Last week, the PB &J Cooking Classes at Boys and Girls Club worked to support the KeyStone Club’s Farmer’s Market initiative with the Local Food Hub. Teens in the KeyStone Club worked with the Local Food Hub to select, market and sell local (delicious) produce outside of the Club at pick up time.

Our Classes helped out by making samples and recipe cards for two of the vegetables for sale, so kids and parents could taste different ways of preparing the vegetables for sale. We chose green beans and potatoes, making spicy and sweet Asian green beans and roasted potatoes with homemade Tex-mex seasoning. Recipes and pictures below.

Stop by any Thursday after work to pick up some amazing fresh fruits and veggies and try the kids’ awesome samples. Next week: peach salsa.

Spicy Savory Green Beans

Ingredients

1 pound of green beans 1 teaspoon of sugar

3 cloves of minced garlic, tablespoon of oil

2 Tablespoons of water

2 Tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce

1.5 Tablespoons of hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon of chili garlic sauce (add more to make it spicier)

Directions:

1. Steam green beans for about 5 minutes over hot water.
2. While they are steaming, in a small bowl whisk together soy sauce, cornstarch, chili garlic sauce, sugar, water and hoisin sauce.  Set aside.
3. Get a wok or pan heated on medium high, add the oil and minced garlic to the pan.
4. When the oil is heated, add the green beans and the sauce for about 5 minutes until sauce is thickened and green beans are soft.

Tex-Mex Taco Seasoning

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

Another Cooking Club unit is underway at the Boys and Girls Club on Cherry Avenue.  We’re continuing with the wonderful girls from last unit, building on what they have learned already.  To do so, we’ve added two amazing sous chefs, Rex and Gerrod, 2 highschoolers who have been with the PB &J fund since our very first class almost two whole years ago this June.  When I say they are stepping up to the challenge of helping the younger girls–this is a huge understatement.  They are going above and beyond: asking how they can clean up as we go, teaching the girls how to flip their crepes with the flick of their wrist, if they can taste to see if we need more basil.  They’re  unbelievable.

We made three simple and fresh types of pasta sauces (that we all devoured), tasted different Italian cheeses and olive oils.   Ms. Carrie brought some amazing recipes (below) back from a cooking class she took while on vacation in Tuscany, and Ms. Lucy shared her famous pesto. 

Later today: making stock from scratch to use in later lessons this semester then spicy eggplant eggrolls and hummus while the stock is simmering away.  Hungry already.      

Salsa di pomodoro (Tomato Sauce)

 Ingredients:

• 2 Ib Italian Peeled Tomatoes (1 large can)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 small bunch fresh basil
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Chop the onion (fairly fine) and fry in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until transparent
2. Add the tomatoes, and cook over low heat for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally.
   1. It is ready when the tomatoes begin breaking up easily under your spoon
3. Add the fresh basil and stir in olive oil until absorbed by the sauce.

 Creamy Mozzarella and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 7 oz fresh tomato sauce (from above)
• ½ Ib fresh mozzarella
• 2 hot chilies (hot pepper flakes), optional
• Salt, Olive Oil and fresh Basil

Preparation

1. Blend together chopped mozzarella, 2 hot chilies, pinch of salt, olive oil, and warm tomato sauce until smooth.
2. Cook your pasta until al dente and mix with the sauce in a warm pan off the heat (otherwise, mozzarella will melt).
3. Decorate with fresh basil leaves.

Lucy’s Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

• 4  cups  fresh basil leaves
• 2  tablespoons  pine nuts
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 2  garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 2  tablespoons  grated fresh Romano cheese
• 2  teaspoons  butter, softened  

Preparation

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a food processor; process until finely minced.
2. Place in a large bowl. Stir in cheeses and butter until blended.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
4. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 3 tablespoons cooking liquid.
5. Add pasta and reserved cooking liquid to pesto, tossing to coat.

This holiday season, The PB &J Fund had some stellar support.  Thanks to a generous grant from The Hook’s Restaurant Week and a number of volunteer groups around town, over 300 bags were filled with more than 5,000 meals  for Charlottesville children participating in this year’s Toy Lift.

 
Many thanks to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation’s Future Fund,  The Junior League, Darden and Quantitative Investment Management for donating your time to make this happen!
 
I have to mention that in addition to packing bags, Darden (UVA’s Graduate Business School) came back to us and insisted on doing more.   
 
We put our heads together and decided to create a new project.  In conjuction with Darden’s Day of Caring, we took the idea of an “edible gift” to the next level.  Bright and early a couple of weeks ago, Darden staff came together to assemble edible holiday gifts for the kids at the Boys and Girls Club on Cherry Avenue (where we host our weekly Cooking Class).  We filled 155 mason jars with the dry ingredients for delicious oatmeal/ M&M cookies, then delivered them to the Club so the kids could decorate them in art class and give them to their parents as gifts this holiday.  

 
A fantastic new PB &J Fund Tradition.  Thanks so much to Darden and all of our amazing volunteers!

PB &J has been doing the Potluck and Packs program at Johnson Elementary for a little over a year now, and this past month we had the pleasure of having a core of parents in on the action for the first time.  Talk about being impressed by not only their supportive numbers, but their energy and creativity.

The decision to make the festival a “food” event led to some amazing activities centered around an interactive “Food Group Find”—(check out some of the stations by food group below to see how the kids made out).  Each child received a bingo card when they arrived with slots and explanations of each of the food groups.  They had to visit each site and receive a stamp for  and to be able to return the bottom of the card to be entered into a raffle at the end of the night.

Voting Booth: (Earn a Vegetables, Meat/ beans and Grains Stamp)

The kids favorite Chef, Patrick from Hamdingers recreated Martha Stafford’s (of The Charlottesville Cooking School) plant based rice and bean taco recipe.  The Charlottesville High School Key Club ran a booth where kids and parents could vote on whether they would like the tacos in school lunches (Read more in the C-ville’s article here). The response was overwhelmingly positive (video voting clips to come soon!). 

“Bobbing” for stringed- apples (Earn a Fruit Stamp)

 Bean Bag Toss—(Earn a Dairy Stamp)

Pumpkin cupcake- walk (Treats…to eat in moderation!)

Amazing Johnson parents made delicious pumpkin cupcakes for everyone in good old fashioned carnival style.

Thanks to Martha Stafford, Patrick Critzer, the Charlottesville High School Key Club for running the voting both and OF COURSE: these wonderful Johnson parents and kids!

A little mishap at the grocery store made for an inventive afternoon at Cooking Class this week. Ms. Emily (yes, that’s me, talking in the third person hoping to avoid embarrassment here) didn’t check the delicious pitas before she put them in her cart. Turns out they had a little mold on them. So here we are, with a teaching moment on our hands: always check your dates, and products before you buy and eat them. But, teaching moments aside, my heart sunk with the issue at hand: how are we to make the Mediterranean Chicken Pita Pockets without pitas?

Alicia, our guest chef is a mastermind. I had picked up a bag of pita chips to taste our hummus with, voila! Her brilliant suggestion: let’s make chicken nachos instead. So we sliced up some grape tomatoes, onion. Seasoned some chicken with oregano and minced garlic, grilled it up. Made our homemade tzatziki sauce and hummus and set out to create the best nacho bar this hummus lover had ever seen. The Tzatziki sauce was unreal, the kids decided to add some sour cream to make it thicker and more “dip” rather than sauce like for the “nachos”. They really are geniuses. Recipes are below!

Tzatziki Sauce:
• 1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded
• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Last minute ingredient, if you want to make it thicker: ¼ cup of light sour cream

To prepare tzatziki sauce, combine cucumber, yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 garlic clove, stirring well.

Hummus:
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained

Combine well in a food processor.