Fast food may be cheap, but it almost always comes at a hefty dietary price.

On those days when it just doesn’t seem like there’s time to cook, it’s easy to turn to takeout. But these options usually are a recipe for lots of calories and fat. And you’ll still probably need to spend $15 or $20 to feed a family of four.

Before you pick up the phone or pull up to the drive-thru, check out some better options.

Supermarkets are filled with pre-washed, precut and precooked products that, though a bit more expensive than some unprepared foods, can be the basis for healthy alternatives that are still reasonably priced.

Read the full story

A group of Tampa inmates is offering a taste of what it’s like in jail – no locks, bars or handcuffs required. But you’d better have an tough stomach to use more than a dash of their “Jailhouse Fire Hot Sauce.”

Minimum-security Hillsborough County Jail inmates offer it in “Original,” ”Smoke” and “No Escape” varieties, all made from their jail-grown peppers.

Read the full story

Day 4′s winner is Matt A. Sunknoda, Here are his tips for getting more veggies into his family’s diet: The simpliest recipe I have for including vegetables in my diet is to buy two or three different varieties a week (usually I have one green, one mushroom variety and one brightly coloured) and I sauté them, either in vegetable oil or soy sauce and then add them to either a meat product or a pasta side.

The key, I think, is to add colour to the meal to make it more appealing. If everything is the same colour, it looks drab and unappetizing, causing some people to snub the food (myself included).

—————————-
Every weekday for a month, someone will win a generous bag of groceries. Why not you?

To enter today, share your best simple recipe or idea (each weekday’s contest will be different) for adding vegetables to your diet, or your kids’ diet.

Please use a real email address when you register, so we can reach you when you win! We’ll pick the best idea or recipe and award that person yummy foods to try.

If you win, we’ll contact you about how to collect your bag ‘o yummies in a reusable, eco-friendly shopping bag (Thanks, Whole Foods, for the bags!).

Watch this space for new questions and prizes every weekday for a month!

A few prizes are coupons for free items which will be sent to you, at no cost. Each bag also has extra packets of grocery coupons.

Every bag is different, but some of the items included are: Lance whole-grain snack crackers, Crisco olive oils, Skinny Cow ice cream treats, Wickles pickles, Penzey’s cinnamon, Orbit gums, Pepperidge Farm 100-calorie packs and granola cookies, Tyson products, Truvia sweetener, Eagle Mills Ultragrain flour, Zen Crunch, Dunkin Donuts, and lots of grocery coupons, too.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is forging relationships with a Delray Beach-area farmer as part of its local produce program.

The company announced its plans to expand its local produce program to purchase at least 35% of its jalapenos, lettuce, green peppers or red onions from local farmers, a 10% increase from last year’s program.

The Delray Beach-area farmer joining the fold will supply jalapenos to local Chipotle restaurants.

With more than half of adults saying it’s important that restaurants purchase produce from local farms in their area (according to a Harris Interactive® survey), Chipotle remains committed to locally grown produce.

Under its local produce program, Chipotle expects to have more than 25 local farms in its network that will supply romaine lettuce, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, red onions and/or oregano served at the 860-plus Chipotle restaurants nationwide.

Helping local farmers is something we can all get behind.

Soggy seems to be the hardest word — so why apologize for wilted greens?
Celebrate those hot-and-steamy summer soirees with a cool, crunchy salad on the go.

Toss together a combo of fresh veggies along with pantry faves such as Italian giardiniera — a mix of crisp-tender pickled peppers and veggies to create an easy, breezy, do-ahead side that’s both nutritious and wilt-free.

Nibble the leftovers up to 3 days—the flavors intensify while ingredients stay fresh, colorful and crisp. Leaf lettuce for another day.

Summer Succotash Salad with Pickled Veggies
Serves 10-12
Read the full story

For great grilled vegetables that are tender inside and crispy and smoky outside, moderate heat is key. Go too high and the outside will burn while the insides remain unpleasantly crunchy.

Read the full story

Locally famous Hatcher Mango Hill has a bumper crop of Haden mangoes this year (those are sweet and good, but not the Hatcher hybrids the grove is famous for).

If you’d like to buy some Haden mangoes, they are $15 for a plastic grocery bag of picked mangoes, and $10 for a grocery bag of mangoes
that fell from the trees.

To get some, you must go to the website to order: hatchermangohill.com, then drive to the grove, on Hypoluxo Road, right by I-95 for pickup.

The famed hybrid Hatcher mangoes won’t be ready until July/August but you can order them, too, for pick up later, when they are ripe and ready.

Here’s a reminder about Hatcher farm and their mangoes.

Banyan Creek Elementary has been awarded a grant of $5,000 by Lowe’s and the Toolbox for Education for an Organic Teaching Garden. The grant application was based on the goal of sharing the joys and health benefits of gardening as well as the concepts of sustainability and green living.

A group of mother’s started a Wellness Committee at the school, initiated by Sheri Hillman, and the group’s co-vice president, Lisa Lothian, applied for the grant.

As the school year is winding down, this year’s projects will be limited to a butterfly garden and some fruit trees, and the groundbreaking was Friday, May 22nd. The school will have a garden club next year spearheaded by Marty Kruppenbacher, 5th grade science teacher, and the goal is to implement a 4H gardening program as well.