Earthly Edibles

Some of us celebrate the last bits of summer with a trip to the beach over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I celebrate here in the mountains with the last of the summer tomatoes. It has been our tradition to visit the farmer’s market if we don’t have enough of our own tomatoes and [...]

While hiking in the Canadian Rockies in Canada, we met a man who shared his knowledge about some edibles along the trail. I wanted to share some of these with you. The first one he pointed out was “Soap Berry” known by native Canadians as the “Buffalo Berry”. He said the berry was added to [...]

By Nicole Martinez – Guest Blogger & Student of Nutrition & Dietetics at Western Carolina University There are some foods I do not eat. Not because I don’t like them or my grocery store does not carry them, but because they contain high levels of pesticide residue. You may have heard of the “dirty dozen” [...]

I promised that I would share the winning tomato! Growing an abundance of heirloom tomatoes, I wanted to test each variety to determine which one was the very tastiest. I tried a Mr. Stripey, a Brandywine, a Purple Cherokee and a yellow grape tomato. I closed my eyes and tried to remain neutral and the [...]

Get the tomatoes while they are still plentiful. This tomato salad includes purple Cherokee, yellow pear, stripey,and rose from our garden with a brandywine, red and green zebra ones from the Asheville City tail gate market. I then added purple and green basil leaves and some local mozzarella cheese! I tossed the salad with a [...]

When I think of Labor Day weekend, two of the things that I think about are the fact that the peaches will become few and far between locally and the apples will become plentiful! Two weeks ago my husband and I headed to the farmer’s market and bought a big basket of peaches and froze [...]

It is wild blueberry season here in Western North Carolina. Be sure to save some for the bears and birds. Blue berries and other berries are rich in vitamin C, fiber and phytochemicals that add benefits to our health. They are also make a low calorie dessert! This year, I froze a few berries and [...]

I have just turned a new leaf! If you have read my previous posts, you may have noticed my focus on local, fresh plant -based foods.  There is now  a new name and look for my blog to capture this. Stay tuned for more recipes using fresh, whole ingredients, stories of local families farmers, restaurants [...]

In Western North Carolina, there is a vast availability of wonderful and healthy local food and I am going to share some of these with you in my series titled “Healthy Mountain Harvest”. I am starting with one of my new favorites, the Sunburst Trout Farm outside of Canton, North Carolina. Recently, I had the [...]

As Fourth of July and summertime in general slips upon us, I think of spending more time outdoors which includes eating there also. Whether you are having a picnic or a barbeque with family and friends, make your choices healthy and delicious. Choose the majority of your meal as low calorie, seasonal veggies such as [...]