Blueberry Picking :) 6/22/10

Up early to be picked up at 7:30... Thar's right, another round of blueberry picking. Everyone was in the van, Jamie, Megan, Rhonda, Staci, Alexis, and I, well everyone except for Leif who was in Boston. The Farm we were going to this time was about an hour away Huckleberry Hollow in St. Clair Missouri. Seems like the other students and I passed out during the trip. When we got there the farmer gave us buckets that had the amount of quarts written on the side, now it was time to start picking. There were way too many beetles to count, knocking our bunches as we picked. Buzzing filled the air each time. There were many more places to pick here from the other farm, and many varieties of blueberries. It begun pretty warm but got extremely hot, though it progressively got warmer. The sun became annoying, as I starved for shady places to pick though I couldn't really seem to stand still. In the end Rhonda and Megan picked the most berries giving us a grand total of 41 quarts. We were even picking with less people and were only 6 quarts short of our total from last time. We gathered all of our berries to be taken back and took a picture with the farmer. To our surprise it turns out he graduated at Maplewood Richmond Heights High School.

Blueberry Picking 6/17/10

We the student workers, our bosses Jaime and Rhonda, and Millie Chair person of the HELP grant; all got up nice and early to go blueberry picking at Reinhardt's Berry Patch in Alhambra, IL.

The sky was covered in clouds, and it was raining the entire trip there. By the time we got to the farm the rain had come to a "temporary" halt.We met the farmer, who got us set up to start picking. They gave us boxes to place the blueberries in, and canisters with rope to carry on our necks to carry the berries we pick then dump them into the full boxes. The weather was really nice when we started picking; the air was cool, and the sun was covered by the clouds so it wasn't hot. All was well even as the light showers began. Then things got worse, the rain picked up, and formed into a downpour. Stacy, and Alexis were the first two under the tent. Leif was next, and I followed with our full box of blueberries, not wanting to stop empty handed. Our clothes were soaked. After a few minutes I took off my hoodie, grabbed another basket, and started picking again. After a while the rain quit, and the day was nice again. Soon after that another distraction appeared; the neighbor's dog. His name was Toby, and he wanted to play. We pet him, and played fetch for a little bit, and tried to get back to work. At the end of the day we came out with a haul of blueberries. We had almost 50 quarts!

During the next few days the blueberries had been cleaned and frozen in a single layer so they wouldn't stick together. Friday we took them out to cryovac them and freeze for use in MRH school lunch next year.

Italian Sasuage 6/18/10

    We made home made Italian Sausage as a step toward integrating homemade pizza into the  school lunch  menus.  We took ground pork added some yummy spices and watched it simmer over a low heat.  We continuously kept it moving and flipping to ensure that it wouldn't have any opportunity to burn.  Once it got a little brown we cranked up the heat and still never let it sit in the same place.  We made sure to slice it with our spatulas as we cooked it so it could be sprinkled over pizza as a topping.  Once it was that perfect brown we took it off the stove and we were ready for a taste test, and man was it GOOD!  The kids having it on their pizzas are LUCKY!  We are also testing pizza sauces.  We are doing so by taking gutted (only the shell) Roma Tomatoes and mixing them with those yummy spices we mentioned before, we let the stew of tomato shells and spices simmer over a medium heat and it slowly broke down into a paste that smelled like heaven.  We used about 13 pounds of Roma's to make our two different options of sauces.  One was a tomato basil , and one was your original fresh tomato.  Both award winning in my opinion.  There is no doubt, these pizza's are going to be a hit!

Here's our recipe, make some Italian Sausage in your kitchen, today!

Serving: 1 

4 ounces ground pork
1/2 garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cracked fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground Spanish paprika

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Cook until brown.

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.