The True Value of Pie

To most of us, the word “pie” conjures up images of family gatherings, crisp weather and the biggest shopping weekend of the year. But for Terry Strand, pie took on a new meaning when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.

“You never know when life is going to throw you a curve,” says Terry. “After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I needed to have meals that would nurture me physically, spiritually and mentally. Food & Friends was there.”

For years, Terry has been a contributor to Food & Friends and an active Slice of Life pie seller through her workplace, Green Acres School, and her church, Christ Congregational Church. To her, Food & Friends and Slice of Life are about more than ensuring clients end their holiday meal with a sweet dessert; it is a connection to the community and the responsibility that each one of us has to support one another in times of need.

“Food & Friends isn’t about giving people charity, it is about providing the sustenance of life. Whether it is a warm voice on the telephone or the actual meal itself, it comes down to social responsibility. People need to take care of one another.”

Although Terry has been selflessly supporting Food & Friends, she feels a new sense of commitment to the thousands of children and adults facing illness. “Food & Friends provided me with a sense of relief. I didn’t have to think about how I was going to cook my next meal. It was taken care of and I was taken care of. I am not sure how I can give back for that peace of mind."

You can join Terry in supporting Food & Friends through the sweetest donation you will make all year.

A Great Time in Cooking Matters Cooking Class

After spending a long weekend at the Food Nutrition Conference and Expo in Philadelphia, our nutrition team hit the road Tuesday afternoon to get back to DC in time for our second cooking class. I was happy to see new faces in the kitchen, eager to be a part of our class. Returning clients from last week were excited to talk about their experiences of making the turkey chili and cornbread recipes at home in addition to explaining what we learned last week. Kia stated, “We learned about everything in moderation and portion control from MyPlate.” A perfect transition into this week’s recipes – roasted Brussels sprouts, Portobello pizza, quinoa tabbouleh….and chocolate cake!                          

Ricardo (left) topping a Portobello mushroom with
diced tomatoes, feta cheese and fresh herbs.

Although we started off with mixing up the chocolate cake recipe for purposes of timing, we let participants know it was not to be used as an example to start meals off with dessert. We moved from the sweets into our grain and vegetable recipes, with clients demonstrating their improved knife skills in chopping the fresh parsley, mint, tomatoes, scallions, Brussels sprouts and onions. The quinoa tabbouleh got participants’ wheels turning as to how they could modify this recipe at home. Videra and Kia came up with the idea of giving the quinoa recipe a Mexican flare: “This would be great with salsa instead of tomatoes! And you could add black beans and cheese with it!”

Participants created their own pizza by topping the Portobello mushroom with feta and mozzarella cheese, freshly diced tomatoes and desired seasoning. They were very excited to use fresh herbs in the recipe this week. One client even stated “This is so great, I love using fresh herbs. I’m thinking of growing my own in little pots.”

As I walked clients out of the Food & Friends kitchen door, Ricardo turned to me and said, "I had a great time tonight, I always do!” What a rewarding ending to the second class and a warm welcome back home.

Brittany Lawrance RD, LDN, Community Dietitian

Brittany is a registered dietitian and has been with Food & Friends since October 2012. Her previous experience was working as a clinical dietitian on the pediatric hematology and oncology unit at Children’s National Medical Center. Brittany completed her dietetic internship in Baltimore, Maryland through Sodexo-Mid Atlantic and is a graduate of Bluffton University in Ohio. She enjoys traveling, playing tennis and softball, making crafts, and has a new found love for leading cooking class. Learn more about Food & Friends' nutrition services.

Adventures from Our New Community Dietitian

This week was full of new learning adventures for me, including a start to my new community dietitian role at Food & Friends as well as leading my first ever cooking class! The six week session of the fall 2012 Cooking Matters classes started off with a focus on healthy cooking basics and the USDA's MyPlate. Participants were eager to learn new cooking techniques, try a variety of new foods and learn how to substitute healthy ingredients into recipes.


Cooking Class participants practicing their
vegetable cutting skills.

What was on the menu? A perfect well balanced meal for a rainy fall day…turkey chili with vegetables, confetti pepper cornbread, and northwest apple salad. Our volunteer chef, Carol Levin (who will be leading the cooking demonstrations for each of the 6 weeks) started this session off with a bang…the bang of knives hitting a cutting board and a rolling pin crushing roasted, bagged walnuts. Both are an example of some of the new kitchen techniques participants learned at this week’s Cooking Matters class.

Each participant contributed to the different menu items by practicing their new-found knife skills cutting fresh garlic, apples, carrots and onions. In addition to the delicious aroma of chili filling the kitchen, there was excitement in learning about different ways each recipe could be modified to specific dietary needs or requests. Pauline, a client, learned how to use dried beans in place of the canned beans and other vegetables such as celery in place of the carrots in the turkey chili.

Participants enjoyed the meal they helped to prepare while learning more about food groups included in the meal. Dominique, our nutrition volunteer, reinforced the importance of a well-balanced meal, portion control, and physical activity. The food label was introduced and participants determined which foods are high and low sources of fat, cholesterol and sodium.

As this was my first experience leading Cooking Matters, I didn’t know what to expect. I was thrilled to see such a high interest level from all seven clients in learning more about nutrition and being involved in applying what they were learning to their current dietary habits. I’m excited to see where the next five weeks lead us as we learn more about each individual food group, try new recipes, and learn how to shop on a budget!

Brittany Lawrance RD, LDN, Community Dietitian

Brittany is a registered dietitian and has been with Food & Friends since October 2012. Her previous experience was working as a clinical dietitian on the pediatric hematology and oncology unit at Children’s National Medical Center. Brittany completed her dietetic internship in Baltimore, Maryland through Sodexo-Mid Atlantic and is a graduate of Bluffton University in Ohio. She enjoys traveling, playing tennis and softball, making crafts, and has a new found love for leading cooking class. Learn more about Food & Friends' nutrition services.

My Mother No Longer Needs Your Service

Today, a member of our Client Services Staff, received a heart-warming email from the son of a client and we had to share it with you:

I wanted to let you know that my mother will no longer be needing your food delivery service. Fortunately, my mom is doing much better since she finished chemo and she is capable of cooking and taking charge of her nutrition. 

Your food deliveries have been a great help to us and we think your organization provides a great service. However, I hope we will not need the services again, if you know what I mean.

Thank You ... I look forward to donating as part of our CFC campaign at work.

Your support makes successful stories like these possible. And, you can continue to offer your support by participating in your offices' CFC or United Way Campaign.

Will You Be 51?

I am very thankful that I was able to attend the International AIDS Conference today. As Interim Volunteer Services Manager at Food & Friends, I am reminded daily of two basic realities: There are a lot of people out there who deserve our help. And, there are a lot of people out there who want to help those in need. 

Don Pitz, Interim Volunteer Services Manager,
at 2012 AIDS Conference in Washington, DC

At Food & Friends, I was reminded yesterday of those who need our help when I saw our updated client memorial list and knew that another neighbor, another wife, another friend tragically lost their struggle to this horrid disease. I also saw in our client intake email that in one day we added six new people to our service. At AIDS 2012, I heard a nurse from Malawi speak of the prevalence of the infection rate and told us that in her country, there are 3,000 people infected to every one nurse.

At Food & Friends, I was reminded of those who want to help when I got to train a new volunteer before she headed out on her first day delivering meals in her neighborhood. After 7 years at Food & Friends, I’ve trained thousands of volunteers before they head out on this first journey, but seeing the anticipation in their eyes each time is always a new joy to me. I know they can’t wait to make an impact in someone else’s life. At AIDS 2012, I was reminded of this energy and passion when I listened to a talk by an HIV+ woman from Egypt. She’s an activist that organizes other HIV+ women to demand for the end of their discrimination and stigma. Her organization is named “Rosa”, after Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks.

There are a lot of people out there who deserve and need our help. As Volunteer Services Manager, I had the pleasure to work with over 50 volunteers yesterday who were egger to help their neighbors in need. Tomorrow, could you make that 51? 

Don Pitz
Interim Volunteer Services Manager

Learn more about this week’s International AIDS Conference.

Mexican Fiesta: Cooking for Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner! During one of our recent client cooking classes, I found myself in the midst of new friends who were thrilled to learn some great new recipes and cooking techniques. Therefore, we had plenty of reason to celebrate, and decided to do so with a Mexican Fiesta! 

The word ‘salad’ often generates visions of iceberg lettuce topped with tomatoes, cucumber and carrots.  By now, you have realized that the Cooking Matters cooking classes are all about thinking beyond the ordinary- the word ‘salad’ in our class brings on a whole new meaning.   Instead of lettuce, Linda mixed black-eyed peas and corn for the base of this side salad.  Fresh flavors were formed when Kay skillfully chopped bright green cilantro and red onions.  Cumin added some heat, while crisp green bell pepper mellowed everything out.  Our resulting Southwestern Black-eyed Pea and Corn Salad was anything but iceberg!

Upon visiting any Mexican restaurant, patrons are typically greeted with a basket of tortilla chips and some kind of salsa.  That basket of greasy, overly salted, fried chips is a far cry from anything served up in our kitchen.  However, since you can’t have a true fiesta without chips and salsa, we chose to improve the nutrition of the chip by making our own!  Tuwanda created perfect little triangles from fresh, whole-corn tortillas.  These were simply lightly coated with non-stick spray and baked for a mere 10 minutes.  The resulting product- a perfectly light and crisp chip that would make the ultimate vehicle for our Mexican-inspired dips. 

After a quick demo from Chef Sophie, Ana easily cut and scooped the ripe avocados needed for our guacamole.  Wendy assisted in the slicing and dicing; soon we had the quintessential guacamole flavors from finely diced red onion, fresh cilantro and lime and just a touch of heat from jalapenos.  This smooth and creamy guacamole was the perfect accompaniment for our crispy chips. 

Meanwhile, Lon and Wanda worked together to create a fresh mango salsa- cool cucumber and warm jalapeno contrasted nicely in this treat for the taste buds.  Lastly, Tuwanda and Kay got to work on a cooked tomato salsa.  Since tomatoes are not yet in season, the canned version was used.  With the sweetness of cider vinegar and the warmth of cumin and cayenne, this salsa provided multiple layers of deliciousness. 

With our chips, dips and side salad ready to be gobbled up, we still needed the star of the meal.  A mixture of fresh, canned and frozen vegetables were all sautéed together as the filling for our quesadillas.  Black beans and low-fat cheese contributed both protein and texture.  Each participant chose their ideal amount of filling and got to work browning their whole-wheat tortillas for their perfect quesadilla.  With the sound of sizzling cheese and laughter from the group, I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to bring this Mexican Fiesta to an end.  I cannot wait to see (and taste) the culinary masterpieces that will be created by this wonderful group in the future!

By: Morgan Davis, RD, LDN