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

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

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

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.

Read more about these cancellations here.

-- 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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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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