Food

Support What You Love

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:26:08 -0400

Plenty of people have asked me over the last year, "Now...tell me how you went from magazine publishing to this childhood obesity stuff?" I have the same answer every single time: Jones Valley Urban Farm. You see, before I lost my magazine job, I happened to be spending lots of time researching a movement for change sprouting up all over the country: backyard gardens, urban farms, a nod to simplicity, connecting kids to where food comes from, nutrition classes at food banks, and the list goes on and on and on. As I got excited about all of these wonderful programs, I found myself searching for them in Birmingham. What did I find in my own backyard? One of the top ten urban farms in the country. When I lost my job, I found my way down to Jones Valley Urban Farm's trailer and knocked on the door. Nothing has been the same ever since that day.

In one short year, I witnessed kids pulling carrots out of the ground for the very first time on a Seed 2 Plate field trip. If you aren't familiar with the Seed 2 Plate program, here's a quick recap: every school, after school, and child care program can take advantage of a field trip to the farm for $8 per student. The class arrives to the farm, spends some time out in the field harvesting produce, and then the students head over to the YMCA Youth Center's kitchen to prep and cook the items they just picked.

In addition to these popular Seed 2 Plate programs, Jones Valley Urban Farm also offers weekend workshops for folks interested in anything from composting to organic gardening. They also teach community gardening classes ("Growing Together"). And now my favorite program is taking off: Delicious Nutritious. This program includes a training course for cafeteria managers, child care directors, and anyone serving food to learn about the advantages of using fresh produce and they get recipe tips for easy solutions to actually incorporating fresh ingredients in a real life setting.

All of these programs and the farm itself opened my eyes to what I had been missing for so long. I wasn't at all connected to food before I started this journey. I ate Lean Cuisines to keep the weight off (an issue I've fought my whole life). I didn't really cook. I just moved through life disconnected to the tools I needed most: the knowledge of what good food really is, the truth behind ingredients, and where my food comes from. I began cooking. I volunteered every place I could. I fell in love with food, my region, the folks working on this mission, and my community. It all started in the middle of downtown Birmingham, Alabama -- a place I rarely visited when I had my cushy magazine job for 8 years. Coincidence? Nope. Just the curve I had to take in a journey towards where I wanted to go next and thanks to Jones Valley Urban Farm I know where I'm supposed to be right now.

The farm sustains itself by what it sells at Pepper Place, various grants to keep the programs listed above going, a few events, and generous donations. With so much on their plate, it is no wonder folks are stepping up to show support (monetarily and otherwise) for the farm we have growing in our own backyard. Here's how you can help:

"Friends of Farmers" Day (Thursday, September 9): Dine at any of the EIGHT Birmingham area Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q restaurants and proceeds go to Jones Valley Urban Farm. Stop by to show your support, meet with representatives from the farm to hear about upcoming events, and eat some great food for a great cause! Um, how cool is that? More info here.

"Urban Harvest Twilight Supper" (Thursday, September 23): Treat yourself to an Alabama Asado courtesy of Chefs Frank Stitt and Drew Robinson. An authentic Argentinean grill is planned: humanely-raised and locally-sourced sausages, lamb, and veggies grilled over an open fire. Each ticket is $200. Your ticket is tax-deductible and a one stop shop for donating to Jones Valley Urban Farm this year. Why not treat yourself in the process? Buy tickets online: www.jvuf.org

Other ways you can *always* help the farm?
Volunteer to help harvest (especially when our amazing farm interns go back to college)
Donate Online (check out the "donate now" button on JVUF's homepage: www.jvuf.org)
Go to Pepper Place and buy directly from JVUF at their booth
Spread the word to your teacher friends, business friends, and family about how they can support JVUF regularly
Promote events at the farm so everyone knows about their work, mission, and passion

When my world gets crazy (and it totally does) or I get completely overwhelmed by the challenges placed before me, it always helps to reflect on how I got to this place. Thanks for listening and supporting our community's collective work.

CSA Challenge: Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant

Mike.Benson — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:45:51 -0400

I found some inspiration for all of the eggplant I got in my Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA bag this week:

Roasted Tomato Eggplant Tartine. (I found the recipe on NY Times Diner's Journal and I used as many local ingredients as I could.)

Yield 4 servings
Time 40 minutes
(Adapted from Marc Murphy, the executive chef and the owner of the Landmarc and the Ditch Plains restaurants)

Ingredients

For the tomatoes (I used AL tomatoes: in season and local)
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
For the tapenade:
1/2 cup pitted calamata olives (I used green)
2 tablespoons drained capers
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For assembly
3/4 pound eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 4 slices, each about 1/3 inch thick (I used eggplant from my Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA bag)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh soft goat cheese (I was all out of my Belle Chevre, so I used Wright Dairy Wanda Cheese instead)
4 1/2-inch slices country bread (I used V. Richards Multi-Grain Bread and I'm sure any of Continental Bakery's breads would be perfect too)
Method
1. For the tomatoes: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a wide, shallow bowl, toss tomato slices with olive oil, and garlic. Spread on a baking sheet. Roast 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. For the tapenade: Place olives and capers in blender or food processor and chop coarsely. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Puree until smooth; set aside.
3. For assembly: Prepare grill for cooking or heat ridged grill pan over moderately high heat. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill, turning as necessary, until slightly charred and soft, about 3 to 4 minutes a side.
4. Preheat a broiler. Brush each slice of bread with olive oil and spread thin layer of tapenade on each slice. Top each with an equal portion of eggplant and roasted tomatoes. Sprinkle with grated Wright Dairy Wanda cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and tartine is piping hot, about 5 minutes.
5. I sprinkled some fresh basil from my JVUF CSA bag over each piece before serving...

My (not-so-local) Banana Muffin

Amanda.Storey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:25:59 -0400

Confession: I know that my recipes almost always incorporate a CSA veggie or (at the very least) a locally-sourced ingredient, but this recipe won't do any of that. My (reasonably good) explanation: I had TONS of bananas left over from our Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities day at Pepper Place Farmers Market (bananas were used in bike bender smoothies). What to do with ripe, mushy bananas? Muffins!

Now, don't let this part shock you: i decided to go with a Barefoot Contessa Banana Crunch Muffin recipe and I couldn't have made a better choice. Here's hoping you live in a place where bananas and walnuts are local because these suckers are TOTALLY worth making.

Banana Crunch Muffins (adapted from Barefoot Contessa)
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs (these were totally local: Wright Dairy)
3/4 cup whole milk (this was too: Wright Dairy)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
1 cup small-diced walnuts
1 cup granola
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (I did NOT use coconut because quite frankly, coconut freaks me out)
Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional (didn't use any of these either)

nocoupons

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired (not desired so I didn't use). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Note from me: I sort of gave up on the double batch muffin idea because I only had a muffin tin with 12 cups. So...I just poured the rest of the batter in a cake pan, which worked just fine. I'm just saying... you don't have to over muffin yourself here.

ENJOY!

Oak Street Local Market

Amanda.Storey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 09:57:59 -0400

I've been meaning to stop by Oak Street Market for...oh, I don't know...MONTHS? My friend, Ellen Riley, runs the shop and sends out the most tempting newsletters and status updates. Teasers like: We've got Wright Dairy Wanda Cheese (my fave), Mary Ann's Pimento Cheese (my fave), Petals from the Past figs (you guessed it...my fave), and countless other items. But meaning to stop by and actually doing so are two VERY different things.

Truth be told, I probably thought the very thing you are thinking right now: "Oak Street is in Crestline, right? That equals 'expensive' in my book." Well, yeah... I thought so too, but I was wrong. Dead. Wrong.

Yesterday, I picked up a pound (or so) of pluots, Petals from the Past figs, potatoes, and shelled butterbeans for a super reasonable price. Now don't get me wrong: Your specialty items are going to cost you more, but you can also pick from corn, eggplant, squash, vegetable soup, tomatoes, peaches, onions, potatoes, shelled peas, cheeses, and so much more.

Across the street, you will find a wonderful kids garden growing on Emmet O'Neal's Library's grounds. That garden is absolutely beautiful and I just love the whole food + learning + local market connection. Seriously love it.

But that's not the only "cool" factor. You see, Ellen gave away tomato plants at Jones Valley Urban Farm's Slow Food Festival earlier this year so that folks would take the plants home, harvest some tomatoes, and bring them back to be donated to Magic City Harvest (a food recovery program in Birmingham, Alabama).

So not only is this market selling LOCAL products (Snow's Bend, Michael Dean,Wright Dairy, Mary Ann's Pimento Cheese, and Petals from the Past are some of the folks I saw), but they are also supporting food recovery and community gardening as well.

So here's the thing: don't be fooled by the "Crestline" mystique. Take advantage of your local resources and make a point to stop in Oak Street Local Market next week. We want our local folks to be successful. We also need more access points for quality, local, and seasonal items. I'm absolutely embarrassed that I just got around to visiting, but I can tell you this...Oak Street Market will be seeing a lot more of me from here on out!

Sign up for the newsletter by clicking here.
Fan them on Facebook by clicking here.
OR...VISIT TODAY:
Oak Street Local Market
115 Oak Street
Birmingham, AL, 35213
205-870-7542
9:00 am - 6:00 pm

CSA Challenge: Roasted Eggplant and Squash Farro Salad

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:27:26 -0400

Wait, let me guess: You've got squash and eggplant coming in at full force, right? Tell me about it! Boy, do I have *the* recipe for you and the best part is this recipe should last all week and will take care of all that CSA bounty at once! Let me introduce my Roasted Veggie Farro Salad. I was inspired by two recipes: "Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad" from Smitten Kitchen/Gourmet (RIP Gourmet) and "Orzo with Roasted Vegetables" by Barefoot Contessa.

Here's what I did (Be sure to read through the entire recipe so you can get your timing right):

FARRO (FAHR-oh):
1 1/2 cups Farro
2 1/2 cups of water
Salt (as much as you would use boiling pasta)
First, what is Farro? Well, depends on who you ask because I've seen it called a grain, a form of wheat, and a plant all of its own. According to my Food Lover's Companion: "Farro is an ancient cereal grain that belongs to the wheat family and dates as far back as 20,000 years. Farro has a dense chewy structure and a rich, nutty flavor. It can be used in pasta, bread, and for risotto-style dishes." I purchased my bag in the pasta section, so look there first. Place farro in a bowl, cover with water, and let soak for 8 hours (or overnight). Then, I just cooked it like i would pasta in a pot of salted water. Follow the instructions on the package as you want the farro to retain a bit of a bite. Once finished cooking, I drained the farro and set aside for later.

ROASTED VEGGIES:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
1 1/2 lb eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 lb zucchini/squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Dice your eggplant and squash into 1/2- inch, thick chunks (make sure they are the same size). Toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread veggies on a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 425 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (or so). I usually flip the veggies midway through the cooking process. Make sure your veggies are charred, yet tender and hold their shape!

Now it is assembling time:
SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb cherry tomatoes, quartered (use local while you can)
1/3 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted and halved
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, rinsed and drained if desired (I didn't, but you can if you want)
1/3 cup scallions (about 2-3; use white and green parts)
LOTS of feta cheese (cubed not crumbled)

DRESSING:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/3 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Whisk to combine all ingredients

TO ASSEMBLE:
Add drained farro to large bowl. Add roasted veggies and any liquid bits from the pan to the farrro. Stir. Pour dressing over farro and veggies and let cool to room temperature. While your main ingredients are cooling, begin dicing up your salad ingredients: scallions, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and feta. Once at room temperature, toss ingredients with your farro/veggie mixture. Serve at room temperature!

I had this for lunch, supper, and as a snack all week. You are going to love it. Thank you Smitten Kitchen, Barefoot Contessa, and my Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA bag for the inspiration this week!

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities: "Kids Who Care" Campers at Pepper Place

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:26:34 -0400

Remember when I told you the "Kids Who Care" Campers made the news? Well, our kids from the East Lake camp had a busy day last Saturday: TWO "Be Healthy" strolls and mini flash mobs! The first surprise was at the East Lake Farmers Market, which also happened to be one of the two day camp sites. Second Surprise was at Pepper Place Farmers Market to celebrate our Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Day!

All of our partners showed up with booths of their own: Jones Valley Urban Farm ran the Bike Blender station, YMCA brought hula hoops and jump ropes, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham brought information about Railroad Park and Ruffner Mountain, Jefferson County Department of Health brought lots of nutrition and WIC information, Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners brought information about our local food system and some seasonal recipes, and the United Way Success by 6 program had books and crayons!

Our friends at Desert Island Supply Company (DISCO) joined us and encouraged some of our kids to write about fresh veggies and their market experience. A big congrats to them for reaching their $20K kickstarter goal yesterday! We love DISCO!

And our friends at Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery provided some seeds for inspiration. If you haven't stopped by Charlie's store at Pepper Place yet, you will absolutely love it!

Finally, we had great prizes from some amazing sponsors: Hibbett Sports, Trak Shak, and Cahaba Cycles (see their links below).

When the going gets tough (and trust me when I say it totally will), I highly suggest remembering why we work so hard: THESE AWESOME KIDS!

A HUGE thank you goes to the following folks:
United Way Young Leaders (Matt Chapman, you are awesome! Thanks to the entire group for planning and implementing)
Aletheia House (especially Chris, Tara, and Keisha)
Aletheia House Summer Interns (y'all rock!)
Kids Who Care campers in East Lake and West End (hope to see y'all next year!)
Anna Lloyd (intern extraordinaire and creative director of "Fresh Grown" and Pepper Place video shown below)
East Lake United Methodist Church

East Lake Farmers Market Farmers
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in West End
Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Partners

Pepper Place Farmers Market
Hibbett Sports
Trak Shak
Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery
Cahaba Cycles
and everyone else!!!

CSA Challenge: My Okra Just Told the Skillet to Peace Out

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:04:45 -0400

I am always overjoyed when I catch a glimpse of okra in my Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA bag. Normally, you'll find me soaking those bad boys in some buttermilk, tossing them in a little flour and cornmeal, and frying them until golden brown and deliciously crisp! The truth is, we don't really need to be eating fried okra every week (No, we don't so don't even try to convince me otherwise). I recently found a recipe for "Roasted Okra" by Chef Scott Peacock and decided to give it a try. First, let's be clear: I abhor okra slime, which means you can imagine my hesitancy when buttermilk, cornmeal, and frying had to exit the cooking process. Nonetheless, I can assure you that this recipe was absolutely delicious and totally avoids the slime factor completely.

Cooking side note: If you are in a hurry, simply slice your okra in half, place on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle some salt, and bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Cooking time varies and depends on your oven and crisp preference.

Roasted Okra
from "Making Southern Cuisine Healthful" by Chef Scott Peacock presented at University of Arizona Nutrition and Health Conference in Atlanta GA

½ pound okra
1 small (about 6 ounces) onion, preferably red
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 mint sprigs
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Rinse the okra under cold running water, and drain. Trim the tops off the okra by
removing the stems, but don’t cut the whole caps off. Cut the onion in half from
stem to top, then again in thirds in the same direction. Put the okra, onion and
garlic onto a Silpat pad on a baking sheet, or on an oiled pan, and drizzle the olive
oil over them. Tuck in the mint sprigs, sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon salt and freshly
ground pepper, toss all together lightly, and let the flavors mingle at least 20
minutes before roasting.

Place in preheated oven to roast for 5-10 minutes. Makes enough to serve 4.

“Okra invariably is deep-fried where I come from – but roasting it makes it crisp yet tender, neither mushy nor slimy, and it takes only 5-10 minutes.” – Scott Peacock

Happy roasting, y'all!

In the News: After School / Day Camp Healthy Snacks Success

Amanda.Storey — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:33:43 -0400

I learned a lot this Summer and I'm still trying to figure out a way to tell y'all about it. Luckily, the Birmingham News did a great job summarizing one of our projects today and I want to share it with you. Click here to read the entire article:

Birmingham's Aletheia House adds nutritious snacks to its summer program for youngsters

What is so great about this story is that it illustrates how your relationships, community connections, and overall interest in making things better can make a HUGE difference in a child's life. I celebrate about all of my friends at East Lake Farmers Market and the East Lake Farmers who offered to source some of the snacks, Whole Foods Market's tomatoes, Jones Valley Urban Farm's Seed 2 Plate Field Trips, the Aletheia House Day Camp interns and program managers who were willing to take on fresh, local, and healthier snacks. Of course, there are too many people to name who helped make this program a success and I can't wait to see what we do next year! When a community unites and shares resources, expertise, passion, and care you can see true change. I think the "Kids Who Care" day camp is a perfect example of just that.

There's plenty of work to be done, but let's not lose sight of stories like this one. It's important to know that there is hard work happening behind the scenes, there are success stories in all of our communities, and we have some deserving kids seeing possibilities of what *will* be our reality in the near future. How exciting is that?

Menu Recap: Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese, Basil, and CSA Veggies

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:21:22 -0400

Last week, I intended to write individual entries about *all* of the wonderful meals I made inspired by some really fantastic food websites, but alas...life got in the way. I don't want to make you wait on me, so rather than write individual entries on each recipe, I will just include a brief recap here, a few photos, and direct you to some websites where you will find the complete recipes. Off we go...

PESTO:
My weekly CSA bag from Jones Valley Urban Farm was filled with delicious basil. I decided to whip up a batch of Barefoot Contessa's Pesto so I could use it throughout the week. My intentions were good: the thought would be to add to roasted summer squash and pasta or homemade pizzas. Truth be told, we only used it on the pizzas.

PIZZA:
My husband swears by Easy Pizza Dough from Fine Cooking. He'll make a batch and split the dough for mini-pizzas throughout the week. He's found great success with adding the dough to our cast iron skillet and building the pizza from there. This week we had a roasted vegetable pizza inspired by Le Culinary Creusette and a pesto/tomato pizza with green olives. We had three full days of pizza and all was right in the household.

ROASTED VEGGIES
My Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA bag was also filled with eggplant and summer squash. To get ahead of the week, I simply diced my veggies (rough dice, thick slices), drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. You want your veggies to be tender with a little bit of a char on the edges. Once you get the roasting done, you can add them to salads, pizzas, pasta, or anything else your heart desires. Roast the veggies on Sunday so you can save some time during the week.

SCALLOPED TOMATOES WITH CROUTONS
One of my favorite websites, Smitten Kitchen, posted a recipe inspired by the lurvely Barefoot Contessa: Scalloped tomatoes with croutons. She had me at "tomatoes" (especially as I glanced at the 20 or so tomatoes I had sitting on my window sill). She definitely had me at "croutons" because, well...that's how I roll. I reposted this recipe on *my* facebook page and have already had two folks (you go Susannah and Jami) say that it was a huge hit. For the love of summer, please try this recipe with homegrown tomatoes before our season ends. Hurry, run, GO!

So as you can see, it was a busy week. I hope some of these recipes help you plan this week's menu or prevents CSA veggies from going bad. Let me know if this format is helpful because there will be less of a wait in between posts if I can update y'all this way.

Have a great week!

Alabama Caprese Salad

Amanda.Storey — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:29:46 -0400

If ever you need a light, feel-good, delicious, and locally-sourced Summer snack, this Alabama Caprese Salad is super easy to pull off. It doesn't take a lot of time, it is easy to assemble, and it is the perfect nod to Summer (especially when it is...wait for it, wait for it...100 degrees outside). Something about the juicy tomato, cold and creamy mozzarella cheese, burst of brightness from the basil, and the crunch from toast makes this snack an amazing treat. No chef-fy tricks here-- just some seasonal shopping, slicing, drizzling, sprinkling, and eating.

Alabama Caprese Salad
1 large heirloom tomato (Jones Valley Urban Farm CSA)
Fresh mozzarella (purchased at V.Richards) 
Basil (our garden)
2 slices of toasted bread (I encourage you to source locally: V. Richards, Continental Bakery, etc)
Olive Oil 
Salt/Pepper

Simply slice tomato and mozarella and layer on your plate (mozzarella on top of tomatoes). Add in basil leaves as you go. Slice toasted bread and drizzle the entire plate with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grab a napkin. Wipe chin.