Mint Lemonade- 6/15/10

Last Tuesday at SLU we all made lemonade, homemade mint lemonade. Anthony, Staci, Leif, Ms Rhonda, and I all went over to the Nutrition Food Lab to make lemonade for the Maplewood Farmers Market that happens every Wednesday at Schlafly Battleworks. First we had to find fresh lemons but unfortunately we didn't have enough, so we found fresh squeezed lemon juice which was very helpful. On the first try the lemonade was perfect, but we had to think about everyone else's taste buds and not just ours. It was a little sweet so we added more lemons, and at the end of it all the lemonade turned out perfect. :)

2010 Recipes from Home Winners

The second annual Recipes from Home contest wrapped up with the end of the school year. Recipes from Home is designed to give kids input into the school lunch menu. They submit recipes that use local produce, which are then judged by Les Dames d'Escoffier, a group of female chefs in St. Louis. Five recipes are chosen to be cooked in the test kitchen by the student and chef.

These recipes are then taste-tested in each MRH school and voted on by the student body.

The 2010 winners are:
First Place - Josh's Awesome Applesauce by Josh Golberg
Second Place - Fruit and Spinach Salad by Ethan Steingruby
Third Place - Carrot and Grape Slaw by Ramaneshwer Ghandi
Fourth Place - Lemon Ginger Green Beans by Race Simmons
Fifth Place - Not Your Grandma's Spaghetti (Squash) by Ellie Lunte

Congratulations to all our winners! Each of these recipes will be featured in the MRH 2010-2011 School Lunch Menu. All 5 recipes are up on the HELP website at http://helpgrant.weebly.com/recipes-from-home.html

Fresh Showings

There were two showings of Fresh the movie in Saint Louis tonight, and HELP was lucky enough to be included on the panels of both. Dr. Mattfeldt-Beman spoke at Saint Louis University, and Rhonda Smythe spoke at the Herb'n Maid event at White Flag Productions. We were happy to contribute to the conversation and hope to provide people with the information they need to get new programs started!

Herb'n Maid put on a fabulous fundraiser for Operation Backpack to keep kids fed over the weekend. Food and beverages were provided by sustainable restaurants and providers, including our favorites Kakao Choclates, and Schlafly.

New Funding for Farmers Markets

We love farmers markets here at HELP, and happily work a booth at the Schlafly Maplewood market. Increased funding for the marketing and promotion of markets is a great way to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and connect people to their local producers! Check out http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FMPP for more details.

FMPP funds have been used to provide educational workshops to farmers market managers and farmers/vendors; acquire permanent signage for markets to identify location and operation hours; purchase supplies for underserved farmers and markets; and, conduct promotional campaigns through newspaper, radio, and television advertising. Through these activities, AMS is gaining useful insights into efforts to promote, train, and educate farmers/vendors linking the market to more widespread community outreach programs.

MRH Visit

We went out to the schools today to help prepare mashed potatoes and serve lunch to the MRH kids. It was great to meet more of the food service staff and participate in school lunch!

Those kids eat well! Today's lunch was Oven Baked BBQ Chicken, Broccoli w/ Cheese, Missouri Mashed Potatoes, and a Whole Wheat Roll. Plus milk or juice and anything off the salad bar. I tried everything on my lunch tray and it was delicious!

The mashed potatoes have gone through a few upgrades. We started with Cheddar Garlic Mashed Potatoes (potatoes, milk, cheddar cheese, butter, garlic, salt, black pepper) and slowly decreased the seasoning until we ended up with plain mashed potatoes (potatoes, milk, butter, salt, black pepper). Garlic was overpowering for the kids, so the plain potatoes are much more palatable. Thanks to feedback from food service staff, we're able to keep on tweaking the recipes to make them kid-friendly.

Food Policy Council Tour

The HELP team hosted 14 members of the Saint Louis Food Policy Council for a tour of the processing center last Friday. It was great to meet new people and see some familiar faces too. Folks had a lot of questions and were eager to see how the operation worked. We love showing people around the kitchen - email us at helpgrant@gmail.com if you would like a tour!

Farm to School Midwest Regional Meeting

Today HELP attended the Farm to School Midwest Regional meeting. We met an interesting mix of farmers, distributors, entrepreneurs, educators and policy makers. Hopefully the discussion will strengthen our regional programs and create new avenues for Farm to School growth.

We're working with the Farm to School folks to get our program info up on the site, so keep an eye out for us!