Outreach in Action

Outreach ‘Featured Recipes’ evolve from 2010 cookbook

by Jo Mayer and Paul Crandall

Clearing out a pile of old cookbooks the other day, we were rewarded with an unexpected gift. Tucked in the corner: a humble, recipe-card-sized Outreach cookbook from 2010. It delighted us to look through and remember past and present board members, Outreach staff, and volunteers who had contributed to it.

The brainchild of former board member Mary Myer, the book was designed to be adjustable—new recipes could be added easily by punching a couple of holes in a recipe card and opening up the key-ring holders.

We tried the first recipe we came to—Cheryl Holloway’s Mexican Soup—and found it delicious and satisfying. It also happens to be a recipe that uses ingredients commonly found in the Outreach pantry, making it a fitting debut for our new “Featured Recipe Series.”

Registered clients of Outreach are invited monthly to shop our pantry shelves, choosing from basic items such as canned soup, cereal, pasta, canned veggies and more, as well as personal hygiene products like dish soap, toilet paper, and laundry detergent. And now, with our Outreach “Featured Recipe,” they can walk away with a new idea for putting a meal together.

Here’s this month’s Featured Recipe:

Mexican Soup

submitted by Cheryl Holloway

1 can corn

1 can refried beans

1 can chicken broth

1 can black beans

1 jar of salsa or can of diced tomatoes

1 can of chicken (optional—we made it without the chicken)

Place all the ingredients in a crockpot or in a pan on the stove and mix them together. Heat and serve. Good with shredded cheese and tortilla chips!

For dessert we found this gem submitted by former board chair Nancy Ocwieja.

Chipper Bars

submitted by Nancy Ocwieja

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter (softened)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, baking soda, and salt.  Beat at medium speed until crumbly.  Reserve 1-1/2 cups of crumb mixture—set aside. Press remaining crumbs on the bottom of a greased 9”X13” pan. In a small bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter.  Pour evenly over crumb mixture in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pat the set-aside crumb mixture onto the filling.  Bake 25-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Delicious!  We ate them before I thought to take a picture!

Ask at Outreach for future installments of the Outreach Featured Recipe Series.

Tucked away in our old cookbooks we found a humble, recipe-card-sized Outreach cookbook from 2010. Photo credit: Jo Mayer