Happy National Nutrition Month!

March -- National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign is designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.

 And speaking of nutrition...

Veggie of the Month for March: Green Peas

STORAGE
It is best to serve all types of fresh peas the day they are purchased (or harvested from your garden!). If they must be stored, place them in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator. Do not wash them before they are stored. Shell green peas right before you cook them.

PREPARATION
Rinse peas before shelling them. To shell peas, pinch the stem off with your fingernails and pull the string down the length of the pod. The pod will pop open and the peas can be pushed out of the pod with your thumb. When finished, wash all peas.

Rinse snow peas and sugar snap peas before use. To trim snow peas, cut the tips from both ends of the pod. This can be done with kitchen shears. Sugar snap peas need to have the strings removed before eaten cooked or raw. The string runs around both sides of the sugar snap pod. It is easiest to start from the bottom tip and pull the string up the front, and then snap the stem off and pull the string down the back of the pod.

RECIPE

Garden Delight Stir-Fry
This is a basic technique allowing individuals to experiment with many different variations. Select your favorites from this list. Serves 4.

Sauce (1⁄4 cup for four servings)
Lite/low sodium soy sauce, Low sodium tamari, Teriyaki marinade, Bottled stir-fry sauce, Sweet chili sauce

Starch (1 cup per person)
White rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, rice noodles, whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Vegetables (Any combination, 1 to 2 cups per person, less if serving as a side dish)
Peas, onion, broccoli, celery, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, squash, cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy

Wash and cut selected vegetables into small, even-sized pieces. Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil over high heat in a 10-inch skillet. Keeping the heat high, add vegetables to the pan in order of firmness – harder foods first (ex. cauliflower) and ending with softer foods (ex. mushrooms). With a spatula, move vegetables around in the pan to keep them from sticking. Cook the vegetables for a few minutes until they are brightly colored and still crisp. Add sauce to taste (about 1⁄4 cup). Stir fry until all vegetables are thoroughly coated. Serve with choice of starch.

Recipe from Cook Smart, Eat Smart


Information courtesy of...

-  CDC’s Fruit and Vegetable of the Month http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/peas.html
-  The Produce Lady http://www.theproducelady.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/TPLenewsPDF_Mar12.pdf