A healthy remake of the classic Waldorf salad prepared on-site by Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Master Food Volunteers was a refreshing treat for participants at the Arlington Green Living Expo on Sunday, April 21.

More than 60 exhibitors took part in the Green Living Expo and Arlington Earth Week Community Fair, sponsored by Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE) and George Mason University, and held at the university’s Arlington campus.

In a cooking demonstration promoting local produce, VCE Extension Agent Jennifer Abel and Master Food Volunteers Lise Metzger, Holly Rowe and Sue Gonzalez made and distributed samples of fresh apple salad. Visitors were also offered a copy of the recipe and a list of Arlington County farmers markets.

With only four ingredients – apples, raisins, walnuts and low-fat plain yogurt – this versatile salad is a great side dish, snack or even dessert. Making the salad an extra special treat at the expo were the wonderfully sweet Fuji apples, donated by Twin Springs Fruit Farm, located within two hours of the DC metro area near Gettysburg, PA.

By the end of the event, the Master Food Volunteers had chopped and mixed two crates of apples and given dozens of fair-goers a healthful, sweet start to this year’s Earth Week.

Written by: Sue Gonzalez, Master Food Volunteer

Last spring, Master Food Volunteer and food preservation extraordinaire, Diane Blust, gave me the fermentation bug.

I was always awed and a little scared of home fermentation. After all, I’m a registered dietitian and incredibly—sometimes overly—mindful of food safety. The thought of eating food that’s been breeding bacteria at room temperature for days or weeks on end made me prohibitively nervous.

But many of my favorite flavors come from fermented foods: miso, tempeh, kimchi, hot sauce, and of course Virginia wines. Armed with my love of these delicious foods, I was determined to master the art! With Diane as my inspiration and Extension food preservation resources as my food-safety net, I’ve been fermenting non-stop for about a year.

When I saw a display of gorgeous, enormous, bright-green fresh cabbage on sale at my local grocer, I knew it was time for another batch of sauerkraut.

On the first day, the ferment was bright green.

The next morning, the healthful lactobacillus bacteria were noticeably hard at work. The cabbage was laced with pockets of carbon dioxide bubbles reaching for the surface.

Two weeks in, the bright-green colors changed to yellows and olive greens, which was great news. Green pigmentation in plants dulls and softens when exposed to acid. The beneficial bacteria were creating the desired lactic acid, which acts as a preservative and provides the tangy, vinegar-like taste in sauerkraut.  This batch will be done in the next week or two.

How do you make your own sauerkraut? Follow the fermentation best practices from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension’s National Center for Home Food Preservation.

For extra flavor, I added dried spices like caraway seed, dill, and garlic. Any of your favorite pickling spices will do. Diane’s signature ingredient, juniper berry, adds fantastic complexity. For more inspiration, check out The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz.

Want to learn more? Look for hands-on classes from Extension this summer.

–Katie Strong, MS, RD, FCS Extension Agent

Elementary students spent Spring Break mashing bananas, scraping cucumber seeds, and most importantly having fun!

Less than a week after graduating, five newly-minted Master Food Volunteers sprang into action to help Extension with FAN Camp (Food and Nutrition Camp) at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington. MFVs Dorothy, Pat, Caroline, Geri and I worked with FCS Agent Katie Strong to teach hands-on cooking and nutrition to more than 40 students from pre-K through 5^th grade.

Over two days, students played nutrition games and made tasty, age-appropriate recipes. Younger students colored MyPlate placemats, which volunteers laminated so the kids could take them home. Then, students learned about food groups and what makes a balanced diet. They guessed at fruit and vegetable riddles and sat down to make some healthy dishes.

On Wednesday, two classes of older students made veggie wraps: radishes, carrots, salad greens, herbs, low-fat cheese, yogurt and avocado wrapped in a whole-wheat tortilla. The wraps were a big hit with the kids; one student made the recipe for her family the very next day! The younger groups of 4- and 5-year-olds had a ball making banana pudding in a bag (lots of squishing of bananas, yogurt, applesauce and granola inside a zip-top plastic bag).

On Thursday, the older students made mango salsa from fresh mango, black beans, green pepper, green onion, cilantro, and lime. While the MFVs prepared some of the more difficult ingredients ahead of time, students pitched in and prepared most of the dish themselves. In small groups under watchful eyes of MFVs, students took turns chopping the green pepper and cilantro and learning safe knife skills. The salsa was devoured with corn chips. The younger students enjoyed making apple wraps: a whole-wheat tortilla with a mashed banana and sunflower seed butter spread, sprinkled with diced apples and then rolled up. They were a big hit!

With just a little supervision, the students could easily make the recipes at home.

One of the challenges facing the volunteers was how to make the activities fun for a large group of kids on their spring break. But they needn’t have worried: the kids had a great time talking about food and chopping, mixing and eating the delicious and nutritious dishes.

We plan to return for more cooking fun in July, and we look forward to spending more time with the young fledgling chefs.

–Lise Metzger, Master Food Volunteer

 

On March 22 thirty new Master Food Volunteers (MFVs) completed their 30-hour training and are ready to begin serving the community by teaching groups about good nutrition and healthy cooking. This is the largest group of MFVs trained to date and marks the second year that Katie and Jennifer have teamed up to organize this multi-county training. The volunteers will serve Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County by teaching cooking classes in senior centers, leading nutrition programs in schools, assisting with Cooking Matters courses, helping SNAP beneficiaries get to know about the wide array of produce available at farmers markets, helping low-income gardeners learn tasty ways to prepare the produce they are growing, helping with food preservation classes, and much more.
The volunteers come with a wide variety of skills and backgrounds. One thing they all have in common is a high level of enthusiasm for the volunteer work that they will be doing. They are eager to get started so keep a look out for their characteristic aprons in the community.
It is a lot of work to put together this training, especially for such a large group, and Katie and Jennifer would like to thank the following people for making it possible: Janet Al-Hussaini, Ginger Geoffrey, Catherine Hader, Saroj Khurana, Sue Lagon, Megan Mauer, Ellen Mathis, Desiree Morningstar, Patty Reyes, Debbie Roche, Kisha Simpson, Haregowoin Tecklu, and Octavia Walker.

In April, VCE is offering several programs to support Arlington County Child Care Services. The Food Friends program, which teaches children to taste healthful new foods and develop motor skills, will be made available to child care providers in the county. Opportunities are available thanks to a partnership with the Arlington Healthy Communities Action Team. Further, Katie Strong is providing continuing education to childcare providers on the risks of sugar-sweetened beverages for preschoolers, along with practical ideas for serving healthful beverages and snacks.