VideoTomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash or all of the above?

We have the basics of apartment gardening down and still need to decide what to grow.

When most people start their urban garden, they have visions of growing tomatoes, cucumbers and so many other vegetables. Then the reality sets in when tomatoes start dying and cucumbers shrivel up. Not to worry. I’ll help you to figure out which vegetables to choose.

For instance, one of the biggest mistakes that people make is planting a vegetable such as tomatoes in a spot that doesn’t get enough sunlight for them to grow.

In this video you will learn common vegetables to grow based on the amount of sun your garden gets.

If you are not sure how to tell how much sunlight your garden space gets, check out this post that I wrote about the process.

And if you feel like it, share how much sun your garden gets and what you are planning to grow in the comments below.

Mike Lieberman shows people with little to no land how to start growing their own food so they can avoid toxic pesticides, eat healthier and not feel limited by their lack of experience and space. Connect with him here to learn more urban gardening tips.

Image: tillwe

ColumnTricking your children into eating their veggies presents an ethical and culinary dilemma.

Several years ago, Jessica Seinfeld (or as she is more commonly known, “that woman who married Jerry Seinfeld”) was involved in a messy court battle over a book she had written. Another author, Missy Chase Lapine, had just written a cookbook that advocated “hiding” nutritious vegetables in kid-friendly foods (pureed yams in yellow cake, for instance), thereby tricking children into ingesting small amounts of fiber-rich tubers, as well as other veggies. Seinfeld came out with a similar book around the same time and Lapine accused her of ripping off the concept.

The case against Seinfeld was found to be baseless and her book went on to become a huge success, far outselling the book already published by Lapine – a writer who had the bad luck not to be married to America’s favorite funnyman.

But while these ladies were duking it out in court, I couldn’t help feeling that there was something unseemly about two accomplished and well-heeled women fighting over a concept that boils down to lying to six-year-olds about what’s in their food. No matter who thought of it first, the whole idea behind Seinfeld’s book, Deceptively Delicious, seemed flawed, not to mention slightly immoral.

Besides the inherent ethical issues of deceiving one’s offspring, the problem with tricking children into eating vegetables is that they will grow up completely unaware that they have ever eaten or enjoyed a vegetable. If you steam, strain and puree spinach only to hide it in brownies, your kid will have no idea that he likes spinach – he will only know that he likes brownies. With childhood obesity at epidemic levels, do we really want to push more desserts on impressionable young people?

And how much nutritional value is ultimately is being gained by all this deception? Seinfeld’s Trojan Horse brownie recipe calls for half a cup of spinach in a recipe that will yield 12 brownies. Do the math and you’ll  find that each brownie contains one third of an ounce of spinach. Is it really worth all that steaming, pureeing and trickery – not to mention mucking up a perfectly nice pan of baked goods – to yield such a negligible serving of greens? Wouldn’t you be better off just trying to get your kid to actually eat some spinach? Or else openly and honestly giving him a Flintstone’s multivitamin and calling it a day?

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I was not even a little bit successful at getting my own kids to eat produce when they were young – a maternal shortcoming that caused me a great deal of guilt and shame. My son, when he was three years old, made my failings in this department all too public when he pointed to a fruit basket in a store window and yelled, “What’s that stuff?” (This from a child who, even as a toddler, could distinguish a Lorna Dune from a Nilla Wafer at 40 paces.) So maybe it wouldn’t have killed me to be a little more aggressive in getting my kids to eat healthier.

I must also admit that I have, at times, been intentionally and flagrantly dishonest with my children. My husband and I, on several occasions, taught our baby daughter the wrong words for certain things, just to see how long it would take her to figure out the deception. My only defense is that we were young and sleep-deprived, and we thought it would be an interesting social experiment. Also, we found it amusing as hell.

Ironically, one of the words we messed around with at the time was “broccoli,” which we taught my daughter to call “dumplings,” (inspired no doubt by the fact that both of those foods could be found in our usual Chinese takeout order). Looking back on this parental deception, my daughter has let me know that she thinks her father and I were massive tools – she also thinks she might be owed some kind of monetary reparation. To this day she will spear herself a forkful of broccoli, glare at me and hiss, “dumplings indeed.” On the bright side, however, she is 18 years old and eats her vegetables without needing to have them boiled and mashed and hidden in chocolate pudding. Jessica Seinfeld’s children may not be so lucky.

Susan Goldberg is a slightly lapsed treehugger. Although known to overuse paper products, she has the best of intentions – and a really small SUV. Catch her column, The Goldberg Variations, each week here at EcoSalon.

Image: Nick Harris1

10 creative ways to get a handle on your fridge.

So, about those billions of dollars of wasted food. While there’s some good advice out there, far too many of us still end up with the same sad, limp things lurking at the back of the fridge, out of date and out of mind. It’s time to get a handle on food waste in the fridge. (You know that stalk of celery deserves it.)

1. PLASTER YOUR FOOD WITH DATE LABELS

Here’s an ideal scenario: you open your fridge, and in one glance you can see how fresh its contents are. What’s the easiest way to do this? Stick a label on: either a big one with the “Use By” date written large, or use color-coded sticky notes, one color for every day of the week. Then it’s a cinch to shuffle the soonest-gone food to the front. Hang your labels from a piece of string attached to the fridge door, and you’ll never forget to stick them on when you’re loading it up.

2. INVENTORY YOUR STOCK BEFORE YOU SHOP

Spending loads of money at the supermarket is easy if you can’t remember what food you have at home. It’s also a great way to buy things you don’t have time to eat. The solution to this quandary is the humble yet totally brilliant shopping list. If you’re the forgetful type, keep your shopping list in your bag instead of hanging it somewhere in your kitchen.

3. MEAL-PLANNING EMPTIES YOUR FRIDGE

Monday: I really have to use those onions up. So, dinner is Spanish omelet. Tuesday? That lemon sole has until Tuesday, I see from my date label. I wonder if there’s a good recipe somewhere? Wednesday: Sausages. If I leave them until Thursday, they’ll walk away themselves. How about a big casserole? Thursday: My balcony-grown veggies are picked and perfect, and I’d hate myself if they went mushy. Thursday is officially salad day. Friday: I’ve run out of stuff to use up. Success!

4. SHOP MORE OFTEN, BUY LESS

One of my favorite shopping challenges is working out when supermarkets mark up their special offers for food about to go out of date. Pick your moment and you can make a killing at the checkout. This kind of research goes hand in hand with another good habit – buying only what you need that day, or for the next 48 hours. The more you’re relying on just-bought food, the less likely it is to get lost at the back of the fridge.

5. USE YOUR FREEZER LIKE A PRO

Sometimes, the smart thing to do is cook too much food – if you have a freezer, that is. Grab your plastic containers, fill them with excess dinner, leave them to cool and then throw them in the freezer. The result is the healthy version of a TV dinner: something that requires little time to prepare (apart from the thawing), and is perfect for those evenings after bad days at work where the idea of cooking something feels like the last straw for your sanity.

6. UNDERSTAND YOUR FRIDGE’S TEMPERATURE ZONES

Fridges are anything but even-temperatured. Why is lettuce fine near the door but deep-frozen onto the back wall? Because there can be a 5-degree difference between regions of your fridge. Watch this video to learn more (including why it’s a bad idea to put your milk cartons in the fridge door).

7. LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “USE BY/SELL BY” AND “BEST BEFORE”

They’re far from interchangeable. And if you’re a resident of the UK, it’s a muddlesome issue. “Use By” is the one you’d be truly foolhardy to ignore – but “Best Before” is all to do with food quality. It’s the manufacturers protecting their standards, and in many cases it has little to do with how edible the food still is. It’s so confusing a situation that the British government is scrapping it, but if you see something similar in your neck of the woods – beware of becoming as muddled as we have.

8. CLEAN AND DE-ICE YOUR FRIDGE REGULARLY

My most disturbing memory of de-icing a fridge was from my student days, when I returned from a lecture to find the strangest guy on my floor attacking the fridge with a cleaver. He explained the ice made him angry, and we were all relieved when he moved out shortly afterward. Nevertheless, some days I see his point. Once that ice builds up, you can’t shift it easily. Yet you need to: it’s blocking air circulation and constricting your precious storage space. Immerse a paint-scraper in boiling water and gently chip away – or empty it of food and turn it off for 24 hours (with a plastic sheet under it). Anything but a cleaver. Please.

9. DIVIDE INTO PORTIONS WHEN YOU’RE HOME, OR BUY IN PORTIONS WHEN YOU SHOP

Shops with food bins that allow you to weigh out your own are a boon. Aside from the fun of it, it’s also practical for the option-conscious shopper. Want to get exactly two meals’ worth? Weigh it out exactly. But if you do decide to buy in bulk (say, if it’s more cost-effective to do so), weigh your ingredients after you unpack and see if there’s anything extra that can go in the freezer for when you truly need it.

10. LEARN SOME EMERGENCY “USE ‘EM UP QUICK” RECIPES

When all your waste-prevention plans have gone awry and your refrigerated food is on the verge of going off, you need a backup plan – a set of recipes that use up the widest range of on-the-turn ingredients in one go. We’re talking stews, soups, pot pie, casserole – in other words, things you can whip up in bulk and then keep cool or freeze for a lazy food day.

Images: Rameshng, BruceTurner, ilovebutter, Mr T in DC, Ian B-M, kanshiketsu, EvelynGiggles, qmnonic, Marko Milosevic, Lars Ploughmann and YannGarrPhoto, Sarah G

Guest authorUrban gardening expert Mike Lieberman shares his tips.

The number one excuse that apartment dwellers have when it comes to growing their own vegetables is that they have no space. They also believe that growing one or two things is a complete waste.

These are just excuses. Lots of space isn’t required. What is required is a bit of creativity. It’s worth the time and effort if you grow even one herb or vegetable. It will make a difference.

Did you know that on average food travels 1,500 miles to get to our plates? By growing some of your own, it will help to cut back on the intensive resources that go into food production and transportation. It will also help you to re-establish your connection with food. There are plenty of simple reasons that I can list to grow your own food.

I started apartment gardening in the spring of 2009 on my fire escape in New York City. Despite being on 2′ x 3′, I was able to grow plenty of veggies. Since then, I’ve moved to Los Angeles and now have a balcony garden.

Growing veggies without much land can be your reality, too. Here’s how you can start your own vegetable container garden.

Decide on a Location

First thing is first. You need to pick the location where you are going to start. An important factor to take into consideration is how far from the water source your garden will be. The last thing you want to do is be carrying water through your apartment to your garden, but there are ways around that.

Don’t Just Think of the Floor

After deciding the where, you need to figure the area that you are working with. Don’t just think of the space on the ground. Think windowsills, ledges, railings and the space above you. Get creative.

Conditions of the Area

Figure out how much direct and indirect sunlight your space gets. If it gets at least 2-3 hours of direct sunlight, you are good to grow. My balcony garden is east facing and gets about 4-6 hours of early morning sunlight, so I grow what works best in those conditions.

What to Grow In

You can either go to the store and buy some containers or make self-watering planters, which is what I use. Self-watering planters use two containers and require little maintenance after they are built. They are constructed from two 5-gallon containers (you can get these from your local flower shop, deli, restaurant or farmers market for little to no money).

If you have the space to hang some plants, then you can use soda bottles to make hanging planters or buy new ones. Herbs such as basil, oregano and mint do well in these.

What to Grow

This is the big decision. What will you grow?

This could very well be determined for you by your space and sun conditions. Since I get limited sun on my balcony and use smaller containers, my selection is pretty small.

From there, you can grow things that you know you like and will eat or you can experiment with new veggies or new versions of veggies that you like. That’s up to you.

I always suggest growing greens and lettuces because they don’t get to be too big, grow pretty easily and you know that you’ll use them.

Herbs are the other thing that I recommend. They are likely the best economic value. When you buy herbs in the store, you have to buy a huge bushel when you only need a few pieces. Most usually goes to waste. By growing your own, you can take what you need and let it continue to grow. It’ll always be on hand.

No Excuses

Now you have a foundation to get your urban vegetable garden started. You don’t have to plant a ridiculous amount. Remember, just one plant will make a difference. We are humans. We grown food. Land, space, money and lack of experience shouldn’t be excuses. If I can do this, why can’t you?

Guest author Mike Lieberman is the man behind Urban Organic Gardener, where he share his expertise on urban gardening, green living, and real food. You can also connect with Mike on Twitter and Facebook.

As the ball dropped at midnight, did you resolve that this will be the year you try your hand at the cut back or eliminate meat from your diet? You’ve scoured the Internet for information, read books, planned menus, and now you’re ready to take the plunge. Lots of us have been there and so let us play big sister for a minute and share nine surprising and fun things you need to know about becoming a vegetarian.

You don’t have to live on tofu – Tofu is a protein-packed tasty and versatile ingredient in your vegetarian arsenal, but it’s not the only thing on the menu. In fact, there are several yummy options for getting your protein needs met, including veggie burgers, quinoa, and a whole parade of legumes to choose from.

Even if you’re not all-in, it still counts – If you’re drawn to the vegetarian philosophy, lifestyle, or menu but aren’t sure you can give up meat entirely, we’re giving you permission to just do what you can. Any reduction in meat intake is good for your health and great for the planet, so whether you start with Meatless Mondays, double up on vegetables at lunch, or just read a cookbook, any step at all is a good one.

People will annoy you sometimes – People mean well, but are apt to say the darndest things when they discover you’re a vegetarian. You’ll hear everything from “Are you sure you’re getting enough protein?” to “My friend’s sister’s brother-in-law’s cousin’s hair fell out from lack of iron.” Unless you really enjoy the thrill of a long debate about the merits of your new lifestyle, just be polite, arm yourself in advance with pleasant responses, then change the subject.

You’ll be smart and famous – Well, maybe not famous, but at least you’ll be in good company. Alicia Silverstone, Kristen Bell, and Alanis Morisette are among the many celebs who’ve sworn off meat. A recent study also shows that vegetarians are smarter and have higher IQs than their flesh-eating counterparts, although the jury’s still out on just how valid the results are.

You might turn your pets into vegetarians, too – Once you find the meatless method is very much to your liking, you may end up deciding to take Fluffy and Fido along for the ride. Whether you choose environmentally-responsible pet food or simply look for ways to green your pets’ environment, it’s quite possible you’ll find your new lifestyle impacts your pooch in the same positive ways it’s impacting yours.

The dinner parties you throw will still be awesome – A quick whirl through your library’s cookbook aisle or a 10-minute search on the Internet yields a huge batch of recipes that are so insanely good, your guests will never miss the meat. If you need instant ideas, here are 7 finger licking good recipes for meat eaters to get you started.

Your beauty routine might get caught up in the action – Once you cut meat from your diet, you may start looking for other ways to devoid your life of animal products. From organic deodorant and dental products to bath and body scrubs, your bathroom is a great place to start.

Your food budget might go down a little – The key to enjoying a vegetarian diet is to mix it up and keep things interesting. You don’t want to live on brown rice and broccoli, so try a wide variety of foods you’ve ignored in the past (daikon, anyone?) to see what grabs you. Buying what’s already in season is key to keeping costs down. Also be sure to invest in herbs, spices, and condiments to jazz up your meals and tease your tastebuds. The good news is, the upfront cost of stocking your larder (which evens out over the first few weeks) is nothing compared to the money you can save not buying those expensive cuts of meat.

You will learn to love your kitchen gadgets – Expect your pressure, slow, and rice cookers to become your best friends. If they’ve been collecting dust in the lower recesses of your kitchen cabinet, now’s the time to haul them out and put them to work. Vegetarian soups and chilis are out of this world when simmered on low all day, and you can cook your beans in a fraction of the time with a good pressure cooker. Make your rice cooker do double duty – use it to steam vegetables and make cakes.

Image: The Bitten Word

This week summer came to the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in a while, leaving fog-drenched residents blissed out but panting from the searing heat. Seems to be the perfect time to eat chilled soup for supper.

When most of us think of cold soup, gazpacho, or perhaps chilled potato leek soup, comes to mind. But a look around the web reveals a rich treasure of creative concoctions using summer ingredients and flavor profiles.

Martha Stewart Living has a giant chilled soup section with a whopping 40 recipes for chilled soups.

My two top picks are the Cucumber-Buttermilk Gazpacho with crunchy Spain-inspired garnishes and the Chilled Corn and Coconut Soup.

If you’re like me, you’re still trying to think of creative ways to use the zucchini onslaught. This recipe for Chilled Zucchini Soup from Epicurious fits the bill.

I’m not crazy about gazpacho. The kitchen sink mentality of cooking evident in most gazpacho recipes always makes me feel like I’m spooning salsa into my mouth. The different vegetables don’t seem to ever hang together into a cohesive whole. However, while this Chilled Tomato Soup with Cilantro and Yogurt Swirl from Eating Well gives a nod to gazpacho, it sounds much simpler and way more interesting, due to the addition of smoky chipotle chiles and the well considered garnishes.

Main image: Ulterior Epicure via Flickr Creative Commons. Other images from Martha Stewart Living, Epicurous and Eating Well respectively.

I try to get to the farmers’ market every week. Recently, however, I wasn’t able to due to summer travels. I was therefore thankful when I headed to the Alemany Farmers’ Market this past weekend.

I wanted to shop for the coming week and loaded up to the point where I was dropping bags and my wallet every time I went in for something more. (I really need to work out a better technique.) Still, it was well worth it. I’d somehow managed to forget exactly how much more flavorful the freshest-of-the-fresh vegetables taste when they come straight from the farm.

This simple and fast quinoa recipe is a wonderful way to experience such market vegetables. It also happens to be extremely healthy, so you really can’t go wrong. The recipe works well as main dish for lunch or dinner or could work as a side dish too.

Quinoa with Farmers’ Market Vegetables:

Preparation and cooking time: ~30 minutes.

Serves 1-2.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic quinoa grain

1-2 teaspoons olive or grapeseed oil

1/2 onion, sliced

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 red pepper, sliced

2 baby carrots, sliced

1-2 zucchini’s, halved lengthwise and sliced

3-4 leaves rainbow chard or kale, stems removed and sliced small (or 1 cup baby spinach leaves)

1-2 stalks baby bok choy, leaves separated from the stems, all sliced

1 Tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari) + 1 to 2 Tablespoons water

Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

2 fresh onions or scallions, minced (or 2-3 Tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro)

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa. Bring quinoa and 1 and 3/4 cups water to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Once cooked, remove from heat, and keep covered.

2. Prepare vegetables. Heat oil in frying pan. Add ginger and cook briefly for 30 seconds. Add onion and saute on medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes, until beginning to soften.

3. Add red pepper, carrots, chard and bok choy stems, cooking for about 5-6 minutes.

4. Add zucchini. Cook  2-3 minutes.

5. Add bok choy leaves, along with the soy sauce and water, and cook 1 more minute, stirring vegetables well, adding a dash of salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

6. Fluff-up the quinoa, stirring in the fresh onions and lemon juice until evenly distributed, adding kosher salt and freshly ground pepper- while mixing- to taste.

7. Serve quinoa with vegetables on top.

Did you know that if you swallow your gum, it will hang out in your stomach forever? Such are the legends of childhood burned in our brain. But what’s truth, what’s myth, and what’s there simply to scare us into good behavior? After all, aren’t all the best nursery rhymes really about avoiding bubonic plague and possibly flesh-craving wolves?

But not all food is so frightening. We decided to debunk some of our strangest myths about food – check out what we found!

Double dipping your food is dangerous.

This is TRUE. Yes, many of us all familiar with George Constanza and his double-dipped chip. (And if you are not, click here immediately.) But will the double-dipped chip really make you sick? Yes, it turns out that it could. Experts say that double dipping a chip can transfer about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the dip. So if you at a party, that means 50 to 100 bacteria can travel from one mouth to another, courtesy of the dip. And sure, we like our friends. But do we really like them that much?

If you drop food on the ground, you have five seconds before it is contaminated.

And yet, this is FALSE. First of all, nasty bacteria such as Salmonella (which causes food poisoning) can live on surfaces for over four weeks. If you drop a piece of bologna on tile, 99 percent of the bacteria will practically instantly adhere to the cold cut. If you drop it on wood, around 68 percent of the bacteria moves onto the sandwich meat. If it is on a carpet, .5 percent of bacteria makes bologna its new home. And it all happens instantly. Still want to eat it?

Fresh fruits and veggies are more nutritious than frozen ones.

This is FALSE, and score for the refrigerator set. (Like the jet set, but cooler.) Some of this has to do with fruits and veggies high carbon footprint. Fruit and veggies are at their best nutritional levels right after they are picked from the vine. So the farther they have to travel to your mouth, the more time they have to degrade. When you properly freeze something, you are essentially halting its degradation. But look for clumping in your frozen bag of goodies – if there’s clumping, it is likely the food thawed on travel.

Eating at night makes you gain weight.

This is FALSE and is really a matter of word play. And yes, before Oprah and her minions set upon me; allow me to introduce the science behind it. The time of day of consumption does not reflect on how much weight you will gain. The reason you gain weight is because you consume more calories than you burn. If you have consumed less calories during the day and have a larger meal at night, you’re not going to gain weight. Does that mean you should pig out right before bed time? Heck no, because if you want to maintain your weight, you should always budget your calories .

You can cure a hangover with food.

This is FALSE but man, I wish this were true. Now that I am older and learned, I drink less. (More emphasis on the older and less on the learned, but still.) But “back in the day” (I’m also holding an ear horn to my head right now) I used to party like it was 1999 for about eight years running. So I became well acquainted with epically-bad hangovers.

And I swore that slices of plain, whole wheat bread were the key to lessening my barf-marathon. But in actuality, they weren’t. You have a hangover because you drank too much and are dehydrated. (So, yes, drink a lot of water. But you’ll still going to feel terrible until the excessive alcohol is out of your system.) You’ve also over-taxed your liver, which is less able to supply glucose to all the needed parts and causing all these yucky feelings. The only true cure to a hangover is not to drink so much alcohol in the first place.

Image: Triple Tri

If you plan on stocking up on fresh produce at your farmers’ market this weekend, why not pick up a few items for your pets as well? Commercial dog food may be harmful to the environment, but you can lessen the amount of kibble you feed your pup by adding in-season produce (bonus points if you find locally-grown options).

So which of the summer produce work for your pets? Surprisingly, you have many options that add very few calories to your pet’s diet. Though you should introduce foods to your pet slowly to watch for any reactions, your dog or cat is bound to discover a fresh, new favorite.

Here are a few to consider when you’re shopping the market this week:

Vegetables:

• cucumbers
• summer squash (cooked and pureed is best)
• corn
• green beans

Fruits:

• watermelon (seedless)
• strawberries
• cantaloupe
• blueberries
• raspberries

Bonus: For a special summer treat to help beat the heat, freeze a variety of fruits to provide nutritious munchies that help keep your pet hydrated.

Image: The Left Field

The slogan for the gardening center in my neighborhood called Flowercraft is, “We Sell Happiness.” Too true. As springtime is now in full swing, I find myself at the nearby gardening center on a weekly basis. I feel my spirits lift from the moment I walk into the bounty of plants, a feeling then carried on through the day while watching my “little babies” grow at home. What is it about growing plants that is so exciting?

Whatever it is, it’s exciting enough that anytime I happen by a garden nursery I have to pull over to check it out. I recently unexpectedly found myself at the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery. I was so completely mesmerized that my partner looked at me with near-concern when I didn’t answer his question in my glassy-eyed state, “What do we need again?” As my dad used to joke when we guiltily ordered a third donut at the bakery growing up, “What does need have to do with it?”

The selection at any nursery these days is copious, as it’s high planting season. The number of options can be a little daunting. I highly recommend planting a few flowers in and amongst your vegetables and herbs to create a varied, living environment. Current favorite accents: Alysum, Cosmos and Lobelia. Happy planting!

Images: JannK, ddsnet, LadyLoneRanger