Your teenage daughter is not typically a big fan of family reunions, but she never really complains and she always attends. Her older sister is away at college so she is the one at home, the one who is available to make two different day long trips this summer. One trip for your side of the family; another trip for your husband’s side of the family. How it so happened that both families would have a reunion this summer after not having one in years is a mystery, but it means that within four weeks you will be seeing most of your relatives. At least the relatives that make the effort to attend.
Before your 17 year old attended as the only member of her generation, however, she did quite a bit of planning. She likes to bake and she does not eat meet, two items that are important for any family gathering, one because there is always someone who’s birthday is close and two because family reunions are not really vegetarian events. Especially not in the midwest. With buffet style meals including roast beef, chicken, hamburgers, and lots of bacon in all kinds of recipes, a non meat eater can struggle. In the midwest, for instance, even the green beans are garnished with meat!
In an effort to not make too much of a scene in front of aunts and grandfathers who cannot imagine why anyone would not eat meat, she prepared two items for each of the reunions. One was her lemon blueberry cupcakes topped with crystallized edible flowers which are always a hit, especially when they are eaten after singing someone birthday greetings. The other was a salad that was far more than the typical Midwestern bowl of iceberg lettuce. Spinach leaves supplemented with micro green varieties that are full of proteins and nutrients.
Natural Ingredients Like Micro Green Varieties Continue to Grow in Popularity
From edible sugar flowers for cupcakes to organic micro greens, there are more and more ways that consumers, and not just professional chefs, can incorporate a whole new range of items into the foods that they prepare. Microgreens have been around for 20 to 30 years, even though they have not made their way into home kitchens until fairly recently. There are as many as 100 types of common garden flowers that are both palatable and edible and there are also a growing number of micro green varieties to add to your salads, so maybe it is time for you to add a little variety to the meals that you serve your family. Or all of the people at a family reunion.
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