Hearts and flowers

Hearts and flowers The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has several delicious ways to treat your honey for Valentine's Day, starting with a gourmet dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 14. Here's the menu: beet salad with candied walnuts and blue cheese, pork belly and seared scallops, lavender-scented lamb chops, caramelized sweet potato purée, black cherry trifle and chocolate truffles. Wines accompany each course. Appetizers will be served in the Great Hall among the orchid exhibit. The evening is $60 for Arboretum members, $65 for nonmembers. Call 612-624-7173 for reservations. Another option is observing chef Jenny Breen demonstrate how to prepare sensual foods (with samples and wine) in her Aphrodisiacs Pour l'Amour class at 5:30 p.m. on the 14th. Or if you'd rather dine at home, the arboretum-by-day will offer two afternoon classes on making chocolate truffles and on making your own body butter. For details about times and prices, call 952-443-1422, e-mail ArbEdu@umn.edu, or go to www.arboretum.umn.edu/learn.aspx.

Vitamin D breakthrough We've heard that consuming more vitamin D might help ward off cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes, but we may not have considered mushrooms a prime source. The February issue of Good Housekeeping magazine notes Dole portobello mushrooms among the winners of its first Very Innovative Products Awards -- new products that performed exceptionally well when evaluated by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. A 6-ounce package of Dole's Portobello mushroom caps and slices contains 800 IUs of D, the daily amount that experts suggest. The secret? The mushrooms are exposed to a flash of light during the growth process, which helps them synthesize more D without changing the taste. Keep an eye out for more foods using such technology.

Cook smarter Stretching our food dollars just got a little easier with St. Paul's two Mississippi Market co-ops' "3 Days, 3 Ways" program. The idea is to show how to stretch one "main event" protein across three days in three different dishes. Recipes and cooking tips will alternate monthly between omnivore and vegetarian options. February's topic will be three ways with lentils. January's ideas for getting three dishes from one roasted chicken are still available online and in the store. Go to www.msmarket.coop and click on "3 Days, 3 Ways." Mississippi Markets are at 622 Selby Av. and 1810 Randolph Av. in St. Paul.

KIM ODE