Food Revolution Day 2016 | Lake County to the Netherlands

Golly gee willacker! Summer is in full swing and it's time to take a look back to one the best months of my life. I hope you enjoy my diary of Food Revolution Day 2016!

I celebrated Food Revolution Day for the first time on Aces Day at West Oak School on May 4th and for the second time at the Liberty Prairie Plant sale on May 14th. Ambassadors Christina and Sara and I braved the unusually brisk weather (yes it snowed!) and we passed out recipes to inspire market goers to buy kitchen garden ingredients together. I am one lucky girl to have passionate teammates like them!!

And then I was off...

I flew standby out to Europe (so crazy thankful to my friend Susan!), got bumped, stayed overnight in Detroit but finally took off on a London flight. And it sure paid off...

It was a very unexpected detour, but on the way to Amsterdam (via the City London Airport), I got to meet the lovely Jo Creed and team, visit Food Revolution Headquarters and sip tea at Fifteen London. Pretty amazing hiccup that I am so very grateful for!

Even thought there was not enough time to cook with them, I got to see a little bit of the Hello Fresh cook off event with Food Revolution team! What fun and what an incredible team building idea to promote employee food education + workplace wellness!

After a final epic picture, and a good bye promise to come back again soon, I finally arrived in the Netherlands to see my dear soffritto sister, Terri Salminen! 

This is how we roll! Terri + me in her "bakfeit" (cargo bike). Yup I fit just fine in the front.

In partnership with Hutton Europe, Terri's first Food Revolution workplace wellness event went off without a hitch. Chef's Damien Sawyer (left) and Damien Taylor (Executive Chef) were amazing to cook with! I loved connecting with the Hutton team and the Microsoft employees; The energy was fantastic and everyone LOVED the FRD inspired recipes we prepared for them.

Find, prepare and eat all of 10 FRD Recipes! Here is one of the beautiful plates of salmon I prepared and served with my team at Terri's first event at Microsoft NL!

Our second cooking event was located at SAS Institute B.V. Which was absolutely Gorgeous.

Wack the pomegranate! I prepared and served Jamie's SuperFood Salad. YUM.

Gosh I love watching her work! Terri prepared her beautiful ricotta, risotto and strawberry dishes for the employees to enjoy and be inspired!

I made crafty handmade tags for each of our chefs and bloggers who led cooking stations at Terri's Food Revolution Day 2016 Food Symposium (A better description would be a pop up cooking market event!) Over 350 people came to Fifteen Amsterdam event including 50 school children. It was simple amazeballs and I will NEVER forget being a part of epic free food education gathering.

Here is a link to my previous post explaining the who/what/where/how of the FRD event.

I hope you enjoy our video!

I love your face Thomas!!!

20 years ago me and Annemiek went to High School together (she as a foreign exchange student). It was absolutely INCREDIBLE to see her again and catch up after all these years! Thank you SO much for coming to see us Annemiek!!!

It was truly incredible. The work, the effort, the volunteering... I never could have imagined this level of talent and passion spreading and teaching at the same time. We were all so tired, so content, so happy to be together here in our celebration circle. I wish I could go back! Terri, your vision and organization impresses me like know other, I will follow you to the ends of the earth my dear Super Ambassador and Soffritto Sister!

To Chef Ramone Otto and Chef Damien Taylor: Without you both, this would not have happened. I am one lucky girl to have had the honor to cook and play with you both. Thank you for everything. And I sure hope we meet again!

Amsterdam, Haarlem... You have captured my heart.

I even got to cook with her at her beautiful workplace!

I treasure our friendship Terri. You are my soffritto soul sister and I cannot wait to see YOU in July! GET HERE!!!!!!

I'll be seeing you around town, on my fun new Dutchie bike (Found at Higher Gear!) Bringing a little part of Netherlands BACK baby.

To the mullies we go,

xoxoL

Cooking with Tommy - A Simple Hummus + Cilantro Pesto

Tommy was super proud of himself. Here's how it went down :) 
#lemonlickinggood #gowashyourhandsagain

Find this recipe and more information of Food Revolution Day here :

I am in the Netherlands, typing next to Terri at her kitchen table. We are about to start prepping to host her Food Symposium (aka pop-up cookery school) at Fifteen Amsterdam Friday! 

Here's how she drove me home to her house from the airport: Driving Miss Lindsey

The Netherlands is amazeballs.

xoxoL

Aces Day at West Oak + Organic Plant Sale Weekend!

All hands up for "No Guts No Glory!"

Pilot Light Chef's "Tacos Al Pastor" curriculum = "Engagement through the roof" - Mr Bercos 5th grade Dual Language.

You girls make the best hummus and pesto ever!

Mr Willeford loved our tasty samples too!

I tried to hit every table and talk FOOD!

Chef Rob knows how to inspire us with great food!

The students placed their tally on any of the boards they liked!

Super high Ambassador fives!

Sara put this fantastic video together! I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!! Thank you so much... I still cannot believe how fast you made it:)

It's been a week and I still can't stop smiling ear to ear! What an awesome day we had at West Oak School last Wednesday!

I know I have thanked everyone, but I must do so again.

Thank you Principle Chris Willeford - You said "Aces Day" and we said YES!

Thank you Pilot Light Chefs - Alex, you and I have been dreaming for a long time and finally, FINALLY we were able to get your common core aligned food education out to the suburbs. I can't wait to do it again!

Thank you Preferred Meals - Mary, it was wonderful having you in the lunchroom with us and the kids LOVED tricking out their tacos! Thank you for jumping into our hot food education balloon and Let's take it again up uP UP next year!

Thank you Ambassador Sara Lohrman + Stevenson High School Food Revolution Club - I have never had so much fun speaking, teaching and working alongside a group of students! By the last lunch (there were four of them!) you all were making everything on your own and running the entire tasting line. BOOM.

Thank you Chef Rob - Your presence, your wellness story and your sweet potato hummus rocked our worlds! I cannot wait to work with you again. What great energy we have together!

Thank you Sue Kruckman - You deserve Wellness Chair + Nurse of the YEAR! Thank you for spear heading this day from the "inside". It could not have happened without your passion and organization. You are my school wellness hero.

Last but not least, thank you Jamie's Food Revolution for inspiring us all to get food education back into our schools and to cook more from scratch at home together. We've been at it together for 4 years now and I love volunteering for this fantastic campaign.

What a team effort! What a day! Every smile, every tally mark, every conversation was one.more.drop into the good food conversation. There were so many students who had never tried hummus, let alone sweet potatoes or a pesto. "What is cilantro? What is pesto? You can put that on your taco? WHAT!?" The "Tacos Al Pastor" lesson connected the students to their food, a tangible take away lesson with real world application. My "No Guts No Glory" presentation made them laugh and it made them think a little bit more about what is in their food + where their food is coming from. It linked our gut health to our mental and physical health and encouraged them to take ownership like an athlete takes charge of the game!!

Wanna make what we whipped up on Aces Day? I know you will enjoy Jamie's Simple Hummus along with the other 9 recipes that are now LIVE on our website to download and cook for your family table. Here is the link: Jamie's 10 Food Revolution Day Recipes (Simple Hummus included) - And don't forget to sign your name as a fellow food revolutionary!

Chef Rob’s Sweet Potato Hummus

1 cup Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon Cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon Sea or Kosher salt

1 whole Sweet potato Roasted and Diced

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (optional)

Add all ingredients to a blender, food processor or nutribullet and blend! Feel free to use reserved garbanzo bean juice to thin out the hummus rather than add extra oil for a creamier consistency (thanks for the great tip Chef Rob!)

Super Food Ambassador Lindsey’s Cilantro Pesto

1 zucchini diced

¼ cup sunflower seeds

1 bunch fresh cilantro (stems included)

1 lemon juiced

2-3 Tablespoon avocado oil OR extra virgin olive oil

A healthy pinch of sea salt

Add all ingredients to a blender, food processor or nutribullet and blend! Feel free to add more lemon juice or oil to get to your desired consistency.

What's up NEXT!?!?!?

FOOD REVOLUTION DAY - May 20th!

Our Food Revolution Day Community event will be on Saturday from 10-2pm at the Liberty Prairie Organic Plant Sale and Farm Open House. Please come out and see us! We will have a booth with kids' cooking kits for sale, FRD recipes and loads of suggestions on what to buy for your kitchen garden so you can cook up a storm with us this Summer!

Here is the list of organic plants that will be available to purchase: Liberty Prairie Organic Seedlings

See you Saturday!

xoxoL

ps

Connect up with us on Facebook at our Lake County Food Revolution Page for great articles, recipes and information on upcoming community, school and workplace events.

Welcome to the New Food Revolution Website | Jamiesfoodrevolution.org is LIVE!

Stop, drop and hop on over to Jamie Oliver's 
NEW FOOD REVOLUTION HUB:

http://www.jamiesfoodrevolution.org/

This will be our new home, the place where Jamie, myself and all of the other ambassadors will be gathering to help YOU, to help EACH OTHER make a difference at our family tables, at our schools, and at our workplaces. 

Please sign up today and join us - Let's get the party STARTED!!!!!

Happy FRIDAY everyone! 

xoxoxoL