Heart Healthy Recipes

Last Tuesday we hosted a Healthy Cooking class focused on Heart Healthy Dishes.  Recipes included Bean Tacos, Vegetarian Chili, and Banana-Oat cookies.  We discussed the importance of fiber in reducing cholesterol (and appetite), how to create complete proteins without eating meat, and why dessert ISN'T a bad thing!

Four types of protein: grains, beans/legumes, vegetables, and nuts. Proteins don't always have to come from meat, which is good if you don't eat meat. There are plenty of ways to eat healthy, while still consuming the amount of proteins your body requires.

Easy way to make vegetable stock*: veggie scraps, water, seasoning. Add the vegetable scraps to a pot that is large enough to hold both vegetables and water. Add the seasoning to the mix of vegetables (parsley, thyme, and rosemary stems are good additions for this recipe). Pour water into the pot. There should be enough water to completely submerge the vegetables. Turn the stove to a high temperature, and let the vegetables simmer (if you keep the heat on for longer than an hour, the vegetables start to turn mushy and lose their flavor). When the hour is up, strain the vegetables through a strainer, and then you have your vegetable stock!

Thank you to Renee, from the Art Institute of Wisconsin for her engaging and informative presentation!

Final preparations before class begins

Chili simmering in foreground while
peppers sizzle for bean tacos in background

Serving Bean Tacos

Discussing four categories of plant-based protein

*The recipe for vegetable stock was provided by allrecipes.com

Introducing our Interns

Thank you to all who applied for CORE/El Centro's first annual Food and Nutrition Internship.  We are excited to announce our three interns for the 2013 season.


Chloe, 15, is a freshman at Milwaukee School of Languages and is eager to build on her experiences through Hawley Environmental School.  She is excited to continue learning more about the connection between organic fresh produce, nutrition and health. During the internship, she will be focusing on Community Education and Outreach, from recruitment and marketing for our classes to photo documentation and evaluation.

Samantha, 15, is a freshman at Ronald Reagan High School and is passionate about community service.   Aspiring to one day be a teacher, she is excited about this internship as an opportunity to continue working with young children, practicing her Spanish skills and learning more about organic gardening and nutrition.  For the internship season she will be acting as Farmer’s Market manager, coordinating outreach, vendors and education at the rooftop market set to begin June 1^st.

Dulay, 20, is a sophomore at MATC and an advocate for healthy living through organic gardening and healthy eating.  He is excited to incorporate sustainable methods of gardening into his own practice and teach others about nutrition and the importance of their food choices. His internship will focus on management and education around the rooftop Beepod – a sustainable, community-friendly method of urban beekeeping.

Food and Nutrition Internship: Now Accepting Application

As part of the on-going development of our Garden and Nutrition program, CORE/El Centro is now offering a 6-month Food and Nutrition Internship.

This volunteer position offers hands-on training and experience in a variety of urban food opportunities: beekeeping, composting, farmer's market management, food safety and handling, orchard maintenance, community education, nutrition and healthy cooking, youth education and activity coordination.  In addition to the organization-led activities and field trips, interns will complete an Individual Development project to gain a deeper understanding of a topic of their choosing.

The commit consists of 3-5 hours a week (one 3-hour shift April-October, additional 2 hour shift June-September).  We are seeking 3-4 interns, ages 15-21, who are excited about community health, urban agriculture, and are looking for a new leadership opportunity.

I am MORE than willing to work with schools or individual teachers to offer credit to the Interns (high school, college, or otherwise).

Interested applicants can contact me, 414-225-4267, or stephaniec@core-elcentro.org to submit a 500 word essay describing their interest in the internship and what they hope to gain from the experience.

Interviews will be conducted the week of March 25th, with final selections made by April 1st.

Thank you for spreading the word about this exciting opportunity!

MOSES Organic Farming Conference 2013

Again, I return from the MOSES Organic Farming conference inspired and eager to put my notes into action!  This year, the conference was a bit of a bittersweet experience - it was the first time being away from my 5-month old daughter for more than a few hours!  Though I bonded with other moms there, it did make it challenging at points to focus on the conference.

Fortunately, this conference is full of intriguing and insightful farmers, producers, students and food-enthusiasts that I was able to keep my mind off of my separation anxiety!  ;-)

Highlights for me this year included:

• Vegetable Crop Rotation - not only did this session offer great information within the 1.5 workshop, but also gave some great book/resource recommendations (FREE through the SARE website!).  One thing that I hadn't considered before - mid-season cover cropping to restore soil nutrients.
• GMO-OMG Filmmaker keynote - this is an exciting film that has yet to make its way to the U.S.  The clips that we saw were well-made, easy to understand and relate to.  The filmmakers' goal to reach the 'average' U.S. consumer are definitely within reach, as long as their distribution plans are grassroots and intentional. 
• Exhibition hall - being my second year at the conference, I was able to better engage in the exhibits, rather than just be overwhelmed by the aisles and aisles of tables, information, and products.  I had a great conversation with ladies from the Wisconsin Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, connected with an organic herbalist about possibly partnering for wholesale herb distribution, and found out about an exciting fundraising opportunity through Seeds of Change.  Even when the workshops were too full to enjoy, I still learned a lot! 

Next year is the 25th anniversary of the conference. Check out the MOSES website for more information and other pictures from this year's gathering. 

Fruity Nutty Neighborhood

I'm excited to announce that Walker's Point is one of six Milwaukee neighborhoods chosen to host a fruit and nut orchard!

Check out the link here to the 3.5 minute video put together by CORE/El Centro and Bucketworks, showcasing our neighborhood participants and the impact these edible plants would have on our community.

This video was a lot of fun to put together; though it was challenging at times to find green space to plant a tree or two, I was so happy with the overwhelming support I received from those who I met during the process.  Even if they didn't have the time/space to host their own tree, all the neighbors were supportive of the initiative.  We will be holding our first 'group meeting' in early April to finalize the tree selection and planting details.

Check out the Victory Garden Initiative website to see more about the other neighborhoods that were chosen, and watch other group's video applications.

Workshops at CORE/El Centro

I am excited to announce some upcoming workshops being held at CORE/El Centro this spring!

Healthy Cooking Classes

I have posted previously about this exciting partnership with the Art Institute of Wisconsin International Culinary Arts program - which continues!  Our next series of classes begins February 19th - these topics have been chosen based on feedback from clients and previous workshop attendees.  We hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, February 19th 6:00-7:30pm: Nutrition for Weight Loss

Tuesday, March 19th 6:00-7:30pm: Gluten-Free Foods (focus on Ancient Grains)

Tuesday, April 23rd 6:00-7:30pm: Heart Healthy Meals

All classes cost $5.00 and include 2-3 recipes, tastings, and a heaping serving of nutritional information!  Spaces are limited for these hands-on classes, so please call me to register: 414-225-4267


Garden Workshops

We are offering two workshops in March to help get your garden off to a healthy start this year!  Both workshops are $5.00 and include a wealth of resources, tools and in-class planning time.  Participants will also be able to take home organic seeds for their own garden.

Saturday, March 2nd, 2-4pm: Planning for Small-Space Gardens

This workshop will review some fundamental principles of gardening and planning.  Participants will receive a number of planning tools and techniques as well as some in-class planning time to put their knowledge to practice.

Saturday, March 30th, 2-4pm: Getting an Early Start

This workshop will build on the first by sharing and showing specific techniques to get a head start on the season - planting indoors and using floating row cover in your garden to start growing food early.  Participants will plant and take home organic seeds to put out in their garden mid-May.

Holistic Nutrition

We don't have a specific date for this class, but I just had to announce an exciting partnership with the Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts.  In April/May we will be offering a FREE 4-part series based on the Bauman Eat 4 Health program.  Two lucky participants from the class will be selected to receive 6 weekly individual nutrition consultation sessions, too!  Stay tuned to CORE/El Centro's website and/or facebook page for more info.

Garden Plan 2013

Before starting this post, I looked back at the Garden Planning 101 post from last March and couldn't help but smirk at the picture of the garden layout I had created for last year's rooftop garden. The actual plan turned out MUCH differently!

Not only did many of the initial plants keel over from high winds, but being the first year of our garden we ended up planting most of our items based on donated plants we received - so I couldn't really choose what we were planting.  This year, I still received a LARGE seed donation from Seed Savers Exchange, but did so before planning out the garden.  So I was able to more realistically estimate spacing and plant capacity, while ensuring that I included the seeds we actually had!

We are still looking for more donations, so please contact me if you are able to support us with a few more seed packets, seed starting soil mix, or planting mix.

I am excited to announce that we will also be expanding our planting area this year.  In addition to the original four planting beds we are also going to be planting in the L-shaped garden bed on the east end of the garden.  Last year, this bed was home to grasses and other water-catching plants; but many did not survive the first year, so we will be using that space to increase our vegetable/herb production.  Also, we will be utilizing the remaining earth box planters which we recycled from Future Green in 2011.  These will be reserved mainly for the Children's Gardens - including a salad garden, square foot mini-garden, pizza garden, and some culture-specific gardens for the World Lunchbox curriculum.

View the full 2013 Garden Plan here