REAL Food Friday #28

Hello and Welcome to REAL Food Friday!
I'd like to thank all of the conscious bloggers who followed the guidelines and 
shared REAL FOOD recipes and posts. Thank you for sharing!

Are you growing your own veggies this year?

We'd like to hear from YOU!  Please feel free to share your organic, non-GMO gardening posts here @ Real Food Friday! 
Today I added a NEW page for my 2014 Planting Guide. 
Recent additions include:

March Seed Planting Guide by Region

Benefits of Lemonbalm, Basil and Borage

We're your hosts
Joyce @ It's Your Life
Lydia @ Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen 
me...Mary @ Back to the Basics and Mary's Kitchen
Deb @ Kneaded Creations 
Janine @ My Lamp is Full 
Also, please welcome Marla @ Organic4 Greenlivings 

<a href="http://maryshealthymeals.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a627/greenmary_smith/REALFood1_zpsb7242283.jpg"/></a>  
If you're interested in co-hosting let us know! 

You can email Mary at mari_backtonature@yahoo.com

Each host chooses their own features so be sure to hop around and see if you were featured.  There were SO MANY amazing links last week it was tough choosing.

My Feature:

Dark Hot Chocolate Shot from Raia's Recipe

In case you missed "What is Real Food" here's a recap...

I know "Real" food may not seem like as much fun as the sugary, chemically, DIY recipes out there on the internet.  This is why REAL Food Friday is so unique.  This is the place to share your unprocessed, gmo-free, locally grown and/or fair trade posts.

We are trying to make a difference 1 recipe at a time!
If your post includes items like *margarine, *granulated sugar, *food dye, packaged baking mixed with ingredients that you cannot pronounce (betty crocker, duncan hines, pillsbury) then it WILL be deleted.  These are garbage ingredients.  Sorry...Not real food.

Here's a great reference from Food Myths:
Do you ever think about how far the food you eat travels?  Who grew it?  Who picked it? How much in processing it's been through before you took a bite? Real Food is:
-Supports fair farmworker wages
-GMO Free
-Little to no processing/processed ingredients
-Supports local markets/vendors and isn't transported long distances to get to my plate
-Honors fair trade principles when I buy from othr regions
-Meat and dairy should be humanely raised and on real food themselves-Not genetically engineered feed, drugs, hormones and antibiotics.

Link up your Real Food posts!  Processed and "junk food" posts will be deleted.
The party runs from Thursday at 7pm EST through Monday at Noon.

Please follow your hosts and consider adding the Real Food Friday button.

FREE Heirloom SEEDS? Yes Please!

Our goal at Mary's Heirloom Seeds is to provide a trusted source for Heirloom, Non-GMO seeds!

Are you planting a garden this year?  We'd like to offer you FREE seeds!
That's not all...We also give you FREE Shipping!

Here's the scoop...

Shipping is always free on heirloom seeds!  Orders $35 or more are upgraded to Priority Mail at no extra charge.  Orders placed Monday thru Thursday ship within 24 hours, except for holidays.

Now...Here's the FREE stuff...Starting NOW and ending tomorrow night (March 5th) we are going to give you 
-1 free seed pack on orders $10 or more
-2 free seed packs on orders $36 or more
-2 free seed packs AND 12 coconut coir pellets on orders $50 or more

That's a HUGE DEAL!

Coconut Coir Pellets make seed starting easy!

All of the seeds listed at Mary's Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated, non-gmo and non-hybrid, non-patented,  untreated, heirloom garden seeds.
Mary has signed the Safe Seed pledge.  
 

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Eat more FRESH Produce! Find out Why

I love fresh produce!  Every day I find new and fun way to prepare.  I'll admit, we eat more cooked than raw but that's about to change!

From Farm Flavor:

Did you know the average American eats only one to two servings of vegetables per day, around five times below the recommended amount? To maintain proper health, men should eat up to nine servings per day, while women are encouraged to have at least seven daily servings. And it’s the veggie’s unique phytochemicals that promote our good health.

1. More Servings, More Benefits
   Eating fresh fruits and vegetables every day is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Research continues to show that many essential nutrients in fresh produce may protect you from cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, and they also give you more energy, help reduce weight gain and may even reduce the effects of aging.
2.  Mighty Phytochemicals
   Phytochemicals are powerful food factors that elicit profound effects on human health maintenance and disease prevention. Usually related to plant pigments, they are the reason we promote eating your colors. Yellow, orange, red, green and purple fruits and vegetables generally contain the most phytochemicals, with more than 900 found in plant foods.
3. Keep It Crunchy
   Once you cook produce, you quickly lose the beneficial qualities. If you want to cook your veggies lightly sauté or steam them – you want to keep them crispy and crunchy. Once veggies lose their crunch, they have also lost their nutritional value.
4. Growing Inspires Eating
   Gardening not only provides you with fresh fruits and vegetables, it also encourages you to eat them. Once you are blessed with a bushel basket of tomatoes, you will have newfound interest in finding recipes for tomatoes. What’s more, picking fresh produce from your garden is a great way to get children to eat fruits and vegetables. It is fun for them to pick their own lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers – and then eat them.

Dr. Sue Hamilton, director of the UT Gardens, writes the gardening column for Tennessee Home & Farm.

Health and Gardening

Not sure how to get started?  Need a bit of guidance? 

Marianne is hosting an Edible Gardening Workshop in our office

Thursday, March 13th at 6pm. 
2104 Tyler Street

Hollywood, FL 33020
This event is FREE.  Space is limited so please give us a call or send an email if you are interested in attending. 

Organic Serrano peppers and Basil

SPRING into Gardening GIVEAWAY with Mary!

Spring has Sprung and were all excited to DIG in and get gardening!

What is more fun this time of year than digging in the dirt...planting our seeds that we have carefully selected over the wintertime....Well...

How about a GIVEAWAY?!!

Take a break from the digging and the planting and the planning...Enter to win these great gifts from these amazing bloggers:

Angie @ Schneider's Peeps

The Gardening Notebook is a custom printable e-book to help you keep track of everything that is important to you in your gardening.

The more you add to it, the more you it becomes.

Mary @ Mary's Heirloom Seeds

The Family Garden Pack of Seeds

A great family or market garden pack. A variety of heavy producing seeds. Includes One packet of each:

-Pink Oxheart Tomato -Cal Wonder Bell Pepper -Golden Crookneck Squash -Crenshaw Melon -Calabrese Broccoli -German Giant Radish -Anaheim Pepper -Detroit Dark Red Beet -Marketmore Cucumber -New Jersey Wakefield Cabbage -Little Gem Lettuce

Janet @ Timber Creek Farm

Hydrofarm HGPP400 Precision Straight Blade Pruner

Surgical stainless steel Ultra light and ergonomic Ideal for cutting and trimming High quality springs Comes with holster

Annie @ Montana Solar Creations & Montana Homesteader

Set of 6 un-paper towels/cloth napkins from Montana Solar Creations.

This gardening set is made of one layer of colorful cotton and one layer of absorbent terry cotton.

 And ME...Kat @ Simply Living Simply

Gardening Planter-planted with gardening goodies:

Pink Gloves

Soil Test Kit

Gardeners Salve

Brown Sugar Lip Scrub

6 Packets of Seeds

1 Ceramic Garden Planter

Good Luck to everyone who enters..remember you can tweet about this giveaway daily for extra entries!

So DIG in and WIN these prizes!

This will be your best garden ever!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March Seed Starting Info by Region

Mary's Heirloom Seeds Newsletter MARCH Seed Planting Guide Quick Links Seeds of the Month Supplies Beans and Corn Heirloom Seeds Heirloom GREENS   Heirloom Peppers Heirloom Tomatoes Specialty Heirlooms HERBS Organic Wildflowers Seed Combo Packs Mary's Tincture Shop Garden Tips NEW!!!   Parsley-Giant of Italy    Red Romaine Lettuce  Chinese 5-Color Peppers Early Fortune Cucumber Clemson Spineless Okra Golden Beets European Mesclun Mix Sunday marks the beginning of March!  That means SPRING is right around the corner!  Below are suggestions for seed-starting in March by region.  You might be Seed Starting Indoors if it's still cold outside. We also have 7 NEW Heirloom Varieties available NOW! MARCH Seed Starting by Region GULF COAST  Beans, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Kale, Lettuce, Melons, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Radish, Radicchio, Spinach, Squash, Tomatoes, and Turnips. HERBS and Wildflowers! SOUTHWEST   Sow Outdoors: Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Chard, Corn, Eggplant, Lettuce, Melons, Pak Choy, Peppers, Radish, Spinach, Tomato and Watermelon.  Herbs: Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme.  Don't forget the Wildflowers! PACIFIC NORTHWEST Sow Indoors/Outdoors:  Artichoke, Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, Chard, Fava Bean, Kale, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Peas, Radicchio, Spinach and HERBS!    SOUTHERN INTERIOR  Sow Indoors: Broccoli, Cabbage, Celery, Swiss Chard, Eggplant, Endive, Fennel, Kale, Leek, Lettuce, Onions, Pak Choy, Peppers, Radicchio, Scallions, Tomatoes   Sow Outdoors: Arugula, Beets, Carrots, Asparagus, Collards, Endive, Lettuce, Pak Choy, Parsnips, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Radicchio, Sorrel, Spinach, Turnips, Herbs: Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Sage, Thyme and Wildflowers! CENTRAL MIDWEST  Sow Indoors: Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, celery, Chard, Eggplant, Kale, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Pak Choy, Peppers, Radicchio, Tomato, Chives, Fennel, Parsley, Oregano, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme.  Sow Outdoors: Arugula, Beets, Carrot, Lettuce, Pak Choy, Peas, Radish, Raddiccio, Spinach, Turnips, Outdoor Herbs: Cilantro and Parsley NORTH CENTRAL ROCKIES Sow Indoors: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Celery, Chard, Eggplant, Endive, Kale, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Peppers, Radicchio, Scallion, Spinach and Tomato. Indoor Herbs: Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme. MID-ATLANTIC  Sow Indoors: Broccoli, Cabbage, Celery, Swiss Chard, Eggplant, Endive, Kale, Leek, Lettuce, Onions, Pak Choy, Peppers, Radicchio, Tomato.  Indoor Herbs: Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage and Thyme. Sow Outdoors: Arugula, Beet, Carrot, Lettuce, Pak Choy, Peas, Radish, Radicchio, Sorrel, Spinach and Turnip.  Don't forget the Wildflowers! MARITIME CANADA & NEW ENGLAND Sow Indoors: Broccoli, Cabbage, Celery, Chard, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce Onions, Pepper, Radicchio, Spinach and Tomato.  Indoor Herbs:  Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme. Sow Outdoors: Carrots, Peas, Radish and Sorrel   HELPFUL LINKS: Growing Tomatoes from Seed to Harvest Organic DIY Pest Control Recipes Growing Peppers from Seed to Harvest All of the seeds listed are open-pollinated, non-gmo and non-hybrid,non-patented, untreated, heirloom seeds. Mary has signed the Safe Seed pledge.   Seed Orders placed Monday-Thursday are shipped within 24 hours, except for holidays.  Free Shipping on all Heirloom Seeds within the US!   There you have it!!!  What are YOU planting in March? -Mary                                      Mary's Heirloom Seeds Find us at the Yellow Green Farmer's Market Saturdays and Sundays from 8am-4pm

REAL Food Friday #27 link-up

Hello and Welcome to REAL Food Friday!
I'd like to thank all of the conscious bloggers who followed the guidelines and 
shared REAL FOOD recipes and posts. Thank you for sharing!

Are you growing your own veggies this year?

We'd like to hear from YOU!  Please feel free to share your organic, non-GMO gardening posts here @ Real Food Friday! 
Today I added a NEW page for my 2014 Planting Guide. 
Recent additions include:
Growing Eggplant from Seed to Harvest

 DIY Organic Pest Control Recipes and so much more!

We're your hosts
Joyce @ It's Your Life
Lydia @ Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen 
me...Mary @ Back to the Basics and Mary's Kitchen
Deb @ Kneaded Creations 
Janine @ My Lamp is Full 
Also, please welcome Marla @ Organic4 Greenlivings 

<a href="http://maryshealthymeals.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a627/greenmary_smith/REALFood1_zpsb7242283.jpg"/></a>  
If you're interested in co-hosting let us know! 

You can email Mary at mari_backtonature@yahoo.com

Each host chooses their own features so be sure to hop around and see if you were featured.  There were SO MANY amazing links last week it was tough choosing. Last week I had ZERO features because we were sick so I'm making up for it this week!

My Feature:

24 Hour Sourdough Starter from The Homestead in the Hills of Tennessee

Sage and Sausage Cauliflower Soup from Raia's Recipes

In case you missed "What is Real Food" here's a recap...

I know "Real" food may not seem like as much fun as the sugary, chemically, DIY recipes out there on the internet.  This is why REAL Food Friday is so unique.  This is the place to share your unprocessed, gmo-free, locally grown and/or fair trade posts.

We are trying to make a difference 1 recipe at a time!
If your post includes items like *margarine, *granulated sugar, *food dye, packaged baking mixed with ingredients that you cannot pronounce (betty crocker, duncan hines, pillsbury) then it WILL be deleted.  These are garbage ingredients.  Sorry...Not real food.

Here's a great reference from Food Myths:
Do you ever think about how far the food you eat travels?  Who grew it?  Who picked it? How much in processing it's been through before you took a bite? Real Food is:
-Supports fair farmworker wages
-GMO Free
-Little to no processing/processed ingredients
-Supports local markets/vendors and isn't transported long distances to get to my plate
-Honors fair trade principles when I buy from othr regions
-Meat and dairy should be humanely raised and on real food themselves-Not genetically engineered feed, drugs, hormones and antibiotics.

Link up your Real Food posts!  Processed and "junk food" posts will be deleted.
The party runs from Thursday at 7pm EST through Monday at Noon.

Please follow your hosts and consider adding the Real Food Friday button.

Spaghetti Squash Recipe Round-Up

We were super busy over the weekend at the farmer's market so I didn't get a chance to share all of these delicious recipes for homemade spaghetti squash.  Last week I shared How to Cook Spaghetti Squash.  Check out this recipe round-up!

Enjoy!

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Bake from Anne's Odds and Ends

Spaghetti Squash Pasta from Eclectic Recipes

Spaghetti Squash Pizza from this Beautiful Frugal Life

(I made something similar!)

Spaghetti Squash Salad from Asian Food Channel

As you can see, Spaghetti Squash is a versatile veggie.  This is a great way to cut out high carb/gluten pasta.  Try this next time you make a "pasta" dish and substitute spaghetti squash.  OR, Grow Your Own and save a ton of money!

REAL Food Friday #26 link party

Hello and Welcome to REAL Food Friday!
I'd like to thank all of the conscious bloggers who followed the guidelines and 
shared REAL FOOD recipes and posts. Thank you for sharing!
It's been a busy blogging week.  Check out:
 Dept of Defense: You're an "Extremist" if You Grow Food

Personally, I prefer "Rebel Gardener"

Do you Eat Dirt (And why you should)?

Mary's Seed of the Month Club 
 

AND...We have a winner for the "Family Garden Pack" and "Wild about Wildflowers" seed combo packs giveaway from Mary's Heirloom Seeds.  If you didn't win, you can still get your own heirloom seeds. Check out all of the amazing Heirloom, Non-GMO seeds!

We're your hosts
Joyce @ It's Your Life
Lydia @ Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen 
me...Mary @ Back to the Basics and Mary's Kitchen
Deb @ Kneaded Creations 
Janine @ My Lamp is Full 
Also, please welcome Marla @ Organic4 Greenlivings 

<a href="http://maryshealthymeals.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a627/greenmary_smith/REALFood1_zpsb7242283.jpg"/></a>  
If you're interested in co-hosting let us know! 

You can email Mary at mari_backtonature@yahoo.com

Each host chooses their own features so be sure to hop around and see if you were featured.  There were SO MANY amazing links last week it was tough choosing. Last week I had ZERO features because we were sick so I'm making up for it this week!

My Feature:

Lentil Quinoa Meatball Bolonese from Strength and Sunshine

I really want one of those spiralizers to make REAL food noodles!!!

In case you missed "What is Real Food" here's a recap...

I know "Real" food may not seem like as much fun as the sugary, chemically, DIY recipes out there on the internet.  This is why REAL Food Friday is so unique.  This is the place to share your unprocessed, gmo-free, locally grown and/or fair trade posts.

We are trying to make a difference 1 recipe at a time!
If your post includes items like *margarine, *granulated sugar, *food dye, packaged baking mixed with ingredients that you cannot pronounce (betty crocker, duncan hines, pillsbury) then it WILL be deleted.  These are garbage ingredients.  Sorry...Not real food.

Here's a great reference from Food Myths:
Do you ever think about how far the food you eat travels?  Who grew it?  Who picked it? How much in processing it's been through before you took a bite? Real Food is:
-Supports fair farmworker wages
-GMO Free
-Little to no processing/processed ingredients
-Supports local markets/vendors and isn't transported long distances to get to my plate
-Honors fair trade principles when I buy from othr regions
-Meat and dairy should be humanely raised and on real food themselves-Not genetically engineered feed, drugs, hormones and antibiotics.

Link up your Real Food posts!  Processed and "junk food" posts will be deleted.
The party runs from Thursday at 7pm EST through Monday at Noon.

Please follow your hosts and consider adding the Real Food Friday button.