Summer Squash and Tomato Whole Wheat Pasta

Summer Squash in the Warehouse

Ingredients
Kosher salt (for pasta water)
1 zucchini, sliced into thin discs
1 summer squash, sliced into thin discs
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound whole wheat pasta
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for sprinkling

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat for the pasta.

In a large bowl combine the onion, garlic, oregano, tomatoes, summer squash and zucchini.  Add the quarter cup of extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle the vegetables with salt and pepper, and thoroughly mix all ingredients until evenly coated .

Onto a baking sheet spread the vegetable mixture into an even layer and roast for 10 – 12 minutes,  or until the squash is tender and caramelized. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and scrape the vegetables into a large pasta bowl and cover to keep warm.

Add the pasta to your large pot of salted water, which should now be boiling.  Cook the pasta for 8 – 9 minutes, until it is al dente or there is a slight resistance in the center when the pasta is chewed.

Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water for later.  Toss pasta gently with the roasted vegetables. Add the pasta water if needed. Sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence

Watermelon Gazpacho

Ingredients
1 large tomato, pureed
1/2 serrano chile
2 cups cubed fresh watermelon
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1/2 cucumber, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

This entire recipe can be made in your blender!
1) Puree the tomatoes, serrano chile, and half of the cubed watermelon in the blender together.
2) Pulse in the red wine vinegar and olive oil.
3) Add the minced red onion, cucumber and dill and pulse together.
4) Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5) Puree until smooth.
6) Pour into chilled bowls and sprinkle with dill, feta, and remaining watermelon cubes.
7) Enjoy!

Adapted from Tyler Florence

Sweet and Savory Broccoli

Fresh Broccoli at the Food Bank

Ingredients
1 pound broccoli florets
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon light or dark brown sugar (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black

Directions

1. Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with water and ice.
2. Add broccoli with a strainer to the boiling water, a handful at a time. Cook the broccoli for about 2 minutes until tender but still bright green.
3. Quickly (and carefully) remove from boiling water with the strainer and place in the bowl of ice and water, immersing the broccoli completely for about two minutes. Remove broccoli from the ice water and rest it on a paper towel lined dish.
4. Mix together Parmesan cheese and brown sugar (optional) in a bowl.
5. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Toss in the broccoli, along with the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir the broccoli and spices until coated. Cook for about 2 minutes.
6. After removing the broccoli from the stove, sprinkle the parmesan sugar mixture over the top and enjoy!

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 81 | Total Fat: 5.6g | Cholesterol: 2mg
Recipe adapted from  Allrecipes.com

Roasted Peppers with Garlic and Herbs

peppers at the Food Bank

Roasted Peppers with Garlic and Herbs
Adapted from Martha Stewart Every Day Food

Ingredients

• 4 bell peppers (any color), cut in half, seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• Coarse salt
• Ground black pepper
• Fresh basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped

Directions

1. Before beginning preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. On a baking sheet place the 4 bell peppers, cut side up and lightly sprinkle them with olive oil.
3. Place the garlic among peppers evenly.
4. Season with oregano, salt, and pepper.
5. Roast in oven until pepper’s flesh is tender and the skin is blistered in spots, (about 35 mins).
6. Plave peppers on a platter and top with a small handful of the fresh basil.

Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars

Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars
from Kath Eats Real Food 

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts [or any nuts you like]
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (any you like – raisins, cranberries, dates, figs)
• 1/4 cup seeds (any you like – sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1.25 cups skim milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix dry ingredients.
3. Mix wet ingredients.
4. Pour wet into dry. Stir to combine.
5. Pour into a 9×9 baking dish either coated in cooking spray or lined with parchment.
6. Bake for 40 minutes.
7. Cut into 9 squares.

Makes 9 servings . Each bar is appx. 170 calories, 3 grams fiber and 5 grams protein. [Cut into 12 squares reduces calories to about 125 calories per square]

While delicious, the only sweetness in these comes from the dried fruit. Add in 1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar if you like.

The variations are endless: cranberries, coconut, all kinds of dried fruit, nuts, etc.

“The food I receive helps me get by.”

Joann Medeiros is a retired San Francisco native on a fixed income. She is a volunteer and program participant at the Hosanna Celebration pantry in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. We met her at the pantry when she was working and she kindly shared her story with us.

Volunteering is my way of giving back. I volunteer at the Hosanna Celebration Pantry, but I also get groceries too. It’s wonderful here. I know so many people and it makes me feel good to help, to recognize the faces and talk to people, to give people food who need it. I understand what that’s like because I need the help, too.

I have lived my whole life in San Francisco — I’m a real San Franciscan, born and bred. About eighteen years ago, after working as a janitor and an in-home caretaker, I retired. At that time I was making $7.49 an hour. Now I’m living on an even more fixed income and it’s not always easy.

I’ve been helping at Hosanna for the last four years and right now my job is to hand people their produce. I wake up every morning and I feel good knowing that I’m helping people because of my work here at the pantry.

Each week I take home a bag of groceries from the pantry and stretch it to last the whole week. To make it last, I’ll buy a whole chicken, put it in a pot, then add the veggies I get here and make a stew. Stews are a good way to eat well for days.

The food I receive from the pantry helps me get by, helps me keep my budget on track. It’s not easy living on a fixed income in San Francisco, but I’m working to make it work. Every once in a while I can even treat myself to an afternoon matinee at the senior price of $6.50, but that’s a very big splurge.  When I can, it certainly is a nice treat.

Selecting Food for the Pantries

“Sometimes we get kabocha squashes that most people don’t recognize but we know our Asian agencies love. It’s about knowing who you are serving and what foods we have available and making the best matches.” – Barbara Lin, Program Manager.

When the Food Bank sends food out into the community we thoughtfully consider who is going to consume the food. By ensuring the food fits the diets of those in need, the pantries avoid wasting food and the experience is respectful of program participants.

Over seventy percent of the 43.5 million pounds of food distributed last year went out to the community through our network of farmers’ market-style neighborhood pantries. The pantries are located in places such as churches, schools and community centers throughout San Francisco and Marin. Different locations serve different types of people – small families, large intergenerational families, individuals and seniors.

No matter where the pantry is located, the Food Bank works to make sure there is enough food to feed everyone in need, and that everything is appropriate for the culture, age, and cooking ability of the particular community being served.

Program Manager Barbara Lin says, “Each pantry site lets us know what their clientele eats. For example, we don’t send grapefruit to senior communities because so many seniors take medications that negatively interact with grapefruit. Sometimes we get kabocha squashes that most people don’t recognize but we know our Asian agencies love. It’s about knowing who you are serving and what foods we have available and making the best matches.” These relationships with our pantries allow for the creation of a menu of foods customized for each pantry location.

Emily Citraro, Inventory and Allocations Coordinator, organizes what food will go into each pantry order, paying close attention to what is available in the warehouse, what the pantry wants, and even the freshness of the product. “If we have a supply of red tomatoes, I know they will not be as high quality in a week’s time, so I work to get them distributed right now.”

While considering what we have stocked on the warehouse shelves, Emily also looks to provide equitable distribution of foods across all the pantries we serve. “I plan the menus based on what we have by the truckloads. If a truck comes in full of a certain type of produce or beans, I stretch the inventory of whatever is on that truck to meet the needs of as many pantries as possible.”

But all this planning means nothing unless you have someone to gather the food together. Having received the food menu, Lead Order Builder Richard Faafiu and his team look at the list of pantries and the various food items and gather the food from throughout the warehouse. The forklifts and pallet-jacks travel through the warehouse, quickly assembling neat piles of food on wooden pallets for each pantry. Rich works hard to make sure everything on the menu is accounted for and looks presentable, and says “This food is going out to people who are hungry, and to pantry coordinators that work hard. The whole package should look good so people know there’s great food inside.”

Market to Table

“It’s great to know that my produce is not going to waste — even better that it is going to be enjoyed by somebody who wouldn’t have had access fresh fruit or vegetables otherwise.” – Bob Pizza, produce vendor at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market and donor to the Food Bank.

Thanks to the Food Bank’s sustainable partnership with the vendors of the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market, thousands of pounds of perfectly delectable food are saved from waste each week. Jason Chorney, the market’s Operations Manager, emphasized the mutually beneficial arrangement saying, “Donating unsold food to the Food Bank is both ethically and economically favorable for our merchants. They feel great about feeding people, and it saves them the cost of composting.”

The Produce Market, tucked away in the Bayview district, supplies produce direct from farms to upscale restaurants, hotels, and neighborhood markets.  From late in the night to the early hours of the morning, while most of the city is asleep, the market bustles with 650 employees, 25 merchant vendors and endless trucks moving in and out with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Cousins Jack and Bob Pizza are both produce vendors at the Produce Market, and both men participate in the market’s food donation program. “It’s great to know that my produce is not going to waste — even better that it is going to be enjoyed by somebody who wouldn’t have had access fresh fruit or vegetables otherwise.” Bob Pizza told us.

Bob Pizza, owner of What a Tomato, and a self-proclaimed “lifer” at the produce market, has been working there since he was a teenager. “I graduated high school on a Friday and came to work at the market that Monday!” A few docks down, his cousin Jack Pizza runs Washington Vegetable, a company started by the cousins’ grandfather Donte in 1931. Jack told us, “We try to sell all of our produce, but it’s not always possible. I’m glad the Food Bank has the ability to come and pick up what we can’t sell, so it doesn’t go to waste.”

Winter Warehouse

Many people are surprised to learn that winter is prime harvest time for many types of citrus. One look into our warehouse right now illustrates that season nicely. Our pantry orders are stocked with gorgeous citrus fruit!

Among the prime deliveries are easy-to-peel mandarin orange “cuties”, which are perfect for kids’ snacks at schools and after-school programs since they don’t require an adult to slice them. In addition to the cuties, we have a good assortment of other hand-held fruit such as pears and apples.

More than half of all of the food we distribute is fresh produce. Even through seasonal fluctuations, we work hard to keep our orders balanced.  Barbara Abbott, our Food Resources Manager explains, “We have a variety of winter vegetables right now – winter squash, potatoes onions, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, celery and carrots.” Every Monday this month we will also receive a full truckload of lettuce products and fully prepped cut vegetables from Yuma County. This month, we also received three truckloads of purchased bulk oats, pinto beans and black beans which our volunteers will package into 1lb easy-to-transport bags for our program participants.

We are excited to provide people in need nutritious foods year-round, and work hard to make sure there are staples and produce available each month, no matter the season.

WARMING WINTER ROOT VEGGIE RECIPE

Ingredients

•  2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered
• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, halved
• 1/2 pound parsnips, peeled and julienned
• 1/2 pound carrots, cut into chunks
• 1/2 pound turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Cook vegetables separately in water until tender; drain. Melt butter; stir in remaining ingredients. Combine the vegetables and butter mixture; toss to coat. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Spotlight: Supermarket Street Sweep

Eric and Cooper Downing crossing the finish line! Photo courtesy of Supermarket Street Sweep

December 3rd was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Food Bank. We had a clear sky, the sun was shining, and a father and son arrived on a tandem bicycle…pulling four full shopping carts full of food to donate!

Cargo race winners and tandem cyclists Eric Downing and his seven-year old son Cooper Sprocket Downing were not alone. They were part of the 201 bicyclists participating in the 6^th Annual Supermarket Street Sweep!  Each year, participants crisscross the city visiting local supermarkets and bringing back thousands of pounds of donated groceries. This year, everyone was excited about the results: almost 7,990 pounds of food was collected and $9,652 was raised.

The Downings were an impressive sight, hauling their train of shopping carts engineered to move and turn in unison on their bicycle-built-for-two. Eric, an architect and former professional cyclist, has passed on his passion for cycling and charitable work to his son Cooper Sprocket (who is named after the toothed wheel a bike’s chain rides along). This was their second year in the race – they came back to avenge their narrow defeat last year by hauling in even more food to donate to the Food Bank.

Eric told us, “This is an extra special race. Jennifer [Oh Hatfield] is phenomenal. She puts this whole thing together. We are indebted to her for creating a race that supports the Food Bank.” While there are lots of bicycle races out there, Eric told us “This is the most selfless race I’ve ever participated in, it’s wonderful!”

photo of Eric and Cooper by Jonathan Koshi http://www.flickr.com/photos/koshi/

Jennifer Oh Hatfield who organizes the race every year (with co-organizers Kacey O’Kelly, Jonathan Koshi, and Mike Spencer) wanted to create an event that was “…both a fun and useful way for Bay Area cyclists to help a great cause.” She was impressed by Eric and Cooper, telling us, “It’s great that we have families come out. Eric and Cooper were determined to do well this year and they showed up with an ingenious shopping cart train to win the cargo race!” Proud of her racers as well as her volunteers, Jennifer added “We are successful because of our great participants, our volunteers who come out to count food and help organize things, and of course our sponsors — a ton from the Bay Area and even nationwide.”

It’s always fun to see how different groups of people pair their interests with charitable acts. The Supermarket Street Sweep is an exciting, competitive way to get cyclists involved with food justice and the Food Bank. “I would like to see this type of race for charity in every community. There are cyclists across the U.S. just as there are people in need across the U.S.,” Eric Downing said.

Finally, when asked what he would say to people to encourage them to join the race next year Cooper Sprocket said “F-U-N-Z-O! Because it’s funzo!”

Race results by year:
2006: 80 racers – 1,172 lbs of food
2007: 110 racers – 1,595 lbs.
2008: 150 racers – 5,266 lbs.
2009: 198 racers – 7,507 lbs.
2010: 171 racers – 6,920 lbs. + $4,877
2011: 201 racers – 7,990 lbs. +$9,652