Homemade strawyberry jam

Summer is here and nature’s produce is at its finest.  What’s not to love about the succulent berries, sweet corn, and flavorful tomatoes of this season?  Whether you grow your own, or hit your local farmers market, why not try your hand at canning some some of that goodness so that you can enjoy it all year long.

Never canned before?  Start off simply by canning jam or preserves.  Here’s a good recipe to try:

Strawberry Jam
Makes roughly four half-pint jars

35 oz. strawberries washed, hulled and cubed
35 oz. granulated white sugar
1 lemon, sliced
1 packet pectin
1 Tbsp butter (to reduce foaming)

Method:
Combine the strawberries and sugar in a large, nonreactive pot; enamel or stainless steel are best. Let stand for at least 20 minutes, up to two hours.

Stir the contents of the pot well, and put over medium-high heat. Add the lemons, pectin and butter. Stir frequently, taking care not to burn the sugar. Bring to a boil and maintain a rolling boil. Skim away any foam that forms; if there is too much foam, add a little more butter.

Once a boil has been reached, take the temperature with a quick-read thermometer. Continue boiling and stirring until the mixture consistently reads 220ºF. Turn off the heat. Remove the lemon slices. If canning, process immediately (see On Canning, below). Otherwise, allow to cool, then pack in jars and refrigerate, or freezer-safe containers or bags if freezing.

Variations
For an extra berry punch, replace some of the strawberries with an equal amount of Driscoll’s® organic raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.

Or, once the jam reaches the target temperature, try giving yours a twist by adding one of the following:

1 Tbsp real balsamic and a few fresh cracks of black pepper
2 Tbsp Campari
A handful of mint or basil, finely chopped
Seeds from a vanilla bean
Whatever you like

On Canning
As a rule, fruit preserves can be canned using the water-bath method. Water-bath canning is not difficult, but it does require attention to detail. You’ll need some specific equipment (see Equipment, below), and you need to make sure your jars, lids and utensils are well sterilized.

The USDA publishes a very thorough guide to home canning, with excellent instructions on how to can safely. We recommend reviewing this carefully before canning. You can view the guide here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

Equipment
Before you start cooking up your berries, make sure you have the following items:

A large pot *
A rack that fits in the bottom of the pot *
A pair of canning tongs *
A magnetic lid wand *
A jar funnel *
A ladle *
A quick-read thermometer
A kitchen scale
Cooling racks to set the hot jars on
Plenty of kitchen towels
Plenty of jars, rings and unused lids
Patience, and a sense of humor

Most of these items, as well as a variety of jars, lids and rings, are readily available in most hardware stores, as well as some grocery stores.

* You can often find kits that have all these elements together, rather than purchasing them separately.

Recipe courtesy of Driscoll’s.

Keep your whole family healthy this summer with this tips.

Sunbathing, swimming, barbequing and outdoor sports are all part of summertime fun. However, without the right precautions these leisure activities can be major hazards and lead to skin cancer, heat stroke, food poisoning, dehydration and drowning. ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Sharon M. Weinstein, RN, MS, CRNI, FACW, FAAN provides prevention tips to the following summer health hazards:

Health Hazzard #1:  Skin Cancer

This is the most common form of cancer in the United States- one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. Due to the increased amount of time people spend outside during the summer months, overexposure to the sun’s rays can lead to skin cancer.

People Who Have a Higher Risk for Skin Cancer

• Have spent a long amount of time in the sun or have been sunburned
• Have fair skin, hair and eyes
• Have a family member who has had skin cancer
• Are over the age 50

Preventing Skin Cancer

• Use sunscreen: Choose a sunscreen that uses at least SPF 15.
• Wear protective clothing: Wear clothing and hats to protect your skin from harmful rays.
• Avoid Direct Sun: Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. is when the sun’s rays are strongest. Avoid prolonged sun exposure during this time.

Health Hazard #2: Heat Stroke

This form of hyperthermia occurs when the body cannot rid itself of heat. Heat stroke is caused by extreme heat, high humidity or vigorous activity in the sun.

Symptoms of Heat Stroke

• Disorientation or confusion
• Dizziness
• Hot, dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty
• Fatigue and headache
• Rapid heart beat

Preventing Heat Stroke

• Drink Fluids: Hydrate your body with water frequently when participating in outside activities. Avoid coffee, soda, tea and alcohol; these can actually cause dehydration.
• Plan for the Day: Schedule outside activities before or after the hottest times of the day (between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.).
• Dress Appropriately: Wear light weight, loose fitting clothing.

Health Hazard#3: Food Poisoning

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 76 million cases of food poisoning each year. Due to the use of grills and coolers, and food being left out in the sun, food poisoning increases drastically during the summer months.

Symptoms of Food Poisoning

• Nausea and vomiting
• Low grade fever
• Diarrhea and abdominal cramping

Preventing Food Poisoning

• Smart Shopping: Look at expiration dates while shopping, and get your frozen section items last before heading home. Look for supermarkets that have clean deli sections and that keep food at the correct temperature.
• Washing: Even produce you peel needs to be washed before consumption. Don’t forget to also wash your hands, countertops, knives and cutting boards for each food item.
• Temperature: Bacteria multiply the fastest between 40 and 140 degrees. Make sure that you cook meat thoroughly and keep foods needing refrigeration cold. Make sure to also reheat leftovers to at least 165 degrees before eating.

Health Hazard #4: Dehydration

Your body’s weight being 75 percent water, it is extremely important to replenish your body frequently. Dehydration is when the amount of water leaving the body is greater than the amount going in it.

Causes of Dehydration

• Burns
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Sweating

Preventing Dehydration

• Drink Water: Because your body releases so much water, (through sweating, bowel movements, and breathing) you need to rehydrate it with water often. A good rule of thumb is to drink one ounce of water for every two pounds of your body weight each day.
• Avoid Heat: Again, planning outdoor activities before or after the hottest part of the day will lower your chances of dehydration. Also, remember to take advantage of shaded areas which can be up to 10 degrees cooler than areas in the direct sun.

Health Hazard #5: Drowning

Each year more than 3,000 people die from drowning, and nearly 20 percent of child drowning deaths take place at a public pool where a trained lifeguard was on the scene. With summertime fun, remember safety when it comes to water activities.

Water Safety Tips

• Put a fence around all pools and spas.
• Always wear life jackets, especially in open water areas.
• Do not let yourself or children swim alone.
• Take CPR and life saving classes.

Photo by sxc/rameckers

by Terra Wellington

I changed my family’s habits to aid marine life.  You can too.

On the eve of World Oceans Day, June 8, the devastating Gulf oil spill takes front stage on every news site, program, and Twitter page.  But, even in the midst of this tragedy, you can find a silver lining.  And that is that ocean conservation is getting much-needed media and public attention. And maybe you might even think about what you can do.

What are the oceans issues and how can you help?

Overfishing is probably the most urgent issue.  The United Nations Environmental Programme just released another confirming report that if we don’t stop fishing out every last wild fish out of the sea, then fish may go the way of the buffalo – all the world’s fisheries collapsing in 40 years.  Why?  Because behind the scenes 35 million fishermen across the planet are literally drudging and combing the oceans to find every last fish available, fast freeze it, and ship it to a retailer near you.

You also have climate change’s warming of the water, mercury pollution from coal plants, floating plastic dumps, and farms’ chemical runoffs that create dead zones where there is no oxygen in the water.

But, all is not lost!  There is much we can do!  And it just takes a little adjustment in choices and habits to make a big difference for the oceans and its wildlife.

Here’s what my family and I do –

* Buy Best Choice –

we use SeafoodWatch.com and try to stay on the Best Choice list whenever we purchase seafood.  Although I used to use their print-out pocket guide, I now have a link to their easy-search database on my Blackberry, and also I know their iPhone app is very popular.

* Eat less fish – we’ve cut down our meat eating, including fish, and have moved to a semi-vegetarian diet that emphasizes plant proteins and more fruits and veggies.  It has been healthier for us and helps to release some of the pressures on our animal protein production.

* Eat sustainable food – we joined an organic-veggie CSA and also spend more money at the local farmers market.  This is in our search for organic and sustainably grown food that comes from farms that reduce their chemical run off.  The point is to not have chemicals and top soil runoff into our waterways and oceans.

* Clean your energy

– my utility has an alternative energy option, which we have opted into to support cleaner electricity – away from coal and oil.

* Reduce your utility bill – we’ve taken advantage of the many appliance rebates available to change out our appliances for less energy-hungry ones.  In one month alone, I reduced my electrical bill by $30 by swapping out my washer for an ultra-efficient one.  This immediately reduced the coal-burning part of my bill.

* Buy greener transportation – a few years ago, we bought a flex-fuel (ethanol option) car.  I wish, now, we would have bought a hybrid.  But, the next time we buy a new car, we’ll be buying the greenest we can afford — electric, hybrid, or high gas mileage – to use the least amount of oil.

* Stop the landscape chemicals – we’ve moved to a greener lawn without all the chemicals.  We use compost, mulch, and slow-release or organic fertilizers — all in moderation.  And we stay away from pesticides and herbicides.  All of this nearly eliminates our chemical runoff into waterways.  We have also changed out swaths of our landscape for more native plants, which need less water and fertilizing overall.

* Contact your government – I regularly go onto Congress.org and write my state and federal representatives about my ocean-related concerns.  I have requested they restrict fish imports and regulate domestic fishing to meet Seafood Watch guidelines, transition to alternative energy, amend the Farm Bill so that industrial farms are not given incentives to continue unsustainably, and regulate oil drilling more closely.

* Give your grocery store feedback – the best tool I have used is the online, corporate feedback form to tell my grocery store what seafood I do and don’t want.  I seem to get the most immediate results when I try to impact that way.

* Talk to your chef – Seafood Watch has given me leave-behind chef cards that I have placed alongside my bill at the restaurant to tell the chef what was good or bad about the seafood on the menu.  It has been an easy way for me to get out the message.

Terra Wellington is the author of The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home

.  This past year she introduced her family to U.S. farmed catfish, on Seafood Watch’s Best Choice list.

Photo by

Please note: This is not an actual picture of a school lunch from my daughter's school. I just put this image up to further gross myself out!

Before I begin, let me just say that I in no way wish to condemn the excellent cafeteria staff at my daughter’s school.  Those woman (they are in fact all women) bust their buns every day to make two meals a day for hundreds of kids; put up with a constant din of adolescent noise, clean up disgusting spills, and manage to get it all done each day with a smile on their faces.

But it is no secret that I am not thrilled with the quality of food served in schools, at my daughter’s school, and at schools around the country.  For the most part, I have tried to work quietly behind the scenes to improve this nutritional fare.  But  an incident occurred yesterday that just has me spitting mad….and shouting out loud.

Here’s the scoop.

My 7 year old daughter, Emily, has recently become fascinated by the Nutrition Facts label on her food.  She has always been a numbers girl, so the fact that different foods contain varying amounts of calories and fats is enthralling to her.  She took it upon herself to start a food journal, writing down the calories in the food she eats each day.

Just to clarify…this project was never meant as a way for her to limit her caloric intake.  I don’t think that my kid needs to start counting calories, nor does she need to be on a diet.  She was merely interested in learning how many calories each different food has.  So you can imagine my dismay when her own school blocked her efforts to learn more about nutrition.

Just for the record, my daughter packs her lunch 95% of the time.  But yesterday was one of those rare days when she wanted to buy lunch at school.  She was still trying to keep her food journal, so I suggested that she nicely ask the cafeteria staff about the nutritional content of the day’s lunch.

Turns out, when she asked, the cafeteria staff told her that they had “no idea and no way of finding out” how many calories and fat grams were in that day’s meal.  Are you kidding me?  I know my kid, and I know that she asked politely, so even if they had to tell her to wait until after lunch, they should have been able to find that info for her.

Again, I’ve never been thrilled with the never-ending rotation of hot dogs, pizza, and corn dogs fed to these kids each day at school.  But my issue here was more that they didn’t know and didn’t seem to care to find out about the nutritional content of the food they were serving these kids.

Isn’t this the same school where I send my kids to learn each day?  Why was it necessary to totally squash the interest of a first grader who was taking it upon herself to learn about healthy foods? It’s obviously not something they think is important for the kids to know and I couldn’t disagree more on that point. I do think that health and nutrition should be emphasized, even in the 1st grade.

Childhood obesity is in the news each day.  It’s killing our kids.  Everyone seems to agree that we should do something about it.  Yet, the actual quality of the food that is served to kids in school each day (and marketed to kids at home) seems to be an afterthought.

There is quite a discussion going on via my page about this incident at Emily’s school and school lunch programs in general. One of the posters contends that we can’t make school lunches healthier without “ponying up the big bucks.”  But I disagree.  And as I said on Facebook, I think that’s just a cop-out for folks who are too scared to try new things (like Farm to School, school gardens, etc.)

What do you think?  Care to rant (or brag!) about your own school’s lunch program?  Do you know of a school district that is offering healthier lunches without breaking the school’s budget?  Let’s hear it!