Saturday, February 4th was one of IFFS’s first Mobile Markets of the month! Taking place at Iglesia el Buen Pastor in Durham, this market serves around 50 – 60 families. IFFS’s Mobile Markets are an important resource for low-income communities as they provide them with fresh produce, free of charge, once a month. These markets are located at partnering sights and locations such as churches and medical clinics. IFFS’s Nutrition Education Program, “Food Matters” also attended this market, providing a healthy cooking demonstration while market recipients waited for the market to be set up. Nutrition volunteer, Laurie McComas, showed how to make a simple healthy recipe using hearty greens. Since this market serves a large Latino population in Durham, the cooking demonstration was bi-lingual and educational materials were provided in both Spanish and English . The recipe – Confetti Kale – used corn, garlic, bell peppers, hearty greens (such as collards, Swiss chard, kale, or cabbage), and salt and pepper. For such a tasty recipe, everyone was amazed at how simple and easy the preparation was for this dish.
The recipe was chosen to highlight hearty greens, since market recipients would receive collards and cabbage that had been harvested the day before by IFFS’s gleaning program. The Food Matters program at Mobile Markets focuses on providing community members with easy ways to use some of the more uncommon produce they might receive at market: eggplants, zucchini, kale. Having live cooking demonstrations not only provides a sort of entertainment but it also provides recipients with a chance to learn and share about healthy ways of cooking with fresh ingredients.
Kale is a fall through spring vegetable very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C and calcium. We encourage you to give kale or other hearty greens a try this month!
Confetti Kale (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cups washed, dried and chopped fresh kale
- 3 cloves garlic, minced ¾ corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
- ½ cup chopped red bell peppers
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
*Substitute other greens for the kale. Sauté collard greens or Swiss chard for 5 minutes; sauté spinach for 1 minute.
Interested in volunteering at the Mobile Market with IFFS’s Nutrition Education Program? Contact Katherine Moser – nutrition@foodshuttle.org for more information!
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