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Learn about heart-, brain-healthy cooking at Carmichael event

Workshop focuses on how plant-based diet can promote better health

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2023

Amy Myrdal Miller is the co-author of “Cooking a la Heart.” Photos courtesy Amy Myrdal Miller

What you eat has a direct impact on your heart. (It’s important for your brain, too.)

Gardeners know eating a wide range of vegetables and fruits goes a long way in promoting better health. But so does your choice of fats, proteins and carbs – especially when it comes to keeping your heart and brain fit and functioning.

Learn ways to keep your heart and brain happy while pleasing your stomach and taste buds, too, at a special presentation and book signing, “Cooking a la Heart: Discover Easy, Delicious Recipes for Promoting Health.”

Set for 1 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at Carmichael’s Milagro Centre, this in-person workshop features Amy Myrdal Miller, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and food consultant. She’ll offer advice and answer questions about making healthier food choices part of your daily diet.

With Linda Hachfield, Miller is co-author of the newly released fourth edition of “Cooking a la Heart” (The Experiment, Hachette Books, 384 pages). For this revamped edition, Miller and Hachfield focused on foods that promote heart health, support brain health and reduce inflammation while also being downright delicious and easy to prepare.

Their approach uses the latest nutritional research on heart-healthy diets from around the globe. The new book’s 500-plus recipes put an emphasis on plant-based ingredients, healthy fats and thoughtful use of dairy, poultry and lean red meat.

A publicity shot of a cookbook “The Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating patterns are scientifically proven to be the healthiest for our hearts, and they even have added brain health benefits,” they explain. “Combined, they make the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, which further reduces the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Cooking à la Heart incorporates all three into one nourishing, wholesome, environmentally friendly cookbook.”

At the March 19 workshop, Miller will be sharing tips for home cooks about how to prepare heart-healthy dishes that are as delicious as they are good for you. During the presentation, guests will sample appetizers and small bites from the cookbook’s recipes as well as have a chance to get a copy of Miller’s book (at $25, a $10 discount).

Tickets are $25 and available via eventbrite at https://bit.ly/3FhnStA. Presented by the Sacramento chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, the event supports the chapter’s scholarship fund. All proceeds will go towards helping women pursuing careers in farming, food and beverages.

“Cooking a la Heart” will be held at Event Center by Bella Bru at Milagro Centre, 6241 Fair Oaks Blvd., Suite D, Carmichael.

For more details: https://bit.ly/3FhnStA.

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Updates on weekend events, for anyone who missed the info earlier:

--The UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale set for Saturday has been canceled outright.

-- The Sacramento County master gardeners' March 11 Open Garden Day has been canceled officially because of safety concerns related to our current storms. But depending on weather Saturday morning, the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center may be open informally during the planned hours of 9 a.m. and noon.

-- The Shepard Spring Sale, at last hearing, is still planned for Saturday and Sunday at the Shepard Center for Garden and Arts in McKinley Park.

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

cooking health weekend event heart health Milagro Center Carmichael Sacramento gardening Les Dames d'Escoffier

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Garden checklist for week of Feb. 8

Dodge those raindrops and get things done! Your garden needs you.

* Start your spring (and summer) garden. Transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots. Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions. Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

* This is the last chance to spray fruit trees before they bloom. Treat peach and nectarine trees with copper-based fungicide. Spray apricot trees at bud swell to prevent brown rot. Apply horticultural oil to control scale, mites and aphids on fruit trees soon after a rain. But remember: Oils need at least 24 hours to dry to be effective. Don’t spray during foggy weather or when rain is forecast.

* Feed spring-blooming shrubs and fall-planted perennials with slow-release fertilizer. Feed mature trees and shrubs after spring growth starts.

* Remove aphids from blooming bulbs with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.

* Fertilize strawberries and asparagus.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

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