Reputed as one of the summer's finest dinners, REAP's annual meeting and potluck will be Tuesday, July 25th, 2006, from  6:00 -8:00 pm 
at Immanuel Lutheran Church.  ( 1021 Spaight Street- Madison )

Bring a dish to pass. (Or don’t worry about it. There’s always plenty!)
Beverages and tableware will be provided.

(Back to top)

Food for Thought Recipe Contest is Underway

What are more people doing to bring healthier, delicious, local food to their table? They’re just cooking.

REAP's seventh annual Food For Thought Recipe Contest encourages home cooks to experience the many benefits of eating locally and sustainably. 

With the theme, “Just Cooking: Fresh Thinking for the Kitchen,” we invite recipe submissions and accompanying stories that demonstrate how people are reconnecting on a local level with food, and how that food is grown and produced. 

The top winner will receive a $500 cash grand prize, which will be awarded with other prizes during the annual Food For Thought Festival on September 16, 2006.

Deadline for entries is noon August 18, 2006. Contest Rules and Entry Form.

Of course, the recipe contest leads up to the Food For Thought Festival, Madison's annual celebration of food and sustainability to be held September 16th along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard off the Capitol Square. 

"Just Cooking" is a way of looking at food that considers the health and wholeness of all the people and systems who produce and consume it.  It also means making healthy, local ingredients available so everyone has access to foods that are fresh, minimally processed, locally and/or sustainably produced, flavorful and nutritious.

Enter a delicious recipe featuring local products 
& you could be a winner! 

Click Here for Contest Info 
and On-line Submission Form

We're excited to welcome author and activist Anna Lappé and noted chef and Moosewood Cookbook author Mollie Katzen, as this year's Food for Thought guest speaker and chef.  The festival will be packed with over 60 local exhibitors, cooking demonstrations, music, kids activities, and delicious local food.

We'll be putting out the call for festival volunteers in the coming months.  It takes a whole lot of committed people to plan and implement this wonderful event.  Let us know if you want to help out!  

A huge thank you to this year's Food for Thought sponsors for making the recipe contest and festival possible.  Food for Thought 2006 sponsors are: Whole Foods Market, Williamson Street Grocery Co-op, Organic Valley, Heartland Credit Union, Home Savings Bank, MATC Culinary Arts Department, Johnson Block & Associates, Natural Ovens Bakery, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition, Madison Originals,  Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation,  Just Coffee, and the Dairy Business Innovation Center.

(Back to top)

Chefs Tory Miller and Eva Ringstrom from L'Etoile Restaurant cook with Sherman Middle School students.

New activities for fall:
At the same time, we're developing new student activities.  One of the most exciting new programs is our new "chef in the classroom" series, being developed in partnership with our friends Chef Tory Miller and Pastry Chef Eva Ringstrom from L'Etoile Restaurant.  Tory and Eva have already spent several sessions with 6th-8th graders at Sherman Middle School, engaging students in the pleasures of cooking and learning about farm fresh food.   

Like the "farmer-in-the-classroom" series and fields trips to farms, these hands-on cooking sessions with  professional chefs have really opened kids minds (and mouths) to experiencing the diverse array of Wisconsin-grown food.

Finally, we want to thank all of you who responded with support in our recent effort to influence the new food policy that is being developed for Madison's schools.  While no final policy has been adopted yet, we are sure our (and your) input was heard and we are hopeful that there will be policy language  encouraging use of more fresh fruits and vegetables in the lunch program.  We'll let you know more when the final policy is released.

"Buy Fresh Buy Local" Campaign Funded

With the award of a two-year grant from the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, REAP will be embarking on a new project this fall -- the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign.    

Consumers in south-central Wisconsin clearly express their desire for fresh, local foods.  Given that level of local food demand among consumers, and the growing awareness among restaurants and other food service institutions about their customers' preferences, we believe a there is great opportunity to increase the amounts of fresh local foods served in our region's eateries. 

"Buy Fresh, Buy Local" will become a branding used by restaurants, hospital cafeterias, and government food services to communicate their commitment to serving local products.  We will actively facilitate relationships between chefs and other institutional food buyers with local farmers, while simultaneously conducting a marketing campaign to encourage diners to support businesses who “Buy Fresh, Buy Local.”   

In the early phases of the campaign, we'll hire a full-time campaign coordinator and conduct extensive research into the practices of a wide range of regional food buyers and producers.  We will explore the full potential of distribution mechanisms currently in place to bridge the needs of these parties, and encourage the formation of new relationships and mechanisms.  We'll quickly move into the campaign itself -- identifying participating establishments and developing a branding label (a customized version of the icon above.)

We are truly delighted to have the opportunity to be moving forward with this campaign.  Like our Farm Fresh Atlas and Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch projects, this holds great potential to help close the gaps between our region's farms and our region's tables.

(Back to top)

The REAP Rewards Coupon Book - Support REAP and get great deals at the same time!

For just $10 per booklet, the REAP Rewards Coupon Book provides discount coupons at many of our favorite local businesses, totalling over $100 in value.  
(See the full coupon descriptions here.  It's a really quite an impressive list!)

How do I get a booklet?

• They're on sale at the Regent Street Market Cooperative, 

• They'll be available for sale at the Food for Thought Festival on Sept. 16th, 

• You can order by sending $10.00 per booklet and your mailing address to
  REAP Food Group
  PO Box 5632
  Madison, WI 53705

• Or email us at info@reapfoodgroup.org to arrange to pick one up
  
  All proceeds benefit the programs of REAP, 
  so buy two-- one for yourself and one as a great gift!

(Back to top)

                                                                          

Seasonal Recipe: Summer Pea Soup

by Deanna Schneider, 
Madison Grand Prize Winner , Food for Thought Recipe Contest 2005

From winner Deanna Schneider: "A friend and I do weekly meal swaps with each other and we're constantly challenging each other to do new things with seasonal ingredients. One Saturday we biked up to the farmer's market together and decided that we'd each buy the same ingredients then go home and prepare something from them. We bought shelled peas, basil, and Capri Farm's goat's milk feta. Here's what I whipped together. It's a very simple soup, best served lukewarm. It tastes like summer in a bowl."

If you have a backyard plot, by all means use fresh picked peas (and basil) from your own garden for this recipe. Or, like Deanna and her friend, buy them from the farmer's market. As the season changes in late summer and early fall, you can substitute shelled fresh soybeans, also called edamame, for the peas. (Frozen peas or edamame will also yield good results.)

For richer flavor, Deanna recommends using homemade or low-sodium chicken broth instead of water. For the cheese, she prefers Capri Farm's French or Greek style feta.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound (about 3 cups) fresh, shelled green peas
2 ¼ cups chicken broth or water 
3-5 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
salt and black pepper to taste
goat's milk feta cheese (for garnish)

Heat olive oil in a two-quart sauce pan over medium-low flame, add garlic and briefly sauté it. Add the broth, raise heat and bring broth to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add the peas, cover and cook until peas are tender. This will vary depending on the freshness of your peas; check them often and as soon as they're tender, remove pan from the heat. Very fresh peas will need only a few minutes.  

Pour peas and broth into a blender. Puree on high until very smooth. You may need to add some extra water at this stage if your peas were not juicy-fresh. Force mixture through a fine sieve. Add chopped basil and cream or half-and-half (if desired). Add salt and pepper to taste. Top each serving with crumbled feta. Makes 2 large or 4 small servings.

Copyright 2005 Reap Food Group