We've got an epidemic of overweight kids in our country and food experts put the blame on ubiquitous fast food.  Big burgers, fries and the like are quick and easy answers for families on the go.

But a new report has suggests that families are dialing back on the fast food and pointing their children towards healthier choices.  Instead of soda, it's fruit juice.  Crunchy vegs rather than quick-fix French fries.  Hearty sandwiches on whole grain bread instead of a double-fisted burger.  Kids are eating more yoghurt, drinking more milk, enjoying the satisfaction of a crispy apple or a handful of the seasonal berries now in our stores.

Like  most everything , moderation is good.  A fast food choice once in a while is okay, but all the time is not only fattening to the family budget but also to growing young people.  Many families are finding their meal budgets go further when they prepare wholesome foods at home, and skip the drive-through option.

It's not only kids who benefit from this, either.  When I'm ready for an afternoon snack, I'm scavaging through the cupboards for things like whole roasted almonds or a few pieces of dried fruit, some breakfast cereal with 1% milk, a couple of whole grain crackers with peanut butter.  The frig is happiest when it's well-stocked with things like Greek yoghurt, all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables, hummus and tortillas, both corn and whole wheat, with just enough cheese to satisfy.  All this fills me up nicely until dinner, and doesn't empty my pocket, either!

Marinades Are Easy and Flexible

Our certified tender beef can't be beat for its fabulous fork-tender flavor.  To lend variety, try putting together your own marinades.  Be creative with your ingredients, and see what you can come up with.

To marinade a cut of meat, mix together the ingredients you've selected and place the meat in a ziploc-type bag or a glass dish, making sure to cover all the surfaces.  Let the marinade seep into the meat, but don't let it sit longer than overnight:  from marinating beef for a few hours to overnight is plenty.  You want subtle flavor that enhances, not masks, the beef itself.

As to ingredients, you need a liquid base for the marinade.  These can include:

• garlic olive oil
• soy sauce
• red wine
• pineapple juice
• sherry wine vinegar
• teriyaki sauce
• beer

Add to your own taste flavors, such as:

• honey
• horseradish
• brown sugar
• Worcestshire sauce
• whole grain mustard
• ketchup
• molasses
• peanut butter
• lemon juice

Finally, seasonings in small amounts, again not to overwhelm the beef:

• onion or garlic salt
• crushed red pepper
• fresh rosemary
• finely chopped green onions
• finely chopped green chiles
• oregano
• jerk seasoning

Play around with the marinade until you get a flavor combo that you like, and then test it out on various cuts of meat, making adjustments to your own personal taste.  Soon you'll discover that your "secret" marinade recipe is in demand...and leads to more experimenting in the kitchen.  And isn't that what great food is all about?

With Father's Day looming before us, the real question is, who is going to grill those wonderful New York steaks on Sunday?  Can we really ask Dad to prepare his own meal? 

Of course!  We all know Dad loves nothing better than a sizzling seared steak on the grill, flipping burgers for the family, or roasting a big alder plank of salmon. 

That's true for plenty of fathers/men/women/anyone, but if you're thinking of grilling on Sunday, or any time during the next few months, expand the repertoire a bit to include the whole meal.

You can easily make your own crisp sweet potato slices or potato fries on the grill.  Sweet corn is especially sweet and juicy when it's prepared over a flame, either campfire,charcoal or gas.  Bring out the flavors of fruits like peaches and pineapple on a barbecue, too.

Slice up some summer vegetables and coat them lightly with a flavored olive oil, seasoning to your taste, and let them bake gently over a low heat.  The complex mix really resonates on the tongue, and is even better if there are leftovers the next day.

You can add your garlic bread to the grill, too...virtually the whole meal can be managed with outdoor cooking.  The only slightly tricky part is coordinating the food to be done cooking at approximately the same time.  But no worries...you'll get the hang of it. Until you do, just keep a careful eye on the various elements so they don't get too well done!

We recommend a great steak for Father's Day, but if you want something even easier, any frozen or homemade pizza tastes terrific when it's finished off on the barbecue. 

Give Dad a day off from his duties, if he wants, or give him more to cook if he's the creative chef type.  Either way, the end result is summer eating at its finest. 

From my limited gardening experience, it seems as though you need to plant lettuce and other greens you want to eat all summer consecutively...because once you harvest a mature head of lettuce, that's it.  Unless you plant more seeds, you are done.  So gardening, like meal preparation, is an ongoing activity. But oh, the rewards of fresh!

Speaking of farm shares, which is a great idea, if you haven't paged through Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal Vegetable Miracle, it's an engaging look at how one family attempts to grow everything they eat over the course of a year.

What strikes me, and what I've seen written about before regarding farm shares, is how  the more unique vegetables you might receive from a share, particularly in early spring, or the vegetables you might grow when the season begins, is a wonderful exercise for creative cooks.

I, for one, am mystified by kale, mustard greens, collard greens and anything else that resides in that part of the produce case.  Making a point to pick up those unfamiliar veggies and learning how to prepare them can be very satisfying.  They also tend to fill in the gap between the more familiar, like summer berries, and that time of year when you're struggling to find a new way to serve broccoli.

Many of us have started a garden this spring.  There is something so satisfying about preparing a bed, planting the seeds, watering faithfully, and watching plants spring up.

I'm all about variety in my garden, and plan to use it to fill in the gaps between visits to my favorite grocery store.  This spring, I chose starts with dreamy names like "French Market Melange" and "Spicy Argula Mix" and "Baby Spring Mache Lettuce".  As an inexperienced gardener, I discovered my first mistake:  all my lettuces will be ready for picking at the same time, so I hastened to put more seeds in the ground.

Then, the fun starts.  I couldn't resist planting edamame, and wondering if it would succeed in the cooler Northwest climate.  Pattypan squash, butternut, spinach starts, red pepper, Walla Walla onion, little jack o'lantern pumpkins are all co-existing in my elegant and simple raised garden bed.

I have a special section for herbs, because you can never have enough of them.  Italian parsley, French tarragan and dill line up with thyme and an especially hardy basil.  Like everyone else, my rosemary withered and died in the difficult winter, so I've replanted my favorite, for adding to roasting beef, using as skewers for chicken kebobs and crushing to add zest to sauces on fresh fruits.

Are you on the garden bandwagon this summer?  What is your most successful crop, and what's your favorite way to use it?  I forgot to mention that I'm especially excited to grow some broccoli rabe (or rapini) to serve alongside grilled fish and meats.  We're all about eating local whenever possible, and certainly a garden helps us do just that...along with The Markets and our sourcing of all products from close by.