrating #nomorewetsnow

Fallen Garden for Wildlife post with sign and birdhouse after Winter Nor'easter

Today in Our Garden

South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

The sound of chain saws still echo throughout our neighborhood. We've been dragging fallen tree limbs to the curb every chance we get. Yesterday was no exception. The recovery from the damaging NJ Winter Nor'easters will still take us some time. 

Piles of tree trunks and limbs can be seen in front of just about every house. The mounds are piled high and look like beaver damns!

Piles of white pine limbs throughout our hummingbird garden

Luckily, we didn't have any limbs fall on our house, so for that we feel blessed. 

During the last storm, at the exact time, both Harry and I watched the heavy weight of the wet snow slowly tip over our entrance arbor! Right before our eyes the metal completely bent and collapsed. In the video below you can see the arbor (at the beginning) full of wet snow before it went down. And, near the end of the video, you can hear the horrible cracking of the pines.

Harry cut apart the arbor's metal. And, I pruned away the vines leaving the roots and about 4 or 5 feet of stalks. A fragrant Jasmine and clematis were well established on that arbor. It was sad dragging away the chopped off remains to the curb. Now, it looks so bare. 

On a positive note, Harry may try to custom build us a replacement arbor. I found a plan online for one that he may use.

Meanwhile, Spring has sprung! Hyacinths are blooming, Daffodils are up, even the first dandelions are blooming. Lots of green growth can be seen on shrubs now.

Inside we have lots of coleus cuttings and veggie seedlings. We are growing salvias and heirloom tomatoes as usual. And, a few new things, including Rutabaga and Purple Peacock open-pollinated broccoli. What are you growing?

I'm not happy with the soil mix I'm using for the seedlings. The soils today all have moisture crystals added, which keeps the soil too moist for seedlings. If I don't water enough, the soil becomes the opposite extreme - dry and hard - and the seedlings die. 

Before these types of soil mixes, I never had this problem. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear what works best for you.

Over-wintered indoors:

Avocado * Bay Laurel * Coffee

Our Avocado tree is growing well in a large pot. It even bloomed this winter! Just one bloom and it didn't last, but none-the-less, it was exciting to see.

Potted next to the Avocado tree stands a tall bay leaf tree. Bay Laurel grows well in a pot and is one of my favorite kitchen garden plants.

A small coffee plant from a plant swap a few years ago will finally be transplanted soon. If only we had a greenhouse.

Stevia

We keep a pot of Stevia on our deck during the summer. At the end of the season I take the pot inside and let the seeds fall from the dead stems. The Stevia regrows right in the same pot every year. 

The new growth looks a bit straggly now, but will perk up and bloom in summer once we put the pot back outside when the weather warms.

Happy Spring and Happy Gardening!
Blog post, photos and video (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Farm-to-Table Cranberry Farming video #GardenCuizine #cranberrybogs #cranberries @pinesadventures @pinesalliance

New Jersey
Farm-to-Table
Cranberry Farming
Video

As you know from my previous blog post, we recently explored a NJ cranberry bog with Pinelands Adventures. Harry and I toured just a small portion of Quoexin Cranberry Company's 1,000 acre farm. You may enjoy this video by SavetheSource.org, which features the fourth-generation cranberry farm owner, Tom Gerber, talking about his background and historic family farm. 

Farmer Gerber is dedicated to growing cranberries and educating people about the importance of agriculture and water preservation in the NJ Pinelands.
Blog post Copyright (C) Wind. All rights reserved. Video by SavetheSource.org.

5th Annual Cape May Dragon Boat Race 2016 #capemay #dragonboatrace @letsmove #paddle

Hooked on Paddling!
Cape May Dragon Boat Race 2016 

Back in the day, I enjoyed paddling at Boat House Row in Philly and racing my Sunfish sail boat at Cooper River Yacht Club and in the International Sunfish Class Association races. Dragon boat racing is a whole new ball game that depends on timing, technique and teamwork sync and coordination. It's all about the team vs a solo venture. I knew when I got an email of a team forming at work, this was something I wanted to try. 

Inspira Health Network took home 2 medals for 1st and 3rd at Cape May's annual Dragon Boat Festival, which was held September 24th. Traveling teams came from all over, including the University of Maryland and the Philadelphia Police Dragon Boat Team, who won 1st place overall.

Inspira entered two dragon boats with 3 heats (races) planned. And, it just so happened it was my birthday weekend!

We decided to stay overnight and took Mom with us.

Dragon boats have a drummer who sits up front to set the pace and a helmsman who steers. This year was unusual - boat captains were given special instructions: 1) to forgo the traditional, festive dragon boat heads and tails; 2) to not use a drummer and 3) to reduce boat weight even further by cutting back to 16 people vs the usual 18 to 20 people per boat. 
       
Weather conditions were less than ideal. We experienced heavy winds, which made the harbor choppy, splashing water up over the sides and into the long boats. The Coast Guard assisted in bailing water out of our boats just before launching us off the beach.  

As my team stood on the beach waiting our turn watching the end of the previous race, we were surprised to watch a boat fill with water and sink below the water surface! That team managed to stick together, holding on to their boat as they drifted back to shore. 

We got in our boat and set off as waves washed over the gunnels. Luckily, the water was warm. After our winning race, it was disappointing, but not a surprise, that the 24-mph winds caused a race delay followed by cancellation of the remaining races. 
The conditions reminded me of the overcast, windy, rough bay with white caps at the Sunfish North American Championships with Derrick Fries on a megaphone shouting directions when I raced at Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association in Delaware back in 1987. Nothing like dating myself... but, I'll never forget it. I never sailed so fast in all my life! I was on a high for days after that event. 

Now, I'm hooked on paddling and am proud that I was able to participate and be part of Inspira Dragons. 

Harry made the above video that features Inspira Dragon's 2nd wet practice at Harbor View Marina and our boat taking first place! We wore blue T-shirts - I was in the last seat in the back right of boat #3.

The wheelchair we snagged at a yard sale came just in time to give Mom a tour around Cape May. 

On our way home we visited Cape May Lighthouse. I loved spotting a few migrating monarch butterflies, and Mom loved the Lighthouse; but I'm sure 'Ole Barney' is still her favorite.  

We also traveled to Cape May Point. Harry guided Mom to a bench on Sunset Beach while he reminisced of family visits to look at the concrete ship USS Atlantis. I remembered when my Dad was alive and my sister and I were kids collecting Cape May Diamonds...

See you again soon Cape May!

Related Links
Cape May Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat History
Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Bad Kitty! Noooo biting the Church Village under the tree! #feralcats #cats @meowmix

Feline Fright Under Our 

Christmas Tree!

This should be a commercial for Meow Mix® Irresistibles!

Merry Christmas!

Turkeys in our Backyard #WildlifeGarden Certified Wildlife Habitat #NJ #gardenchat

Make your own biodegradable Newspaper Pots for Seed Starting #GardenCuizine #GoGreen @SNAP_Ed

Do It Yourself Video
for making Newspaper Pots 

for Seed Starting

Last week I was sorry to miss a guest speaker at the Family Success Center of Vinelands Eat Clean and Green Event. Susan McKenna from NJ SNAP-Ed Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County taught families how to make their own newspaper pots to start seeds in. I've been gardening for years, but never tried to make my own FREE biodegradable pot until today. 

Gardening objects of any kind always catch my attention. As I walked to my office within Family Success, there leaning against the Program Coordinators door, was a tray of leftover newspaper pots from their class. She kindly gave me a few to take home to try and figure out how they were made. Before I took them apart I Googled the topic and came across this video.

After watching the video I could tell that this was just what I was looking for: directions on how to make newspaper pots for seeds. The best part about these newspaper pots is that they do not require using any tape or staples to hold them together. You definitely do not want staples in your garden dirt!

When I watched the video a second time, I paused it at the beginning when he tells the dimensions. The square pots are about 2 3/4-inches wide and 3-inches deep, exactly the size of my samples.
 
Now came the time to try making one myself. I got a few pieces of our local Burlington County Times newspaper and cut it in half following the video. The nice part is that you can pause it along the way as needed while following along with his directions.  ...Then sure enough, as mom would say when it was finished, "Ta-da!" My first newspaper pot was finito.

The pots can now be filled with dirt and seeds. And, when Mother's Day comes, the danger of frost will be gone and the whole pot with the seedlings can be planted directly into the garden or wherever the plants are desired to go.

Gardening Kids
Kids and families are guaranteed to enjoy this fun garden project.

Happy Gardening!
Blogpost and photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

RIP Dr. Annemarie Colbin @naturalgourmet #GardenCuizine

Dr. Annemarie Colbin passed away today...

Back in the 80's, my mother and I operated a well-known health food store and 60-seat restaurant in South Jersey - Garden of Eden Natural Foods and Country Kitchen, Inc. We were pioneers for organic and natural, whole foods even before the arrival of Fresh Fields on the East Coast, which was eventually acquired by Whole Foods Market. 

To this day we have life long friends made from customers and employees of the business. One thing that I will forever remember is the car loads of organic produce that I picked up in person (with my dog Aspen) from Albert's Organics (at the time Albert and his wife were working there) in Kennett Square, PA. 

Back in those days, Annemarie Colbin was very well known to me, my staff and customers. We sold all her books and were familiar with her recipes and teachings. Her culinary school Facebook page announced tonight that she just passed away. I don't have any other information other than that. 

Annemarie founded the Natural Gourmet Culinary school in NY in 1977, which has grown over the years and is well known by members of the Academy of Nutrition and by vegetarians and people looking to learn more about healthy cooking with whole foods.

This video from a few years ago highlights some of Dr. Colbin's recommendations for a healthy diet and lifestyle. What she says makes sense.



Related Links
Books by Annemarie Colbin
In Loving Memory of Annemarie Colbin

Black Bears in South Jersey @NWF cheers to Coexisting with Wildlife!

Our Yard is a 

Certified Habitat for Wildlife

Black Bears are Wild all right

Black bears are expected in the Adirondack Mountains in New York, and in areas of Northern New Jersey, but in South Jersey backyards? Last year was the first time I thought about black bears in New Jersey after we had a bear cut through our yard! The police shouted through their mega phones to Harry and me, "Get in the house, a bear is in your yard!" 

Today, since we've had another black bear strolling around the corner here in Mt. Laurel, NJ the past few days, it seems appropriate to post this video about black bears in the Garden State. For communities to coexist with bears, education is key. Check out the below video to learn more about black bears. 

Remember, feeding black bears is illegal in NJ and NY. We let our bird feeders go empty during these past few days with the bear in town.



Related Links
Living with Black Bears
Certified Wildlife Habitat

Growing your own potatoes #GardenCuizine #organic

Planting Seed Potatoes

For years we've been growing our own potatoes. Although we've been getting decent harvests out of a single raised bed for a family of 3, we recently learned that by "hilling" the potato plants we could yield even more potatoes. 

Start with quality seed potatoes. We ordered ours from Wood Prarie Farm, a family farm,  located in Maine. Today, I planted out a 1/2 raised bed of Butte organic potatoes. They were planted in a trench about 6 inches deep. We don't have a lot of space to plant them 12 inches apart so they were placed 4-6-inches apart. The trench was then partially filled in with 1-inch of soil to cover the potato pieces. As the potatoes grow, the soil will be filled in a few times until it is mounded - called "hilling."

Before planting, the potatoes were cut in half leaving eye(s) in each chunk. This is another step that we've never done in the past. We've always planted the whole potato thinking that is what you were supposed to do. It worked for us, but for an even greater yield this time we are cutting the seed potatoes first as shown in the below video.

Check back in about 4-weeks or so for follow-up photos of our hilling process. We have to wait until the plants grow to at least 5-6-inches tall.

I found this gardening video helpful on how to plant seed potatoes:

Related Links
Wood Prairie Farm Organic Potato Growing Guide 
Photos and blog post Copyright (C) 2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Save some of your open-pollinated, heirloom tomato seeds #sustainable #GardenCuizine

Saving Tomato Seeds

     As the Jersey tomato season moves into fall, before eating the last of your favorite open-pollinated, heirloom tomatoes, don't forget to save some seeds for next years planting. Saving tomato seeds is easy. Across the internet you can find posts on saving tomato seeds. Fermentation is a tried and true way to save tomato seeds while destroying pathogens that may be present on the seeds. I first learned about it on Dave's Garden. 

     At a spring plant swap, I agreed to save seeds from Goldman's Italian American tomatoes in exchange for the plant, so they are the first seeds to be collected today. I've seen some people put the whole tomato in a container and squish away to release the seeds. That's fine if it is a cherry tomato or small size tomato, but what if it is a large tomato? Why waste it all? 

     To save seeds from large open-pollinated, non-hybrid tomatoes, select the best tomato. Cut into the tomato and look for chamber areas where the most seeds are located. Trim away the non-seedy parts and save those tomato portions in a baggie to enjoy later in salsa, salads, or on sandwiches. The remaining parts with seeds can be scraped into a storage container with water. 

Help to preserve the genetic diversity of heirloom plants
Become a tomato seed saver - try the fermentation method

• Put tomato chunks with the seeds you want to save into a storage container. Add water and break up large pieces with your hands if necessary.
• Set the container aside, somewhere out of the way, to ferment. 
• After a few days the water will start to get stinky and cloudy. A mass of gunk will form a raft and float on the top. 
• The size of the floating gunk raft will depend on how much tomato mush was in the water to start. I don't expect to get much from the container shown in the photo. After a week or so, gently pour off the top gunk and some of the murky water - leaving the seeds and some water in the bottom of the container. 
• Add fresh water, give it a swirl, and slowly pour off the top water layer, leaving the seeds settled on the bottom. A few 'bad' seeds may float to the top. It is okay to get rid of those seeds. Repeat until the water runs clear. 
• Once clear, drain the seeds and water into a colander. 
• Dump the seeds onto a paper plate to drain. Try and spread them out with your hands so they are not in a clump.
• Air dry for a few days in a protected area. 
• When completely dry, scrape the seeds into airtight baggies: label, trade, share, save and plant next season. 

Related Video and Links
Fermenting Tomato Seeds Diary by a Dave's Garden member 
Become a Seed Saver
How to Save Heirloom Tomato Seeds 
Tomato Seed Fermentation
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.