Hunger Awareness Blog Project, post 2

Ever since our meeting at the Capital Area Food Bank, I've struggled with the nutritional aspects in regard to are food bank recipients getting appropriate nutrition? The average bag of food from a pantry is almost pure starch -- rice, potatoes, pasta -- with a few nutritionally devoid (almost) cans of over-processed veggies. How do families with children get a proper, balanced meal? I don't have kids, but I have wondered nonetheless. I am assuming that a good majority of these children eat one (or more) meals at their schools. But we've all heard how many school districts serve poor quality meals -- pizza, french fries, "chicken" patties, etc. Is that actually what kids in the Austin-area eat?

And then in today's paper, there was my answer. The story by Addie Broyles on local school lunches, inspired by Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It turns out, "Austin schools have been working for more than 20 years to improve the quality of the food, while still meeting federal nutritional standards and staying on budget." In AISD, they do baked sweet potato fries, whole wheat hamburger buns, lean hamburger meat, and even have signs up asking students if they've eaten their fruit or vegetable for the day. They've made the conscious effort to improve the meals of their students. So thanks to Addie's story, I feel a bit more at ease, knowing kids have access to a decent meal. 

Back to the food bank project, what have I been eating? There's been a good amount of oatmeal in the mornings, supplemented by a fresh banana or canned fruit cup. The bean dip I made from dried cannelini beans (see previous post) has been eaten with carrot sticks. Dinners have been more interesting! Those russet potatoes? Gnocchi! Baked the potatoes, let them cool, peel them, put through a ricer (or food mill), toss with flour, make a well & add an egg yolk and fresh ground nutmeg, and combine. Roll into 3/4" thick ropes, and cut into 1" lengths. You can leave them as pillow, or lightly squish them with a fork to make indentations, which help to hold your sauce. I squished them, and in a not very patient manner, and they came out rather ugly! Toss them in boiling water, and about 2 minutes later when they float to the top, they're ready. The first night, I tossed them with leftover pasta sauce, and the second night I did them in a brown butter sauce. I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet, and slowly let it brown, so it gets that nice caramelly color and deep nuttiness. I tossed in some chopped fresh sage from my garden. One tablespoon of butter actually would have been fine for one serving; both nights, I ate the fresh green beans from my original shopping trip. 

I found a can of black beans in my pantry, and made black bean burgers with them (a little protein, where the gnocchi didn't account for much). It probably wasn't the best of recipes, but not horrible; the one in today's paper in the school lunch article looks good, AND it uses oats! (Next time...) The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of salsa, but I used a chipotle sauce from the fridge. I think salsa, BBQ sauce, chipotles in adobo, etc. would all be fine -- the object is flavor. I did add too many breadcrumbs, so the burgers were a bit dry after I pan-fried them with cooking spray. Fries and burgers go hand in hand , but I wanted to do something a bit different with my potatoes, so I made potato chips. I used the slicer blade on my box grater (or a mandoline, or a very sharp knife), and tossed them with a touch of olive oil & salt. Bake at 475 for about 10 minutes, until golden. Remove to a rack, and they crisp up nicely. I sauteed a little onion and red bell pepper, and added the can of corn. The corn isn't as nutritious as say, a fresh leafy green vegetable, but it was a decently balanced meal.

And we can't forget potato salad! I boiled a couple of potatoes, let them cool, and peeled them. This recipe used a little pickle juice and some dill pickle in it, as well as red onion, celery, mayo & mustard.I swear I've barely used half the bag of potatoes, maybe not even that much. Good thing they keep well.

This challenge certainly makes me think more about what I spend on what I like to eat. I am accustomed to shopping in the bulk departments of grocery stores, but I think the average shopper is scared off by them. They see the word "bulk" and think they have to buy a huge quantity. In reality, you can buy a tablespoon of something or two pounds of it. Retailers receive the items in huge 25 pound (and up) bags, but customers can save money and space in their pantry by just buying what they need for a recipe. Get to know the bulk department of the store you shop in the most. HEB's have their "Nature's Harvest" area, which has spices, flours, nuts, legumes/beans, grains, and more. Places like Central Market and Whole Foods will have those, plus much more. Making an Asian dish? The $5 bottle of Chinese 5-spice powder doesn't exactly appear feasible when on a budget. How about a 50 cent bag instead? And now to change tracks....


My friend and fellow participant in this project makes a great point in her blog, Savor the Earth, about how Texas' economy never really tanked in this fiscal depression like it did in places like California. Yet while the state marches on, it's citizens are second from the bottom in food security. Where will their next meal come from? Can we, as some of the citizens who at least have enough food to fill our bellies, go about social change? Can we start our own food revolution to see that everyone gets what they need? The schools are a great starting point. But what about for adults who are struggling to get by? They still deserve a quality meal, made from "real food" as Michael Pollan says in his latest book (and my current read), Food Rules, An Eater's Manual. Not processed foods, real, whole foods. The quality and quantity of foods both count here.


Pick up a copy. Check out Jamie Oliver. Find out what foods are served in your kids' school district. Support your local food bank with time or money, or both, if you can. Can you afford to eat everyday? Can you afford not to?

Austin Food Bloggers Hunger Awareness Blog Project

I am a member of the Austin Food Bloggers group on Facebook, which was created by Addie Broyles, the food editor of the Austin American-Statesman. She sent out a post last week, asking if people would like to be involved in a project that raises issues about hunger in our community. The basis of the project is to cook from foods that a typical food bank recipient would receive.

A group of about two dozen met at the Capital Area Food Bank on Wednesday evening. We were greeted and given an incredibly informative tour from Lisa Goddard, their Online Marketing Director. At this point, I am ashamed to say I had never been to the CAFB before, and one of their volunteer coordinators is a friend of mine. When I was in high school, I was very active in hunger & homelessness issues, and had volunteered a bit at a food bank, and I think once in college, a one-day project took us to one. I've lived in Austin for HOW LONG now??

Let me first share some of the sobering information Lisa gave us. CAFB houses a 60,000 square foot warehouse, where they sort and organize food for donations to over 350 partner agencies in Travis and 20 counties. Of these agencies, 95% say they could not stay open without the support from CAFB, which relies on donations from stores such as HEB, Walmart & Randalls as well as the US Dept of Agriculture. CAFB is the second largest distributor of produce in the US, behind New York City. Last year, they donated over 23 million pounds of food, up from 17 million the year before. Obviously with the economy in the doldrums, the need for food and resources has increased in the past year or so. But just because some one is receiving food from a food bank, it doesn't mean that person or family is homeless. That's one of the biggest misconceptions out there....in fact 82% of the population served are not homeless. I could go on and on; please see the CAFB website for more stats and eye-opening info.

So if a family were to visit one of CAFB partner agencies and pick up food, the following list is typical of what they would receive. For a month. Yes, month.

2 cans spaghetti sauce
4 cans veggies
4 fruit cans
1 meat selection
3 drink items: choice of large bottle of cranberry apple juice and/or powdered milk (shelf stable milk) boxes and/or apple juice boxes
1 bag spaghetti or egg noodles
1 bag of pinto beans or navy beans
1 bag of white rice
1 package of jalapeno slices
1 ready-made dinner (e.g. hamburger helper)
1 bag/container of rolled oats
1 bag of cheerios
5 lb bag of potatoes

With any luck, that family would also have other funds, whether from food stamps, wages, or what have you to supplement this list as you'll notice there's not a ton of nutritional balance on this list. Fresh produce, dairy, and additional protein are kind of missing. (Though apparently fresh produce donations is a rapidly growing category at CAFB.) So my challenge: to shop for a similar list, and try to create balanced meals.

I went to HEB on Thursday...it took me an hour to shop this! I have always been a label-reader, at least in terms of ingredients. I have extreme aversions to high fructose corn syrup, additives & preservatives, and high fat & high sodium labels. I buy very little processed foods in my "normal" life. A frozen pizza here and there (but generally better quality ones with ingredients you can recognize) and some chips now and then, but I am in the habit of cooking, because it is something I am good at, and something I enjoy. And yes, I am a food snob (there, I've said it!).... I couldn't bring myself to purchase a hamburger helper type meal or canned green beans. I bought items I knew I would eat whether for this project or not, though I fully know that's not the point of this exercise. Mea culpa.

I bought:
1 lb dry cannelini beans
1 lb brown rice (why get white when you can get brown? it was 69 cents)
1 can corn (here, I bought the slightly better quality Green Giant Shoepeg corn, even though it was about 30 cents more than the HEB or Del Monte varieties)
1 4-pk canned peaches
1 lb 90/10 ground beef (I couldn't bring myself to buy the 73/27 beef that was cheaper; who needs that much fat?)
1 lb whole grain penne pasta (yes, you're most likely to receive plain spaghetti; this box of pasta was $1, and it's whole grain)
1 bottle (48 oz) apple juice (this one was the cheapest, AND it didn't have added sugars)
1 jar (45 oz) pasta sauce (I was going to get the HEB brand, then I looked more carefully at the cost per ounce, this one is 5.56 cents/ounce, the HEB 7.27 cents/ounce)
1 container (16 oz) oats
5 lb russet potatoes (it's a lot of potatoes for one person...)
1/3 lb fresh green beans
4 minneola tangelos
2 bananas

I spent $15.58 on my groceries. I shopped for items on the above list, as if I were a food bank recipient, and then I also supplemented with a few fresh produce items, with my "food stamp" money.
Some of the things I didn't buy, and would assume (though we all know where that gets us...) that clients would have oil for cooking, salt & pepper.... I had yellow onions, garlic, parmesan cheese, fresh herbs at home; luxury items, yes, but not unheard of on a food stamp budget either.

I think what shoppers don't always realize is how much they can save by shopping in the bulk foods area of a grocery store. Spices, nuts, grains, flours, often liquids such as honey, balsamic vinegar.... bulk is a bargain! Take advantage of that area! At times it may mean a little more menu planning in advance, but a jar of spices can cost anywhere from $3 on up, and often half the jar goes to waste. If you can shop in bulk and pretty much just buy what you need, you can jazz up your meal without spending a lot. Many bulk departments even have dry soup mixes or hummus mix, which is a great source of protein.

I made a ground beef pasta dish with 1/2 lb of the beef, maybe 10 oz of sauce, and 1/2 the box of penne pasta; I followed a recipe that was on the back of the pasta box. Essentially, brown the beef, add chopped onion & lightly brown, add sauce, & add cooked pasta. I took it one step further by putting it in a casserole dish, topping with a little bit of breadcrumbs & parmesan cheese, and baking for 15 minutes until bubbly. Add a fresh green vegetable, in this case steamed green beans, and you've got some nutritional balance. The pasta dish is easily 4 large servings, and more like 6 smaller ones.
I also soaked some of the cannelini beans, and made a fresh bean dip, by putting them in a food processor with garlic, fresh thyme, olive oil, salt & pepper. It's a great snack or light lunch with carrot sticks, or a multigrain cracker.Finally, I made granola from the oats. I don't know why, but granola cereals (well, cereals in general) are some of the most overpriced items! But you can make your own for pennies! I took a cup of the dry oats (say 4 oz by weight, so 27 cents worth, since the 16 oz container was $1.09), mixed it with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, a pinch of salt & cinnamon, 3 tablespoons oil (I used grape seed because I have it, but canola or vegetable would work; I wouldn't use olive oil for this), 3 tablespoons honey, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1 tablespoon of flax seeds, and about 1/4 cup flaked coconut. All of these things can be bought in bulk at someplace like Central Market, Whole Foods, Sprouts, New Flower..... and possibly even HEB. Even the Congress & Oltorf HEB, which is not a large store comparatively, has a bulk section (Nature's Harvest?), where most of these would be found. Combine everything together, and bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
To date, Thursday night for dinner, I ate the pasta casserole & green beans. For breakfast Friday a bowl of oatmeal with a tablespoon of peanut butter added. For snack, Greek yogurt (already had it open in the fridge) with some granola. For lunch, white bean dip with carrots & a leftover piece of focaccia bread, and a banana. For dinner, same as Thursday night. And that is my start to this project. I will say now, while I will stick to this for the week as much as I can, I have some work commitments and evening plans that were already in the works, so I can't dedicate every single meal to this. But the shopping process really did make me think about the "what if's".... how can I do better with what I DO have? What can I do, and what can you do?

Cafe Racer

Trailers, trailers everywhere! One of the newest is just a few blocks from my house -- Cafe Racer at South 1st & Live Oak..... I saw it's "installation" one morning when I was out for a walk, and it opened in mid-March. There's a motorcycle theme to it, from the bike parked out front (the side you can't see in the pic) to the pics on their website.Headed home around 7:30 pm on Wed, I was hungry, and knew I wasn't going to feel like cooking. These are the times when I really miss the Baby Greens salad drive through spot that was at S. 1st & Oltorf until it's unfortunate demise last fall. Popeye's fried chicken is always tempting, but I was hoping Cafe Racer was open for dinner (I remembered it was open for B & L, but didn't know about D). To my happiness, it was open! Walking up, I was immediately greeted by Russ, who's the owner. I ordered the Cooper, a grilled cheese with bacon & pears and a potato salad to go. We chatted for a minute, and I went to sit amongst the colorful picnic tables & adirondack chairs while I waited. I had noticed a new trailer was on his corner, which was closed, but advertising snow cones. Russ said it's apparently going to be Cuban food, so we'll wait and see on that one!Fairly quickly, he brought a brown bag out to me, and I toddled on home. Unwrapping the sandwich on my kitchen counter, I snapped the picture. Then picking it up to take a bite, I found out that the entire bottom side was burned. Like not uneatable ('cause I DID eat it), but fairly dark and unappealing looking. Fortunately, there was not a burned toast taste to it, because then we would have had problems! And while it was tasty & a good combo of flavors (sweet from the pear, salty from the bacon & I guess savory from the cheddar), what I quickly realized was, these are canned pears. And while it didn't say "fresh pears" on the menu, that's what I expected, fresh. As for the potato salad, to me it had a commercial-made taste about it; a certain twang to it that makes me think it wasn't homemade (trailer-made), though I could be wrong.So maybe my expectations were too high. I checked Yelp for other reviews, and they were all 5-star and glowing, so I felt compelled to write a 3-star one, stating my feelings/opinions as above. Would love to know what others (whose food opinions I know and trust) think of the place. I really want to like it, especially because the owner was totally nice.

La Condesa

Here's a place that's been open not even a year, and it's already got a James Beard Best Restaurant Semi-finalist award. It's also a place I've heard very minimal buzz about, though it's situated in the heart of what should be a very buzz-worthy, hip location. A place with cutting edge architecture and interior design. Beautiful website too. But La Condesa showed some flaws in the meal, and at their prices, it makes me hesitate on any rush to return.

Wednesday night at 7 pm. We were seated in a booth under the gigantic hyper-kinetic back wall; it's some huge star burst design (see the pics on their website) made from....old wallpaper? Posters? Can't quite tell. Our waiter came by and asked if we had dined there before, and neither of us had. He said he'd give us some time to look over the menu, and took our drink order. I asked if there were any specials not on the menu which we should be aware of, and he said yes, but since we hadn't been in before, he wanted us to look over the menu as it could be overwhelming at first glance & he gave us an orientation to the menu. A few minutes later, and back with ice teas, he asked if we wanted chips & salsa, and he proceeded to upsell us with one of their fresh guacamoles, complete with pomegranate seeds & queso fresco; we also ordered the cangrejo (crab) huarache. I did really like our waiter; he was chatty and informative, and not obtrusive. He named his favorite dishes, apologized when looking at his notes for the evening specials, and was well acquainted with the items on the menu.

The appetizers arrived, and I sort of consider the actual dish ware they were served on to be old-school Americana. White oval plate, with a red flower border, and the chips were in a metal bowl with that flecked paint (like dishes you take camping) with a similar spoon (see the picture). There were four (!) different freshly made salsas; all had great flavor. I had the waiter run through the types twice, but without writing it down, I can't remember all of them, but there was habanero & apple; a creamy poblano, a salsa verde, and .... but all very tasty. The guac was nice too; the pomegranate seeds were fresh, which I had been hesitant about because it's not really pom season.Huaraches are a fried piece of masa dough, in a oval shape, that are topped with different things; the name derives from the Mexican sandals -- the masa is shaped like a sandal. Ours arrived, with lovely crab and pickled red onion; the masa was quite dense, though appropriately crisp. Looking back now at the menu, they have huaraches described as "crispy corn tortillas with different toppings." That sounds like a tostado; to me, there's nothing "tortilla" about what was presented....I wonder how many confused customers they get. Anyway, it was tasty.
For main dishes, I ordered the barbacoa de cordero (lamb) and my companion, the pato con mole negro (duck with mole sauce) both to our waiter's approval; he says the lamb is one of his favorites. My lamb dish was outstanding. It was a lamb chop, cooked perfectly to medium-rare, as requested, atop some roasted lamb shoulder meat, which has been cooked in maguey (agave) leaves. I'd love to see how this is done, since the agave plants I am familiar with have very thick, tough leaves! The shoulder meat was on the salty side, but had great flavor & somewhat crisp, kind of chewy texture. Also accompanying the meat was a well-emulsified jalapeno-mint sauce, which was the perfect balance of both flavors. The plate was rounded out by a cup of fresh corn with crema and seasonings (a little rich, but delicious) While reviewing the menu for this write up, I noticed the term "esquite", but had no idea what it meant. I have also now learned it's the proper term for my bowl of corn; elote denotes corn on the cob, that's roasted, often with seasonings, butter, mayo, etc. Finally a salad with red onion, radish, and some green leaves (spinach? arugula?) rounded out the plate. Now the menu description calls it a cactus salad, but I don't think I found anything remotely cactus-like (I have eaten nopales before)....unless I am way off base in thinking the cactus were onions, but I don't think so. Tasty, yes. Cactusy, no.

Now for the mole dish. I love a good mole negro sauce -- it's that marriage of multiple types of chiles, spices such as cinnamon and allspice, nuts (often almonds), seeds (pumpkin, sesame), and chocolate, usually in the form of cocoa powder or bittersweet chocolate. They are not to everyone's liking, kind of like curry dishes, but I love them! Over the years, I have found the ones at Miguel's and Sazon to be some of the better in town; hear Borrego de Oro's is great. I have also made my own on a few occasions, and so I can greatly appreciate the couple of hours it can take to make it, not to mention the lengthy list of ingredients. Well, it apparently takes three days to make this mole. Our waiter said the chef does it when no one else is in the kitchen, as it's exact ingredients & process seem to be a secret. I would have ordered the mole if my companion had not; it's often the dish I order when I go to a new interior Mexican restaurant for the first time. The sauce tasted great; it had the high and low notes to it, a good balance of spiciness with sweet. From what I could tell though, there just wasn't a whole lot of sauce on the plate. There was a duck breast and a confit leg, on top of rice, with a bit of the sauce over them. I am used to the poultry being almost smothered in mole, and that's how I like it. Furthermore, the skin on the duck breast was very soggy, not crisp at all. So I'd give high points to the mole sauce, but not so much to the execution of the rest of the dish.

For dessert, I ordered the tarta de chocolate salada, and my companion the cafe con leche. Mine was a chocolate & caramel tart with sea salt on top, with roasted coconut ice cream. The crust on my tart was not crisp....maybe a couple days old? Not a great crust, but the filling was good, and there was a ton of salt on it. The ice cream was another disappointment. It didn't taste remotely like coconut, and the texture was granular, as if it had melted and been refrozen, not smooth and creamy like good ice cream should be. The cafe con leche was a huge coffee cup of a thick pot de creme of richness! A small espresso cup might have been more appropriate given how rich it was. So, a little hit and miss, which I think could be said for the whole meal.

La Condesa has a lot of terms on the menu the average diner, and even the slightly above average diner (me!) aren't immediately familiar with. Huarache, chipotle meco, salsa morenita, esquites.... maybe they need to include a glossary on the menu.

Pictures you ask, where are the pics of the main courses? Unfortunately, they did not turn out on my camera phone. They kept dimming the lights, so by the time the main dishes arrived, it was much darker, and my phone couldn't handle it; the pics are very grainy. If you're dying to see them, email me, and I'll send them to you! Interestingly enough, the booth adjacent to us was photographing their food as well. However, they had a complete professional set up -- lights on the table, the mini umbrellas to direct the lighting, and a HUGE camera! Definitely puts mine to shame! But, what it really made me realize is I need to carry a flashlight, so I don't encounter this problem again. My Android phone takes really good pictures, when there's enough light, and in general, it's easier than carrying my digital camera around. So I will find a small flash light to carry in my purse....The pictures, like the meal, was hit and miss.

Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll

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