New Fall Catalog!

Have you seen the new fall catalog yet?

I think it’s one of our best ones ever!

My graphic designer and I have been working on the newest poster designs for months! We came up with the concepts, created the photos, picked the colors, and then modeled everything. Then we rested. Then we assessed, re-assessed, and tweaked with the whole team until we had created posters that we were entirely confident you and your clients would love!

Let’s shine a spotlight on one of my favorites, shall we?

It’s time to Lead With Your Fork!

Traditionally, foods that you can eat out of a bag with your hands (including snacks and most fast food) are loaded with empty calories and devoid of the nutrients that you need for good health.

Foods that require a fork or a spoon to eat, however, are often chock-full of nutrients. Think salads, soups, rice, veggies, lean protein, etc. All this is a lot better for health than eating out of a bag!

We have created this amazing graphic poster, Lead With Your Fork, to help people visualize how their eating patterns impact their health.

What a great way to show how to put your best fork forward! This poster supports the messages of our two most important resources for education, MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

  • MyPlate advises people to divide their plates between fruits, vegetables, whole grains, varied protein, and low-fat dairy at each meal.
  • The Dietary Guidelines for Americans maintain that “All food and beverage choices matter. Choose a healthy eating pattern at an appropriate calorie level to help achieve and maintain healthy body weight, support nutrient adequacy, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.” That means focusing on variety, nutrient density, and amount of food while limiting consumption of added sugars, saturated and trans fats, and sodium.

This health and nutrition education poster, Lead With Your Fork, helps everyone visualize a balanced and healthful eating style. It is also very light-hearted and positive. It would be great for nutrition awareness or health fair programs!

And of course, there’s lots more in the fall catalog. Which items are you most excited about? The prizes? The handouts? The books?

Finally, just ’cause I love ya, I’ve come up with a new discount. Use the code FALLSAVE15 to save 15% on any and all products!

Take a Look at Fall Vegetables

Fall is officially here! Along with cooler temperatures, we’re excited to see a new crop of seasonal vegetables at farmer’s markets and in the supermarket.

For too many people, fall produce means pumpkins (or just pumpkin spice!) and sweet potatoes. We know that’s just the beginning, so why not offer a class on fall vegetables? We have a DVD that makes it easy for you, and it’s perfect for virtual class settings.

Our Building a Plant-Based Eating Pattern: Vegetables DVD has everything you need to teach practical skills that your audience will be able to use right away. Videos show them how to select, store, and prepare all types of vegetables. They’ll also see kitchen veggie hacks and take home healthy, delicious recipes.

The DVD breaks vegetables down into categories based on plant parts (roots, tubers, bulbs; stalks; leaves; flowers; fruits; and seeds), because these parts often have similar preparation and cooking methods.

For fall, you might want to use the lesson on Bulbs, Tubers, and Roots because so many are now in season:

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Parsnips
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Yams
  • Turnips
  • Rutabagas

Through engaging videos, your audience will learn how to choose the freshest bulb, tuber, and root veggies; where to store them; and their health benefits. They’ll feel like they are right in the kitchen as we show them how to make an easy vegetable root salad with greens, shaved ginger, grated carrots, and thinly-sliced golden beets, all tossed in vinegar and oil. They’ll also see how to use baked, roasted, microwaved, and pureed veggies to make a healthy MyPlate.

The Building a Plant-Based Eating Pattern: Vegetables DVD also includes recipes you can give the audience. How do Cider Baked Sweet Potatoes, Carrot Hummus, and Raspberry & Beet Cheesecake sound?

Of course, there are many other fall vegetables covered throughout the seven lessons included in our DVD. Maybe you’ll focus on winter squash, Brussels sprouts, arugula, broccoli … the possibilities are endless!

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD

 

Eggplant Cooking Tips

Eggplant!I recently got the best gift from a friend — 4 small eggplants from her garden. This is the same friend who brought me several pomegranates a couple years ago. I feel so lucky that I have friends that bring me wonderful fruits and vegetables — what great gifts!

Anyway, back to the eggplant.

I don’t usually buy eggplant, largely because I really don’t know what to do with it. My husband likes eggplant Parmesan, but he usually orders it in restaurants. I’d heard so many rumors and old wives’ tales about how to cook eggplant, and found myself baffled by all the conflicting information. For example, do I need to salt the eggplant? I remember my husband’s aunt always salting her eggplants and then weighing them down with books. On the other hand, according to an archived article from Food and Health Communications, you don’t have to bother with this if the eggplants are very fresh.

So how should I treat my eggplants?

Since salting can help remove the bitterness from an eggplant, I decided to salt mine. If you’d like to salt your eggplants before you cook them, first you need to slice or dice the eggplant into the shape you want to use. Sprinkle everything with about half a teaspoon of salt (not the half cup my husband’s aunt used to use) and then let everything sit in a colander for 30-60 minutes while the eggplant drains. Once that time is up, press out any excess liquid and dry the eggplant with a clean towel. You can also rinse the eggplant to remove extra salt before drying it.

So, there I was with salted eggplant. How did I want to cook it?

Grilled EggplantI dug further into the Food and Health Communications recipe archive and found a few articles about eggplant, along with several healthful recipes. Here are some of my favorites…

With time running short, I decided that I wanted to preserve my eggplants to cook later.

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, eggplant can be frozen. As far as I could tell, there is not a research-tested recipe for safely canning eggplant.

So, freezing it was!

To freeze eggplant, fill a large pot with 1 gallon of water and half a cup of lemon juice (the lemon will keep the eggplant from darkening). Bring the mixture to a boil. While you’re waiting for the water to heat up, wash, peel, and slice the eggplant into discs that are half an inch thick. Since eggplant does discolor quickly, prepare only what you you can blanch at one time. When you’re ready, place the eggplant slices in the boiling water for 4 minutes. Pluck the slices out of the water with a slotted spoon and drop into an ice bath for another 4 minutes. Then drain and pack up your eggplant. If you want to fry the slices or layer them into eggplant Parmesan or vegetable lasagna, consider placing freezer wrap between the slices before freezing.

RIMG4637RIMG4670RIMG4677RIMG4732

That’s basically what I did, with one little twist. I put the well-drained eggplant slices on a tray and froze them individually. Then I transferred everything to a freezer bag. Hooray! Now I have two quart bags full of sliced eggplant for later this year!

My research also led me to discover a bunch of great eggplant cooking tips. If you ever find yourself with a spare eggplant or two, consider the following…

  • To avoid browning, wait to cut into the eggplant until you absolutely have to — don’t prep that part a few hours in advance!
  • Leave the skin on! This will help color, shape retention, and optimal nutrition. You can find anthocyanins in the purple skin of an eggplant, and since anthocyanins have a positive impact on blood lipids, it would really be a shame to remove the skin.
  • Eggplants do have a tendency to soak up oil during cooking. To keep your dish light and healthful, sauté eggplant in a small amount of very hot oil in a nonstick pan.
  • Want a quick eggplant side? Spray slices with olive oil cooking spray and roast, grill, or broil them.

Anyway, that’s a brief recap of my eggplant adventures. I hope you liked it!

By Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University

Here’s a handout that features the most helpful points from today’s post. Get your copy today!

Eggplant Handout

And for more fun with eggplant, drop by the Nutrition Education Store!

Fruit and Vegetable Activity Set for Kids

I Heart Fruit and Veggies Bookmark

Vegetable Chopping Guide Poster

New Catalog + FREE Handout

The goal has always been to make your jobs easier.

Posters!We kept that goal in mind as we researched and designed new materials. We thought about it as we chased down peer-reviewed studies, or stayed up far too late making slight art adjustments. We thought about it as we edited handout drafts, and as we photographed our latest hauls from the farmers’ markets.

We never stop thinking about it, and the result is our best catalog yet.

Today I’m proud to offer you our newest materials, our top-selling classic resources, and tons of other fun educational tools that you didn’t even know you needed. They’re all in the Nutrition Education Resource Catalog, and they’re all available to you, right now.

What’s inside? Some of the highlights include…

  • More posters than you’ve ever seen before!
    • Food Art
    • Nutrition
    • Health
    • School
    • Food photos
  • Colorful banners!
  • Prizes!Handouts that break down any topic into understandable terms!
  • Fantastic prizes and treats!
    • Bookmarks
    • Buttons
    • Fruit-Shaped Sticky Pads
    • Stickers
    • Magnets
    • Pens
    • Placemats
    • Prize Cards
    • Recipe Cards
    • Wristbands
  • Engaging and memorable bulletin board and display kits!
  • PowerPoint presentations with leader guides, speaker’s notes, and handouts!
  • Fun and educational workbooks!
  • Bright and cheerful brochures!
  • MyPlate for every occasion!
  • Educational books and cookbooks!
  • Everything you need for the best cooking demonstrations ever!
  • Comprehensive nutrition education programs!
  • Videos on DVD!

But what topics do we cover? The food and health scene is always evolving, and our resources can help keep you ahead of the game. Here’s just a small sample of the topics addressed in the latest catalog

  • Cooking Demonstrations!Balanced Lifestyle
  • Beverages
  • Blood Pressure/Hypertension
  • BMI/Waist Circumference
  • Cancer
  • Cholesterol
  • Diabetes
  • Diet Plans
  • DASH Diet
  • Fad Diets
  • Mediterranean Diet
  • Eating Well on a Budget
  • Food Allergies
  • Food Safety
  • Fruits and Vegetables
  • Gluten Allergies and Intolerances
  • Grocery Shopping
  • Heart Health
  • Healthful Habits
  • Men’s Health
  • MyPlate
  • Nutrition Facts Labels
  • Physical Activity
  • Portion Control
  • Pregnancy/Breastfeeding
  • Sodium/Salt
  • Whole Grains
  • Women’s Health

There’s actually a lot more, but I didn’t want the list to just go on forever!

Take a look at the catalog and see it all for yourself! I really think you’ll enjoy it. Plus, if there’s anything you want that you don’t see, just let me know and my team and I will make it for you.

Full Catalog

Oh! I almost forgot the best part! The catalog comes with a brand-new, totally-free handout. It covered the basics of grain foods: whole grains vs. refined grains, how to cook with grains, the health benefits of grain foods, and even ways to replace refined grains with whole grains. Drop by this link to get your very own copy!

Whole Grain Handout

And, since we’re here to help you look your very best right now, here are some fun new materials from the Nutrition Education Store!

Fruit Sticky Pads

Prediabetes Poster

Wise Choices Banner and Stand