Always buy beets with the stems and leaves attached.  These should look fresh, bright and alive.  Try to choose bulbs that are approximately the same size and that have smooth, unblemished, tight skin.  Avoid any that are very big, these may be woody inside.

Use the leaves and stems within 2 days of purchase.  Trimmed, the beets will keep stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, for up to 10 days.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

Brussels sprouts belong to the cabbage family, and are closely related to cauliflower, broccoli, kale and collards and are a cool weather crop.

Choose Brussels sprouts that are firm and green with no splitting or browning of the outer leaves.  The smaller the sprout, the sweeter and more tender it will be.

Loosely wrap Brussels sprouts in paper towel, then place in a performated plastic bag, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services

Bell peppers come in green, red, yellow and purple.  They are available all year long.

Choose peppers that are heavy for their size and have bright, tight, smooth, glossy skin with no wrinkly, soft pataches

Store peppers in a ventilated bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Reading ingredient lists on food labels can be a daunting exerperience. The lists are usually very long with words that we can’t pronounce which are usually preservative, additives and fillers. Here are a few things to keep in mind when reading ingredient lists:

• The ingredients are listed in descending order, so the first item on the list is the most abundant, the second a bit less and so on.
• Any word ending in “ose”or “ides” is a sugar as well as “from concentrate”.
• Sugar may not be the first ingredients, but if you read the label and see many words ending in “ose” and “ides”, sugar may actually be the most abundant ingredient
• If something is a true whole grai.n, the first ingredient should read “whole grain”.
• If you can’t pronounce the ingredient, should you be eating it??
• Keep it simple by choosing foods with short ingredient lists.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Garlic is sold in heads or bulbs containing anywhere from 10-20 cloves

Choose garlic bulbs with firm cloves that show no signs of powdery mold, black spots, or green sprouting.  The papery shell should be crisp and crinkly to the touch, tight over the cloves and off-white in color.  The last thing to do when choosing garlic is to smell it, it should have no smell.

Store garlic away from light and moisture.  Unbroken heads can last up to 3 months, separated cloves with last 5-10 days

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Although asparagus are available all year they are best in season in the spring and early summer 

Select asparagus with tips that are dark green or purple,  tightly closed and show no signs of wrinkling, wilting or drying out.  The stems should be straight and firm.  The thickness of the spear doesn’t affect taste but keep in mind the thicker the stalk the longer the cooking time.  When it comes to the color of asparagus white asparagus are much more mild and the stalks more tender then green

Store asparagus for no longer the 2 days in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

Although available all year, the season for vine ripened local tomatoes is from July through October. 

Choose tomatoes by smelling the stem end and choosing ones that have a strong, sweet tomato smell, are plump and shiny and have a slight give when pressed.  They should feel heavy for their size and free of soft spots, bruising and blemishes and be vibrant in color.  Avoid tomatoes that look dull and have been refrigerated. Don’t squeeze tomatoes as they have a delicate skin that can bruise easily.

 If your tomatoes aren’t quite ripe yet be sure to store stem side down.  Tomatoes should be stored at a cool room temperature, out of their packaging and used within a few days.

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

There are many reasons to buy organic produce.  First, it’s better for the environment, no pesticides means healthier soil, water, and wildlife.  It supports small farmers, organic farmers can earn a fairer price for organic produce compared to factory farming and are organic farmers are growing a wide variety of non-genetically modified (non-GMO) fruits and vegetables.  Where factory farming has decreased our choices in the supermarket to one or two types of any produce variety, organic farmers are resurrecting many heirloom varieties and increasing our choices.

“They” say the research on whether consuming organic food is healthier for people remains inconclusive, however, the USDA’s own tests show that most non-organic produce contain residual pesticides even after washing.  The long term affects of consuming these pesticides has not been sufficiently studied, but they can’t be good for you.

In a perfect world, all our groceries would be organic.  Unfortunately, organic food is still more expensive (although the prices are dropping) or even unavailable.  To make wiser choices here are two lists.  The first, refered to as “The Dirty Dozen”, is a list of the fruits and vegetables with the highest level of pesticide contamination and should always be purchased organic.  The second list, referred to as “The Clean 15”, have the least amount of pesticides.  These fruits and vegetables are fine purchased conventional.  Notice that many in the list of the Clean 15 have thick, inedible skins which protect the fruit and may be peeled.

For a wallet size list to carry with you to the market please visit:  http://www.foodnews.org/

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

You’ve probably heard about the health benefits of olive oil; it contains monounsaturated fat, the “healthy” fat that can help lower your risk of heart disease by reducing the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in your blood.  But when you get to the grocery store, which one do you choose?  There’s extra-virgin, virgin, cold pressed, light, it can be so confusing.  I can only speak of what I do and I always have 2 oils in my kitchen and they’re bothextra virgin, cold pressed, unrefined and organic.  The reason for the two is one is a cheaper brand that I cook with and one is a good,  fruity oil that I use to “finish” dishes. 

You may have heard that you’re not supposed to heat extra virgin olive oil and this is not exactly true.  Every oil has what is refered to as a “smoke point”.  This is the temperature that will cause the oil to break down and become toxic.  The smoke point for EVOO is about 375.  You know your oil is breaking down when it starts to smoke, hence the turn “smoke point”.   When I prepare my quicky meals I’m never heating my oil to smoking and I’m getting all the health benefits that olive oil has to offer. 

My finishing oil is a high quality, slightly more expensive oil that is tasty and fruity and I don’t heat this at all.  I use it to prepare dressings or to drizzle over a finished dish and drizzle over good, crunchy, fresh bread. 

I found this great website for all the information you could ever want regarding olive oil.  I have never tried their products so I am not endorsing them but if you do, I’d love to hear what you think.

http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/how-pick-olive-oil

Donna Mintz is the owner of Basil & Barbells, Inc., a NYC based personal chef and personal training service that helps busy people fit healthy meals and exercise into their hectic schedules by offering cooking classes, personal training and personal chef services.

I love garlic! It is native to central Asia and was originally believed to have magical powers. When English settlers brought it to America it was regarded as a medicinal herb and is still recognized today for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.

Garlic is available all year round. Choose unbruised firm heads without signs of molding or sprouting. The papery shell should be crisp and crinkly to the touch and tight over the cloves. Store garlic away from light and moisture and it will stay fresh for weeks.