When I eat healthy I limit the amount of fat, sodium and sugar in my diet. In order to avoid having my food taste bland,  I use vegetables and fruits to add flavor. There are so many fruits and vegetables we can use to make our food taste delicious and healthy.  

One of my favorite things to make is salsa. I've been eating salsa since I was a kid and I'm lucky that my mom makes the best salsa. Check out my salsa recipe and suggestions below:   

 

What will I need to make salsa?

Ingredients:  Tomatoes, peppers, water and salt.

Kitchen supplies: A blender or a molcajete (mortar and pestle).

 

Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamin C. 

 

How can I make my salsa spicy?

Thai peppers are very spicy and packed with flavor, so if you want some spicy salsa add a small handful.

 

Top row : Serrano Chili Pepper, Jalapenos. Bottom row: Thai Peppers, Dried Abrol Peppers.

 

How can I make a mild salsa? 

Jalapeños tend to be the least spicy. Experiment by adding a few when you make your salsa. Once you build a tolerance, add more peppers.  

 

What if my salsa is too spicy?

 Add another tomato or water to reduce spiciness.

 

How can I make green/red salsa?

If you want to make your salsa red, use tomatoes and dried Chile de Abrol.

If you want to make your salsa green, use tomatillos (they look like small green tomatoes) and green peppers.

You can use tomatoes to make green salsa: just reduce the number of tomatoes and increase the number of green peppers.  

 

Do you have a recipe I can try?

Yes! Here is a quick and easy recipe that I made in less than 8 minutes:

Ingredients:3 tomatoes, 6 grilled jalapeños, water and garlic salt.  

I typically grill the tomatoes and jalapeños and add warm water when I make salsa. 

Note: If you blend the tomatoes and jalapeños raw it will taste different. If you decide not to grill them, just heat up the finished salsa in a pan.  

 

 

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UC CalFresh Nutrition Educator, Emily Harris, reflects on the experience of teaching her first adult nutrition education series.

Making a difference in the life of community members is something we aspire to here at UC CalFresh. I had the privilege of teaching my first class of adults, and I'll admit, I was nervous. After teaching kids who are younger than me, shorter than me, and expected to listen to me by their respective teachers, I had no idea what to expect.  

 

“I buy more [healthy] dairy for my son, ‘non-fat milk.' I learned how to check how much sugar is really in drinks. [I] also plan on keeping up on [healthy] foods and drinks.”-Adult program participant

 

Being a 20-someting with no kids, I didn't know if my adult participants would take what I had to say seriously. I don't have to budget for three hungry children with particular food sensitivities/preferences; who am I to tell them how to do this?

Despite these thoughts coursing through my mind, I decided to be confident and share the information I had to offer with the life experiences (however limited they are) that I do have. I was astounded by the positive responses that I had! I felt that my participants appreciated my honest and sometimes comical anecdotes about my own struggles with eating healthy and trying to stick to a budget.

 

“It was an informative class. [I'm] going to look at nutrition facts now that I have a better understanding. [I] would love to learn in more detail how eating unhealthy affects us.”–Adult program participant

 

What I decided to emphasize when I teach is that changes will not happen all at one time in every aspect of a participant's life. One of my participants was an avid soda drinker, consuming at least three cans a day. I did not tell this participant that he should quit drinking soda completely; I know within a week or two he would be back to drinking it and probably at a higher volume. My suggestion to any situation like this one is to begin with a small change. Maybe for this participant the best thing to do would be to only drink two sodas a day this week.

I know some adamant health fanatics are probably astounded by my suggestion. Is she really encouraging a participant to drink high amounts of soda? Not at all! What I've seen and learned in my classes is that people have habits that they need to break, and the only effective way to break them is at a gradual pace. What I desire for my participants is that they develop healthy habits they can pass on to their children, and I'm thankful I was able to see that begin to happen in their lives.

~Emily 

 

Interested in more success stories from past participants? Find them here! 

Kindergarten students at Birney Elementary had a lot of fun learning about grains with their nutrition educator, Mrs. Rogers!

The students read the book, Macaroni and Rice and Bread by the Slice, which taught them about the difference between whole grains and refined grains.

Mrs. Rogers brought along a model of a whole grain to show the students that all three parts (the brain, germ, and endosperm) provide us with the fiber, vitamins and minerals, and energy that we need, as Mrs. Rogers says it, "to last us the whole day long."

To check the students' understanding, Mrs. Rogers brought examples of rice, pasta, tortillas, and bread of all different kinds. As she held each one up the students had to give a "thumbs up" if it was a whole grain, or a "thumbs down" if it was a refined grain. All of the students expressed their love of popcorn, and were excited when they found out that it was a grain.

Every student got involved when Mrs. Rogers did the grains song, which got their bodies moving and their hearts pumping. Since grains give us energy, she thought she would have them use a little bit of it while she was there!

The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources recently hosted a Programmatic Orientation for new Academics.  There were many UCCE Advisors in attendance from across the state as well as the Vice President of UC ANR, Dr. Barbara Allen-Diaz, and the Associate Vice President, Dr. Bill Frost.

The Fresno County UC CalFresh program had the privilege of providing an overview of the work we are doing in schools and community centers. 

Jose Alvarado, Fresno Unified Food Services Director, presented on the district's partnership with UC CalFresh and discussed the new community eligibility provision which allows the district to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

Jose also provided the group a tour of the Nutrition Center which produces over 70,000 meals every day. Amazing! 

Check out the tour below: