While enjoying their sundaes, volunteers networked and shared best practices with each other. Together, they recapped their latest classes and took a moment to prepare for the new round of courses taking place throughout the D.C. metro region this spring.

The Capital Area Food Bank extends a heartfelt thank you to Cooking Matters volunteers for their service in facilitating over 160 hours of culinary and nutrition training for kids, families, teens and adults this winter. Their hours of patient instruction helped over 100 new graduates bring healthy, affordable home-cooked meals into their households.

We would not be able to do this great work without our volunteers, so thank you for your dedication and for inspiring a love for cooking and nutrition in our region!

Volunteer for Cooking Matters

Do you love to cook or share nutrition information? Want to share your passion with individuals in Maryland, D.C. or Virginia? We’re always looking for dedicated culinary instructors, nutrition instructors, course managers, and class assistants to participate in running Cooking Matters courses. Click here for more information.

If you are a partner or community member and would like more information about the Cooking Matters program, please email cookingmatters@capitalareafoodbank.org.

Cooking Matters is a nationally accredited culinary and nutrition training program run by Share Our Strength in support of their No Kid Hungry campaign.

The post Volunteers Get Social Over Ice Cream appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

From the White House to our house, food growing has never been easier in and around our nation’s capital.

The Capital Area Food Bank provides training for its broad network of partner agencies to start gardens and educate clients about gardening and food growing. This spring, two exciting gardening workshops will be offered:

• Getting the Most Bang for your Buck through Gardening teaches our partners the value of food growing and how to make the most of their time and resources. Topics explored include how to save money on materials, how to choose the best plants to grow, and how to maximize garden yield.
• The day-long Grow Your Own Workshop provides a comprehensive overview of the basic principles of gardening while teaching participants how to grow their own food. Partners learn together how to plant and care for vegetables in any space.

You can’t teach about gardening without getting your hands dirty. The food bank’s Urban Demonstration Garden will serve as the outdoor learning laboratory for its food growing workshops. Partners will contribute to the growth of the garden and find inspiration in the innovative food growing techniques being demonstrated.

Keep checking the CAFB blog for updates on the building of the Capital Area Food Bank’s Urban Demonstration Garden and learn how to get involved.

Abbie Steiner is the Capital Area Food Bank’s Resident Food Growing Expert. Follow her on Twitter at @redheadgardener.

The post Achieving Vegetable Victory! appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

I had the itch to post a healthy affordable recipe, talk about strategies to stretch food dollars, and to spotlight spring as the time to bring the spice cabinet outdoors and into herb containers.

But having worked 10 years in the hunger and food security arena as a community dietitian and cooking teacher, thoughts turned into reflection. I recall listening to Leah Chase, owner of the legendary Dookey Chase restaurant in New Orleans, at a Share Our Strength conference about seven years ago. One year post hurricane Katrina, she talked about hunger and offered wise words, “When legislators, service providers, and communities all sit down together and eat around one table, we will find the solutions we need.”

During this brief but powerful visit to New Orleans, when streets were boarded up and the farmer’s market was just reopening for the first time, there was a unity and a pulse around food that was palpable in the streets. I began to understand the vision of Leah Chase during that visit.

Today, I reflect on how hunger in the United States is a quiet catastrophe that requires collective solutions. From Congress to corporations to one’s own kitchen cabinet, there are support networks to weave and strengthen so hunger doesn’t continue to happen in our own backyard.

So this is my sketch on hunger “zoomed in.” Just a snapshot of food, connectivity, the kitchen cabinet and the table – where everyone sits together, eats together and finds solutions together.

This post was first published on the red lentil.

The post Zoom in on Hunger appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

It celebrates the Jewish people’s freedom from slavery in Egypt, but more broadly, it signifies a celebration of all freedom from oppression and hardship. Passover provides an opportunity to understand and advocate for those who are not free from oppression.

Sure, the institution of slavery is no longer present in our country, but our society is still struggling, and many are still hungry.

Because of the theme of liberation, people sometimes hold traditional Passover meals or Seders, as they are called, focusing on civil rights, or issues such as paid sick days, all examining how we are not truly free.

Throughout the week of Passover, we steer clear of leavened products, reminding us of the oppression the Jews felt while in slavery and the Jews fleeing Egypt. Matzah is considered the bread of affliction because the flat bread was not given time to rise — the Israelites had to flee without “being ready to go.”

In current times, it reminds us that there almost 700,000 individuals at risk of hunger in the Washington metro area. Captive to debilitating budgets, they scrutinize everything they eat and buy, risking not being able to pay their rent and electric bills. The working poor face these choices. We cannot forget these people are still oppressed.

The issue of hunger is urgent and we must act now. Every day, the number of children at risk of hunger who are unsure of where their next meal will be coming from increases.

The story of Passover is a reminder that it is our responsibility to advocate for those who are oppressed and to write their story of liberation.

Every Seder, we ponder the quote “We are not free until no one is oppressed.” This is parallel to the mission of the Capital Area Food Bank: “‘Til no one is hungry.”

To end oppression and hunger, we must work together in our community. Contact your legislator, donate to food banks, and volunteer to end hunger in your community.

This post was first published on Huffington Post.

The post Passover: Matzah and Reflection appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

On Top Chef, contestants face a series of escalating culinary challenges. They are asked to create delicious, balanced meals with limited time, or unfamiliar ingredients and on a strict budget. The families served by the Capital Area Food Bank face similar challenges daily.

Chef Spike Mendelsohn, former Top Chef contestant and Blue Jeans Ball Special Guest, is the first competitor in the food bank’s $10 Challenge. The challenge is simple: create a delicious meal for $10 or less with healthy, affordable ingredients available at the food bank.

We were wowed by Chef Spike’s POW Peanut Chicken (PDF) recipe which, at less than $2 per serving, meets the key principles of a Healthy Affordable Meal.

Be Meal Minded

This dish includes three food groups, which makes it well-balanced. The brown rice provides a filling whole grain, the corn and tomato offers a good serving of nutritious vegetables and the canned chicken and peanut sauce provide a protein punch.

Switch It Out

Click to expand instructions

No rice on hand? Switch the grain in this dish out for others that may be sitting in the cupboard. Try this with noodles!

Use Versatile Staples

Repurpose ingredients in this recipe for other meals. Corn is great for soups, salads and casseroles. Canned tomatoes make great sauce, salsa, or soup. Brown rice is a great addition to soup, meatballs, or stir fry. When corn is two for $1, stock up to use in this recipe, and apply surplus for another meal during the week.

Protein Rich

The peanut sauce and chicken give the recipe some protein punch. If chicken breasts are on sale, cooked and chopped chicken is a great way to add more protein.

Flavor It Up

Chef Spike brought out great flavors in this dish. The peanut sauce is creamy and incorporates well into all ingredients. The use of chili powder, water from the canned corn and a vinegar/sugar combo in the sauce creates a flavor explosion we’re calling the “POW” factor.

National Nutrition Month is drawing to a close, but the food bank continues transforming its ingredients into meals so that our partners can meet the challenge of hunger head-on.

The post A Top Chef Takes Our Challenge appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

Home gardeners are also preparing for the season. From our garden to yours, here are three tips to ensure your garden “springs forward.”

Start with the soil. First time gardener? Seasoned veteran? Success means starting with the basics. Healthy soil, easy drainage and access to water increase your ability to create a thriving garden. When growing in any space, test for soil quality and if you are growing in containers, replace your soil every season so plants have access to essential nutrients.

Make your bed(s). After lying dormant for the winter season, garden beds require spring cleaning. To prepare your beds, turn under any growth from the previous season.

• Raised beds require less tilling and are often easier to manage long term.
• To break up compacted urban soil, double digging is a great technique to increase drainage and help develop ideal soil structure.

Adding organic matter to enrich the soil is the last step in creating garden beds that will thrive all season. The best source for organic matter is COMPOST! Compost adds nutrient-rich humus to fuel plant growth and restore vitality to depleted soil.

Plan for Plants. Choose what you want to grow. Some plants should be planted from seed and others from transplants. This season, the food bank is partnering with Friends and Food International, Inc. and the students of the McKinley Tech High School’s Green Team to grow transplants for the Urban Demonstration Garden in their school greenhouse.

Either grow your own seedlings or purchase them. Before you invest in seeds or plants, think carefully about what will be best for you to grow. Narrow down your list to the produce that you love to eat, is expensive in the store, and that you have space to grow. Use this planting guide (PDF) when planting your personalized list.

Keep checking the food bank blog for updates on the building of the Capital Area Food Bank’s Urban Demonstration Garden and learn how to get involved.

Abbie Steiner is the Capital Area Food Bank’s Resident Food Growing Expert. Follow her on Twitter at @redheadgardener.

The post Get Ready to Garden! appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

Here at the Capital Area Food Bank, we are committed to being a reliable source of healthy, affordable food by providing basic kitchen staples that can stock a cabinet, stretch a food budget and become a nourishing meal.

Common food bank ingredients are at the core of our Certified Recipes. Each of the recipes shows how kitchen staples can easily become budget-friendly, delicious dishes.

Let’s walk through our Corn and Black Bean Pizza Recipe (PDF) where we will discover, from ingredient to meal, the core principles of Healthy Eating on a Budget.

Be Meal Minded
A meal is made up of at least 3 food groups:

• Grains
• Fruits/vegetables
• Dairy/meat/beans

Switch it Out

To keep variety in check, focus on meals that incorporate fruits and/or veggies. A meal concept like a pizza can be broken down into component parts (crust, sauce, toppings), and each part can be substituted for other ingredients based on taste preference and what’s on hand. This also opens the door to food creativity:

• If a homemade pizza crust seems daunting, a whole wheat tortilla or English muffin can be substituted.
• If meat is on the mind, chopped chicken or lean ground beef can be added.
• If mozzarella cheese is not in the fridge, shredded cheddar will do just fine.

Use Versatile Staples
Canned tomatoes, black beans and canned corn are toppings for this pizza. These ingredients can also be used in dishes like soup, meatloaf and quesadillas. If you can think of three ways to use an ingredient off the top of your head, then it’s a good one to have on hand.

Stretch Ingredients
Eating meat every night could strain a food budget, but stretching more expensive proteins across many meals make food dollars go further. Adding two cooked chopped chicken breasts to this pizza, then saving the remaining package for later, is what stretching ingredients is all about.

Protein Rich
When we think of cheese we often think “strong bones.” But cheese is a great source of protein, too, and can be less expensive than meat. Paired with the black beans, it gives this pizza a protein punch.

Flavor it Up
A little bit of a flavor-packed ingredient goes a long way. On this pizza, ½ cup of barbeque sauce is used for both sauce and to add flavor. This leaves more in the bottle for later which can be added to salad dressing, chili or dip.

The post Ingredients to Boost your Budget appeared first on Capital Area Food Bank.

This year’s official theme — “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day” — echoes the sentiment of the Healthy Food Initiative, the Capital Area Food Bank’s commitment to provide healthy, affordable food to those in need through a dedicated network of partner agencies.

While CAFB responds to hunger in the region, it is our partners who connect to families and individuals in need. Our partners strive to provide food that nourishes the community and honors longstanding food traditions.

As part of the Healthy Food Initiative, the Partner Nutrition Advisory Board was established in October 2012 to engage partners in the process of developing Healthy Eating on a Budget education resources. From recipe cards, to recipe testing, to cooking demos, the advisory board provides feedback and tests our resources in their own communities.

In this video clip, you will meet the Nutrition Advisory Board members and learn how their participation empowers their work both as food providers and as healthy food advocates.

The next National Nutrition Month blog, Ingredients to Meals, will lay out the steps to Healthy Eating on a Budget.

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