Diggin' In With FoodCorps Fin - February 12, 2021
I may have hinted at Spring a little too much in our last edition, because Winter is back for sure! Hope everyone's staying warm and safe out there.
Thinking of warmer times, it's with great pleasure that I can finally share another Virtual Farm Tour featuring myself and Jamie Cox of OSU Extension. Back in November, we visited Almosta Farm in Cove. While we were there we got to gather eggs from their chickens, milk their goats, and make fresh Ricotta cheese with the goat's milk! We also learned about their sustainable practices and what farming has taught them. Afterwards Jamie brought the cheese home and made a wonderful Skillet Lasagna, which is included as a video recipe at the end of the video. You can see the whole thing right here:
Just because we’re in the middle of Winter doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the fruits of last season! With Cougar Cooks this week, we prepared some Delicata Squash-- my favorite of the Winter squash. These squash ripen in the late Fall but can stay fresh for months if stored properly (in a cool, dry place). As the name suggests, this squash is rather delicate, so much so that you can actually eat the skin, once baked. With our student chefs, we sliced the squash into 1-inch crescents and baked them with a brown sugar glaze. When I asked one of our chefs what they thought, I got a virtual “chefs kiss” back. Perfect. As I pointed out to our chefs, the “veggies'' are actually fruits, because they carry seeds. While this was confusing at first to the students, it makes it simple to think of a fruit as anything that carries and protects seeds on their journey from parent plant to becoming a new plant, not just the sweet things that we eat. A fruit is like a suitcase for seeds— A FRUITCASE!
As always, if your 4th grader wants to join our club, simply email Finley at finley.tevlin@foodcorps.org to RSVP for the next Wednesday night.
At Central, we’ve been able to grow plenty of fresh veggies with our Tower Gardens-- our aeroponic grow systems-- even in this frigid weather. However, it’s not always obvious what to do with these fresh greens. The lettuce is easy: it’s great on a salad! The kale and swiss chard are great in a salad too, but can be a little tougher in texture. I really like to add my kale and chard to other cooked veggies—roasted, sautéed, or baked. We’re also growing some herbs: basil, chives, and cilantro. These are great as a flavorful topping to other dishes; basil on pasta or anything with tomatoes, chives on potatoes or on anything with sour or cream cheese, and cilantro on any Hispanic-style foods. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to spice it up, you could try this cilantro and lime hot sauce I made with cilantro from the gardens!
