Earth Day Recipes for families

NEW YORK - April 12, 2013 - PRLog -- Break out that jar of home preserves or relish---and never mind how you got
it!  Home-grown is the right food to eat on Earth Day (Monday, April 22).

The good news is you still have time to plant your garden or window box and
enjoy a bit of home-grown bounty this summer and beyond. Involve your kids
in the sowing and reaping or take them to your local farmer's market this
weekend. Pick out something fresh to prep together for your Earth Day
celebration.

Whatever your politics, you probably appreciate that getting your children
to eat healthy  is the send-home  of Michelle Obama's kitchen garden,
according to Clara Silverstein, author of A WHITE HOUSE GARDEN COOKBOOK.
Ms. Silverstein went a step further, storing in her book both White House
recipes and dozens of kid-approved  recipes gathered from children's gardens
across the country.  

You  might want to try one of the two lettuce-wraps below this weekend.  

The first , "Daniel and Annie's Salad Wraps," originated in the children's
section of the vast New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and contains the
surprise, optional ingredient of an edible wildflower.  

The second recipe, "Lettuce Wrap Treats" is almost a dessert that  enfolds
dried fruits and nuts and a dab of vanilla yogurt in lettuce grown by
schoolchildren in rural Tennessee.    

Daniel and Annie's Salad Wraps

Serves 6

There's more to the Bronx than city streets and subways roaring under them.
This borough of New York is home to a spectacular botanical garden, so large
that a wide river runs through it.  There is also plenty of room for
vegetable gardens.  Families and kids who plant in this Bronx garden also
get to eat there---even some of the flowers.

6 lettuce leaves, plus 6 more for slicing

1 kohlrabi bulb or 1 cup shredded cabbage

5 radishes

6 scallions

6 mint or basil leaves (or more to taste)

Edible flowers, to garnish (such as Johnny jump-ups, chives or nasturtiums),
optional

1. Wash and dry the lettuce leaves. Peel and slice the kohlrabi. Wash and
dice the radishes. Wash the scallions, and cut off and discard the root
ends.

2. Lay out 6 lettuce leaves on a countertop or a large plate. With scissors,
cut the remaining 6 leaves into ribbons. Into each lettuce leaf, lay some
kohlrabi and radishes, 1 scallion (cut it in half if it's too long), and 1
mint or basil leaf. Roll it up. If necessary, pin closed with a toothpick.
Garnish the top with edible flowers. Serve with your favorite dressing as a
dip.

         ---Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, New
York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.  Reprinted from A White House Garden
Cookbook by Clara Silverstein.

Lettuce Wrap Treats

         Per single serving

Robin Schell, school garden coordinator of Rural Resources in Greeneville,
TN (also home of the Andrew Johnson National Historic site), had a tough
sales job when she suggested this recipe. The children weren't sure they
wanted to try something new, but since they grew the lettuce, they all
agreed to take a bite. "In the end, nothing was left! They ate it all and
have been asking when they can make it again," she said. The combination of
ingredients is sort of a Waldorf salad to go. Add and subtract to these
ingredients according to what you like.

1 lettuce leaf

1 tablespoon each of any of the following: chopped apples, chopped celery,
walnuts or pecans, raisins or dried cranberries

1 tablespoon vanilla yogurt

1. Pick the largest, most pliable lettuce leaves that you can find. Leaf
lettuces work really well for this.

2. Rinse the lettuce leaves in cold water and pat dry between sheets of
paper towels.

3. Add spoonfuls of chopped apples, chopped celery, walnuts or pecans, and
raisins or dried cranberries in the center of the leaf. Each person can
choose their own mix of ingredients.

4. Add a dollop of vanilla yogurt.

5. Fold the lettuce lengthwise over the toppings and then fold up the ends,
like a burrito or little package. Pick up and eat!

         ---Tusculum View Elementary School afterschool program, Rural
Resources, Greeneville, TN.   Reprinted from A White House Garden Cookbook
by Clara Silverstein.