DECEMBER 2015
CHEF PETER GARCIA BLUE PLATE SPECIAL AWARDS LUNCHEON HOLIDAY HACKS HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
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YEAR FIVE!
2009-2010
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gracie Cavnar
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Glen Boudreaux SECRETARY
Frank Steininger TREASURER
Monica Pope
CHEFS ADVISORY CHAIR
Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D.
SCIENCE ADVISORY CHAIR
Amy Anton Helen Bow Heather Carlucci Carrie Colbert Arvia Few Karen Garcia Kendrick McCleskey Paula McHam Lisa Mellencamp Aashish Parekh
Dr. Melanie Mencer-Parks Genevieve Patterson Holly Smith Michael Swail Chisholm Tate Susie Woodard Jeffrey Wooten Bob Cavnar, EMERITUS Laura Spanjian, EX OFFICIO
FOUNDING CHEFS ADVISORY BOARD John Brock Carolyn Carcassi Bryan Caswell Charles Clark Louis Cressy Robert del Grande Randy Evans Lance Fegan Chris Garcia
Peter Garcia Lauren Gockley Jason Gould Anita Jasinghani Ouisie Jones Al King Sandra Mangini Jim Manning Veronica Ortiz
Monica Pope Philippe Schmidt John Sheely Randy Rucker Chris Shepherd Claire Smith Brendon Treanor Scott Tycer
Giancarlo Ferrera Richard Kaplan Monica Pope Barbara McKnight Gary Mularski Ryan Pera
Jean Philippe-Gaston Ellen Schwartz Sandra Shafer Ruffy Sulaiman
CHEFS IN SCHOOLS 2015-16 Joe Apa Garth Blackburn John Buchannan David Cordua Neal Cox Kaz Edwards
COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD Anna Eastman Ellie Francisco Roland Garcia Jennifer & Lance Gilliam Mimi del Grande Melanie Gray & Mark Wawro Joanie Haley Lucia & Justin Hamilton Laura Jaramillo Shelley Taylor Ludwick
Soraya McClelland Ginni Mithoff Sara Morgan Leisa Holland-Nelson Roz Pactor Cynthia Petrello Laura Max Rose Mickey Rosmarin Stuart Rosenberg Jeff Shell
Heidi & Marcus Smith Kate Allen Stuckenburg Mark Sullivan Stacey Swift Claire Cormier Thielke Kim Tutcher Stephanie Walker Ashley Wehrly Andrea White
Gracie Cavnar
Gabie Caballero
Stephanie Hill
Kristen Evon
Molly Kaminski
Cindy Lucia
Justin Myers
Susan Reedy
Paula Arnold Kristen Berger Cathy Brock Elena Buley Honi Boudreaux Kathryn Castellanos Phyllis Childress Yvonne Cormier, M.D. Isabel David Deborah Duncan
STAFF CEO
COO
DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE AND GARDENS
Sandra Cook
EDITOR, PUBLICATIONS
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OFFICE MANAGER MAJOR GIFTS OFFICER GRANTS OFFICER
Marisol Castro
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EVENTS
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO CEO & AMBASSADOR
Rachel England
SEED-TO-PLATE NUTRITION EDUCATION™ PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Justin Kouri
CULINARY EDUCATION COORDINATOR
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Jovanna David
MARKETING AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER
Shannon Smith
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH COORDINATOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32 34 36 38 40
Recipe for Success Goes to the White House Founder’s Plate Chef of the Month: Peter Garcia Recipe Challenge and Chocolate Beet Cookies Recipe Volunteer of the Month: Janet Van Seed to Plate News: How Figgy Kitties Became Figgy Piggies Kids and Junk Food VegOut! Goes Mobile! Blue Plate Special Awards Luncheon 2015 Favorite Food Story Writing Contest Winner In the Community: Mid Main First Thursday and Deck the Trees Sponsor Spotlight: Danyi Alba Recipe House Calendar Holiday Hacks People of Recipe for Success: Chisholm Tate Collaborations: Reaching Across Texas with YMCA Food for Thought: Creating Family Stories Holiday Gift Guide for Young Food Adventurers
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2009-2010
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
GOES TO
the White House
GRACIE CAVNAR
Less than a week after First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Let’s Move! Initiative to eradicate the childhood obesity epidemic, I was sitting in the East Room of the White House with her chef, Sam Kass. We were visiting about the idea of a national “shout out” to the country’s professional chefs. Something to encourage them to get involved in improving lunches and nutrition education at their neighborhood schools. Chef Kass had heard good things about Recipe for Success and our Chefs in Schools™ program. He especially like the way we make it easy for busy professional chefs to just drop into class for an hour, have big impact on kids and get back to work quickly. Our framework of support takes the burden out of volunteering for 60 of Houston’s best chefs and our Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education Program™ for elementary students is delivering impressive results. “When are you going to national scale?” was the question I had been fielding all week in meeting after meeting with federal agencies from Department of Education to Department of Agriculture. And now Chef Kass was asking me, “If I do some sort of event with chefs in May, will you have your national program ready?” “No. But, we can have it for them by the time “ school starts in the fall,” I assured. Then I raced home to put our National Affiliate program development into fast forward. It seemed like just a few days after, but it was three months later when Sam and I started playing telephone tag in late-May. We finally connected, as he was climbing on a plane to Chicago for Memorial weekend with the First Family. “Gracie, come to the White House and bring all your chefs! I’ll email you the security forms right now and I need them back by Monday morning.” His call to action—Chefs Move! To Schools would be on June 4. His goal: to fill the South Lawn with white jackets, get the attention of national press, and whip up some excitement. Imagine the sight! June 4th—my 58th birthday. 6
Was the timing inconvenient? Yes. Was it going to be expensive? Yes. Was it going to be tough to round up enough folks to participate on such short notice? Yes. Did I have the time to drop everything and get this organized? No. Was I going to miss it? Not on your life. I have been working on childhood obesity since the mid-nineties, establishing Recipe for Success Foundation in 2005 to launch a school based nutrition education program designed around the volunteer engagement of professional chefs. Our Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ is now the largest program of its kind in the country—we teach 3050 children each month; and I spend all my time trying to shed light and public awareness on this stealth killer. Having the First Lady of the United States espouse a national call to action that sounds like it was written from the RFS playbook is like experiencing a lifetime of birthday celebrations rolled into one and handed up on a silver platter. It took me about 10 minutes to rip out an email to my 24 board members and 60 Chefs Advisory Board members. Only minutes passed before answers started coming back: Board members Steph Walker and Rick Terry, the first to say yes, then chefs Monica Pope (t’afia) who would bring daughter Lili, Randy Evans (Haven), Michael Kramer (Voice) and Barbara McKnight (Catering by Culinaire) in short order. In an extraordinary act of generosity, Beth Madison decided to postpone her longplanned June 3rd Gala in Small Bites dinner, so that Chef Peter Garcia (El Meson) could join the group. Then the news that Kiran Velma (Kiran’s) would join us, along with board members Melanie Wilson Lawson and Lucia Hamilton. Before the sun set, we had our merry band of thirteen ready to roll. 7
June 4, 7:30 a.m. What a spectacle we are—resplendent as we stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue in our Recipe for Success branded aprons and chef jackets, on our way to a breakfast hosted by Share Our Strength. Monica, swarmed by the Bravo TV crowd as she enters the room is our star, but not the only one. Everyone recognizing colleagues from all around the country and the air is thick with excitement. Here is Marcus Samuelsson, there Art Smith, over there, Daniel Boulud and Tom Colicchio. Is that Rachel Ray talking to Cat Cora?? Food Network stars are here in force and huge groups of chefs from IACP, Les Dames Escoffier and other clubs, circulating like large schools of fish. US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan addresses the group about how important good nutrition is for learning. Author Janet Poppendieck talks about the problem with school lunch. Chefs are fired up to help and looking for a way to plug in. Recipe for Success is definitely the little engine that could. We are featured in the program on a short list of recommended resource for interested chefs alongside such national heavyweights as Share our Strength, Center for Ecoliteracy, Center for Science in the Public Interest, The Lunch Box, and the First Lady’s own Let’s Move! website. Our team takes it a step further—our pockets full of RFS information cards that we hand out like candy. White House security gate opens at 10:30 and we are thinking it would be good to be there early and first in line, so we duck out of the breakfast and scoot across the street. It is already 90 degrees as we cluster outside the gate under a nice shade tree and “glow.” Five minutes later, the line stretches 500 hundred chefs around the block. Chit chat, take pictures, Sam comes out and talks to us. It becomes a game, people coming up to Monica . . .”I know you, weren’t we at the xyx Food Festival together?” No. “Didn’t we meet at this that or the other place?” No. “Wasn’t it . . .?” Well, maybe you saw me on Top Chef. “Can I get a picture with you?” There is a buzz about Recipe for Success. “These guys make it easy for us to help,” brags Randy Evans to a group as he hands out our cards. Many had heard about us, saw us in the program, or read about us on the Obama Foodarama blog. I feel like The Godfather; chefs are pressing their cards into my hand. “Call me when you are ready for LA . . . .Are you coming to New York? . . . .I’m in Oregon . . . We need this in Miami . . . .Las Vegas is ready to roll, we would like to roll with you.” We are hot in more ways than one. Finally, security ushers us through the gates and into the famous White House Kitchen Garden. Everyone mugs among the eggplant and squash takes photos of each other and swelters, waiting until the last moment to peel away from the shade and breezes and take a seat in the blazing sun. 8
Our posse snares row two. Apparently you have to have a TV show to score the first row. We’ll have to work on that one. I am right behind Al Smith and we visit about meeting when he was in Houston to speak at the Jr Forum Dinner. We fan ourselves with programs, with promo cards, with the souvenir paper chef toques. We peel off our aprons and hold them overhead for shade. We make relay runs for water and ice so that no one grabs our premo seats. And then like a cool gush of fresh air, Michelle Obama walks out and takes the stage. She is gorgeous and miraculously cool as a cucumber. Everyone marvels. She never breaks a sweat. Mrs. Obama lets everyone else talk first and we politely listen, but it is the First Lady we want to hear and she doesn’t let us down. “You know the central role that food plays in the moments that make us happiest. Food is always there, whether it’s at a birthday party, or Thanksgiving dinner, or quiet moments with friends. Food is at the core of what makes life wonderful.” Mrs. Obama talked about all the reasons chefs should get involved in this issue—all the reasons our 60 chefs are so engaged at Recipe for Success. They know about the adulation of a 4th grader; the smiles when a child creates something yummy that brings rave reviews; the energy and excitement that permeates the class when they visit; kids treating them like rock stars. Who wouldn’t want that experience sandwiched with knowing you are doing a good thing—teaching kids to cook, leading them to healthier lives, establishing traditions and routines for a lifetime.
“You can make a salad bar fun—now, that’s something—and delicious. You can teach kids to cook something that tastes good and is good for them; and share your passion for food in a way that’s truly contagious.”
We know about that. 9
FOUNDER’S PLATE: CHEF OF THE MONTH
PETER GARCIA CHEF/OWNER EL MESON
For more than twenty-five years, Peter Garcia’s family has operated El Meson, serving Tex Mex, Cuban and Spanish specialties that reflect the family’s adventurous migration from Spain, through Cuba and New York, and finally to Houston, where the Garcias arrived in 1981. Peter was on our founding Chef’s Advisory Board and has taught monthly for almost 10 years at Rodriguez and Gross Elementary Schools. And the ever-hospitable chef has executed numerous wildly popular fundraising events for Recipe for Success Foundation. On Chef Garcia’s first year of teaching elementary students, Gracie Cavnar, Founder & CEO of Recipe for Success Foundation recalls “he was unflappable in the classroom, and just fabulous at connecting with those kids, they were enraptured.” “I remember that first year, I was all over the place cooking with the kids and creating the curriculum, but I enjoyed it,” says Garcia. “As chefs, we teach the world how to dine, and hello – this is the beginning, this is it. Year after year I keep coming back, because I see it making a difference.”
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In June of 2010, he joined us at The White House for the kick-off of Chefs Move to Schools. “I was very proud to represent Recipe for Success and Houston, Texas that day amongst this big conclave of chefs on the south lawn of the White House,” says Chef Garcia. “When Recipe for Success was presented as a best practice (at the White House), and when the other chefs saw our name on his coat, he became a walking advertisement for Recipe for Success,” says Cavnar. It’s no surprise that Garcia was named our Chef of the Year at our 2012 Blue Plate Special Café Awards Luncheon. Growing up in New York City, Peter’s love of food was sparked at an early age and as a teenager worked in his father’s restaurant, Los Parados, as a short order cook. There he learned the basics of chopping vegetables, cutting meat, and making coffee. In 1992, after his father passed away, Peter assumed the front of house duties of the restaurant, taking full advantage of his degrees in philosophy and theater. He continues to appear regularly in local theater and is a respected activist in Houston’s Latino community. Even with his dedication to the community, the restaurant and his family remain Chef Garcia’s top priorities. His mother, Esperanza said it best: “We come together daily to work as a family. I think I am indeed fortunate.”
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RECIPE CHALLENGE!
WE GIVE YOU INSPIRING RECIPES−YOU SEND US YOUR FAVORITES! Join in the fun of RecipeHouse Chef Justin’s recipe exchange! Each month, he shares his tantalizing recipes while our readers, followers and fans—that’s YOU—send in favorite recipes! For some holiday fun, try RecipeHouse Chef Justin’s luscious Chocolate Beet Cookies, made with smart substitutions that cut calories and boost nutrition. What’s your favorite healthy holiday cookie recipe? Send your tastiest recipe to justinkouri@recipe4success.org by December 31 and you could win the December Recipe Challenge and be included in next year’s VEGOUT! COOKBOOK. You can also check out Justin’s past recipes on the Recipe House blog.
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CHOCOLATE BEET COOKIES Recipe and photo by Justin Kouri
The holidays are loaded with unhealthy landmines, so I like to use baking substitutes when I can. Avocados are a great replacement for butter. I typically use one avocado in place of one cup of butter. Enjoy this delicious AND healthy holiday treat!
INGREDIENTS 1 cup dried cherries 1 cup dark chocolate chips ¼ cup coconut oil 1 avocado ½ cup brown sugar ½ cup beets, boiled, peeled & pureed 1 egg
2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups flour 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt
PROCEDURE Place dried cherries in a small bowl. Rehydrate the cherries by pouring boiling water over them. Allow them to rest in the hot water for 10 minutes. Remove and pat dry. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil together over a double boiler. Cool for 5 minutes. Using the paddle attachment of a standing mixer, cream together avocado and brown sugar, about 5 minutes. Stream in melted chocolate and mix until combined. Add beet puree, egg, vinegar and vanilla extract. Mix. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add half to the chocolate-beet mixture and mix until combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until completely combined. Scoop onto prepared sheet tray, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on rack.
Yield: 24 cookies Prep time: 10 minutes Active cooking time: 10 minutes Total time: 20 minutes Skill level: Easy
Find recipe online here. 13
DECEMBER 2015 VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH
Janet Van Kind-hearted Janet Van is a frequent volunteer at RecipeHouse, helping us show kids and adults just how fun and delicious healthy food can be over the past year. That’s why she was selected as our December Volunteer of the Month. Here’s what Janet had to say about volunteering with Recipe for Success. WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST TO VOLUNTEER WITH RECIPE FOR SUCCESS? Janet Van: I was first introduced to Recipe for Success through a club at my university when Emily, the previous volunteer coordinator, came to give a talk about the non-profit organization. I was immediately taken by how this organization’s mission to bring awareness to childhood obesity, since it is a subject I feel strongly about. I wanted to help create the change that this organization strives to do.
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WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK WEEK AFTER WEEK? WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS TO DO OR EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU ARE VOLUNTEERING? JV: I just love working with the Girl scouts and seeing their eyes light up when they are learning to prepare the nutritious foods we have for them. It’s so much fun when I get to guide them (especially the younger girls) through the recipe and watch them have so much fun. WHAT DOES VOLUNTEERING BRING TO YOUR LIFE OUTSIDE OF YOUR VOLUNTEER WORK? JV: Volunteering has taught me about sticking with a commitment and going through with it wholeheartedly. It has also taught me to balance my time and focus on what is most important in my life and getting closer towards my goals. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEMORY/STORY THUS FAR? COULD JUST BE AN OBSERVATION OR A SPECIFIC MOMENT IN TIME. JV: I would say that my favorite memory so far would be when I volunteered at a birthday party that was inspired by the television show “Chopped.” I got to lead a team of 10-year-old girls and guide them when they created their own recipes out of random ingredients. It was so much fun seeing them working hard to create their masterpieces and feeling proud of their food creations. IT’S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS FOUNDATION’S 10TH BIRTHDAY: WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE ORGANIZATION IN ANOTHER 10 YEARS? JV: I would like to see this organization continue to grow nationwide. There are many kids around the country that would benefit from getting a hands-on learning experience about foods and how to be healthy. Recipe for Success would help so many communities by empowering people with awareness about nutrition. Thank you Janet for your shining spirit and dedication to the mission of Recipe for Success. To inquire about volunteer opportunities, contact our Volunteer Coordinator. Or refer to our Volunteer Page.
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SEED TO PLATE NEWS
HOW FIGGY KITTIES BECAME FIGGY PIGGIES TRUE TALES FROM EAT THIS! SUMMER CAMP
The Recipe for Success Foundation’s Eat This! Summer Camp™ has become a highly popular and effective program. For several years, we conducted our camps at Houston area schools for only their registered students. In 2012, we began offering camp through open enrollment to all interested children at RecipeHouse in Houston’s Museum District. Throughout the weeklong Eat This! Summer Camp™ kids learn how food products are developed and marketed to the American consumer. Camp sessions culminate with a project to turn fresh, whole ingredients into a healthy prepared food product, including collaborating as a team to develop branding and packaging for their creation. “Students get to experience not only what it’s like to prepare delicious healthy meals and snacks, but also what it’s like to be a chef in a kitchen,” says Seed-to-Plate Chef Instructor Claire Olivo. “We discuss and teach knife skills, measuring techniques and encourage them to create their own recipes. This is such a vital part of our marketing summer camp as it gives them a better sense of control and ownership of their product. It truly becomes theirs when they learn and see just how much of themselves they put into it. It’s an excellent learning medium, but they have so much fun that it’s easy to forget you’re in a class.” “During this summer camp, kids build bonds while coming up with a product to pitch to Revival Market,” says Seed-to-Plate Chef Instructor Paola Tello. “They have to work together to choose product, test recipes, and come up with product advertisements. All the while, they are also learning how to properly use kitchen tools, how to talk about food, how to properly read and use easy, to intermediate recipes. I also think they learn how to use healthy foods differently, in more exciting ways.” 16
“Teamwork is one of the most fundamental lessons we teach, and all of the kiddos learn that right away,” says Olivo. “They not only play together and learn together, but they also create and share meals together. The beautiful thing about camp is that the kids are able to sit and eat something they’ve all worked on, so they experience firsthand just how important working as a team can lead to friendships and a sense of community outside of a familiar setting. It takes them outside of their comfort zone in a fun, safe way and shows them that it’s OK to try new things!” Our partner Revival Market has worked with Recipe for Success Summer Camps for the past three years to select and promote in-store the winning product from the Eat This! Summer Camp sessions. The winner for 2015 was the delicious Figgy Kitties, spicy ginger shortbread cookies made in the shape of kitty cats and filled with fresh fig jam. This past August, Revival Market hosted the reveal of the winning product. At the event, Joey Luna, manager of Revival Market, remarked that the competition was especially close among the five products created by the campers during the summer of 2015. After the Revival Market team selected the Figgy Kitties as the winning product, the staff recreated the cookies according to the campers’ recipe, with one slight change. Instead of a cat-shaped cookie cutter, they elected to use the pig-shape cookie cutter from Revival Market’s logo, thus launching Figgy Piggies! “The unveiling party was a lot of fun! The kids were excited to find out what product won,” says Joey Luna. “They were asking me ‘do you remember I came in with my mom the other day’ and ‘I want to try this (pointing at different charcuteries)’ and were asking our Pastry Chef, Alyssa, tons of questions about how she cooks/bakes different items for the store. It was a great culmination of all of their hard work over the summer.” The Revival Market team reported that the Figgy Piggies flew off the shelf for the entire month of August! Look for more exciting camp sessions planned for Summer 2016. Check our summer camp pages for more info. 17
KIDS ARE SUBJECTED TO AS MANY AS 300 TV ADS FOR JUNK FOOD PER DAY!* 18
FAST-FOOD TV ADVERTISING AIMED AT KIDS
18% *WHEN ROUNDED, NUMBERS SUM TO 79%
WHAT TACTICS DID THE COMPANIES USE WHEN MARKETING TO KIDS? This was determined through a frame-by-frame comparison of ads aimed at kids and ads aimed at adults.
In ads aimed at kids, BRANDING IS STRONGER
FAST FOOD
WHO’S DOING IT AND HOW? A study examined all nationally televised fast-food ads aimed at kids from July 2009 to June 2010
99% of all fast-food ads targeting kids were placed by just two companies:
23% ADULT ADS 88% CHILDREN’S MEAL ADS
IMAGES OF FOOD PACKAGING
12% ADULT ADS 41% CHILDREN’S MEAL ADS
STREET VIEW OF RESTAURANT
In ads aimed at kids, FOOD IMAGES ARE SMALLER
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2
MCDONALD’S HAPPY MEALS
70%
BURGER KING
KIDS MEALS
of all ads for children's fast-food meals were for Happy Meals.
29%
of McDonald’s total
40%
of all ads for children's fast-food meals were for Kid Meals.
of Burger King’s total
44,602
21%
ad placements were targeted at kids.
37,210
ad placements were targeted at kids.
The food images in the ads aimed at adults averaged 45% of the screen diagonal.
The food images in the ads aimed at kids averaged only 20% of the screen diagonal.
THAT’S BECAUSE FAST-FOOD ADS AIMED AT KIDS AREN’T EMPHASIZING THE FOOD. INSTEAD, THE COMPANIES ARE EMPHASIZING: PREMIUMS, SUCH AS TOY GIVEAWAYS
MOVIE TIE-INS
79%* OF THE MORE THAN 25,000 FAST-FOOD ADS AIMED AT KIDS AIRED ON FOUR CHANNELS:
CINEMA
12% 32%
79%*
16%
14% ADULT ADS
1% ADULT ADS 69% CHILDREN’S MEAL ADS
55% CHILDREN’S MEAL ADS
WORD EMPHASIS IS ALSO DIFFERENT
18% *WHEN ROUNDED, NUMBERS SUM TO 79%
WHAT TACTICS DID THE COMPANIES USE WHEN MARKETING TO KIDS?
This was determined through aINCLUDE frame-by-frame comparison *THIS DOESN’T ADS of ads aimed at kids and ads aimed at adults. AND PRODUCT PLACEMENTS In ads aimed at kids, BRANDING IS STRONGER THAT BOMBARD KIDS VIA THE INTERNET, SOCIAL MEDIA, SMART PHONE AND TABLET APPS. FAST FOOD
WORDS IN ADS AIMED AT KIDS EMPHASIZE:
TOYS MOVIES MOVIE CHARACTERS
WORDS IN ADS AIMED AT ADULTS EMPHASIZE:
FOOD TASTE PORTION SIZE PRICE
McDonald’s and Burger King have pledged to abide by a set of marketing guidelines that include a provision stating that food—not toys or other promotions—should be the focus of ads directed at kids. These findings suggest that industry’s efforts to self-regulate are ineffective. Learn more about food marketing to kids at www.rwjf.org/goto/marketingtokids Source: Data are drawn from “How Television Fast Food Marketing Aimed at Children. Compares with Adult Advertisements,” which examined nationally televised ads for children's meals by leading fast-food restaurants for one year, from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The study was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its Healthy Eating Research program. This graphic is not endorsed or sponsored by McDonald’s, Burger King, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, or Nicktoons.
23% ADULT ADS
12% ADULT ADS
SODA-SPICABLE
A MATTER OF CHARACTER TO MANY KIDS, THERE’S NO MEANINGFUL DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHUCK E. CHEESE AND THE M&M CHARACTERS ON THE ONE HAND, AND SPONGEBOB ON THE OTHER. THIS IS A PROBLEM: AMUSING TV CHARACTERS ARE POTENT ADVERTISING VEHICLES FOR GETTING KIDS TO DEMAND PARTICULAR KINDS OF JUNK FOOD FROM HARRIED PARENTS. ONCE THAT MENTAL-PHYSIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION IS ESTABLISHED—BETWEEN A FUN CHARACTER, A BRAND, AND THE DELIGHTS OF TASTY FOOD—IT IS VERY HARD TO BREAK. JOHN MCQUAID FORBES, MAY 11, 2015
THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY ALONE SPENDS MORE THAN $3 BILLION MARKETING DIRECTLY TO KIDS. ADVERTISERS SNEAK JUNK FOOD IMAGES—CALLED “PRODUCT PLACEMENT”—INTO HUNDREDS OF TV SHOWS, MOVIES, AND ONLINE GAMES. THEY EVEN FIND THEIR WAY INTO OUR SCHOOLS BY WAY OF SCOREBOARDS, SPECIAL EVENTS, FUNDRAISING, AND TEXTBOOK SPONSORSHIP. RESEARCH, INCLUDING A 2010 STUDY FROM UCLA, FINDS A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN ADS AND EATING HABITS. ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE KIDS IN THIS COUNTRY IS AT RISK FOR BECOMING OBESE. AMERICAN KIDS CONSUME MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF THEIR DAILY CALORIES FROM SOFT DRINKS, SWEETS, SALTY SNACKS, AND FAST FOOD. AS KIDS ASSOCIATE PLEASURE WITH JUNK FOOD, THEY DEVELOP LIFELONG, UNHEALTHY HABITS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO BREAK. COMMON SENSE MEDIA, JUNE 2012
TEMPTED BY TOYS A RESEARCH TEAM FROM THE GEISEL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT DARTMOUTH ANALYZED ALL FAST FOOD TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS THAT WERE RELEASED IN 2009. LED BY DR. JENNIFER A. EMOND, THE TEAM FOUND THAT TOY GIVEAWAYS ARE POWERFUL FACTORS THAT COAX CHILDREN INTO ASKING THEIR PARENTS TO VISIT THE FAST FOOD CHAIN. THE TEAM ALSO FOUND THAT HIGH EXPOSURE TO THESE TV ADVERTISEMENTS LEADS TO MORE FREQUENT VISITS. THE JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS, OCTOBER 30, 2015
SPENDING BILLIONS THE AVERAGE CHILD BETWEEN THE AGES OF 2 AND 11 SEES NEARLY 200 COMMERCIALS FOR MCDONALD’S CHICKEN MCNUGGET HAPPY MEALS ON TELEVISION, AND ANOTHER 23 FOR BURGER KING’S KIDS MEALS EACH YEAR. FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS ALSO STILL SPEND UPWARDS OF $700 MILLION EACH YEAR TO MARKET THEIR FOODS TO CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS. THE WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 12, 2014 19
VEGOUT!
GOES MOBILE FOR 2016! VegOut! 2016 will offer a whole new level of interactive, veggie-eating fun, with the exciting launch of our VegOut! mobile app. The app makes it easier and more accessible to join in our special VegOut! 30 Ways in 30 Days Challenge in March, as well as compete year round with friends family and coworkers. With this amazing tech boost from our good friends at Pariveda Solutions, we are thoroughly stoked for the full-scale launch of our VegOut! App for VegOut! 2016! “It was clear that Recipe for Success was passionate about their mission, and we were energized by the possibility of supporting the organization in extending their message and sphere of influence to anyone with a smartphone through a mobile app,” says Aashish Parekh, Principal at Pariveda Solutions. Throughout the fall, we have been running our beta version, making sure the app’s veggie tracker, recipe resources, and interactive map are up to our standards for a deliciously easy, engaging and interactive nutrition education experience. We expect that the free, fun, simple-to-use app will add to our list of 31 participating states for the 2016 annual VegOut! Challenge and perhaps to countries across the globe! Beyond the annual challenge, held every March, the app can be used yearly to motivate folks to track their veggies and discover new favorites or new ways to enjoy old favorites! The Pariveda team worked with Recipe for Success staff members to refine the project idea between February and May, and finished development from late May to early August. The process included testing versions of the app with our partners at Luby’s, Houston Food Bank, and Cigna. Aashish explains that the team was excited about building in social media integration and gamification into the VegOut! app, because these features are highly relevant in today’s technology market. The resulting VegOut! app offers simple, colorful graphics, and easy navigation. Users can track the vegetables they eat with just a few quick taps of the veggie tracker, which also features photos, descriptions and nutrition info to help VegOut! participants learn fun facts about the veggies they try.
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The app’s handy recipe guide allows access to hundreds of easy-to-make, kid friendly VegOut! recipes—a great resource when strategizing your grocery shopping during the challenge. Healthy competition has always been a part of VegOut!, but the app makes it even easier to challenge friends, earn badges, and even check your spot on the leaderboard. We are so grateful to the Pariveda Solutions team and all who helped us through the development process. We can’t wait to see the app go prime time come March! Be sure to take the VegOut! 2016 Challenge to experience this great tool, which will be available for use on iPhone or iPad, as well as Android phones. To learn more about VegOut! CLICK HERE.
WAYS IN 30DAYS 30TAKE THE CHALLENGE!
VEGGIES!
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a Ha rves t M a r k e t A AWARDS LUNCH W E D N E S D A Y, N O V E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 5
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PLEASE VIEW, SHARE AND COMMENT ON OUR CELEBRATION OF OUR 10-YEAR HISTORY FEATURING HONOREES THAT HAVE BEEN WITH US SINCE THE BEGINNING AND OUR 2015 AWARD WINNERS. THANK YOU TO SUPERIOR VIDEO PRODUCTIONS.
OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP ROW: Students MIDDLE ROW: Left Arvia Few and Kristen Berger; Center Brent and Carole Wells; Right Amy Anton, GracieCavnar, Phyllis Childress, Honi Boudreaux, Kim Tutcher, Glen Boudreaux, Peg Lee, Lance Gilliam, and Robert Del Grande BOTTOM ROW: Left Tony Snyder and Genevieve Patterson; Center Blakely Griggs and Estela Cockrell; Right Hortencia Flores and Esmeralda Warshaw with Molly Kaminski and children THIS PAGE: TOP ROW: Left Kara Vidal, John Sullivan, and Anne Kinder; Right Mimi and Robert Del Grande and Gracie and Bob Cavnar BOTTOM ROW: Cynthia Pappas, Amy Anton, and Catherine Masterson
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2015 WINNER MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY FOOD STORY WRITING CONTEST
Mia Hirschfeld
A STUDENT IN MRS. SCHLICHTING’S 4TH GRADE CLASS AT WEST UNIVERSITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF RECIPE FOR SUCCESS GRACIE & BOB CAVNAR INVITE YOU TO SAVE THESE DATES IN 2016 THE BANQUET, MAY 19 THE ART OF FOOD, MAY 20 THE COMMUNITY SUPPER, MAY 22
FOR SPONSORSHIPS, UNDERWRITING OR TICKETS PLEASE CALL STEPHANIE HILL AT 713-520-0443 OR VISIT RECIPE4SUCCESS.ORG
DINNER CONVERSATIONS Send us your own story or poem about food! Tell us the stories that warm you soul: your most powerful food memories, life-changing meals and fondest family food traditions. Email us: dinnerconversations@recipe4success.org
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IN THE COMMUNITY
MID MAIN FIRST THURSDAY: A RACE AGAINST CARROT COMPETITORS
“What time of year is asparagus harvested?” asked RecipeHouse Chef Justin Kouri as supporters spun the infamous Recipe for Success Foundation veggie wheel for the chance to win their very own seed packet. Culinary skills were put to the test in a race against friends and Chef Justin for who could peel a carrot the fastest. Tensions were high as it came down to the last piece of skin and competitors slammed their peeler down on the table. Volunteers and guests danced as tunes from DJ Big Reeks and the Katie Stuckey Band echoed through the fittingly warm November Houston air and all the while took photos with life sized carrot and corn costumed vendors and naturally the Recipe for Success veggie props. Christmas lights draped throughout the art garden lit the hipster-esqeue scene of Winbern Street and the 3500-3700 blocks of Main. Music, drinks and farm fresh produce filled the streets and guests donated $5 to Recipe for Success Foundation for a closer look at the band and complimentary beverages from Topo, Chico, Deep Eddy Vodka and Saint Arnold Brewing Company. Little did they know, after waiting in line that a free GOOD POP would garnish their Deep Eddy Sweet Tea. The treat was a fun pick-me-up before darting over to the Continental Club, Double Trouble or Taco’s A Go-Go, all of which donated 5 percent of their proceeds from the evening to Recipe for Success Foundation. Monica Pope’s Midtown Market brought guests from the Houston area to the outside of Pope’s Sparrow restaurant and featured farmer and artisan vendors. Art exhibits during the event included My Flaming Heart presents “Venus in Furs” by Artist Sonia Flores. And door prizes donated by Sig’s Lagoon and Natachees were awarded to raffle entrees hoping to win a Year of Free Dining and private class at RecipeHouse for the Blue Plate Special Café Harvest Market and Award Luncheon raffle. 26
IN THE COMMUNITY
DECK THE TREES: SHARING CHRISTMAS CULINARY
CHEER AT ALLEY THEATRE
From top to bottom Recipe for Success Foundation staff and volunteers decked their tree at the Alley Theatre’s Annual Deck the Trees event. The tree, on display from November 16 to January 4, twinkles with the culinary spirit of Recipe for Success cooking décor and gadgets in our fight against childhood obesity during the holiday season. The annual Deck the Trees event kicks off the holidays each year at the Alley Theatre with a tree lighting ceremony held prior to the opening night performance of A Christmas Carol—A Ghost Story of Christmas on Friday, November 15. This Alley tradition brings new and longstanding Alley supporters together to celebrate the myriad of gifts that the theatre infuses into the lives of young people and those young at heart. The Deck the Trees Celebration transforms the Alley Theatre’s lobby into a winter wonderland of trees decorated by sponsors, to be seen by over 35,000 patrons celebrating the holiday season performance put on by the nationally recognized performing arts center. This year Recipe for Success Foundation has dressed their tree with odes to their Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ students, RecipeHouse creativity and, of course, the mantra that healthy eating is deliciously fun!
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SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
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DAYNI ALBA BOEING
Recipe for Success Foundation is ever thankful for the tremendous support of our sponsors and partners. This year, we welcomed Boeing into our family of supporters, collaborating with Dayni Alba, who works in Boeing’s Global Corporate Citizenship arm as a Community & Education Investor for Texas. Boeing has donated $50,000 to support operations for our Hope Farms Urban Agricultural project over the coming year. They have also committed Boeing volunteers for both the start-up and ongoing onsite activities at Hope Farms. “Recipe for Success’ mission and programs are aligned with our local health and human services strategy to invest in programs that increase food access and to promote healthy lifestyles, teach the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise to high-risk populations, and ensure good health for success in school, work and life,” says Dayni Alba. “An even deeper alignment comes through the engagement of military veterans. From our hiring and employment programs to our grants and volunteer activities, we help veterans and their families transition successfully into civilian life. The Hope Farms Showcase and Training Center offers this type of opportunity by prioritizing U.S. veterans as farmer trainees in a year-long program teaching sustainable horticulture, financial literacy, accounting, banking and business planning to support the new entrepreneurs as they establish and grow their own enterprises.” Alba says Boeing has made this level of commitment because they see the potential for a lasting, positive impact on the surrounding community. “The immediate impact for the community will be food access and education in the Sunnyside community,” says Alba. “The farmer training, designed expressly for U.S. Veterans, provides job training and a pathway to long-term employment and business entrepreneurship opportunities, while simultaneously addressing Sunnyside neighborhood’s food insecurity and chronic diet related health issues. With Hope Farms, veterans can build economic stability while continuing to serve their neighbors by providing affordable, healthy food.” According to Allba, the resources that Hope Farms brings together make this a promising model for similar projects across the country. “The program strives to meet two critical needs by establishing and supporting the means to provide affordable fresh produce and providing a unique pathway to help military veterans, a group that traditionally faces great challenges in transitioning from military to civilian employment. We look forward to being involved as the program progresses,” she says. Thank you Dayni Alba & Boeing for supporting Hope Farms & Recipe for Success Foundation. For information on sponsorship opportunities see our sponsorship page or contact Cindy Lucia. 29
COMING UP! HOLIDAY BAKING CLASS Get in the spirit with Healthy Cookies, Cakes & Sweets! December 5, 12, and 19 CSA COOKING CLASS Make the most of your CSA pick-up! February 9 and March 8 DATE NIGHT AT RECIPEHOUSE Cook a romantic three-course dinner with your main squeeze! February 5, March 4, April 1, and May 6 Contact Justin Kouri for more information at (713) 520-0443 or justinkouri@recipe4success.org
RECIPE HOUSE OFFERS A FULL CALENDAR OF COOKING CLASSES FOR ADULTS Regular spring break classes Intimate dinners with celebrity chefs held monthly Private cooking classes available for your special event: • • • • • • 30
Birthday parties for adults and kids Corporate team building Bridal and baby showers Client appreciation Celebrations and more!
CALENDAR DECEMBER 13, 12-4PM GoHealthyHouston Sunday Streets HTX in Midtown, look for the Recipe for Success Foundation tent complete with fun activities. (Free event) FEBRUARY 1, 6:30PM
Chef Surprise, an intimate, unconventional evening with Houston guest Chefs preparing an exclusive dinner. Join us!
FEBRUARY 13-21
Afton Oaks Home Tour benefitting Recipe for Success Foundation
MARCH 1-31
VegOut! 30 Ways in 30 Days Challenge participate in the annual call to action, eat 30 different vegetables within the month and log them with our Veggie Tracker and Mobile App register now at vegoutwithrfs.org.
MARCH 3, 6PM Dress for Dinner at Neiman Marcus with Rubin Singer (Tickets $50, $350 Fashion Show + $350 Dinner with the Designer. Buy Now!) MARCH 7, 6:30PM Chef Surprise, an intimate, unconventional evening with Houston guest Chefs preparing an exclusive dinner. Join us! MARCH 11-15
VegOut! Challenge hits the streets at SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.
APRIL 9, 2PM
Recipe for Success Foundation’s Growing Healthy Kids Art Car in annual Parade hosted by The Orange Show in Downtown Houston.
APRIL 12, 6PM Dress for Dinner at M Penner: It’s Raining Men! honoring The Men We Love (Tickets $50. Buy Now!) APRIL 16, 6PM Recipe for Success Foundation: Captains for the Health & Wellness at Earth Day hosted by Air Alliance Houston in Sam Houston Park (Free Event) APRIL AND MAY
Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ students compete in Iron Chef Cookoffs in schools and community centers across the country. Apply to be a Celebrity Judge.
MAY 4, 6:30-8:30PM
Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ students compete in Iron Chef Cookoffs in schools and community centers across the country. Apply to be a Celebrity Judge. 31
HOLIDAY
HACKS
WITH CHEF JUSTIN
The holidays are an extra-special time of year, filled with celebrations, visits from friends and family, and lots of extra things on your to-do list. Chef Justin Kouri, our RecipeHouse Culinary Education Coordinator, shares a few of his kitchen secrets to help you simplify things in the kitchen during this extra-special, extra-busy time of year.
PLAN AHEAD & PREP AHEAD. Remember to defrost your turkey 6 to 8 days
before you cook it. Prep as many appetizers, sauces, side dishes and desserts as you can a day or two in advance. This will free up your time the day of the big meal, as well as space in the dishwasher!
COUNT IT OUT & SCALE IT OUT. Make a list of all the recipes you are going to use, figure out what ingredients overlap and plan accordingly. For example, by figuring out exactly how many carrots you are going to need for all of your recipes, you can peel cut and store a day or two ahead to make your day of cooking seamless.
A CRUST YOU CAN TRUST. Freeze pie crusts for 20 minutes before baking. This
will help retain the shape of the piecrust, preventing it from shrinking or receding from the edge of the dish. This trick also works for cookie-cutouts, giving them a firm edge and helps to hold their shape.
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GOOD LITTLE DEVILS. For deviled eggs, use eggs that are a couple of days old. Older eggs peel easier. Add salt to the water to subtly season the eggs, or add baking soda to the water for easier peeling. If an egg springs a leak while boiling, add a small amount of white vinegar to the water to help seal the crack. Cook an extra egg or two in case an egg white or two gets torn—you can just chop them up very finely along with the yolk mixture.
A STEP FOR THE SENSES. Cut garlic cloves in half and remove the germ from the inside. This little stem in the center of the clove is what gives you that extra kick of garlic that hangs around after your meal. By eliminating the germ, you will be able to enjoy bounties of garlic without the garlic breath. SALT YOUR SUDS. Banish food odors, such as garlic, onions, from your hands with a dash of salt. Sprinkle salt on your hands and then wash hands with soap and water to scrub away lingering odors.
COOKIE TIME, IN NO TIME. Holiday season, means endless holiday parties, but we
often find ourselves with no time at all! We like to whip up one large batch of cookies, pre-scoop them into tablespoon portions, lay them flat on freezer paper and wrap them up to store in the freezer until needed. Use this trick and you will never have to worry about taking the extra time to make cookies for all those holiday parties. Just pull out your pre-frozen treats, pop them in the oven and voilà—holiday cheer without the dreaded time-crunch fear! To learn more great cooking tips, sign up for a class with Chef Justin. 33
PEOPLE OF RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Chisholm Tate LUBY’S At Recipe for Success, we think Worksite Wellness programs are fantastic, because they cultivate peer support and collaboration for building healthier habits. During the past two year’s VegOut! Challenges Chisholm Tate, Human Resources Manager for Luby’s and Recipe for Success Marketing Committee Member, has led enthusiastic teams across multiple Luby’s locations. We know that the VegOut! Challenge can make a positive impact in the workplace, but this particular workplace happens to be an iconic Texas restaurant chain— Luby’s—where scores of people come in their doors and proceed to make food choices as they slide their tray along the stainless steel rails of the serving line. We are proud to have Luby’s as a sponsor of Recipe for Success for the past three VegOut! Challenges. “Luby’s Fuddruckers Restaurants, LLC first partnered with Recipe for Success as an Angel Affiliate and help create a vegetable garden for Lovett Elementary,” says Tate. “During the set-up for the garden, Molly Kaminski with Recipe for Success suggested that I VegOut! that year. In 2014, a team of 24 employees, including myself, took the challenge. We purchased a juicer and juiced a lot of the veggies—it was a fun activity and built a healthier team.”
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“Team building and better communication are definitely added benefits to participating in VegOut!, because we are sharing in a program together,” says Tate. During VegOut! 2015, Luby’s registered a team of 69 employees. “That was more than double our team from the previous year. We contracted with our food distributor so that fresh fruits and vegetables were delivered on Monday and we created a juice or a salad to promote the VegOut! Challenge. We held a drawing from all the employee vegetable logs turned in for three prizes of $25 gift cards.” (Read more about Luby’s 2015 VegOut!.) For 2016, Tate is motivated to get more employees to follow through with the full 30 vegetables in 30 days challenge. “My goal this year is to get all the employees who volunteer to participate to actually finish,” says Tate. In 2015, we had 69 employees say they would take the challenge; however, only 48 completed. I would like to hit the 75-employee mark this year and will start in January 2016 promoting it with posters, emails and word of mouth.” Beyond Luby’s, Tate is involved with the Gulf Coast Advisory Council (part of the Texas Diversity Council) and will be hosting a wellness education talk in February. With the help of Recipe for Success, he plans to start up a VegOut! team for 2016. He shared his personal goal VegOut! 2016: “To take the challenge home to my family and build the habit of eating healthy together,” says Tate. Download the VegOut! Worksite Wellness Toolkit for your workplace.
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COLLABORATIONS REACHING ACROSS TEXAS WITH
YMCA
Recipe for Success Foundation continues to spread our mission to combat childhood obesity, by finding more outlets and venues for our Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™. When the YMCA of Greater Houston asked Recipe for Success staff to join them in creating an environment for healthy kids in our community, we said, “Yes, absolutely!” Recipe for Success Founder & CEO Gracie Cavnar and COO Molly Kaminski are serving on the YMCA of Greater Houston’s Childhood Obesity Task Force focused on identifying and assembling intervention resources and develop a plan for Houston-based YMCAs. Gracie, Molly and additional staff members have participated in task force meetings and brainstorming sessions for this effort. The task force is comprised of members from the fields of healthcare and education, including representatives from Houston Food Bank, CHI Baylor St. Luke’s, Memorial Hermann, Harris County Public Health Services, Fort Bend ISD and Legacy Community Health Service, among others. Recipe for Success was proud to host the task force meeting on December 3 at RecipeHouse. YMCA of Greater Houston already offers a summer program called Kamp K’aana, for kids with BMIs above the 95th percentile. The camps, offered in two-week overnight and day camp formats, are slated for three locations for Summer 2016 at Camp Cullen in Trinity, Spring Branch YMCA and Fort Bend YMCA. Looking to reach kids and adults throughout the year, the YMCA has charged the task force with finding solutions for offering programming in their low-income YMCAs including, San Jacinto, MD Anderson, Houston Texans, Cossaboom and Northeast Family locations.
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Recipe for Success has proposed utilizing its Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ programming, and free VegOut! and farmers marKIDs curriculum as key solutions for youth education through YMCA programs. With its free access via the VegOut! website and our new app , not to mention all-ages appeal, we hope to engage many new VegOut-ers via our YMCA collaboration. Independent of the YMCA task force, Recipe for Success has been working with one Houston YMCA to try to establish a Seed-toPlate Nutrition Education™ Affiliate Partnership and just recently met with YMCAs in the Fort Worth area to potentially launch Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ Affiliate Partnerships at three locations in that region. We are very excited about this blossoming relationship with the YMCA, and hope to spread our fun and effective nutrition classes throughout Texas, which we hope will serve as a model for national growth.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Creating Family Stories
GRACIE CAVNAR
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ,” Barbra Streisand’s voice fills my house. I know what she means. Cinnamon . . . hot chocolate . . . sautéing onions . . . bubbling pozole . . . steaming tamales . . . . a roasting turkey . . . baking bread, certain food aromas catapult me, skipping back through fifty years of memories and family stories. This time of year is thick with these fragrant triggers, perhaps because in our family, holidays revolve around food. I hope that yours do too. Shared family meals lay a foundation for good health and communication, but the happy lagniappe is the memories that can be summoned at the whiff of a bubbling pot. That’s why we see brisk sales of mulling spices in December. Not that so much warm cider is being quaffed down here in the Texas sub-tropics, but because nothing lifts the holiday spirit and sends us into smiling reveries like simmering cloves. Holiday feasts are the building blocks of our family stories. Despite far-flung lives, my three sisters and I will always share the reminiscences of how we prepared Thanksgiving and Christmas banquets throughout our childhoods. We grew up in San Antonio, where we wedded the traditions of Northern Mexico to America’s Deep South and topped them off with a cowboy’s Western flair. Our dinners featured Celtic inspired dishes carried from Arkansas by my mother, added to my Dad’s West Texas rancher’s food, with a nod to Mexico. As young brides, we four girls relied on those Robinson family recipes to begin new family stories, creating a continuous culinary tapestry that weaves together generations. One sad day, hundreds of my cookbooks and hand-written recipes were lost during a move. For months afterward, I anxiously trolled ebay, buying dozens of red-checked, vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks before I found the one from 1947. It featuring the cooked pineapple dressing I needed to make my Mom’s Waldorf salad for Thanksgiving. For decades I ate that addictive Waldorf salad and felt sorry for the folks who thought it was made with boring old mayonnaise. I got the right book just in time. The tangy thread to my childhood remains unbroken.
COOKED PINEAPPLE DRESSING Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook 9th Edition, 1946 INGREDIENTS SALAD 4 Apples, diced 2 celery sticks, sliced thin ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
DRESSING 4 teaspoons cornstarch ¼ teaspoon salt ⅓ cup honey juice of 1 lemon juice of 1 orange 1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice 2 eggs, beaten 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
Mix dry ingredients together in top insert of a double boiler. Add honey, and juices and stir until thoroughly blended. Cook over simmering water for twenty minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add a bit of cooked liquid to beaten eggs to temper, then while constantly stirring, add egg mixture back into cooked juices. Stir mixture briskly to keep eggs from curdling. Allow to cool to room temperature. Beat in the softened cream cheese and chill. Toss the apples, celery and walnuts together and top with ½ cup dressing.
It is the San Antonio layer that my parents added to our dinner table that means that Christmas is the time to make tamales. Full family participation is required, from the moment you can stand on a chair. Everyone has a role in this production that plumps to fill the entire day on Christmas Eve, even if that job is curating music, filling glasses and taste testing. Our door is open for any friend to join in the fun. We reminisce, gossip, joke, tease, eat and generally have a ball without going near a computer, video game or TV. This year, my three-year-old granddaughter, Vivienne gets her first tamale-making job: mushing dough. That will make for good stories. By next year’s Thanksgiving, she’ll be old enough to stir the pineapple dressing so that it doesn’t curdle.
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RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Holiday Gift Guide
FOR YOUNG FOOD ADVENTURERS
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS FOUNDATION’S CANNED GARDENS, INCLUDES SEEDS, PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS AND RECIPES TO GROW AND COOK YOUR FAVORITE MEALS
EAT IT! FOOD ADVENTURES WITH MARCO POLO BACK TO THE ROOTS WATER GARDEN
AWARD-WINNING COOKBOOK AND STORY
USE AMAZON SMILE AND A PORTION OF YOUR PURCHASE PRICE WILL BE DONATED TO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS FOUNDATION! SIGN UP NOW! 40
CLIF BAR SEASONAL FLAVORS
CURIOUS CHEF 27-PIECE FOUNDATION SET
SPIRALIZER速 4-BLADE VEGETABLE SPIRAL SLICER
CUISIPRO HERB KEEPER
SUR LA TABLE ALL-IN-ONE SALAD STATION
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PHOTOS FRONT COVER
PAGE 9
Row 2: Glenn Carter & Kamare Shorts
Peter Garcia, Chef Monica Pope, Chef Randy Evans, Bob Cavnar, Melanie Wilson Lawson, Chef Barbara McKnight, Chef Kiran Verma and Stephanie Walker; Front Row: Lucia Hamilton and Chef Michael Kramer. First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the crowd
LEFT TO RIGHT: Row 1: Sidney Dunn & Anilah Bell;
PAGE 2
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chef Joy Rupe and
colleague with Chef Peter Garcia; Chef Michael Kramer & Chef Randy Evans; Gracie Cavnar & Stephanie Walker on the White House lawn; Monica Pope & daughter Lili
PAGE 3
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chef Monica Pope with
daughter Lili & Chef Marcus Samuelsson; Chef Vikram Sunderman & Chef Peter Garcia; Chef Barbara McKnight; Chefs at on the White House lawn; Chefs dining at the White House
PAGE 5
Blue Plate Special Luncheon 2015; Chef Neal Cox & 2014 Chef for a Day Contest Winner Ivan Marquez in the Houstonian kitchen
PAGE 7
LEFT TO RIGHT: Chef Michael Kramer, Gracie Cavnar, Chef
Randy Evans, Chef Monica Pope and Lili on the White House lawn
LEFT TO RIGHT: Back Row: Gracie Cavnar, Chef
PAGE 10-11
Chef Peter Garcia serves paella at a 2009 Gala in Small Bites, Chef Peter Garcia teaches Seed-to-Plate Nutrition ™ education class; Chef Hugo Ortega and Chef Peter Garcia at 2012 Blue Plate Special Café and Harvest Market Luncheon; Chef Peter Garcia at RecipeHouse
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Student, Chef Justin Kouri and Janet Van in Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ Cooking Class
PAGE 16-17 EAT THIS! Summer Camp students cooking and gardening
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My Favorite Holiday Food Story Writing Contest Winner Mia Hirschfeld at the West University Elementary School Garden
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Mid-Main First Thursday Attendees playing
with veggies to benefit Recipe for Success;
TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT: Mid-Main First Thursday
Attendees in a race to peel a carrot the fastest; Seed-ToPlate Instructor Paola Tello and family; RecipeHouse Chef Justin Kouri at Mid-Main First Thursday
PAGE 28
Dayni Alba of Boeing’s Global Corporate Investment getting prepared to sow fields on Earth Day
PAGE 30
RecipeHouse Chef Justin Kouri; RecipeHouse guests enjoy an intimate private dinner
PAGE 34-35
Chisholm Tate, Luby’s Human Resources Manager LEFT TO RIGHT: Kelly Landrieu, Chisholm Tate, Paula McHam, Lisa Mellencamp, Dr. Faith Foreman and Mayor Annise Parker at 2014 Veggie Kick-Off Event, Gracie Cavnar and Chisholm Tate at the 2015 VegOut! Kick-Off
PAGE 36-37
Students at MacGregor Elementary in their Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ cooking class; Seed-to-Plate Students at MacGregor Elementary; Seed-to-Plate Students at MacGregor Elementary Gardening
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Give a Little, Get a Little
SUPPORT US BY SHOPPING FOR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS GEAR!
VISIT OUR ONLINE SHOP
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