Teaching nutrition to parents and children Side by Side

The following is a Blog from NCSU student Kate Towery. It is the first in a series of 5 Blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is Teaching. Kate is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Hi everyone! My name is Kate Towery and this semester I am taking on the role of “nutritionist” for NC State’s PACKed Kitchen program in association with the InterFaith Food Shuttle and Operation Frontline (OFL). This week my group taught our first OFL Side by Side class. We decided to start off by having the kids and their mom or dad make Mini Pizzas and fruit salad. We felt this was a familiar dish that is also a great example of combining food groups, having colorful plates, and making healthier substitutions. The pizzas were also a great demonstration that foods which are typically ordered out can be made at home, and that kids can lend a helping hand in the kitchen! Caitlin Rowe, our class manager, Will Florence the chef, Cadi Pelone the gardener, and myself as nutritionist, all had a great time getting to know the participating families and share in a yummy, low-budget meal. The kids were very eager to help during the cooking and cleaning process and individual pizzas allowed for personal alterations to the recipe. Lupe was most impressed that her son Allen was actually eating vegetables like mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. While we made our fruit salad the kids shared with us their favorite foods and identified the colors and shapes of all the fruits. Their favorite was the big melon that Cadi brought out as our “surprise ingredient,” while the parents helped Will sauté in the kitchen. Many of the families expressed excitement in making the dish at home this week and we are looking forward to hearing about their experiences! Next week we are making Barley Jambalaya and showing the kids how to plant their own seeds for gardening, so stay tuned!

Recipe: Mini Pizzas

Ingredients

• 6 english muffins, whole grain
• 1 medium red or green bell pepper
• ½ lb button mushrooms
• 1 large tomato
• 4 oz. chunk mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 8 oz. tomato sauce, no salt added
• 12 turkey pepperoni slices

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F
2. Split English muffins. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 10 min until edges are slightly browned. Remove and set aside.
3. Rinse pepper, mushrooms, and tomato.
4. Remove core and cut peppers into thin slices. Slice mushrooms ¼ in. thick. Remove core and dice tomato into ¼ in. pieces.
5.  Grate mozzarella cheese.
6. Heat large skillet over medium heat, add canola oil, and sauté peppers and mushrooms together for 5 min. Drain vegetables and place in bowl.
7. Add diced tomatoes to vegetables and stir.
8. Spoon 1 tbs. of canned tomato sauce over each muffin half.
9. Layer vegetables and pepperoni slices over the sauce.
10. Sprinkle shredded cheese over veggies.
11. Bake muffins 6-8 min. or until cheese is melted.
12. Let mini-pizzas cool 2 min. and then serve!

Whole Foods cooking class on Feb. 24

Healthy Eating Series: Vegetarian Cooking

Wednesday, February 24^th

2 p.m. and 4 p.m., $5 donation to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Pre-register

Whole Foods in Cary is kicking off its Healthy Eating Series with a class on vegetarian cooking.   Katherine Andrew, MPH, RD, LDN, Director of Nutrition, at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will lead the first class.  There will be a short lecture on nutrition, a tour of Whole Foods, a cooking demonstration and food tasting.  Space is limited, please pre-register at customer service.

Triangle Community Foundation's Give Back Giveaway

At the Triangle Community Foundation's Annual Holiday Party, guests were each given an envelope with $10. Along with the $10, guests received a challenge to match the money with a personal donation to a charitable organization or a person in the area. Angel Wright-Feldman, Ja'Nell Henry and Haley Rader from the City of Raleigh received envelopes at the party, pulled in additional funds from friends and co-workers and expanded their donation to $100! They chose to drop off a donation to the Food Shuttle, and even stayed for a tour! Thanks to Angel, Haley, and Ja'Nell for supporting the Food Shuttle's fight against hunger. Read more Give Back Giveaway stories on Triangle Community Foundation's website.

The Food Dude is on everyone's mind!

Click here to find out how to bid on a date with the Food Dude.

Jumpstart Your Day With a New Recipe!

My name is Megan Skillen and I am the Nutrition instructor for the Operation Frontline class at Loaves and Fishes.  This is my first time teaching this class and so far it has been great!  I am a graduate student at Meredith College studying nutrition and am completing my practicum at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.  I was particularly interested in the Operation Frontline Program and was fortunate enough to be able to participate in this class.  I am joined by Becky, our class manager, and Susan our chef.  We just finished up our second class this week.  We have a fantastic class of enthusiastic youth ready to learn and participate.  This week, we discussed the importance of eating grains and breakfast.  We made two different recipes, fruit smoothies, and French toast.  The class was very excited about making both of these recipes, especially fruit smoothies as several students requested them the week prior. Before we began we reviewed the lesson from last week, and the youth were eager to explain the MyPyramid poster.  I was really impressed with how much they remembered.  We then talked about the importance of eating breakfast and why this meal is most often skipped.  The youth made several great suggestions on ways to incorporate breakfast.  When asked why grains were so essential for a healthy diet, one youth said, “carbohy”, I had to help her finish her thought, however once I said carbohydrate several students remembered.  I then asked what carbohydrates gave our body, and had an immediate response from the majority of the class saying, “energy”!  I emphasized the importance of eating breakfast because many breakfast foods are in the grains group and contain carbohydrate to give us energy and jumpstart our day!  Unfortunately, the youth were not as excited about some whole-grain products such as whole-grain bread.  However, after we made our French toast with whole-grain bread their opinion changed, and said they would use it when making some recipes.  They learned that whole-grain products contain fiber and were given a handout describing its benefits.  The youth also learned the importance of eating enough grains and I gave them a handout showing just how much they needed based on their age, gender, and physical activity.  At the end of class we did an activity called, What’s in My Bowl.  This activity was done to show how portions can vary and the class was surprised at the differences.  After the lesson Becky talked to the class about gardening.  She informed them that we would be doing some gardening of our own next week!  Everyone was excited and was eager to learn more.  It was time to cook, but not before everyone washed their hands!  Susan was ready for us in the kitchen and divided the youth into groups.  They were slicing fruit, preparing the French toast, and others were blending the smoothies.  I overheard one of the girls who didn’t eat breakfast say; “I’m going to make a smoothie for breakfast tomorrow”!  Once everything was prepared we were able to enjoy our hard work.  While eating we talked with the youth about the healthy options we used and other healthy ways to prepare the recipes.  For instance, instead of using the whole egg for the French toast, we used egg whites.  We also used fat-free organic yogurt to make the smoothies.  Everyone enjoyed the meal, in fact one youth enjoyed the smoothies so much she delayed the class from going home because she wanted to finish her smoothie!

Chocolate Strawberry French Toast

Ingredients:

•  2 egg whites
• ½ cup low fat chocolate milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 8 medium size strawberries sliced about 1/8 inch thick
• 4 slices whole wheat bread
• ¼ cup light maple syrup
• Non-stick pan spray

Extras we added: powdered sugar, bananas, and kiwi

Directions:

1. Mix egg whites until frothy for about 1 minute.
2. Add chocolate milk and cinnamon to egg whites and whip until mixed, about 1 minute.
3. Wash and remove the green stems from the strawberries.  Slice the strawberries and set aside.
4. Heat a skillet on the stove over medium heat.  A non-stick pan is preferred but not absolutely necessary.  Spray the pan with the non-stick spray, just enough to coat the pan.
5. Once the pan is hot place one piece of bread in the egg mixture, just enough to submerge it on both sides.
6. Quickly pull the bread out of the egg mixture and place it in the pan.  Cook on each side until golden brown about 3 minutes on each side.
7. Remove from pan and top with strawberries and light maple syrup.  Enjoy!

Chefs Tips: Chef Susan encouraged the youth to use all natural maple syrup, it’s sweeter so you don’t use as much.

Win a Date with the Food Dude!

You’ve seen him in such Youtube classics as Energy Boost and Where’s Riley?  You’ve wondered, what’s the Food Dude really like? Now you can find out in our inaugural, one-of-a-kind, Valentines-Day-Related-contest! We’re offering a chance to accompany the Food Dude on a Food Recovery route! What does that mean? It means you’ll go for a ride around in a 22-foot stretch refrigerated truck, you’ll recover food from  some of the most popular food service establishments in Raleigh, deliver it off to pantries, shelters and soup kitchens and have a blast along the way! You’ll also get a catered lunch from our own Chef Terri Hutter and the first-of-its-kind Food Dude T-Shirt! So how can you win this amazing prize package? It’s a blind auction, but we’re not asking for money. We’re asking you to “bid” volunteer hours. How many hours would you give towards helping feed children, seniors and families in the Greater Triangle to win this prestigious contest? Here’s how it works:

Email Jason@foodshuttle.org with the number of volunteer hours you bid to win a date with the Food Dude. The highest number of volunteer hours wins. Put “Food Dude” in the subject line. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm, Sunday, February 14, 2010.  We’ll announce the winner on Monday, February, 15, 2010. Details will be worked out later, but our Food Recovery routes run M-F between approximately 8-2. Your Food Dude experience will last about 2 hours.

Get to Biddin’!

Ripe Recipes are back!

Yes, that's right! After a month's hiatus, we are back to bringing you tasty recipes with ingredients you can use from your garden or fresh local food from a farmer's market in town. This recipe is from Sally, our Director of Administration. Enjoy!

Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash 2 ¼ lb, halved, seeded, peeled, cut into ¾ inch cubes
• 3 T butter
• ¼ cup sugar (I used less and added a squirt of maple syrup.)
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• ½ t salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 t ground cloves
• fresh finely chopped ginger
• walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Place squash in a baking dish.  Drizzle with butter, toss to coat.  Blend sugar, spices and mix into squash.  Bake until squash is tender and syrup bubbles thickly in dish, stirring every 15 minutes, about 50 minutes total.

Get to know the Food Shuttle Staff-CJTP Edition!

We're excited about the 50th sessionof the Culinary Job Training Program and have been offering special coverage here on the Behind the Scenes blog. Today we want you to meet the very special men and women on the CJTP staff who make this life-changing program operate. You've seen a couple of them before around these parts before, but we want to bring it all together in one place for you. First up, Chef Terri. Her love of Taco Shack is well known. Relive the magic here.

Next, Chef Will, our resident fitness junkie here.

And here are two new profiles, hot off the press.

Name and title: Sharon Mitchell, CJTP Director of Programs & Case Management

What does at typical day at IFFS look like for you?  That would vary based on class cycle, however if we where in a class session in consist of: assisting students & Interns with life issues/situations that have been a barrier to employment,  and self sufficiency.  Help them to develop tools that we help them cope with everyday life and situations that can and will happen.  Helping them to see their strengths and the resources  available to help them through the process of rebuilding their lives, and building positive self esteem.  Which is so instrumental in helping them to make better choices in their lives.  

How long have you been at the Shuttle? it has been my pleasure to work with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Culinary Job Training Program  1 year and 4 months.

What’s your favorite part about working at IFFS? I enjoy helping individuals face their past and begin to deal with whats there, while they are also learning a new skill and doing something positive in there lives.  Helping in that  rebuilding and seeing them start and finish something positive.  More often than not, they are doing something positive for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.  This is awesome experience we get to take part in 4 times a year!!!! 

What did you do before IFFS? I have worked in Social work for 17+ years, with homeless individuals and families, then with homeless men in shelter environment, community mental Health transitioning SPMI individuals from state mental health facilities to community living, with treatment and support,  and also with psycho-social rehabilitation helping SPMI, Dually Diagnoised individuals cope with daily living and participate in meaningful daily activities.

What do you like to do when you’re not fighting hunger? Spend time with my family, also I volunteer at couple of community agencies doing social work.

Favorite Movie? There are just way too many to pick just one, but if you twist my arm, I would have to say The Color Purple, Pursuit of Happiness, Pay it Forward, A Beautiful Mind

Your last meal would be? Caesar Salad w/ bread from Olive Garden;  Porterhouse Steak cooked medium rare, w/ loaded baked potato from Ruth Chris Steak House;  Walla B Darn w/ extra shot on the top from Outbacks !    Boy that makes me hungry!

Name and title:  Sue Ramey – Job Coach and Placement

What does at typical day at IFFS look like for you? Get to work I check my emails and try to answer the majority of them when I get in. Work on finding employment opportunities for our interns.  Continuing to teach employability skills in the classroom for the new students and for the continuing inters.  Working with VR for some of our clients with disabilities to connect them with employment opportunities as well.

How long have you been at the Shuttle? 3 years

 What’s your favorite part about working at IFFS? Watching people who were giving up on finding employment and just down on their luck to see them graduate and tell their story of how they went from not believing in themselves to finding that inner strength to persevere and accomplish something.  Just the eye’s of pride in someone is enough to make you keep on giving.

What did you do before IFFS? Worked with the Homeless population/shelters

 What do you like to do when you’re not fighting hunger? What else but sit and watch Law and Order and/or Criminal minds

Favorite Movie? Silence of the lambs

Your last meal would be? Cheese Calzone Deep Fried  and  Chocolate milk shake.

Shuttle Spottin'!

Take a look at this quick video of Eric, one of our Food Recovery Specialists, showing off a new design on one of our trucks. We think it looks pretty sharp.

This got us talking around the communications dept. about our trucks. A lot of people know the Food Shuttle because of seeing our trucks around town.That's great, because our trucks embody our approach to hunger relief. We're different from traditional food banks because we are out in the communities we serve, in our trucks, recovering and delivering food to people in need. That philosophy of going to where the need is, being fast and flexible in our approach, permeates the Food Shuttle and allows us to be on the cutting edge of hunger relief.

So we want to start a new feature on the Behind the Scenes Blog. We want you to start Shuttle Spottin'. When you're around town and see a Food Shuttle truck, snap a picture on your phone or your device of choice, send it to jason@foodshuttle.org, and we'll feature it on the blog*.  You saw the video of the new design and here are some pictures of the other trucks so you'll know what to be on the lookout for. Good luck and get to Shuttle Spottin'!

* Please, don't try to snap a picture while you're driving or put yourself in danger (or break any traffic laws!).

NC State student chronicles OFL class of parents and kids

The following is a Blog from NCSU student Holly Starks. It is the first in a series of 5 Blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is Teaching. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s  OFL/Nutrition Program.  Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. My name is Holly Starks and I will be writing the Blog for the OFL Side by Side class that is held at the Crosby Head Start Center on Tuesdays. The class consists of parent and child pairs and is taught by me and three other NC State students: Sara Bell the chef, Salena Wright the class manager, and Avram Adelman the gardener (I instruct the nutrition lesson). The four of us have come together through a service-learning class offered at NC State and we are all excited to be able to share our knowledge of nutrition, cooking, and gardening in order to help families learn how to eat healthier together. For our first lesson we focused on the importance of eating healthy meals with the family. As a class, we discussed the parts of the food pyramid and how it is important to eat from each food group every day. Together, the mothers and their children were able to help prepare and enjoy eating “Hearty Egg Burritos” and fruit salad.

It was evident from the start that as a class, we all share different backgrounds and experiences that will add dimension and depth to our time together. As Sara expressed, “I thought it was really neat when Petra showed everyone how to cut a papaya. It shows that we all have things to learn from one another.” The class watched carefully as Petra cut the papaya down the middle and removed the seeds from the inside. The class was excited as many noted that they had never cut papaya before. As Petra cut up the papaya, other parents helped to cut up fruits and vegetables for the meal. Along with cutting, the families were able to learn basic knife rules, cooking skills, and how to properly wash their hands. Though the first lesson consisted of covering basic skills that we need to build off of for our future lessons, we could tell that the class was excited about learning how to cook healthy, affordable meals with their kids. The families are also looking forward to learning how to grow their own herbs and gardens.

When asked why this class is important to her, Sara replied,

“It's important to me because I think it's important to "share my strength" by giving others information and teaching them about what I have had the opportunity to learn in school. Not everyone gets to attend college, but for those of us who are lucky enough to have a college education it is important to share that with other people in the community. This helps the community grow and become more unified, regardless of all the differences among community members.”

We are all looking forward to the next five weeks as we will get to know these families and teach them about healthy eating, cooking, and gardening. Check in next week to see what new and fun things the class will learn about and be able to create!