Bite of Brainfood Blog

Box Project's Big Winners

Submitted by Aimee McLaughlin on Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Box Project 2016 has come and gone. The stove has cooled, the pots and pans are scrubbed and put away until the fall, and our teen chefs are all back in school. We had a great summer serving our 15 subscribers a variety of homemade foods, from breakfasty, to sweet and gooey, sometimes packed up for a picnic, or ready for a microwave reheating and a night in on the sofa. Our subscribers ate like champions this summer, and many of them boasted of their good food fortune on social media. Here are some of these beautiful images - so good you can almost taste them. 






A Thank You Note

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, August 12, 2016

Wow. There are no words to describe the fact that I am writing my last blog ever for this amazing organization! I became a part of Brainfood just about a year ago through my placement as an AVODAH Service Corps member, and the experience has been the most amazing roller coaster I’ve ever experienced. Most of all, at this moment, I’m feeling an incredible amount of gratitude for all of the people I’ve met and interacted with in my role here as a Program Associate. Brainfood is a small organization and what we do is made possible by the host of amazing individuals that make up our staff and whom we interact with. So here is my thank you note:

A Food Waste Documentary Review

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, August 1, 2016

This blog was written by JaNeya Lee, DC Career Connections Intern and member of the Brainfood Homegrown and Brainfood Summer Institute teams

For class this past Thursday, we decided that we would watch  a food waste documentary called Just Eat It.When I first saw the title I thought that it was about saving on food that you would buy but not eat until it was pass the date. I was wrong about the movie it was a great movie because a couple did an experiment for 6 months. 

Salad Day at Summer Institute

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, July 22, 2016

This blog post was written by Jennie Basile, Brainfood Summer Institue Intern
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Summer Institute students mastered several new culinary skills during Week 4 of the program. Tuesday, a day that stuck out to me, started with a lesson about food deserts and ended with salad creations. The students learned about what would qualify a neighborhood to be considered a food desert as well as the hardships that those residents face. Students were given hypothetical scenarios in which they received a theoretical family, with an allowance to spend on groceries for the week and where they were able to shop. The students learned that those who live in food deserts face serious challenges when trying to feed their families healthy and fresh meals each week.

Welcome, Abiana! Shrubs, Challah, and Garam Masala with Brainfood's newest team member

Submitted by Carina Gervacio on Friday, July 15, 2016

Working with Brainfood for the past few weeks has been an awesome experience. My job in the kitchen is to make Spent Grain Challah Bread and pizza dough to sell at the markets. Before Brainfood, I had never made my own Challah. Experiencing that process has been really fun and inspiring. My favorite combination to make so far has been the Garam Masala Sweet Potato Challah, which we are letting rise as I write. My favorite part about the process is definitely braiding. There are different styles of braids you can create based on how many rolls you have per loaf. Regardless of what you braid, I guarantee that they will come out beautifully.

Box Project Photo Diary

Submitted by Aimee McLaughlin on Monday, July 11, 2016

Posted by Kate Todd, 2016 Box Project Intern, Junior at the University of Virginia

It's been an exciting first couple weeks at Box Project, and I love capturing as many of the photogenic moments as possible! Here are some of my favorite snapshots of the products and activities here at Brainfood Box Project.


Week 1 almond-rolled brownie bites were a big hit among participants and clients - believe it or not, their taste is even better than their aesthetic.


The first Fun Friday pizza challenge! Tatyanna and Myla channel their inner innovator while creating a scrumptious Asian fusion pizza.


Here we have some exquisite breakfast quiches we sampled for the client boxes this upcoming week!

Healthy Baking: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, July 1, 2016

This weeks blog post is written by Jennie Basile, Intern at Brainfood Summer Institute and a rising Senior at Virginia Tech.
 
 
As the first week of Summer Institute comes to a close, the aromas from the healthy baking day still linger in my recent memory. I am a sucker for all things sweet, but as a major in Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise, I am especially fond of throwing in the word “healthy” in front of sweet treats.
 

WHO: This week in the Brainfood kitchen, the youth participants cooked up Black Bean Brownies, Zucchini Muffins and Cinnamon Rolls. The students learned of the alternatives used in each recipe, what their bodies gained from the ingredient swaps and, most importantly, how their satisfaction was not to be harmed. The students were the most skeptical of the black bean brownies, many claiming that they did not like black beans. But they kept their minds open and they were all intrigued and willing to try them.
 

The Many Uses of Lemon Balm

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, June 3, 2016

This blog was written by Brainfood's DC Career Connect Intern, JaNeya Lee.     

It’s garden time. The sun is out and the cold weather is gone. In the garden we are harvesting snap peas, lemon balm, and chamomile. Lemon balm was something I never heard of before, until I started working in the garden. We harvested the lemon balm to make a lemon balm syrup. “And what is lemon balm?” you ask. Lemon balm is an herb that can live for more than two years. It’s from the mint family and the leaves on the herb have a mild lemon aroma that can be used to make medicine. It can be used in many ways. Here are five ways you can use it:

1. Make Tea (Image from Wikihow)

Image from WikiHow

 

Five Magical Moments from Kitchen All Stars Graduation

Submitted by Nina Bryce on Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Here at Brainfood, Kitchen All Stars staff are still not quite able to believe that the after-school program year is really over. While we're staying busy entering survey data, finalizing attendance documents, and diving into summer recruitment, we certainly do miss our awesome  Kitchen All Stars youth participants! When we find ourselves in those nostalgic moments, wishing we were heading down to the kitchen for class, it helps to reminisce about some highlights of our recent graduation celebration. We thought we'd share a few of those rosy memories with all of you!

Five Magical Moments from Kitchen All Stars Graduation

1. Students mastering the portable burners

A reason to celebrate

Submitted by Aimee McLaughlin on Wednesday, May 25, 2016
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Last night, amidst brightly-colored streamers, platters of homemade food, and a crowd of 50 guests, our 2015-2016 class of Community MVPs graduated, recieving rewards for the eight months of hard work they put in as teen healthy cooking educators leading cooking workshops across the city. Each participant who put in 70 hours or more of their time (most of them worked well beyond that number) received a stipend check for the workshops they taught and a cookbook of healthy recipes from the program year. Community partners shared stories of the impact our teens made in their organizations; 

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