Newsletter Archive

• 3 large Fuji apples (peeled, cored & sliced)
• 1 Tbs. of lemon juice
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 ½ Tbs. butter
• 1 ½ Tbs. maple syrup
• 4 whole wheat tortillas
• cooking spray

1. Place the apples, lemon juice and cinnamon in a bowl and toss.

2. Melt butter in a skillet on medium heat.

3. Add the apple mixture, cover, and cook on medium heat until apples are tender.

4. Stir in the maple syrup and set aside.

5. Lightly spray (or oil) skillet and place on high heat. Place a tortilla on the skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes--until light brown. Flip over and cover half of the tortilla with the apple mixture.

6. Cook for another minute until crisp.

7. Fold tortilla in half. Serve as is or sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar or serve with vanilla frozen or fresh yogurt.

Makes 4 servings

• 4 bananas
• 2 cups fresh or frozen berries
• ½ cup roasted almonds, chopped
• 6 oz. dark semisweet chocolate

5. To arrange the dessert, place ¼ cup of berry puree on a plate. Arrange the banana pieces in the center of the puree. Drizzle chocolate over the top of the banana and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Makes 4 servings

• 1 ½ cup unbleached flour

• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• ½ tsp. baking soda

• 3/4 cup sugar

• ½ cup vegetable oil

• 1 cup decaffeinated coffee

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

2. Spray or oil an 8” square pan and dust with cocoa.

3. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and sugar.

4. In another bowl, combine the vegetable oil, coffee and vanilla.

5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.

6. Add vinegar and stir until just blended, do not over mix.

7. Pour batter into baking pan.

8. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve plain or sift a small amount of powdered sugar on top. (For a fancy design, sift through a doily.)

The Childhood Obesity Crisis, Laptop Lunches, and You!

Submitted by Bruce Brinker of SunRidge Farms

One does not need to look far to see or hear news stories relating to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. Our nightly news, major magazines and newspapers are now all reporting on the latest findings related to the crisis. Some of the more recent stories have centered on the alarming fact that this generation of children may quite possibly be the first that WILL NOT out-live their parents' generation!

One leading cause of the obesity epidemic is poor eating habits. Many of the poor eating habits can be attributed to the marketing and accessibility of junk food to our children. These poor eating habits are not only lending themselves to the obesity epidemic, but are also leading to increases in obesity related illness and chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Other effects of eating a poor diet of non-nutritious and nutrient deficient junk food include the inability to study, to concentrate and to learn, along with discipline challenges.

The question is asked, "So what can a parent do?" We must first offer that ALL LEARNING begins in the home. It is the examples that are set and enforced daily that will allow your children to hopefully make smart choices when the enter school and begin to make choices for themselves. These examples can be traced to the very first "adult" food children are given from infancy. And it is our duty as parents to realize that even though we may be busy and are doing the best we can, cutting corners and choosing prepackaged foods may only be helping ourselves in the short term. However, in light of the current obesity crisis, cutting those corners may be setting the stage for possible long term and possibly irreversible obesity and obesity related illness and disease.

One solution to choosing healthy and nutritious foods, including snack items, is to shop in the bulk food isle at your natural foods store. By choosing natural and organic products, you will be choosing foods that are free of preservatives, pesticides, dyes and food coloring, which are now being shown to adversely affect children--even more so than adults. The symptoms can range from allergies, auto-immune illnesses, attention and learning challenges as well as chronic disease. Natural and organic foods in most instances will not have added fats and sugars, which lead to obesity, diabetes and obesity-related illnesses. These foods may appear at times to have a higher amount of fat or sugar than highly processed commercial foods, but it is important to not confuse naturally occurring fats and sugars that can be easily digested, assimilated and used by growing and ACTIVE bodies.

SunRidge Farms is a manufacturer of high quality natural and organic foods that can be found in your bulk isle. SunRidge Farms is committed to offering a complete line of certified organic and naturally grown nuts and seeds, dried fruits, grains, beans, and snack mixes. Our goal is to offer ecologically respectful, highest quality and optimally fresh foods to the community at reasonable cost. It is our desire to create a winning link between consumers, retail stores, farmers and suppliers. The SunRidge Farms natural and organic products embrace contemporary concerns about farming practices, manufacturing processes, freshness, packaging, proper nutrition and respect for our bodies and the earth.

It is these aspects that make the SunRidge Farms natural and organic foods the perfect foods to be packing in your Laptop Lunches - for school, work, summer camp, plane and automobile travel, picnics, trips to the park and other summer outings.

At SunRidge Farms, we are working closely with Obentec to provide parents with the tools to pack these healthy meals and snacks for your personal and your children's on the go lifestyle. SunRidge Farms has agreed to provide a free package of trail mix to the first 48 Laptop Lunch customers who order online during the month of May!

For more information on the SunRidge Farms product line, or to find out where you can purchase SunRidge Farm products in your area, please visit our Web site at www.sunridgefarms.com.

Yard Sale Strategies

Holding a yard sale is a great way to de-clutter and get rid of those unwanted items you have laying around. Get other families in your neighborhood involved, and you'll not only increase your sales, but you'll have more fun too! Here are some tips for making it a success:

• BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED AND DON'T NEED. When you're looking for yard sale items around the house, ask yourself these questions about each item: Is this important to me? When was the last time I used it? Will someone else be able to use it more than I will? If it's not important to you and is rarely used, put it in the yard sale pile.
  
  
• ADVERTISE. Place a classified ad in your local newspaper. If you have more than one family participating, be sure to mention that you're holding a multi-family yard sale. Post large flyers around the neighborhood. Tell all your friends. Put up flyers at school, work, and other places you frequent. Post an announcement online. Craig's List at www.craigslist.com is a great place to start.
  
  
• MAKE SURE YOUR ITEMS ARE CLEAN. Customers prefer buying items that are clean and look well cared for. They may be willing to pay a higher price too.
  
  
• HANG CLOTHES. If you can hang your clothes, your customers will be able to see what you've got.
  
  
• MAKE SURE ALL ITEMS ARE VISIBLE. If customers can't see your stuff, they can't buy it.
  
  
• GET THE KIDS INVOLVED. Kids love to sell lemonade, slices of watermelon, or homemade cookies. This is a great way to get them involved--though don't be surprised if they consume more than your customers do!
  
  
• DONATE THE LEFTOVERS. When the sale is over, donate what's left to a local charity. Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and www.throwplace.com are all great options.

Are you concerned about mercury, PCBs and other contaminants in the seafood you eat? Learn which types of fish are considered "Eco-best" and "Eco-worst" at www.oceansalive.org. Download their handy pocket seafood selector and take it with you to seafood stores and restaurants. You'll also find a buying guide, sustainable recipes, and fish consumption advisories. The following is a list of substitutions they recommend.

• Substitute wild Alaskan salmon for farmed salmon. (Atlantic salmon in US stores and restaurants is always farmed.)
• If you live in New England and want to serve cod, serve hook-caught instead of trawl-caught Atlantic cod. If you live on the West Coast, sablefish/black cod is a good replacement.
• Farmed striped bass can be used as a substitute for many species of depleted fish such as Pacific rockfish, groupers, snappers, orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish (often called Chilean seabass).
  
• Catfish can also be substituted for orange roughy.
• For meaty warm-water fish like grouper, try mahimahi instead.


• Most shrimp production outside the US entails considerable habitat destruction or bycatch. If you want to serve shrimp, California trap-caught spot prawns (also excellent frozen) and northern pink shrimp from Newfoundland are the best choices.


• Dredging or dragging for shellfish can damage the sea floor habitat. Replace dredged mussels, oysters and scallops with farmed shellfish raised off-bottom on ropes or racks.
• US Farmed crawfish make an excellent and less expensive replacement for spiny lobsters, which are overfished in many places.