The Capital Area Food Bank is kicking off its Recipes from the CAFB Kitchen with Turkey Chili, Pumpkin Bread and Stewed Black Eyed Peas. You may not think these sound great together but that’s why you have three months to try them out!
After hosting the Northern Virginia Hunger Summit on Cooking at Home, we thought it would be fun to get CAFB staff, partners, volunteers and supporters cooking together. Three recipes will be chosen quarterly and we invite you to join us in giving them a try.
The CAFB’s 500 food assistance partners often ask for nutrition education resources, so the food bank staff and volunteers worked to create more than 80 recipes over the past few years. Each recipe is low sodium, low sugar, budget-friendly, easy and certainly delicious. CAFB recipes are available via website, and distributed annually to partners so they can pass them out to clients at cooking demos and nutrition fairs at their own sites.
For fall, we’ve chosen Turkey Chili so you can practice cooking up a hot pot of healthy deliciousness before Thanksgiving. This way, if you have turkey leftovers, you’ll know what to do with them! Try adding chopped cilantro, green onion or fresh lime juice for an extra kick. If you have another kind of ground meat available, that can be substituted for the ground turkey. And of course, add more veggies (fresh, canned or frozen) in there if you have them. Chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned corn, and green peppers are all nice when added with the sweet potato.
As you prepare for December’s holiday parties, consider trying our Pumpkin Bread as a lower sugar, lower fat alternative to holiday sweets. The whole wheat flour that’s used instead of the regular all-purpose stuff is high in fiber. Our recipe contains warming spices like cinnamon and allspice, but if your family’s pantry includes cardamom, cloves, or any others in your holiday tradition, try those and let us know how it goes!
Finally, did you know that in the southern United States, eating Black Eyed Peas— Hoppin’ John– on New Year’s Day is believed to bring a prosperous year? Our recipe will get you ready for good fortune, and it’s a great way to eat the vegetables needed for a healthy diet in one low-salt dish. If your family likes peppers, add those along with the spinach. If your family eats bok choy, try that in this recipe as a spinach alternative!
Now that you’re hungry, join us:
Print out the recipes for Turkey Chili, Pumpkin Bread, and Stewed Black Eyed Peas today.
Send a photo or quick story about how you made one of these recipes to recipes@capitalareafoodbank.org. Tell us what you substituted in, how it turned out, and what your family thought of it. Then, save a little room for three more recipe ideas once the New Year rolls around….