On Friday, February 19th, the Food Literacy Working Group (FLWG) Meeting gathered for a special-themed potluck: dishes inclusive of restrictive diets. There were gluten free dishes, dishes without dairy, and various vegetarian options. Below are some of the great recipes prepared by the Working Group members.
Wendy Bazil of Healthier Kitchen, Winter Farro Salad
“This recipe is a riff on one I’ve been making for years. for the Food Literacy working group potluck, I wanted to make something vegetarian, delicious, festive, and something that, maybe, would be a little different for people. I love farro. It makes a great base for a potluck dish as it is good hot, warm, or cold and, unlike rice, can be refrigerated and then used the next day without clumping up. It’s a whole grain so it’s both hearty and better for you than pasta or white rice. It’s delicious like this mixed with roasted vegetables, but you can also mix in pesto, use steamed spring vegetables, make it into a soup, or a risotto (really, farrotto). Leftovers are excellent with an olive oil fried egg on top! It can be expensive when sold prepackaged but you can find semi or demi pearled farro in many bulk bin areas now. Please note, though, that unpearled farro and/or spelt need to be soaked and take much longer to cook!”[embeddoc url=”https://mocofoodcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Winter-Farro-Salad-1-1.pdf” height=”250px”]
Lindsey Parsons of Real Food for Kids-Montgomery, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
“These muffins can be made gluten-free, so I chose to bring this recipe to go along with the day’s theme of foods for restricted diets. I’ve been playing around with this recipe for a while, reducing the sugar as much as possible and trying it with different whole grain flours. I often use some of the Bob’s Red Mill multiple grain cereal mix as part of the flour mixture, if you like something to chew on in your muffins. It’s also good to chop up the large chocolate chips a bit, if you use the Ghirardelli ones, so they don’t sink to the bottom. They’re best warmed up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.” [embeddoc url=”https://mocofoodcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Lindsey-Parsons-Banana-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-1-1.pdf” height=”250px”]
Sheila Crye of Our Young Chefs, Mexican-Style Orzo Salad
“This recipe comes from a Tennessee cousin, who brought it to a family reunion many years ago, and has become one of our family favorites. You can make it with orzo, whole-wheat orzo or any whole grain. It’s great for warm weather picnics, because it contains no eggs, which can quickly spoil.”
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In addition to raising awareness of the importance of educating people about restrictive diets, the FLWG has recently created a brochure highlighting the benefits of school gardens and a listserv that will serve as a resource and a forum for all Food Literacy related advocacy in Montgomery County. To learn more about the listserv, check out this video made by FLWG members: Advocacy Listserv Recruitment Video