Picnic anyone?

Looking for a healthy new dish to bring to your 4^th of July party this weekend? Jenny, a Fare For All participant, sent this to us and it sounds delicious!

Blue Cheese Slaw

½ cup Ranch Dressing (lite or regular)

1/3 cup pre-crumbled blue cheese

½ to ¾ of a head of FFA cabbage, shredded or chopped

2 small FFA apples, diced or shredded with or without the peel

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional)

¼ cup dried cranberries or cherries, chopped (optional)

Ground black pepper

To toast nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place nuts on baking sheet with a lip. Bake for 5-10 minutes. Watch for them to turn slightly brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Mash the blue cheese into the ranch dressing a bit and mix the two together in a large mixing bowl. Shred apples using the large side of a grater, or dice up. Add cabbage and apples. Toss to coat cabbage. Add pepper to your taste. Chill for up to 4 hours before serving.

Add the dried fruit and nuts just before serving. Toss.

Learn how to start eyeballing your recipes!

Ever wondered how your favorite TV chefs can cook all those fantastic meals and never use a single measuring device? Now you can too with this easy “cheat sheet” from Trisha Thompson at kitchendaly.com

¼ teaspoon = 1 dime
½ teaspoon = 1 nickel
1 teaspoon = 1 quarter
1 tablespoon = 1 walnut
2 tablespoons = 1 ping-pong ball
¼ cup = 1 large egg
1/3 cup = 1 billiard ball
½ cup = 1 tennis ball
¾ cup = 1 baseball
1 cup = 1 small glass

Fare For All Visits Fridley!

Last week, Sophia, Fare For All's Outreach Coordinator, was invited to attend a Rotary Club meeting in Fridley, MN. Sophia talked about the Fare For All program, and encouraged the members of the Rotary Club to come check out the program and to spread the word in their community. If you would like to invite a Fare For All staff member to come and speak at one of your events, or if you have some events to suggest to us, please contact Sophia at slenarzcoy@emergencyfoodshelf.org.

Try this new spin on a homemade popsicle!

Looking for new fun and nutritious snacks to feed your kids? Here’s a healthy one that they can even help make! Instead of making homemade popsicles with juice, try using yogurt to make Frozen Yogurt Pops! All you need is an 8 ounce container of your favorite yogurt.

1. Pour yogurt into paper cups. Fill them almost to the top.
2. Stretch a small piece of plastic wrap across the top of each cup.
3. Using the popsicle stick, poke a hole in the plastic wrap. Stand the stick straight up in the center of the cup.
4. Put the cups in the freezer until the yogurt is frozen solid.
5. Remove the plastic wrap, peel away the paper cup, and eat your pop!
*If parts of the paper cup stick to the yogurt, try running it briefly under cold water to get it off.

Recipe from: summerrecipes.net

Are You Living in the Danger Zone?

Check out this great post from Fare For All's nutrition intern: Melissa Christianson:

What is the danger zone?

The temperature range in which food borne bacteria can grow is known as the danger zone. Bacteria grow most rapidly between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. That's why consumers are advised to never leave food out the refrigerator over 2 hours. If the temperature is above 90 °F, food should not be left any longer than 1 hour.

If you are traveling with cold foods, bring a cooler with a cold source. If you are cooking, use a hot campfire or portable stove. It is difficult to keep foods hot without a heat source when traveling, so it’s best to cook foods before leaving home, cool them, and transport them cold. This is especially important to be aware of, as temperatures are reaching their height during July and August, and cases of food borne illness tend to rise in the summer.

Pointers:

Try to always store cold foods in a cooler with ice when a refrigerator is not available.

Get a food thermometer to take with you on outings.

Take temperatures of meats when cooking them from raw.

* Poultry breasts: 165 °F
* Ground beef: 160 °F
* Steaks and chops: 160 °F

Do not grill meat partially and finish cooking later!

Do not depend on the color of your meat to determine whether or not it’s ready/safe to eat!

Try to pick foods that are already cooked if you can, but, when grilling outdoors, be sure to have separate cutting boards and utensils for meats to avoid cross contamination.

Avoid using dairy products at your picnic or at your patio party. Mayonnaise can go bad pretty quickly.

Be aware of how long cold foods are exposed to warm temperatures during travel. Two hours is the maximum time for foods to still be safe to eat. Do not eat anything that has sat in a car, on a picnic table, etc. for two or more hours!

Tis the season for barbeques, picnics and outdoor smorgasbords! Inhabit the sunshine, not the danger zone!

Try something new today!

Here at Fare For All we love trying new recipes. Especially ones that come from you! Here is a recipe from one of our Traditional Fare For All participants from Litchfield. Thanks Judith!

Whole Lotta Veggies Soup

1 ½ c. coarsely chopped carrot
1 c. coarsely chopped celery
½ c. cut green beans, fresh or frozen
1 coarsely chopped bell pepper, any color
1 c. fresh or frozen peas
1 coarsely chopped large onion
4 c. cubed red potatoes, not peeled
5-6 oz. fresh spinach, remove stems and cut into strips
6 c. cold water
¼ c. butter (do not omit!)
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 ½ tsp. dried sage
1 Tbsp. dried basil
¼ c. chopped fresh Italian parsley or 1 ½ Tbsp. dry parsley

Place veggies into a Dutch oven or large kettle. Add water and bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients. Reduce to a simmer. Partially cover and cook until veggies are tender, or about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

A Sweet Treat to Beat the Humid Heat

Don’t let the humidity get to you! Cool down by making yourself a nice cold smoothie. Smoothies can be a great tasting way to pack in some of your vitamins and nutrients for the day. Fare For All offers a variety of fruits that you could add to your smoothie, including apples, oranges, mangos and more!

Check out this great informational article about smoothies from Jennifer Murray at bellaonline.com: “While there are hundreds of ways to make a fruit smoothie, with varying tastes and textures, here are the basics: First, chopped fruit (one type of fruit or several) is the smoothie's fruit base. Great fruits to use are bananas, berries (including strawberries and blackberries), pineapples, mangos, and/or kiwi. Second, add an ingredient to the smoothie as a thickener. Good choices include low-fat yogurt, low-fat frozen yogurt, a can of frozen juice concentrate, frozen fruit, or a cup of ice. How much of these ingredients you will use depends on how thick you want your smoothie to be. Third, you will need a liquid so everything will blend smoothly. You can add skim milk, soy milk, fruit juice or even water (some smoothie makers use flavored water). Start with 1/4 cup and then add more if needed. An extra option to enhance flavor is to add a sweetener, cinnamon or vanilla extract. A good rule of thumb for the ingredient measurements is to make your smoothie with 1 part fruit, 1 part liquid, and 2 parts thick base. For example: for 1 smoothie (a little over 1 cup), you would use 1/4 cup fruit, 1/4 cup liquid, and 1/2 cup thickener. But these measurements are not set in stone. The great thing about smoothies is you can experiment to get exactly what you want!
Directions
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately or refrigerate. You may want to serve in a chilled glass if serving immediately.
Tips
A lot of people choose to add nutritional supplements to their smoothies, such as wheat germ, Vitamin C powder or ground flaxseed. Also, if you want extra protein, add soy protein isolate or soy protein concentrate. The most common recipe for a fruit smoothie is orange juice, strawberries, and a banana that is blended until smooth. Calorie-wise, a version of the fruit smoothie that is the lowest in calories just uses water (flavored water is optional), fruit, and ice cubes. Adding dairy products or soy adds protein, calcium, and a different taste to your smoothie.”

Jennifer Murray, www.bellaonline.com