I’ve written about struggles with my weight, and how this year I’ve focused on eating healthier—and I’ve dropped about 15 pounds.
It’s an interesting dilemma: personally battling with weight while writing about food that is generally decadent, to say the least.
As we enter summer, we talk about the great food at Target Field and the State Fair, but let’s be honest, virtually none of it is healthy.
Now I’m no puritan (I had one of Cupcake’s key lime cupcakes today, from the top cupcake-baker in the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars!), but I know when I’m indulging, and I had salad for dinner.
At any rate, I’m hoping to highlight a healthy eating option at least once a month here in the blog. We need to remember that eating fatty food is supposed to be a rare treat, not the rule.
So what better place to start than at the home for hot dogs and nachos that is Target Field! I just love what my friend, a dietitian, Sue Moores is doing called Roots for the Home Team.
Sue has been a frequent expert in our WCCO Good Question stories. So when she told me about the partnership with a couple youth garden programs and the Minnesota Twins, I was intrigued.
Along with all the non-healthy junk at Twins Games, you can now find salads. Delicious salads. Grown in community gardens by city kids, farmed by the kids, and turned into really great meals. I got to try Bryan & Ly’s Epic Quinoa Salad, which had shredded kale leaves, cucumber, mint, sunflower seeds, and quinoa. The dressing was fantastic, with a hoisin sauce diluted by honey, sesame oil, vinegar, and chili garlic sauce. Awesome.
Silas’ Fiesta Salad (pictured here) also was killer—just-picked veggies from the garden combined with black beans and corn (canned—our corn isn’t quite in yet!). A serving is just 215 calories with 12 grams of fat.
The first week at Target Field, the kids sold out of the salads before the game started. There were some complaints that the portions were too small (people want more salad—this is good), so they doubled the portions for game two and nearly sold out.
The kids are in 7th grade through high school, and they take part in Eastside Garden Corps, Community Design Center of Minnesota, Emerge Community Development, and Youth Farm and Market Project (I’ve donated to them before). Great programs in low-income areas of the cities.
I was skeptical of the idea of salads at a baseball game—they seem messy to me. But I suppose it’s no messier than a baseball cap full of soft serve ice cream. And honestly, at $7, they are probably the best bargain in the place. That’s cheaper than the Surly you people are lining up for!
But you’ve got to support this if you want these kinds of things to continue! You’ll find the brightly colored “Roots for the Home Team” cart near Gate 34 on Sunday home games. Next up: June 17 (with Summer Berry Slugger Salad and the Super Soba Citrus). Other games: July 1, 15, and 29, August 12, September 9, 16, and 30.
