FDA Regulations

For today's assignment I'm giving you, read this and leave a comment about how it makes you feel.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10004411.html


What can we do about it?


More about it later. Right now I want to go do a "heeby jeeby" dance and maybe shower with bleach.

Non-food Food

At the food bank we're always in need of donations, food and non-food items. You've all heard/read me talk about all of the food items, so today I'd like to talk a bit about the non-food items.

We at the food bank LOVE to see things that aren't food. By that, I don't mean Cheetos. I mean soap, aluminum foil, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

People usually think of the food bank as a place to get the food humans need to survive. But what about the rest of the time? People require toilet paper, too.

That is the basic statement that will drive this blog. People need toilet paper, too.

I understand that people don't have a toilet paper tree in their backyard they can pick and have extra to give out. I understand that TP is expensive. But in my opinion, even more of a reason to help out.

I got a call a few days ago from a single mother that could not afford toilet paper for the next few days until she got her pay check. She did not want to steal it. She did not want to over draw her account for it. She just wanted a few rolls of toilet paper to get her and her children through the week.

Same thing with stuff like dog and cat food. Animals have to eat too. We do not give out huge sacks of it. Only enough to get through  a few days. But I personally could not fathom dealing with the pain of not feeding an animal because I needed something (like my electricity paid) first.

Other non-food donations could include:
- wax paper
- shampoo /  conditioner
- unopened allergy medication
- Britta filters
- paper towels/napkins
- cash (we use this in any way you designate or as we see fit)
- boxes, plastic bags and egg carton (used in food distribution to give out food)
- TIME! Sign up to volunteer!
- diapers (baby and adult)
- feminine products
- food storage containers

And of course:
- Toilet paper.




Thank you all and remember to take time to think about the community as a whole.

Having Fun With Your Food

Today I'd like to talk about fun with food. I don't mean playing with it on your plate, I mean with flavor.

Here's a few of my tips:

- Add herbs! Fresh or dried, adding herbs to a dish adds humungous amounts of flavor with out adding too many (if any measurable amount) of calories.

- Eat seasonally. This means knowing what is in season in your area of the world at that time. These things are usually cheaper and haven't been in the store for too long. Right now in Washington, Walla Walla sweet onions are in season and I can't get enough.

- Eat a kind of cuisine you've never had before. Never had Thai food (like green curry)? Try some! Never had French cuisine (like a lovely boeuf bourguignon) ? Go for it! Never had Greek food (my favorite is spanakopita)? You're really missing out! TRY IT! Who knows, you might just find a new favorite food. I'll post the links to the recipes of the dishes I mentioned at the bottom.

- Don't be afraid of sauce. Learn how to make the 5 mother sauces and use them! If you don't know what those are, I'll post a link for ya.

- Try a kind of meat you've never tried. I tried venison for the first time a few years ago and I haven't been able to eat enough since. Or try a vegetarian dish if you'd like. Try falafel! (again, I'll post a recipe..)




The moral of the story is, have fun! Food is an adventure! If you never step out of your comfort zone, you'll never know what you're missing out on!


Recipes:
Thai Green Curry: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/limeleafcurry.htm

Beouf Bourguingnon:  :http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2004/12/22/anthony-bourdains-boeuf-bourguignon/

Spanikopita: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spanakopita-greek-spinach-pie/

5 Mother Sauces: http://lynnescountrykitchen.net/sauc/mothersauces.html

Falafel: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/My-Favorite-Falafel-231755




Enjoy and play with your food!

Produce Recipes!

I promised you recipes! Thank you for being patient. 


To start off, here's a list of produce in my food bank that you may or may not know how to cook:
- Fennel
- Artichoke
- Kale
- Eggplant
- Beets
- Parsnips
- Collard Greens




Let's go in order....




Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Fennel:

• 1 pound hot Italian sausage links
• 1 (16 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
• 1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce or 24oz of my recipe (in earlier post)
• 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped (you can do this in your oven! You don't have to buy a jar!)
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until almost tender (called al dente), about 10 minutes depending on pasta. Fry the sausages in a large skillet over medium heat, turning frequently until cooked through, should take about 15 minutes. Remove from the skillet, cool slightly and slice into rounds. Add the garlic, fennel and onion to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, then add the roasted red peppers, basil, sliced sausage and pasta sauce. Heat through over low heat until warmed. Combine the pasta with the sauce and vegetables in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread the mozzarella, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses over the top. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the aluminum foil. Set the oven to broil, and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is browned. Serves 8. 

Artichoke:

2 Whole Artichokes

2 Tablespoon butter

2 cloves garlic

Water

Fill the pan with just enough water to cover bottom. Bring to a full boil over high heat. While water is heating, trim and discard the stems and tough outer leaves of artichokes. Tuck slivers of butter and slices of garlic into artichoke leaves. When water is boiling, place steamer insert in pot and set artichokes in steamer, stem-side down. Cover pot with lid and allow artichokes to steam for approximately 20 minutes, until tender.

Olive Garden's Sausage and Kale Soup:

1 pound Italian Sausage (I like to mix spicy and mild)

2 large Russet Potatoes cut into 1/4in bits

1 large Onion, diced

2 cloves of Garlic (or more, if you really like garlic)

2 cup Kale (Washed really well)

16oz Chicken Broth

1 Quart Water

1 cup Heavy Cream (or half and half, but cream just makes it rich and velvety)

Brown up the sausage in a large pot until browned. Add onions and garlic and saute, add broth and water. When at boil, add potatoes, kale and cream. Serve when potatoes are cooked through. Serves 4-6

Eggplant Au Grain

• 1 pound eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
• 1 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
• 
  
• Brush both sides of eggplant slices with oil. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes. Turn and bake 7-8 minutes longer or until lightly browned and tender. Cool on a wire rack. Place one eggplant slice in each of two 10-oz. ramekins coated with nonstick cooking spray. Top each with 2 tablespoons spaghetti sauce and 2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Serves 4. 

Borsht: 

2L water
1 lb beet root, peeled, and coarsely grated
about 3 Tbsp. lemon juice, to taste
about 3 tsp. salt, to taste
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup cucumber julienned (or in matchstick like cuts)
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/4 cup finely chopped dillsour cream, for garnish


Bring water to a boil and add grated beets. Lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool slightly. Add lemon juice and salt. Taste and adjust if necessary. Let the soup cool on the stove top then chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Combine eggs, cucumbers, scallions, and dill in a bowl and store in the fridge until ready to serve. When ready to serve: Divide egg mixture between 6 bowls. Ladle soup over mixture, and garnish with sour cream. Makes 6 servings.




Potato and Parsnip Mash:


2 Russet Potatoes, pealed and in 1in pieces
2 Parsnips, pealed and cut into 1/2in pieces
2 med. Carrots, pealed and cut into 1/2in slices
2 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt


Place the potato, parsnip and carrot in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a small bowl, mash the vegetables with milk, butter, brown sugar and salt. Serves 4.




Zesty Collard Greens:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 pound fresh collard greens, cut into 2-inch pieces

I've heard of a lot of people liking turkey necks or other pig product in theirs.... So you can add those too.

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble and return to the pan. Add onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until just fragrant. Add collard greens, and fry until they start to wilt. Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until greens are tender. Serves 6. 

Now you know how to use the produce at the food bank that you may not know how to use! 

I don't know about you, but I love trying new things. If you have any recipes you really like, send them to me! I'd love to try them out! Who knows, maybe I'll post them up on here! 

Energy Drinks

Before I start, I PROMISE I'll have the veggie recipes up this afternoon. We're gunna get a new shipment in of produce today but for now, I can safely tell you I'll have a collard green recipe, a beet recipe and a an onion recipe that will all blow your socks off.


Now on to my morning rant about my personal pet peeves about the food bank.



My biggest pet peeve in the food bank: When I see clients with energy drinks. Not only are they terrible for you, but they're a waste of money! I've seen people come into the food bank drinking one, pull another one out of their purse, then drink that one!

Let's do the math.


The drinks are ~$2 a piece. If you drink 2 in front of me, I can only assume you have one more during the day sometime. So. ~$6 a day. Every day. That's ~$42 a week, ~$168 a month, ~$2,016 a YEAR.


List of ingredients for Monster Energy Drink (regular, not the sugar free kind):
Carbonated water, Sucralose (sugar), Glucose (sugar), Citric acid, Natural flavors (Natural monster flavor???), Taurine (natural in animals and humans, but synthetically made), Sodium citrate (the salt that's in citric acid), Color added (whatever that means), Panax ginseng (an Asian aphrodisiac and stimulant), Root extract (which root, we'll never know), L-carnitine (used to treat heart, kidney diseases and male infertility), Caffeine (CNS stimulant), Sorbic acid (food preservative), Benzoic acid (a salty food preservative), Niacinamide (part of the Vit B group), Sodium chloride (table salt), Glucuronolactone (connective tissue found in plant gums), Inositol (sugar with half the sugary taste of sucrose, which is table sugar), Guarana seed extract (stimulant), Pyridoxine (Vit B6),  Hydrochloride (hydrochloric acid, like the stuff you use in chem class), Sucralose (more sugar!?), Riboflavin (essential vitamin) , Maltodextrin (corn), Cyanocobalamin (Vit B12). 






So you're paying for a company to fill you up with sugar, chemicals, and some stuff that actually is good for you. But here's the thing, the amount of "healthy" things in there is next to nothing. 


If you want to have some vitamins, eat something natural. Eat a salad. Eat some meat. Drink a homemade smoothie. Eat an apple or some cherries! 


Just do something other than drink these nasty things. And whatever you do, don't bring them into the food bank or I will lecture you until you throw it out. If you want something to drink, I'll get you some water or orange juice. 

Fresh Produce (with recipes!)

For today's entry, I'd like to talk about my second favorite thing in the world. 

FRESH PRODUCE!

I never seen to get enough of it! I know it may seem a little freaky ( I mean come on, fennel looks intimidating). But it's surprisingly easy to use and eat. 

For beginners, I suggest starting off easy. One of my favorite ways to get vegetables into my meal is to just keep adding them in. I make my own marinara sauce (I'll put my recipe at the end for ya). So that's already full of delicious, easy to eat veggies, and then when I make my pasta I try and use pasta that is either whole grain or made with vegetables inside it. Then, when I'm heating up my sauce, I'll toss in some spinach to wilt. Delicious, cheap, and a great source of vitamins and fiber. 

For those seeking a little more fun with your vegetables, try stuffing something! I LOVE stuffed zucchini pizzas! Again, all these recipes will be on the bottom. Zucchini pizza gives you the taste of all the cheese and sauce, with less than 100 calories per serving. You seriously cannot go wrong with these. If you don't like zucchini for whatever crazy reason, there's always red bell peppers! They work well for being vessels for quinoa or brown rice baked inside. Yummy! I'll put a recipe for that in here too. 

For those who are REALLY adventurous and want to try something completely off the wall,  I suggest ratatouille. It's a French dish with eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper in a tomato sauce. I'll put a recipe for it at the bottom. :) It takes a little effort with all of the slicing, but with a mandolin, it's a breeze!

I'll post another blog today with more information about what the heck to do with some of the veggies that are currently in my food bank. So come in, take some, and I'll teach you what to do with it!

Emily's Marinara:

1 can of stewed tomatoes (with juice)

1 small can of tomato paste

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1 medium onion, diced finely

3 cloves of garlic, minced.

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp dried basil (or fresh if you have it)

2 tsp dried oregano (or fresh if you have it)

1 bay leaf

1 C red wine (or red wine vinegar, but I really like to use a red wine like a Syrah or even a Malbec)

salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add in wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in tomato paste, add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for at least an hour. The longer it simmers, the better it is. Remember to take out the bay leaf before serving!

Stuffed Zucchini Pizzas:

2 pounds of medium sized zucchini 

1 8 oz can pizza sauce or 1C of marinara 1/4 cup bread crumbs 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1 tsp salt1 tsp pepper1-2 tsp dried oregano, crushed to release the flavorcouple of cloves of garlic, finely minced (Or a teaspoon or so of garlic powder.)dash of crushed red pepper flakes (If you like it hot!)

Clean and slice each zucchini in half. Scoop out the insides with a spoon and set the zucchini shells on a lined pan.

Preheat your oven to 425º. Clean and slice each zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out the inside part with a spoon (safe the insides!) and put them on a lined baking pan. Chop up the inside part that you took out and add sauce, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and the seasonings. Spoon the mix into the hollowed out zucchini. Top with the mozzarella cheese. Put them in the oven and bake for 20-25 min. 

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers:

4 medium red bell peppers

4 1/2 cups fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Gently cut the tops off of the bell peppers with a knife and scoop out the insides with a small spoon. Flip the peppers upside down on a paper towel to drain some of the water and juice off. After a few minutes of draining, gently rub olive oil on both the inside and outside of the bell peppers. Place the tomatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

While the bell peppers are baking, cook spinach and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil until the spinach becomes wilted. Add quinoa and season with salt and Italian seasoning. Once the bell peppers are done baking, take them out of the oven and stuff them with the spinach and quinoa mixture with a spoon. Place the stuffed bell peppers back in the oven and cook for another 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes, sprinkle tops of peppers with salt and serve.

Ratatouille: 

1 small eggplant
1 zucchini (Italian squash)
1 summer squash
1 red bell pepper
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
1/4 tsp basil
1/8 tsp oregano
1/4C olive oil
1 8oz can tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice eggplant, zucchini, squash and bell pepper into 1/8″ rounds. Add to a large bowl with minced garlic. Sprinkle with spices and seasonings. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.

Preheat a large sautée pan with 1 tbsp olive oil. When pan is warm, add 1/3 of your vegetables. Tossing and flipping until slightly browned. Repeat with remaining olive oil and vegetables.

In individual dishes (or one large oven safe dish), spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom. Arrange vegetable slices as desired. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until tender and sauce is bubbly.

Serve warm with bread or as a side dish to a larger meal.

These are only some recipes I could think of off the top of my head that are easy and delicious. I'll post another blog sometime today or tomorrow going through all of the produce I have here telling you what to do with it.

Making Your Own Food

Today I'd like to jump on one of my favorite subjects.

Making your own food.

We are now full swing into the microwave generation. We want our food to be done I Dream of Genie style with just a magic nod of the head. I hate to break it to you, but food takes time to prepare. I suggest we stop getting mad at the microwave for not having our food perfectly cooked in 5 seconds and instead prioritize food.

I, being a college student, understand time crunches. I realize that we don't always have time to make a 5 course meal with a perfect table setting. I get it. But, what you do have, is a secret weapon.

That weapon is...

...

...


A Crock Pot!



For the crock pot, all you do is throw a cut of meat (like a pot roast) in it with some cut up veggies (like carrot, celery, onion, parsnips, and anything else you have on hand) with some seasonings (like pepper, salt, a bay leaf and thyme) and some stock (or a good beer) in to the pot. Leave it on low all day or high for 4 hours or so depending on your meat and BAM! Dinner. Beef stew. Make some mashed potatoes to go with it and YUM! Plus, any left overs will easily save for left overs.

If you don't have a crock pot, they are a huge time and energy saver. Not only can you have a delicious meal with low effort, but you can have that with out heating up your entire house with an oven on.


By making your own food, you safe money, have better food, and can have community with your family. Somehow America has lost the idea of families eating together. I saw we need to put down the cell phones, turn off the TV and have an actual conversation for once. Heck, even once a week to ease into it. Our families have become more and more distant from each other. This can only lead to trouble, in my opinion. Kids do not have the same responsibility or respect they used to. In my opinion, I think that comes from lack of a solid parental influence. If you disagree, please feel free to argue.


Also, for clarification, when I say "make your own food", I DO NOT mean Kraft Mac and Cheese. I mean a real dinner. Meat, veggies, fruit, some grains. Nothing that comes from a box with a cartoon character on it. I realize that mac and cheese is easy and good (heck, it's one of my comfort foods) but try making it from scratch. I'll post a recipe later for a healthier mac and cheese that will blow wind up your skirt, I promise.

With the idea of making your own food, if you have kids, have them help you! Have them stir things or if they're old enough, prep some vegetables. Make cooking a regular part of the day. It is rewarding to all involved. Parents don't have to cook the entire meal by themselves and kids feel accomplished by helping.


So please. Pretty, pretty, PRETTY please. Try making your own dinner at least once every week. My personal goal would be that people would eat at home the majority of the time and make things like fast food a rarity if ever.