Blog - JoyFoodly

WITS Labs Teach Novato School Children how to Dress Up Their Salads

Which one is your favorite? That’s what we’ve been asking Pleasant Valley elementary students taking our Wellness in the Schools Greens Labs this week–the balsamic vinaigrette, the honey mustard vinaigrette, or the sweet yogurt dip? Enthusiastic sticky hands shoot into the air. Everyone loves voting for their favorite.

If you are like me, you learned at a much older age how to make vinaigrette. My family, like so many others, always bought their salad dressings and we had an endless number of unused bottles filling up our refrigerator door. That’s not the case for children in Novato Unified School District, participating in our WITS West pilot. As early as kindergarten, they are learning just how easy it is to shake up some balsamic vinaigrette to dunk their local spinach from Star Route Farms into–the same spinach currently being served on their school salad bar.

Immediately after our first 100 children went through the labs on Monday, the site School Food Manager said they were stopping by to see if the salad dressings were on the salad bar. What’s exciting is that when we teach the concepts of how to make a dressing, let the children taste them on fresh romaine lettuce, and then put them on their salad bar, they begin engaging with eating salad at school and home in a whole new way. The labs open a window into healthy eating that’s fun, practical, and hands-on.

What I love most is that between labs, which currently happen during two seasons of the year, students go home and share their new healthy learnings with their parents, they cook the recipes they’ve learned, and they remain enthusiastic about cooking. When I ask students if they made the tomato sauce we learned in September, I’m always amazed at how many hands shoot up! Our pilot in Novato started in one elementary school almost two years ago, Lu Sutton Elementary, and has grown to four elementary schools and one middle school. We are excited to continuing expanding the program next year focused on making salad bar offerings even more robust and continuing to expand into elementary schools with WITS Labs.

If you want to cook more with your child, grandchild, or niece/nephew but are not sure how to really engage them in a way that will make eating healthy foods exciting, here are my five tips on how to help your children get excited to try healthy foods:

1) Encourage them to use all five senses—see, touch, taste, smell, and listen to your food. I love to have kids do taste comparisons: which is sweeter, which is tangy, which is meaty, which is your favorite?

2) Make it a game of tasting to see which flavors are in a dish—can you taste anything sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or umami (meaty)?

3) Use juicy chef words to describe what you’re experiencing—tangy, crunchy, gooey, fragrant, and my favorites are hybrid words they can make up: “Wow, that pesto is herbalicious!”

4) Let them help with the prep—from shaking salad dressing in a mason jar to tearing herbs with their hands and using a safe plastic lettuce knife to help cut that kale into ribbons!

5) Put the kids in charge of the “build a bar”—whether it’s build a rainbow salad or burrito, ask the kids to find what’s already in the pantry for each family member to choose their ingredients for the main dish—just make it a rule that at least 2 colors of the rainbow are present in those vegetable options!

More about Wellness in the Schools
Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a national non-profit that inspires healthy eating and fitness for kids in public schools. Through public-private partnerships, we work with schools to provide healthy, scratch-cooked meals, active recess periods, and nutrition and fitness education. Trained culinary graduates partner with cafeteria staff to feed kids real food, and fitness coaches encourage schools to let kids play. Our partnership approach drives systemic, long-term change, shifting the entire culture of schools and ultimately fighting the childhood obesity epidemic. In partnership with local departments of education, our programs serve more than 50,000 children in over 100 schools nationwide.

WITS started in 2005, in a classroom at the Ella Baker School (NYC PS 225). In the past 10 years, we have cooked more than 11 million school meals alongside school food teams and led more than 54,000 hours of play. We are continuing to expand our national footprint, supporting schools across the country in their efforts to become healthier places for students to learn and grow.

Wellness in the Schools Balsamic Vinaigrette

2017-03-20 18:13:44

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Ingredients

¼ cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a small bow, whisk together vinegar and mustard.
Add the oil a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly, until thickened and emulsified.
Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Wings

Feb 2 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

If you’re hosting a Super Bowl gathering this year, we’ve got a new favorite you’ll want to add to your lineup–Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Wings. These little fire balls are so much better than you might think. Their texture and taste stands up to the traditional chicken wing but they have far less calories and are seriously fun to eat.

This is not a new idea of course. The healthier version of your favorite burger, fries, nachos–you get it–has been around forever. Normally, my philosophy is, “if you want some cheesy nachos, buy good tortillas and organic cheese and good quality ingredients and just go for it and enjoy them in moderation!” This year, I had two talented dietetic interns working with me, pushing me beyond my comfort zone. Grace Chan and Jane Pelcher, of Golden Gate Dietetic Internship Program, expanded my horizons as they went on a search for healthy wings we could demo with our friends at AAA in Walnut Creek at a Four Pillars of Health event they were hosting for employees.

Scanning numerous options they found, I encouraged them to make the recipe as replicable as possible across the country and as vegan, vegetarian, and food allergen friendly as possible. Ever so slightly adapted from a delicious recipe by Gimme Delicious Food, they tested this fool-proof recipe in their own kitchens for our upcoming demo and decided this was the winner!

Let me just say that these little nibbles are exciting in your mouth. When we arrived at AAA for the demo, Stan Paskewitz of Sodexo had his kitchen staff prepare both this recipe and my Winter Squash Quesadilla with Creamy Avocado Sauce from the Joyful 12. I was blown away by the crunchy texture, taste, and zing of the cauliflower buffalo wings. As the demo went on, AAA employees had the same reaction–surprise, delight, and culinary joy!

What really blew people away was the difference in calories between a cauliflower wing and a traditional wing–whoa! As health supportive educators, we’re not against chicken wings by any means. What we do want to help people realize is that you can get playful with getting more veggies into your diet and feel good knowing they will balance out a junk filled night like the Super Bowl with their nutrient packed makeup.

So here’s to keeping your Super Bowl party healthy and delicious–packed with spice, flavor, and cruciferous vegetable love–regardless of which team wins! Thank you Grace and Jane for upping my game with your expertise and amazingly fun “Guess the Calorie Count” game for our favorite Super Bowl indulgences.

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Wings

2017-02-02 21:57:00

Adapted from Layla, Gimme Delicious Food

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

55 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

55 min

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower, washed and cut into bite sized pieces
1⁄2 cup milk (V use water or almond or soy milk)
1⁄2 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour (V use brown rice or garbanzo flour; GF use gluten free flour)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1⁄4 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp ground pepper
1 cup hot sauce
1 tbsp butter (VL use Earth Balance)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425-450F.
Mix the milk, water, flour, and spices in a medium mixing bowl. Mix until the batter is thick and able to coat the cauliflower without dripping.
Dip the cauliflower in the batter either one by one or in batches. Shake off excess batter. Lay the cauliflower single layer on a lined and greased baking sheet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, flip the florets half way.
In a small saucepan on low, heat butter and mix in hot sauce. Remove from the heat just as it starts to melt. Stir together and set aside.
Once the cauliflower is done, remove from the oven and put them into a mixing bowl with the wing sauce and toss to coat evenly. Return cauliflower to baking sheet and bake in the oven for another 20-25minutes.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Notes

V Vegan, GF Gluten Free, L Lactose Intolerance

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Get Creative with Healthy Back-to-School Lunches!

Aug 12 by Chef Hollie Greene 1 Comment

Please join me on September 10th at Cornerstone Sonoma and Sunset Magazine’s Outdoor Test Kitchen for a parent/child hands-on demo on how to make packing school lunches a breeze. Register here.

There is nothing wrong with PB&J. There, I’ve said it! I know that parents all share the same goals when it comes to sending their children to school with the best food they can to help their growing minds and bodies excel. The trick is in getting them to eat those healthy lunches.

When Lisa Yokota and Claudine Wong asked me back on their show, Bay Area People, KTVU Fox 2, to cover healthy back-to-school lunches and easy weeknight meals, I jumped at the opportunity. Not only do I love working with these two talented news journalists, but I also receive this request often from the families I work with. “How can I work variety into my child’s lunchbox but without feeling like a short order cook every morning—AND avoiding waste?”

Whether it’s those weeknight meals or back-to-school lunches, I always use my 3×3 method to quickly plan and execute healthy meals that children and their parents will love. It all starts with 1) what does your family enjoy eating, and 2) what’s already in your pantry. Then, I put together a very short list of fresh ingredients you’ll need from the grocery store and a game plan that ensures you’ll use the perishable items multiple ways during the week with zero waste.

When you are packing your child’s lunch this year, think about my 3×3 method—always pack a:

Fruit
Veggie
Protein

When choosing ingredients, keep in mind:

Color
Crunch
Taste: Salty + Sweet

I also love to throw in some “food hacks” from already made ingredients you can pick up at your local grocery store, such as my unique flavor twists made fast from store bought hummus (see recipes below):

Avocado Green Dream Hummus
Creamy Carrot Curry Hummus

The key to making it feel easy during the week is to prep ahead on Sunday for the following three days:

Cut carrots and cucumbers for next 3 days
Make flavored hummus and granola bark
Cut fruit for next 3 days

Here are a few ideas I’d love to share with you that will make this year’s school lunches more fun to pack with your children:

Hummus, cucumber, carrot wrap
- Take one piece of whole wheat bread and roll it out with a rolling pin until ¼ inch thick. Spread store bought hummus on the bread and top with shredded carrot, diced red bell pepper, and some torn basil leaves. Roll and cut into four small rounds.
Roasted chickpeas
Rainbow carrots cut into “sticks”
Strawberries/Mango
Granola bark (see recipe below)

Tuesday

Taco Tuesday wrap: chicken, cheese, and avocado hummus
- To make avocado hummus: take ½ cup of store bought hummus and blend it with ½ avocado, 1 garlic clove, a pinch of cilantro, and a pinch of cumin. Spread on whole-wheat wrap and top with shredded rotisserie chicken, and shredded cheddar cheese. We also love to add in some of our diced red bell pepper and extra cilantro before rolling up and slicing into two pieces.
Mango/Blueberries
Cucumber sticks
Roasted chickpeas

Wednesday

Chicken salad wrap-diced chicken, yogurt, honey, curry powder, dried cranberries
- Make curry yogurt sauce: 3 tablespoons yogurt, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Take one piece of whole wheat bread and roll it out with a rolling pin until ¼ inch thick. Spread curry yogurt sauce on bread, top with shredded rotisserie chicken and some dried cranberries. Roll and cut into four small rounds.
Carrot curry hummus
- To make carrot curry hummus: take ½ cup store bought hummus and blend in 2 leftover roasted carrot sticks (from previous night’s dinner!), 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1 clove garlic, and a pinch of salt. Eat with carrot and radish dippers.
Rainbow carrot half moons + rainbow radish half moons
Blueberries

Thursday

Chicken gyro wrap: plain hummus, chicken, shaved carrots, garlicky yogurt sauce
- To make garlic yogurt sauce: mix 3 tablespoons yogurt, ½ teaspoon cumin, 1 garlic clove, ¼ lime, and a pinch of salt. Spread store bought hummus over whole-wheat tortilla wrap, top with shredded rotisserie chicken, garlic yogurt sauce, and grated carrots, and roll up and slice into two pieces.
Roasted chickpeas
Strawberries
Granola bark

Friday

Strawberry n Sun Butter “sushi roll”—new take on a PB&J!
- Take one piece of whole wheat bread and roll it out with a rolling pin until ¼ inch thick. Spread sun butter (or your favorite nut butter) on the bread. Line up sliced strawberries on the edge closest to you and roll the bread like sushi. Cut into small “sushi rounds.”
Rainbow carrot rounds
Carrot curry hummus
Granola Bark

Granola Bark Recipe

2016-08-11 16:53:55

Adapted from a Yum Chefs SF Recipe | Yields about 12 small granola bark pieces

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Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
3 Tbsp. oat flour*
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons chia seeds
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
3 Tbsp. melted butter
¼ cup honey
1 ½ tsp. water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Stir together the rolled oats, sugar, salt, cinnamon, dried fruits, chocolate and seeds. NOTE: if you don’t have some of the seeds or dried cranberries, you can substitute with the dried fruit, nuts, and seeds you have in your pantry. The total amount is 1-½ cups, so you can play with the ingredients to use up what you have on hand vs. buy new items. I use this recipe to “clean out my pantry!”
In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, honey, and water.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and press them in firmly. Bake for 15 minutes, or until they are brown around the edges.
Allow cooling and setting for about 15 minutes before cutting bark.

Notes

*Tip: to make oat flour, simply grind rolled oats in a food processor

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Back-to-School Family Dinners Segment on Fox2 KTVU

Aug 9 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

With so many back-to-school demands, putting a healthy dinner on the table can feel out of reach. That’s why I was so excited to be asked back on the KTVU Fox2 News Show to share my strategies for making weeknight family dinners a breeze.

I first start with what our family likes to eat–dinners like veggie fried brown rice, grilled meat with two roasted vegetables, or fast fajitas. None of these meals requires a recipe, just throwing together what’s on hand with a very short list of grocery items to round out our ingredient list.

The two easy dinners I’d love to share with you use my other strategy which is how can I have zero waste in my kitchen, which involves using the items I buy at the store in multiple meals (and back-to-school lunches!), and using a dinner technique that literally takes less than 30 minutes to put together.

This past Saturday (also my husband Jim’s birthday), I shared two new favorites on a live segment with Claudine Wong, my favorite local newscaster, who is also a busy mom who knows how challenging cooking on top of a long day at work can be. The whole crew fell in love with our Mango Chicken Soba Noodles, which employs my “build a bowl” technique as well as our Breakfast for Dinner strategy, using cupcake muffin tins to build mini rainbow frittatas alongside carrot curry fries. Both meals are children and family friendly, filling, and healthy–plus you’ll have zero guilt when you use up all of those fresh ingredients you bought on Sunday when you reach the end of your week and find an empty refrigerator!

Mango Chicken Soba Noodle Bowls

2016-08-09 16:42:42

Serves 4

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Ingredients

Soba noodles, 7 oz, cooked, drained and rinsed
Rotisserie Chicken, 1, shredded with hands
Mango, 1, peeled and diced
Red bell pepper, ½, diced
Carrot, 1, shredded on a cheese grater
Soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
Rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon
Sriracha, 3 teaspoons
Sesame oil, 2 tablespoons
Sunflower oil, 2 tablespoons
Lime, 1 small
Salt, ½ teaspoon

Optional garnish

Sesame seeds
Cilantro

Instructions

Cook noodles separately, according to their package instructions (approximately 5-7 minutes in boiling water—do not salt water!). Get a colander ready so you can rinse the noodles right after they are done cooking in cool water. Note: soba noodles should not be al dente, but you also don’t want to overcook them so taste one before pulling the pot off the heat. Once they have been rinsed, you’re now going to dunk the cooked noodles in a big bowl of cold water and “wash them” of their starch. Use your hands and rub them in the water. Drain again in the colander. Now they are ready to be used.
While noodles are cooking, make sauce with the last six ingredients (from soy sauce to lime juice) in a separate bowl.
Toss sauce, cooked and rinsed noodles, vegetables, mango, and chicken together in a bowl. Enjoy with a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top and some chopped cilantro.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Mini Rainbow Frittatas

2016-08-09 16:44:20

Serves 4

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Ingredients

Eggs, 6, cracked and beaten
Carrot, 1, shredded
Yellow bell pepper, 1, diced
Basil, 2 tablespoons, chopped
Cheddar cheese, 4 oz, grated
Salt, ½ teaspoon
Black pepper, ¼ teaspoon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. Line cupcake holder with liners.
In each cupcake liner, add a mixture of vegetables and basil, filling it two-thirds the way up.
Top with cheese and divide egg mixture among them until it fills the cupcake liner.
Bake for approximately 12 minutes. Touch the tops before removing to make sure they have cooked through and are not soft.
Serve with "curry carrot fries." To make carrot fries, toss cut carrot sticks in a tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 tsp. curry powder, and roast at 400F for 15 minutes.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Easy Homemade Salsas for Taco Tuesday!

Jun 14 by Chef Hollie Greene 1 Comment

Beautiful photography in this post by Nina Menconi. Huge thanks to Ariel and Debbie Sultan at Food Guru for their amazing video on how to make my salsas.

What I love most about Taco Tuesday is that the whole family can get involved in making dinner delicious. Creating easy to assemble fixings for a build your own taco bar is the way to go when you are tight on time but still want the whole family to eat well. I’ve found the key to keeping this theme night fresh and fun is to mix it up each week with a homemade salsa topper.

My friends Debbie and Ariel Sultan, co-founders of Food Guru, captured just how fun and easy it can be to whip up fresh salsas. After watching our minute-long tutorial, you can become a salsa master, too!

When it comes to cooking for my family, I love using seasonal fruit like pineapples for my weekly salsa fix. They are so naturally juicy with just the right balance of acidity and sweetness. Just add a little lime juice, cilantro, spring radishes and green onions to your diced pineapple and you’re ready to take your taco to a whole new level. Oh, how I can eat this salsa with a spoon!

My other tip for making taco night stress free is to keep the stuffing simple. My loco good pinto bean stuffing is ready in just 15 minutes, using canned organic beans and a quick saute of onions and bright yellow bell pepper with spices and fresh lime juice.

Be sure to have some fun this summer trying out your own version of salsa after you’ve mastered my three favorite easy recipes, perfect for any family’s Taco Tuesday.

About Food Guru:

Mother/ daughter team, Debbie and Ariel Sultan, use their baby boomer-millennial perspectives to form Food Guru, a marketing and video production company. They work as an agency and marketing department for food and beverage businesses to create, connect, and convert audiences to loyal customers and influencers. Check out their sizzle reel here.

Loco Good Pinto Bean Tacos with 3 Easy Homemade Salsas

2016-06-13 21:16:41

Serves 4

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Taco Filling

Pinto beans, (30 oz.)
Garlic, 2 cloves
Red onion, 1
Yellow bell pepper, 1
Jalapeno, 1
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
Cumin, 1 ½ teaspoons
Cayenne, ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder, 2 teaspoons
Lime, 1 (juice and zest)
Corn or Flour tortillas, small, 1 package

Pineapple Radish Salsa

Pineapple (1/2 fresh, medium sized)
Red radish, 1 bunch
Green onion, 1 bunch
Lime, 1
Cilantro, ½ cup

Sun Kissed Tomato Salsa

Tomatoes, 4 large
Salt, 1 tsp.
Onion (red), medium sized, 1/4
Jalapeño pepper, medium sized, 1
Cilantro (fresh), 1 cup (packed)
Garlic, 2 cloves
Lime, 1
Olive oil, about ¼ cup

Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa

Tomatillos, 6, medium sized
Garlic, 2 cloves
Cilantro (fresh), 1 cup (packed)
Onion (white), small to medium, ¼
Jalapeño pepper, small, 1
Salt, 2 tsp.
Lime, 1
Avocados, 2

Prep

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Drain beans, rinse, and hold.
Cut onion and bell pepper into dice.

Cook

In a preheated skillet, add olive oil and salt and sauté onion, bell pepper and jalapeno on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add spices and continue to cook for another minute to warm up spices.
Add beans and heat through for another few minutes.
Squeeze lime over mixture and stir well.
Build tacos with bean mixture on the bottom and some of your fresh salsa on top!

Pineapple Salsa

Put diced green onion and chopped cilantro (stems and leaves) into a medium sized bowl.
Add the zest and juice of your lime.
To prepare the pineapple: twist off the top. Cut off the rind with a knife. Then cut the pineapple into quarters. Remove the core with your knife. Chop pineapple into dice.
Slice radish into thin rounds or half-moon shapes and add to the salsa.

Sun Kissed Salsa

Cut tomatoes into small dice: first slice into rounds, then into slices and then into dice. We like cutting tomatoes with a serrated knife (bread knife), as it cuts easily through the tomato’s skin.
Put the diced tomatoes in a bowl and add salt to allow the tomatoes to release their natural juices while you are cutting up the remaining ingredients.
Dice ¼ of the red onion.
Deseed the jalapeño, and cut into small dice. The easiest way to do this is to cut down one side, like you would an apple, trying to avoid the core. Then, you can cut down the other three sides. You should be left with a stem attached to the spicy seeds. Discard the stem and seeds. Don't forget to wash your hands after handling the jalapeño! The oils from the pepper get on your skin and can sting your eyes or anywhere else you touch. Many people wear gloves when handling jalapeños.
Roughly chop 1-cup cilantro leaves.
Cut garlic into a fine mince.
Zest and juice the lime.
Drain the salted tomatoes. They should have released a good bit of juice.
In a large bowl, mix the drained tomatoes with olive oil, the chopped cilantro, minced garlic, zest and juice of the lime, diced jalapeño, and red onion. Stir together well. The longer the salsa sits, the more flavor will develop.

Tomatillo Salsa

Turn on your oven’s broiler to high.
Wash the cilantro, lime, jalapeño pepper, and avocados.
Remove the husks from the tomatillos.
Rinse the tomatillos under water to remove the sticky coating. Cut them into halves, and place on a parchment or tinfoil lined cookie sheet with raised sides, and broil for 10 minutes.
Peel the garlic and set aside.
Measure out 1-cup cilantro, packed. Don’t fuss with picking leaves. Just rip off the tops of the cilantro. They will go in a blender, so it does not need to be perfect.
Peel and cut the onion into quarters. You will add ¼ of the onion to the blender for this salsa.
Deseed the jalapeño. The easiest way to do this is to cut down one side, like you would an apple, trying to avoid the core. Then, you can cut down the other three sides. You should be left with a stem attached to the spicy seeds. Discard the stem and seeds. The remaining pieces will go into the blender. Don't forget to wash your hands after handling the jalapeño! The oils from the pepper get on your skin and can sting your eyes or anywhere else you touch. Many people wear gloves when handling jalapeños.
Juice and zest the lime.
Put all the ingredients in a blender, except the avocado, and blend until chunky. Add diced avocado and gently mix. Enjoy!

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Lemony Bright Artichoke and Spinach Orzo

May 19 by Chef Hollie Greene 1 Comment

Beautiful photography in this post by Nina Menconi.

I’ll never forget traveling through Italy during late May a few years ago and desperately searching for artichokes featured on any menu. Each time the waiter said, “I carciofi sono finiti”–artichokes are finished–and I would just sigh! How was it possible that we missed the window to enjoy my favorite spring vegetable “alla Romana, al forno, fritti, or in tasty little fried balls called polpette ghiotte?!”

You see, I LOVE artichokes. The first time I truly realized that vegetables were cool was as a ten year old girl, and it was the artichoke that did it. My bonus mom, Debbie, was from California and she introduced artichokes to my dad and I–and it was love at first bite. I was fascinated by this foreign food that required not just eating the meaty leaves with your hands but also digging down until you found the golden heart. And so, I was of course dreaming of tasting the love Italians have for our shared favorite–the artichoke (as they call “carciofi,” which in Italian, also means “pine cone!”).

Each May, when I have the chance to work with the local artichokes that are in season, I can’t help but think about how Mediterranean cooks might highlight them in one of their everyday simple pasta meals. Keeping flavors pure and springlike, I imagine they’d lean on staples like spinach, lemon, parsley, onions, garlic and feta and would pick a pasta like orzo that’s fun and fast to cook.

While I’m actually using a jarred artichoke heart in this recipe versus fresh for the sake of convenience and speed, here are my tips on how to select and store fresh spring artichokes and help your child fall in love with artichokes the way my family did so many years ago!

How to pick a great artichoke and keep it fresh

Select artichokes that are deep green and feel heavy for their size. A good test of freshness is to press the leaves against each other which should produce a squeaking sound.
To store artichokes: sprinkle (but do not wash) artichokes with a little water and refrigerate in an airtight bag or container. They can last up to a week when stored properly.
If you are looking for a good artichoke outside of their peak season during spring, you may find fall or winter artichokes “touched by frost – winter-kissed with a whitish, blistered appearance.” These are considered to be tender, tasty and premier–so don’t let their ugly exterior leaves deter you!

Artichoke fun facts about this thistle we adore

Ask your child what part of the plant they think an artichoke comes from. The artichoke is a flower that has not yet bloomed. If allowed to flower, the buds develop into magnificent purple-blue blooms.
Did you know that California produces 100% of the United States artichoke crop? Castroville, California, calls itself the “Artichoke Center of the World.”
Do you know where the word artichoke comes from? The Italian words—articiocco and articoclos—which means pine cone.

Lemony Bright Feta, Artichoke and Spinach Orzo

2016-05-11 23:56:57

Serves 6

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

20 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

20 min

Ingredients

Onion (yellow), 1
Garlic, 3 cloves
Olive oil, ¼ cup (divided)
Salt, 1 tsp (divided)
Black pepper, ¼ tsp
Artichoke hearts (quartered), 14 oz
Spinach (baby, pre-washed, bagged), 1 bag (8 cups)
White wine, ½ cup
Vegetable broth, ½ cup
Lemon, ½ large or 1 small
Orzo pasta, 1lb
Feta cheese, 7 oz
Parsley, ½ small bunch

Get Organized

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Bring a large pot of salty water up to a boil for the orzo.
Dice onion.
Empty the quartered artichoke hearts, rinse them, drain and set aside.
Crumble the feta and set aside.
Rough chop parsley (stems and leaves).

To Cook

When water begins to boil, add orzo pasta and cook according to package instructions (about 7-9 minutes). Note: we like to undercook the orzo as we’ll add the pasta to the sauce to finish cooking.
Saute onion in two tablespoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt on medium high heat until translucent (3-4 minutes).
Add artichoke hearts and continue sauteing for another 3 minutes.
Next add spinach, garlic, and two more tablespoons olive oil. Stir well to combine.
Deglaze pan with white wine by pulling the pan off the heat, adding the wine, and then placing the pan back on medium high heat. Use your wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan to stir up any of the good onion bits that stuck to the bottom.
Add vegetable broth and continue simmering for about five minutes to help concentrate sauce.
Add another ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and stir.
Turn off the heat. Add lemon, parsley, and feta and stir.
Serve in bowls garnished with extra parsley.

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Farminista’s Feast highlights the Joyful 12 School Project

May 10 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Whenever I see our project through a trusted friend’s eyes, it makes me feel honored and joyful. Karen Pavone is not just a friend and colleague. She’s a native to Novato, California, where we have launched the Joyful 12 School Project with Wellness in the Schools, and today, she shares her perspective about our school project over on her gorgeous blog, Farminista’sFeast. As Karen says, “pull up a chair and enjoy the journey,” as she explores the thriving “farm-to-table food culture in California’s North Bay” on her site. Thank you, Karen! We’re so grateful you’re a supporter and friend, helping us grow healthy kids in Novato Schools.

Karen Pavone is a writer, blogger, and photographer who lives in Novato, California, with her husband Matt, and their two children. To contact Karen about her blog, email [email protected].

Bursting with Spring Buckwheat Noodles

May 5 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

Beautiful photography in this post by Nina Menconi.

Spring makes me happy. It’s not just the sweet strawberries and ripe cherries that start popping up everywhere this time of year, or the yellow daffodils and tulips that tell me that winter is a distant memory. It’s the baby carrots and happy easter radishes, crunchy sweet sugar snap peas, and tender stalks of asparagus that make me want to cook and play in the kitchen. From radish dips to noodles bursting with spring produce, I’m energized to find ways to easily work in these yummy seasonal treats into my weekly meals.

And it’s not only because I love the taste of spring. Do you know how many nutritious goodies (including energy!) these vegetables and fruits provide?! I love looking at Ashley Koff’s spring vegetable “picks” list to feel great knowing that I’m treating my body and my family’s health right! The key of course is to “try” not go overboard–playing with new recipes should be fun, not stressful. That’s why I love simple one dish meals like soba noodles. I use my go-to sauce from the Joyful 12 kitchen learning lab and just mix up the seasonal produce on hand.

One of my new favorite things to add to soba noodles is roasted tofu. It sounds a little crazy, but I’m a newcomer to tofu as a protein source that makes it home in my shopping cart! I just never played with it much until recently when I was trying out a recipe that called for roasting it. In just 20-minutes, roasted tofu develops the most beautiful brown color and deep flavor without having to pan sear or fry it in a bunch of oil. And while I have the oven on anyway, I throw in some diced asparagus for ten minutes–just long enough to develop flavor but not lose the vibrant green hues.

When it comes to play, my motto is always to have fun making mistakes. Take this goof for example. I put my cooked soba noodles into my pan, along with the sauce and veggies and stirred and stirred and stirred, and guess what. The noodles broke! So much for long beautiful soba noodles–more like soba rice! But that just gave me the chance to make this recipe one more time for my husband, Jim, who adores soba noodles. After a little research, I discovered that the trick to not breaking your cooked noodles is to first wash them after cooking them in a big bowl of cold water (to remove some of their starch) AND to add your sauce and veggies off the heat and gently toss them just before serving. Version one was still delicious!

If you’re looking for a seriously happy and delicious spring meal, perfect for Meatless Monday, grab some sugar snap peas and asparagus and let the soba noodle party commence!

Bursting with Spring Buckwheat Noodles

2016-05-03 21:07:09

Serves 4

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Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

Asparagus, 1 bunch
Olive oil, 3 TBS (divided)
Salt, ½ tsp (divided)
Tofu, firm, 14 oz
Black pepper, ⅛ tsp
Green onion, 1 bunch
Sugar snap peas, 1 cup
Ginger (fresh), 1tsp finely chopped
Soba noodles (100% Buckwheat) 7 oz

Noodle Sauce

Hot pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp
Rice wine vinegar, 2 TBS
Tamari (gluten free soy sauce), 1/4 cup
Sesame oil, 1/4 cup
Ginger (fresh), 2 tsp finely grated

Instructions

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Preheat oven to 425F.
Cut asparagus on the bias into medium sized pieces. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Dry off tofu and cut into medium sized (bite-sized) cubes, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper.
Place tofu and asparagus on two different baking pans lined with parchment paper--roast the tofu for 20 minutes and the asparagus for 10 minutes at 425F.
Cut green onion into small pieces. Set aside some of the green tops to use as a garnish on the noodles when you serve them.
Cut the sugar snap peas into bite sized pieces.
Chop 1 teaspoon of ginger and set aside for the vegetable saute. Finely grate 2 additional teaspoons ginger for the noodle sauce.
Make the pasta sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and stirring together.

Cook

Cook noodles separately, according to their package instructions (approximately 5-7 minutes in boiling water--DO NOT salt!). Get a colander ready so you can rinse the noodles right after they are done cooking in cool water. Note: soba noodles should not be al dente, but you also don’t want to overcook them so taste one before pulling the pot off the heat. Once they have been rinsed, you’re now going to dunk the cooked noodles in a big bowl of cold water and “wash them” of their starch. Use your hands and rub them in the water. Drain again in the colander. Now they are ready to be used.
In a pre-heated pan, saute green onion, peas and ginger in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat for 3 minutes.
Add roasted asparagus, tofu, and your sauce to the saute and continue cooking another 2 minutes.
Gently toss sauteed vegetables and sauce with the noodles in a bowl (off the heat).
Serve in bowls garnished with a little extra green onion and sprinkled with hot pepper flakes, if you like it extra spicy!

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Dreaming of Italy–Orange Basil Strawberries with Yogurt

Mar 31 by Chef Hollie Greene Leave a Comment

About this time every year, I start daydreaming. There’s something about springtime that makes me yearn for new ideas. How can I work peas, artichokes, spinach, and strawberries into my everyday meals in new and exciting ways! This generally means I also reminisce about flavors I’ve discovered through travel.

I can still smell the fragrance those macerated orange basil and mint strawberries gave off. We were traveling in Rome. It was the very end of spring, and we kept seeing strawberries on every menu. One of the things I most admire about Italians is that they are purists in their approach to cuisine. I adore the way they elevate everyday produce in the most simple ways.

Imagine an American restaurant featuring macerated strawberries–by themselves–on their dessert menu. I’m talking no whipped cream, no ice cream! Our Italian waiter insisted we try them. He couldn’t leave it up to us to make a bad choice. This light and refreshing dessert was in our future. Out came a small bowl of sliced strawberries swimming in a simple syrup decorated by curled orange peels speckled with bits of mint and hints of fresh basil. With our spoons, we tried to slowly savor every last bite.

I’ve never been able to replicate that exact experience, but I’ll promise you this interpretation is as close as you can come to a starlit night under Italian stars, sharing a meal with someone you love. I hope you’ll enjoy them as is, with yogurt, and whatever other way you find to be exciting and fresh this spring!

Dreaming of Italy--Orange Basil Strawberries with Yogurt

2016-03-30 19:55:31

Serves 4

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

5 min

Total Time

25 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

5 min

Total Time

25 min

Ingredients

Strawberries (fresh), 16 oz container
Orange, 1
Basil (fresh), 1 small bunch
Mint, 1 small bunch
Sugar (organic turbinado), 1/2 cup
Water, 1/2 cup
Yogurt (plain full fat organic), 2 cups

Get Organized

Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
Cut off 2-3 big pieces of the orange peel by using a sharp pairing knife and running it closely along the orange’s skin. This will be used in the simple syrup.
With the remaining skin of the orange, zest it and place zest into a bowl. Juice the orange and add it to the bowl. Set aside.
Make the simple syrup by heating the water and sugar together at a simmer until the sugar melts. Add the orange peels to add flavor. Let cool before using.
Wash strawberries, remove green tops, and cut into any shape you like (slice, quarters, etc.).
Wash herbs and dry with a paper towel. To cut into thin ribbons, stack the leaves on top of each other, roll up like a cigar, and cut across the roll in thin strips.

To Cook

Combine cut strawberries, simple syrup, orange juice and herbs in a bowl. You can use immediately or let sit 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
We love to serve these over yogurt. They are also delicious over ice cream, with a rich chocolate dessert, or in your morning oatmeal!

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

Wellness in the Schools Bean Cooking Labs at Lu Sutton Elementary

Mar 9 by Chef Hollie Greene 1 Comment

Special thanks to our amazing partners that make these labs possible: Wellness in the Schools, Novato Unified School District’s Director of Food and Nutritional Services, Miguel Villarreal, Lu Sutton’s principal, Bonnie Barron, and the Lu Sutton PTA, led by Emy Everett. We look forward to expanding into all elementary schools in Novato, with your support. Beautiful photography by Nina Menconi.

Do you love beans? I know 365 Novato California elementary school students who NOW adore them. When adults ask me what we do in the Wellness in the Schools Cooking Labs, I have to pause and respond thoughtfully. There is just so much that happens that you really have to be there to experience it. But each time, I try to focus on the bigger role we’re hoping to play each and every time we teach a fifty minute nutrition and food literacy lab using this beautiful curriculum, so I generally explain that, “We help kids fall in love with cooking and eating healthy, local foods growing in season, and we make it fun to explore new foods without fear.”

Beans are no exception. From statements like, “I don’t eat beans” at the beginning of our recent WITS labs to asking for second helpings of WITS’ multi bean chili after only fifty minutes of food literacy education, well that’s gotta be love! It’s not just beans of course. These labs teach kids about kale and carrots, tomatoes and potatoes, apples and those locally grown foods that are also being served in the school cafeteria. Regardless of the starring produce of the lab, it’s the positive, hands-on learning experience that leads to 77% of students saying they loved the Ginger Kale Salad and 75% saying they now love eating veggie bean chili.

To create magic, it’s a build. I like to make sure parents know this because I never enter a cooking lab expecting for everything to be perfect. What I aspire for are small, incremental positive experiences for children with fresh foods. Some kids love to learn our “juicy chef words,” which in our chili lab included descriptive vocabulary like translucent, garnish, saute, and simmer. Other children get super excited by the tactile portions of our learning, like sorting various varieties of dried beans and discovering ones they’d never known existed or holding the bell peppers to see which one is heavier or lighter.

Most children relish the knife skills part of the cooking lab, where we practice knife safety with nylon cutting knives from Curious Chefs, using our bear claw to hold what we’re cutting or the tunnel, and learning new cuts–for kale it was “chiffonade” cut, which is to cut into thin ribbons–for the chili recipe it was slicing and then dicing our multicolored bell peppers.

The amazing thing about ensuring that all children of the elementary school get this food literacy education is that they learn together that healthy eating is the cool thing to do. It’s fun, not punitive! The school community becomes one team, where kitchen staff at school see more kids participating, parents are supported in their efforts back at home, and even kids become teachers to their parents or grandparents. One of our second grade students was chopping away at her bell pepper in our recent chili lab when she beamed this story to me that she was so proud to share, “Chef Hollie, I made the kale salad for my dad. At first, he would only take one spoonful, but then he ate the whole bowl! It’s the only way I can get him to eat his vegetables now!”

What I love best is when our students from one lab to the next build upon what they’ve learned. We focus on listening to the foods–just ask your child what they should hear when an onion is put into a hot pan (sizzle) or how to know when you can stop massaging the kale salad (hint: it no longer crunches).

We also engage the children to learn that exploring new foods is fun by focusing on using all of our senses to taste and describe the foods we’re experiencing. Lu Sutton kids don’t make a decision about a new food until they’ve looked at it, smelled it, touched it, tasted it, and yes, listened to it. They love when a bell pepper squirts them in the face when cutting, because they know that the vitamin C in that pepper is good for their skin (a.k.a Vitamin C facial!). After teaching these WITS labs to kids, I’m also confident that even in this small amount of time, we are teaching these precious children at all ages that they are worthy of beautiful, fresh foods. What more empowerment can you ask for? Now, that’s what I call love.

If you are a parent or teacher of Lu Sutton and you have not yet taken advantage of the free Joyful 12 memberships I provide with every school we work with, please be sure to go to www.joyful12.com/lusutton and take advantage of my online kitchen learning lab. I hope it will be a beautiful resource to you and your family after each lab to keep that enthusiasm about cooking thriving back at home! To learn more about our Joyful 12 School Project and how you can help us expand in our goal to grow healthy kids in all eight elementary schools in Novato, please visit our project page today.

Veggie Chili by Wellness in The Schools

2016-03-09 20:12:28

Serves 6

Chef Hollie’s cooking note: I make this chili recipe now almost weekly. My husband and I love to garnish with thinly sliced purple cabbage, sour cream, avocado, and a little cheese. We usually buy several colors of bell pepper, so that we can use some diced raw as garnish along with the cilantro suggested!

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

45 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

45 min

Ingredients

*30 oz canned beans (we used 1 can of pinto beans and 1 can of black beans in our Novato labs)
1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ jalapeno, seeded, de-ribbed & minced (optional)
1 Tbsp ground chili powder
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp oregano
14.5 oz can tomatoes, in juice, chopped
1 ½ Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water
1 tsp salt* (original recipe = ½ tsp)
Fresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish--optional)

Directions

Rinse and drain beans and set aside.
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat until warm.
Add onion, red pepper, garlic and jalapeno and cook, stirring, until onions are translucent. Stir in spices and cook 1 minute.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, salt and drained and rinsed beans; reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until flavors are well combined.
Garnish with cilantro just before serving. (*Note: in California, we also love a rainbow of raw diced bell peppers on top as a garnish)

Notes

*modified from way written in the original recipe

By Wellness in the Schools

JoyFoodly http://www.joyfoodly.com/

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Meatless Monday

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