Thursday, March 8, 2012
My head is literally spinning this week with the whirlwind of food and nutrition news. Are the topics of food, nutrition, health, and sustainability super hot right now, or what? White hot, I’d say.
I’m trying to prioritize what to write about and when – upcoming poll for my readers, perhaps? – the current week is evolving into one of a few brief posts, from Meatless Monday to farm market Wednesday and now MyPlate Thursday. As you probably know, the USDA’s prominent icon the Food Guide Pyramid was replaced with MyPlate this past summer. They’re hoping the more recognizable symbol and lack of proper spacing between the words “My” and “Plate” will get more people excited about eating healthfully. And, to further increase the buzz about the plate and National Nutrition Month in general the USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack declared today “What’s on My Plate” day.
With its messages about making half your plate plant-based and encouraging people to eat less, the plate is a definite step in the right direction. That said, the dietary advice could use some fine tuning, so check out my post comparing the USDA’s MyPlate to Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate if you’ve not read it yet. The devil is indeed in the dietary details.
That said, I’m all for any spotlight shined on food and nutrition, so I’ve been wondering for weeks what three photos of breakfast, lunch and dinner to tweet to #MyPlate as my own way of showing support for this auspicious “holiday” and National Nutrition Month in general.
Tough choices, but here’s my picks.
Breakfast
Yes, my normal breakfast / mid-morning meal is peanut butter on whole grain toast and a piece of fruit. Stove-top oatmeal with apples or raisins is also common. And black coffee. Always black coffee. But I want to submit something a bit fancier for today’s special day. (Shhh, don’t tell the USDA this was actually a brunch meal, but I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.) As well, below’s meal is a great opportunity to highlight how to include more veggies into your breakfast, which we Americans don’t do often enough. While energy-dense – hence better suited for brunch, in my view, especially if accompanied by cocktails – this meal has tons of nutrients and big flavors that will definitely keep you satiated.
Southwestern Eggs, the P.K. Way: Two softly scrambled eggs atop a crispy corn tortilla and salad of black beans, corn, and red peppers topped with tomatillo salsa. Phenomenal. A brunch like this can actually be heard begging for a Bloody Mary; don’t let it down.
Lunch
I don’t regularly eat lunch, actually. I’m more of a grazer, saving dinner with my husband for the day’s main meal. During the day I’ll eat fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains (whole wheat toast, brown rice cakes, etc.). If I do consume lunch, whether at a meeting or whatever, I’ll almost always eat just a big salad for dinner to watch my energy intake. I love salad so much I often eat a big salad for dinner even if I don’t have a big lunch, come to think of it. Anyway, during the height of summer an open-faced tomato sandwich makes a killer lunch.
Open-faced yellow tomato sandwich with arugula, garlic-caper aioli, and rainbow micro greens on toasted rustic whole grain bread. Sublime. Click on the pic for the recipe!
Dinner
I have way, way too many dinner photos from which to choose. Salads, soups, and seafood are my common dinners, with lots of photos on my blog. Here’s a (new) pic from a post in the works on native bluefish, a meal I made prior to a trans-Atlantic flight to avoid horrid plane food. Huge umami flavors in this dish.
Pan-seared native bluefish served atop sautéed radish greens and shiitake mushrooms with olive tapenade and parsley gremolata. Unbelievable.
What’s on YOUR plate?
So what dishes are YOU going to tweet (#MyPlate) or post to Flickr? Just don’t have your plate look like this. Not in the public domain, at least; keep in the privacy of your own home, people. You can also share your photos on my FB page, too, if you like.
Just for the record, there’s no prize or anything for sending in photos. Other than good health, that is (she says, enthusiastically)! Too much? Yeah, I agree.
Nevertheless.
