Cooking Tips and Recipes Inspired by an Operation Frontline Class

Posted by Matt Kotlove on Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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kids eating at school When I graduated from college last year, I was clueless to all things culinary. I had been on a meal plan the past four years, and I truthfully did not think much about cooking my own meals, aside from Easy Mac and ramen noodles (two staples of any college student).

This is where Operation Frontline came into the picture. I signed on to be an AmeriCorps with Operation Frontline Massachusetts, serving as a class coordinator. Over the course of the year, I have helped to organize many different courses, and I have had the privilege to work with many great volunteers. Each class series taught me many new things, and I have developed a passion for cooking and food from seeing the great progress many of the participants were making. I started preparing many of the Operation Frontline recipes at home, and they were really delicious and most importantly easy!

I have experimented with various other recipes since then, some really good and others not so much. Since summer is now in full swing, I thought I would show a few easy recipes that don’t require any added heat.

Cowboy Caviar

Serves 8-10, Cost: $5.27

Ingredients

2 Cans black-eyed peas ($2.00)
1 red pepper, finely chopped ($1.29)
1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped ($0.79)
2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped ($0.60)
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced ($0.59)
4 tbs apple cider vinegar (I had this at home)
4 tbs canola oil / vegetable oil (I had this at home)
salt and pepper to taste (I had this at home)

Directions: Mix peas, red pepper, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic in a bowl. Add the apple cider, oil, and salt/pepper. Stir everything together, and refrigerate for 20 min or until ready to serve.

Notes: This dish is much tastier after marinating for a while in the refrigerator. The caviar is great left over, and I actually added it to baby spinach for a salad the following day.

Whole-Wheat Pita Chips

Adapted from Eating Right, Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips Serves 8, 4 chips per serving; Cost: $2.59

Ingredients

Mini-Whole Wheat pita bread ($2.59 /bag of 8 mini pitas)
Olive Oil (I had this at home)
Dash of Salt, Pepper, and Garlic powder (I had this at home)

Directions: This is so simple and easy! Cut each pita into 4 slices and mix with a little oil and spices. Spread the slices on a sheet tray and bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes. I usually add a lot of garlic powder to my chips (I love garlic!).

Refreshing Fruit Smoothies

Adapted from Eating Right, Fruit Smoothies Serves 2-3, Cost: $ 10.98

Ingredients

1 Banana ($0.50/each)
1 cup Vanilla Low-Fat Yogurt ($2.49/32 oz. container)
½ cup 100% Orange Juice (I had this at home)
½ cup 100% Apple Juice (I had this at home)
A handful of Bagged Baby Spinach [You can most certainly use frozen spinach, but I was using the rest of the spinach as a salad with my cowboy caviar the next day] ($2.99/ 6.oz bag)
1 cup Frozen Mango chunks ($2.50 /16 oz. bag)
1 cup Frozen Berry Medley [blueberries, raspberries, strawberries] ($2.50/16 oz. bag)

Directions: In a blender/food processor combine all of the ingredients. A key thing to remember is that the liquid covers the solid ingredients in the blender. This will give you a better smoothie consistency.

Notes: You can obviously add any kinds of fruits you like. I personally like using frozen fruit because that eliminates the need for ice. Fresh fruit can also be really expensive when not in season. I add spinach to my smoothies (it does not change the flavor of the smoothie). When we make these in OFL classes, participants are amazed that they don’t taste any spinach.

My recipe was a little more expensive; however, I did not use all of the frozen fruit, yogurt, or spinach. Those ingredients can be placed in the refrigerator/freezer and used to make smoothies another day. I used the spinach with the Cowboy Caviar to make a salad.

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