It's beet season in our neighbor's garden. (Hint, hint...yes, I love homegrown beets!)

We call them "beets" here in the U.S. and Canada. In Britain, they are more accurately referred to as "beetroot" since a beet is actually the edible taproot that grows under the ground. Beet greens (the part that grows above the ground) are also edible and ...Read more

Some of our very best friends this time of year are neighbors who have gardens. About once a week, I'll get a text messages from Ginny and Bob who live across the street.

"Would you like some vegetables?"

Uh, yes, please!

Last week I brought home fresh zucchini, one big enough to stuff. Yum. And turnips.

"Let me know how you like the taste ...Read more

A reader writes: I live in Monterey, California. I'm 77 and my husband is 82. I'm wondering, with the large number of COVID-positive farm workers in our area, how safe it is for us to be eating local produce such as romaine lettuce which could have been picked by an infected ag worker? Also, how safe is pork and chicken? Thank you for your help,...Read more

After watching too much news about everyone who insists their way is right, I needed to write this column. Hopefully I won't get hate mail about the value of fruits and vegetables. In fact, the recommendation for us to eat a diet rich in plant foods is about the only thing experts and food gurus from all sides of the diet spectrum do not argue ...Read more

Must be time to talk about dietary fiber. Last week I received this message: "Hello dear, can you send us some information about a low fiber diet? (My husband) is going in for a colonoscopy and was told to avoid fiber for 3 days before his test."

Then reader G.M. writes: "Hello Barbara, I had a CAT scan done and they said I have colonic ...Read more

I didn't like being called "freckle face" when I was a kid. So when my mom took me to the pediatrician for a routine check up, I asked him if he could make my freckles go away. He kindly told me he could, "but you will never be able to go out in the sun again or your freckles will come back." So I got used to being "freckle face."

Freckles may ...Read more

I'm seeing more and more plant-based protein ingredients added to food products these days. A product called Harvest Snaps, for example, uses green peas, red lentils and black beans in their chip-like snacks. These pea, lentil and bean-based crisps have more protein and dietary fiber and less fat and sodium than regular potato chips. Not bad.

...Read more