- On today's Fit to Eat, I'll prepare turkey meatloaf with tomato relish, quinoa salad, and seared greens.

Our guest is Carol Puckett, cohost of Deep South Dining on MPB Think Radio.

We'll check back in with folks at Fertile Ground Farms and registered dietician, Rebecca Turner, will show you a new way to prepare salads.

It's gonna be a great show.

So stay tuned.

(bright music) (bright music) Welcome back to Fit to Eat.

I'm your host, Rob Stinson.

Today's guest is the cohost of Deep South Dining on MPB Think Radio, Carol Puckett!

Carol, welcome, welcome, welcome!

- Thank you Rob.

I am such a fan.

I'm happy to be here.

- Well, we're gonna have fun.

We're gonna have fun.

- Yeah, we are.

- So, let's take a look.

- Oh my goodness!

- I know, we have a huge variety of some beautiful fresh herbs and vegetables, jalapenos, green onion, parsley, bell pepper, I mean, whether it's julienne or diced, and then-- - There is a lot of garlic.

- Yeah, you see that, huh?

It's kind of well known down on the Gulf Coast where I'm from, and then we're gonna make a really unique fresh turkey meatloaf.

So we got a lot to do.

This is gonna be a fun one.

So the very first thing I'm gonna do is get started on the base of what's gonna go in the little turkey meatloaf 'cause I got this cute little-- - That is adorable!

- Isn't that beautiful?

- Yeah.

- That's what actually is gonna go.

And that'll be kind of in the center of the plate.

So, first things we need to do, I'm gonna take and just put a little zero-fat spray in the pan and about a half a teaspoon.

We're so conscious and Carol, in these recipes, no salt, no sugars, no white flours and very, very little fat,so... - Impressive.

- Yeah, we want to try and do it that way.

So onions and garlic start this and then the beautiful color can go in, bell pepper green and red.

And I tell you what, I love them both and they do taste a little different, and then a little pepper.

Gotta have a little bit of spice, you know.

- Always!

- I mean I came here from New Orleans, you know.

- You're from the Coast.

- Yeah, and down on the Coast, we love that.

So now we're gonna turn the heat up 'cause all we're really doing on this is just pan searing these, 'cause this is gonna bake.

I just want to kind of get a little bit of that blended flavor together because what we're gonna do, and this part of it we'll do in the center and yeah, it's kind of interesting.

I'm actually gonna put some gloves on for this 'cause mixing this ground beef, and at home, you know you can get down and dirty with this and have fun with it, but I want to be able to grab all the rest of the stuff afterwards.

- Yeah, I think that we have all become more conscious over the past couple of years about wearing gloves.

- Well... - And you can get them now at the grocery store.

So I'm a big fan when you're working with meat, I really.

- Well it really is.

So now what we're gonna do is take those and just throw them into the bowl, all right.

And now we've got a lot of different flavors.

This is a, kind of an amino, it's liquid amino so it's a soy substitute.

I want to give it that soy flavor without the salt, okay.

- Okay.

- So we're starting there, then to give it a little pep of flavor, some Dijon mustard and it's just about a spoon.

Some people have a harder time 'cause it can be a little bit spicy, but again, I want to have some good flavor in this.

Some chopped parsley, I'm gonna throw just a little in and save some as a garnish.

And then the star of the show... - The turkey.

- The ground turkey, I know, isn't that something?

And as we kind of mix in, I'm gonna get all that mustard.

I love mustard!

As we start blending this and the pepper's coming off, you gotta be a little bit careful.

My hands are kind of used to heat.

But what I want to do is blend the cold and the hot and I'll tell you why.

The glue on this typically, what do you put in meatloaf?

A lot of bread crumbs, right?

- Yes, you do.

- So you notice we don't have any, and I purposely don't want any, trying and get that little pepper, he's trying to escape.

But we do use an egg white, okay?

- Great idea.

- So one egg white is going to be the binder.

And this is kind of fun and we're gonna get to into kind of talking a whole lot about your whole history, 'cause I tell you what, you and I sounds like we started about the same time.

- Yes we did.

- In this crazy business of food.

- And we've lived to tell the story.

- Yeah, you know what?

You're right, and that's an accomplishment, huh?

- I know.

I'm really interested because turkey is kind of a bland meat and you put a lot of flavor in there.

- Yeah, and that's why, so now zero-fat spray inside the pan 'cause we don't want it to stick.

And now all we're gonna do is take it and as that goes into the bowl, look how pretty.

- [Carol] That's gorgeous.

- Yeah, and it actually has got such good vibrant color.

All we're gonna do is smooth this over and then I'm gonna bring this over to the oven.

A lot of times I try and shy away from cooking in the oven 'cause doesn't really give us much to look at.

But this one it's necessary and I think it's such a good dish for people to see.

So we're gonna go ahead now I'm gonna walk over here.

But look how pretty that is.

- It's gorgeous and I can't believe how fast that came together.

- Well and watch this, now we're gonna put it in here.

400 degrees in the middle of the oven and just kind of set that one there and leave it.

- Okay.

- All right, so we good so far.

- I'm good, you're good, I think we're good.

- All right, so now we have some real fun.

So these are some beautiful collard greens.

It could be-- - [Carol] Swiss chard.

- I mean Swiss chard.

It could be collard greens, it could be turnip, it could be anything, but Swiss chard to me is the prettiest.

- And this time of year, I mean you can still get really beautiful Swiss chard.

- I know isn't that amazing?

Now this pan is hot, so we're gonna take it, some zero-fat spray.

And again, just the slightest bit of oil.

And watch this, this is how fast this is.

- Oh, you're gonna dig them whole.

I could not figure that out, that looks fabulous.

- It's so cool and what I end up doing with it is making the base of the plate, 'cause it's so pretty, now watch.

Water, just a little water.

And then we're gonna have some beautiful flavoring.

But this, and see how they've seared?

That is it, that is it.

That is all that I want.

I just want them to wilt and be a very pretty base on the plate.

Isn't that beautiful?

And look how fast and easy that was.

- Anything would look beautiful on that.

- All right now, here comes the real flavoring.

So in here now, in that hot pan, these are gonna go right on top.

We've got some beautiful julienne onion, red bell pepper again.

And yeah, you said it.

- It gotta have garlic.

- I know garlic.

All right, and then just a little pepper.

So now listen, while I'm searing these, I gotta hear some of your background and story.

We talked a little bit about it 'cause I think it's fascinating.

So take me back to the-- - To the early days.

- Yes, to the early days.

Well said.

- Well, I started a store called The Everyday Gourmet in 1981 in Jackson.

At the time, I was reading and hearing about, you know, this food movement in California with Alice Waters where they were talking about farmer's markets and you know, growing your own food in New York, and the more I read and heard, it excited me and I thought, where better than Mississippi?

- Right.

- Where we love to entertain to open a gourmet store and cooking school.

- Wow.

- So that is indeed what I did.

- And so again, the time period around... - 1981.

- Jeez!

- 1981, and at that time there was only one olive oil in the grocery store.

There were no ground coffee beans.

I mean, you couldn't fresh grind coffee beans.

There were no fresh herbs.

So it was wonderful being a part of that food movement and introducing, you know, many of the new things that were happening, you know, to the people of Mississippi.

- You know, is that amazing?

And I'm gonna interject here right now.

One of the things, no one will remember all of the ingredients that go into these dishes.

So go to MPBonline.org/fittoeat to find the full recipe for everything you see here, as well as all the information on what we're talking about today.

So I think at this point we've got our meatloaf in the oven, our greens are seared and that becomes kind of the base.

And this is probably a good time to actually see where some of these beautiful products are coming from.

- I can't wait.

- So, we're gonna take a short break and check in with Fertile Ground Farms, where Sam Humphrey is working hard with other businesses to help create a hyper-local farming community.

Take a look.

- Normally when people are talking local food, they're saying it's within a hundred miles of the city.

So for me, being an urban farm and selling within six miles, I'm really on a hyper-local focus.

(gentle music) I think one of the biggest reasons to be a a hyper-local farm is that it really helps spur the local economy.

Our farm is right next to our customer base.

And the idea of having this urban farm is that we can do much more direct-to-the-consumer just because we're so close to the consumer.

I primarily sell at the Mississippi Farmer's Market and then I do wholesaling to a variety of restaurants around town.

My food isn't being harvested, you know, two weeks before it's ripe so that it can make it on the truck and then get it to the grocery store to be semi good and then last in your refrigerator for a couple days before it goes bad.

I can pick my produce at peak ripeness, peak freshness, and get it to you and then it'll last with you at least two weeks, if not more.

It's not picked for transportation and storage aspects, it's picked for flavor and nutritional value, ripeness, you know, those types of things.

So this is a light industrially-zoned property.

I actually had to work with the city so that urban agriculture would be an acceptable use of this land.

For instance, where we are now was an old pipe distribution warehouse that was abandoned for about 50 years.

It was just a blighted property, a vacant property that we've come in and transformed.

The longer that we've been here, the more wildlife we've seen come in.

I've seen in the last two years a lot of different insects and beneficial insects come in.

I mean, you could look anywhere and you'll find lizards, all sorts of native pollinators, bees and pollinating wasps.

I like to provide habitat for spiders like this as well as assassin bugs and ladybugs and other beneficial insects.

Instead of having this "us against nature" mentality, it's more about how can you work with nature.

So if I leave this garden spider, he's gonna then eat all sorts of pest insects that I don't want, and so might not want them in your house, but they're great out here.

They're our friends out on the farm.

You know, in this urban concrete landscape we're creating and managing an ecosystem, we're able to bring in the wildlife, bring in and hold them here so that they will work with us and play their crucial role in our ecosystem.

In Jackson we've got a lot of vacant land and a lot of people that need access to food.

If we could turn over some of that land into a farm or you know, into food production or a food provider, then that would go a long way in addressing these issues.

- Welcome back to Fit to Eat.

If you're just joining us, Carol Puckett and I are right in the middle of preparing today's recipe.

All right, so what you think so far?

- I'm amazed.

I'm going to go home and do the braised chard tonight.

- Ain't that incredible?

- It is beautiful.

- I mean, I love it too because that crunch, little zero-fat spray and a little oil once again.

So we're getting used to that, half a teaspoon, and a lot of that doesn't even cook in the food.

All right.

You know it.

- [Carol] Garlic.

- [Rob] Garlic!

Gotta have it.

All right.

- [Carol] I love a cook who has three containers of garlic.

- [Rob] I mean, is that scary?

- [Carol] I knew we'd get along.

- [Rob] And a little black pepper, all right.

And now the fun part.

Okay, so here's a little fun tale.

That's the quinoa raw.

And one of the things that I find makes it kind of fun, if I spread it in the pan like this, and you see how now it's all kind of cooking together.

- [Carol] Right!

- [Rob] And that's how I want it.

You see how it's actually browned just a little bit.

It changes the flavor of the quinoa altogether.

- So you're getting a little nuttiness.

- Yes, more than normal.

Exactly.

Very good.

And now we add in vegetable stock.

Okay, and we're gonna turn that heat way down.

And now, all right, this is your time now.

So now I have got to find out.

- Nervous.

I'm nervous.

- No, not at all, you don't have to cook it.

I'm having fun with this, but we're gonna add a lot of other things into it.

But the main thing, my question is, okay, radio.

- [Carol] Radio, yeah.

Deep South Dining - Talk about that.

- It has been so much fun.

We're going on our third year.

My co-host is Malcolm White of Hal and Mal's.

And you know, Malcolm is just a cultural icon.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- In this state.

And he is one of my closest friends.

So it's like spending Monday morning with your best friend.

- How cool though.

- And you know, our goal really has to been to create a community of food around the state.

And we reach out to Tennessee, we get a lot of listeners down around the Mobile area, in Louisiana.

So, you know, we've really developed a great community.

- Wow, that's, I mean, that's absolutely awesome.

All right, I wanna show something to people real quick.

This is a jalapeno, all right.

Cleaned, just the seeds taken out.

This is how easy it can be, and people always are like, how do you get it diced fine enough?

You see what I'm doing?

I'm making kind of like spider legs.

- [Carol] Yeah.

- Now turn it upside down and mince and you've got small, itty bitty bites where it's not overwhelming.

And that's the key to me.

You know, you can have a whole slice of jalapeno but you get one of those, my wife is not real keen on heavy spices.

- [Carol] Yeah.

- [Rob] And that's too much for her.

But that's what we're gonna actually use, and you know what, since I've got it right there, let's go ahead.

I don't wanna waste it.

So that's going in the dish.

Tomatoes are going in the dish.

Ready?

- [Carol] Apples.

Apples.

- [Rob] Apples are going in the dish.

- [Carol] I'm fascinated.

- [Rob] Little bit of green onion in the dish for some pretty color and actually some of the parsley, I wanna save some of them, like I said earlier, for garnish, and just a little bit more stock.

And we're gonna turn that heat back up a little bit.

It's already bubbling 'cause the idea of those isn't to really sear them, is just simply to kind of blend the flavor all as one.

- Yeah, I'm interested that you're not stirring it a lot.

- Well you really don't need to 'cause the quinoa sinks to the bottom and now the key is having browned it, putting that stock in there, finish that stock and then just letting it simmer and will kind of turn it through.

- You know I've been around a stove and a cutting board for decades and I have never seen anyone chop a jalapeno like that.

It makes such sense to leave the end whole so you're not chasing the little... - Yeah.

- The little seeds all over.

- And they'll never come out the same.

And then you're gonna get one big bite of spice.

And I'm insanely like, I just watch that really close 'cause I think it makes such the difference.

So now all we're really doing is just letting this kind of simmer in its juice.

And I tell you what, I know right now, if I were to go over there and pull out that meatloaf, it would be ready, but I've actually cheated.

This is a whole different pan, all right?

I don't want people to think I'm pulling that, wow, look at it, old trick.

- [Carol] That old trick, oh here it comes!

- An then it comes out, but all I'm gonna do now, and I've separated this from the side, remember the key, we sprayed it with that zero-fat spray at the beginning and now the fun part of it.

And my hands are so used to heat, but I don't want somebody at home doing it where they burn themself and oh!

- Beautiful!

- How pretty.

And like I said, I wanted to save some parsley to go on top of it just to kind of color it, but that's the real deal.

- [Carol] It is the real deal.

- [Rob] Fresh.

- [Carol Healthy.

- Yep, I mean a turkey loaf.

You know, I'm gonna actually bring this kind of into the forefront here on the platter so we can really kind of look at that.

But isn't that amazing?

And it is four ounces, I'm very conscious of the portion size.

So again, to get all of the details of these recipes, I know nobody is gonna remember everything.

You can go to MPBonline.org/fittoeat to find the full recipe for everything you see here, as well as all this great information that you and I been talking about, Carol.

- Wonderful.

- Unbelievable.

All right, now on this side, we're just gonna kind of toss that around.

Let it sit and simmer.

So we are going to take a quick break and check in with registered dietician Rebecca Turner.

She'll show you how you can actually add a little heat to your everyday salads.

Take a look.

(bright music) - Eating a green leafy a day just might help keep the doctor away.

Leafy green vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet.

They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber while low and calories.

Eating leafy greens as often as possible, offers numerous health benefits including reduced risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and mental decline.

In fact, the darker the green in the leaf, the more of a nutrient powerhouse it becomes.

Mississippi is packed with green leafy produce.

Kale, spinach, endive, and our beloved mustards and collard greens, they're all super foods, but think past the traditional salads or overcooked collards as the only way to enjoy green leafy vegetables.

Welcome warm salads into your weekly routine.

Warm salads require heartier ingredients with a touch of heat like sauteing or steaming.

This makes kale and collard greens a great base for a main meal or delicious side dish.

One of my favorites is thinly sliced collard greens with black eye peas that are lightly sauteed and tossed with a simple vinegarette.

This dish makes for a satisfying side dish to any main course.

Let me show you how to make it at home.

Start by preparing one pound of collard greens by removing the stems and then slicing very thinly.

You'll also need one cup of canned black eyed peas, rinsed and drained, or you can utilize a cup of leftover cooked black eyed peas.

You'll need about a fourth a cup of your favorite standard vinegarette dressing.

Now just start by heating a large sauce pan over medium heat and add one teaspoon of olive oil.

Then pack in those collard greens to the pan.

Top with the dressing, and then stir it till it's all combined.

It's gonna cook for five to six minutes, but you're looking for the greens to be soft but still bright in color.

Then add the black eyed peas and toss to combine before you serve.

To complete your meal, pair your warm collard salad with baked chicken, pork chops, or even fish.

So whether you eat them raw or cooked, a diet rich in dark leafy greens is truly fit to eat.

- Welcome back to Fit to Eat.

I'm here with Carol Puckett and we are almost done with this recipe.

Ah, can you believe it?

- You are fast.

- Well, you know the fun part.

All right, so while we're off camera, I kept this-- - Chef trick.

- Yeah, it is, It really is.

And the nice part about it, look what it did.

It allows that quinoa to really absorb all of that moisture and all that stuff.

- [Carol] That is so beautiful, Rob.

- And it's, you know what?

To me, you eat as much with your eyes as you do, you know, with your taste buds, so I want it to be pretty.

But now listen, I think it's really important that people know how to find you and talk about it a little bit more that while I'm putting this, 'cause I'm gonna set this right around the base and try and leave some of those beautiful stems from that Swiss chard so people can see it.

- And I will tell everyone to join us on Monday mornings on MPB at 9:00 AM and we have a great team, Malcolm White, who we've talked about, and Java Chatman is our producer, but he's like the third leg of the stool and the show's about the culture of Southern flavor.

- [Rob] Right.

- And it covers, you know, we can talk about everything from Hostess Twinkies to coconut cake.

- There is quite a variety in Mississippi.

- There is, but-- - That's why I love it here.

- One of the most fun things we've done is we started a Facebook page called Cooking and Coping a couple of years ago.

- [Rob] Oh wow.

- Just a way to keep up with our audience and communicate with them.

And it's grown to over 5,000 people around the world.

- [Rob] Wow.

- I mean, from Taiwan to an island on a marine station off the coast of Japan.

- [Rob That is fantastic.

- Spain, Portugal, mostly in the deep South.

A lot of people in the Pacific Northwest, but it is a true community.

- And what's the-- - It's called Cooking and Coping, Gathering Around the Virtual Table, but we just call it Cooking and Coping, - [Rob] Cooking And Coping.

- And people share their recipes.

It's not precious food.

- [Rob] Right.

- It's what people are really cooking and they are so giving and sharing tips and things with each other.

And you start to know people when you see, over time, what is in their kitchen.

- [Rob] Right!

Right!

- So I hope you join us.

- Oh my God, I have to.

- Yeah.

- I have to.

- But we have a lot of, I mean of chefs that show their home cooking.

- Well and a lot of what I do, you know, is on the healthier side just because of where I'm at in my life itself, but you know, like Salute that I have is Italian.

- [Carol] Right.

- It's seafood and it's healthy.

I bring all that kind of food home, I do.

- [Carol] Right.

- I bring all those different cuisines.

And that would really kind of fit in that whole theme.

- Right, and plus you would learn what other people are doing in their homes and get, but it is the most generous, warm community.

- So to me that kind of brings this whole cycle that we've been talking about this season, you know, this eco cycle of Jackson, how everybody can take part in this.

- [Carol] Yes.

- You know, going to the farms and coming to your house, going to the local, you know, going to the local markets, you know, the farmers markets.

- And restaurants that are supporting all of our local farmers, I mean I think it's up to all of us to build the community, to spread the community, to support each other as we can.

- No doubt, no doubt more now than ever.

- It's what brings us together.

- Yep.

I love it.

Well-- - Mean in this divisive world, food!

- This is a sad moment right now.

And I hate to say it, but I actually think we're out of time.

But everything turned out great.

So I want to thank Carol Puckett for joining us today.

And if you wanna learn more about anything you've seen in this episode, then head over to MPBonline.org/fittoeat and don't forget to follow and like our Facebook page.

So until next time, I'm your host Rob Stinson.

Eat well.

(bright music) (bright music)