Recipe spotlight: Egg Fried Rice

Here is a quick fried rice recipe that uses leftovers and pantry staples to create a delicious snack or meal!

Serving size: 4-6 people as a main dish, 6-8 people as a side dish

Ingredients for Egg Fried Rice

4 cups cooked rice – day old is best
1-2 Tablespoons of oil
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cups vegetables chopped (fresh, frozen, or canned are fine – just drain excess liquid)
2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce (more or less to taste)
4 eggs (1-2 eggs per person)
½-1 Tablespoon of garlic powder(more or less to taste)
½-1 Tablespoon of black pepper (more or less to taste)
½-1 Tablespoon of chicken bouillon powder (more or less to taste)
2 Tbsp optional seasoning/toppings

Notes from the author:
I used brown rice, half of a large onion, two carrots, and four butter pats repurposed from various event leftovers. The dry seasonings are optional and could be replaced or combined with cayenne pepper, paprika, onion powder, mushroom powder, or omitted as desired. If you want to add meat, fish, or vegetarian protein substitutes, factor in about half to one cup of protein. Note that if you add raw meat or fish, you should chop, cook, and season with salt and pepper before you add the vegetables, rice, etc. Finally, I used sweet chili sauce as an optional topping, but chopped green onions or toasted sesame seeds are also tasty options.

Instructions for Egg Fried Rice

Preheat a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add oil of choice.
Chop vegetables as needed

Note that you can save vegetable scraps and make vegetable broth
Add veggies and dry seasonings to the pan and cook until tender

Push the vegetables to the side, and crack the eggs onto the other side.

Scramble the eggs and then mix eggs and veggies together
Add the rice to the veggie and egg mixture 2 cups at a time.

Pour the soy sauce on top.

Stir and mix rice until warm
Serve with desired toppings

If you have any leftovers, they’ll last about 1-2 days in the fridge, depending on the age of the leftover rice

Article by Bion Hawkmorr, HSRC Events & Programming Coordinator 2017-2018

Photo credit: Bion Hawkmorr 2018

March 27, 2018

Breakfast with a tinge of color

We wanted to bring to you some delicious, quick and simple recipes that can be made with little cost. A bonus is that many of the ingredients used for these recipes can be found at the Oregon State University, Human Service Resource Center food pantry. We decided to play with color and make blue cornbread and vegetable scrambled eggs

To make our cornbread, we chose to use blue cornmeal. This ingredient, one of the lesser grabbed items at the food pantry, served to give our cornbread an interesting blue tinge! To pair with the cornbread, we decided to make some scrambled eggs. As students we usually have a hectic morning, rushing to make a quick breakfast of just eggs. Scrambled eggs with veggies, is a delicious and healthier alternative to your regular plain ol’ scramble.

We began with making cornbread, the ingredients included:

Download a PDF of this recipe: Blue Corn Cornbread – Fifteen Spatulas

¾ cup of butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
3 regular eggs
1.5 cups milk
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of blue corn meal
4.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

As you prepare your ingredients, preheat the oven to 400℉.

To prepare the ingredients you will need 3 bowls.

In the first bowl mix together butter and sugar. Do not worry if you didn’t have enough time to let your butter melt to room temperature. We decided to heat it in the microwave until partially melted.

In the second bowl mix together your eggs and milk.

In the third bowl sift together your flour, blue cornmeal, baking soda and salt.

Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mix in the first bowl, then add ½ of the egg/milk mixture. Mix this until all ingredients are absorbed.

Repeat this step until the remaining flour mixture and egg/milk mixture are added into the first bowl.

* We did not have an electric mixer, however a fork or whisk were able to serve the same purpose. We do recommend using an electric mixer, as it was quite exhausting trying to mix the ingredients with a fork.

Grease the pan with butter, or pam (if you already have it).

Once mixed, pour the cornbread mixture into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Or any large pan you have available.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. To check that it is cooked stick a toothpick or fork through the middle. If the fork comes out clean, then it is cooked all the way through

Once it’s ready, let it cool off. We couldn’t wait to eat it, and found out that while still hot it could be quite crumbly.

-This recipe was adapted from Blue Corn Cornbread by Joanne Ozuq at 15spatulas.com

We then prepared the egg recipe:

Download a PDF of this recipe: Colorful Scrambled Eggs

8 regular eggs
1 large green pepper
3 tomatoes
1 large onion
Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
1 cup of milk
1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Start by cubing your tomatoes, onions and green pepper. Then mix in a bowl.

Break the eggs in a separate bowl and add 1 cup of milk.

*We later found out that 1 cup was too much and recommend using ½ a cup.

Mix the eggs and milk, then pour the mixture into the vegetable bowl.

Add salt and pepper to taste into the mixture.

Heat a large pan and add vegetable oil.

*We did not have a specific temperature to heat it to, so we started on low and gradually increased it.

Once hot, add mixture and scramble with a spatula until ready.

Here’s a picture of the delicious, complete product!

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Final thoughts from Fatuma and Nikita, two Spring 2018 volunteers:

Volunteering with the food pantry started as a great way to earn service learning hours for a class, but it turned into an eye opening experience. We were able to learn how the food pantry functions, and the great ways it has impacted food insecurity in our community. We were excited for this blogging opportunity to not only expand our knowledge about how the food pantry items may be used, but also share our experience making some interesting recipes. In the future, we look forward to opportunities to experiment with food products we might have overlooked in the past and encourage others to experiment themselves!

February 10, 2018February 22, 2018

Shopping-Style Food Pantry: What’s it like?

If you’ve never visited the Human Services Resource Center during days when we have a shopping-style food pantry, this post can give you an idea of what to expect.

As a reminder, you can find our schedule on our website – and you can visit during non-shopping style days and we can help make you a box of food.

The front of a mid-century modern looking brown building has stairs to one side and a ramp to the other. — We have a shopping-style food pantry 3-4 times per month. The sign outside our building says Avery House. The building is often named Avery Lodge (like on campus maps). Someday soon, the building will re-named. We know it’s confusing in the interim; unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do.

a green sandshich board is at teh top of stairs — Anyone who meets income qualifications can visit the HSRC food pantry. This resource is not limited to students.

There is free street parking immediately in front of Avery on Madison Avenue, though it’s often full during the school day. More street parking can be found on adjacent city streets. The parking lot immediately East of Avery is monitored until 5:00 pm, as is the crescent campus lot 1/2 block away to the West. Further details can be found at the OSU parking page. If you’re stopping in for a quick food box, you may find the 30 minute loading zone spots helpful.

A smiling woman sits behind a table with assorted papers — Before you can get your food, you’ll have to sign in at our welcome desk.

We know that some people might have concerns about data collection and privacy. The information collected on this form is not shared with the broader university. You can read more about our data collection and data philosophy on our website.

A hand is holding a pen and writing information on a form. The top half of the form is obscured by an orange sheet of paper. — Signing in is simple: you’ll just have to record your name, address, household size and sign your name to confirm that you meet income eligibility guidelines. The laminated orange sheet helps us protect the confidentiality of the individuals who signed in before you.

We get most of our food from the Linn Benton Food Share, our regional food bank. Using this sign-in form and following strict confidentiality rules are part of our agreement with them.

A form with text explaining income eligibility and non discrimination policy is obscured by an orange piece of paper. — When you sign in, the form has important information about eligibility criteria and our non-discrimination policy.

Income guidelines are similar to qualifications for other government and community support programs.

text of our non discrimination policy. — We take our non-discrimination policy seriously. If you feel like there is room for improvement, please alert a staff person.

multiple reusable shopping bags are heaped on a table. — If you have reusable bags, please bring them! This helps us keep food costs low. If you forget your bags, don’t worry, we have some paper bags for you to use.

An illustration of a van is on a card, with a capital V and a lowercase v on it. The card itself sits on the arm of a couch. — After you sign in, you’ll be issued a card – we’ll call this when it’s your turn (instead of your name or a number).

While you are waiting you can study at a table. We have wifi in our building and this might be a good time to get some studying done. Ask a staff member if you need to print something and we’ll show you where you can do so.

Couches are arranged in front of a fire place, with decorative squash in the foreground. — We also have couches and chairs to sit on while you wait your turn.

Diet Dr. Pepper and juice boxes are on a table. — We often have snacks available.

Chicken is in a bowl with rice, a cookbook is open to a page with the recipe for it. — Sometimes we have recipe tastings. This is Adobo Chicken from the Good and Cheap Cookbook, which you can check out from the HSRC.

Sometimes we have information about campus and community resources tabling at our pantry. Be sure to check these out, they’re often really helpful!

A volunteer wearing an apron holds up a card with an illustrated van on it and a capital V and a lowercase v — Keep an ear and an eye out for your turn. A volunteer or a staff person will hold up a card that matches the one you were given when you checked in.

Its your turn when a volunteer holds up a card that is the same as yours.

The volunteer or staff person will have a card that looks similar to this- and will help you keep track of how much food you’re able to take home. This is based on recommendations from the USDA and is a recommendation based on how much food a household of your size might need for about a week. This card is for a household size of 2 people.

Stacked of red and black shopping baskets — We have shopping baskets for you to use.

First, you’ll get to choose the fresh produce options you’d like to take home to your family.

Onions in a wooden crate. — In the winter months, sometimes we have fewer produce options.

Colorful berries are in green berry baskets — In the summer months, we sometimes have berries and carrots and broccolini.

Herbs and celery and parsnips and fennel — Sometimes our produce selection includes celery and fennel and parsnips and even herbs.

On average, each household that visits the HSRC gets about 5 lbs of produce per visit. We get some of our produce from the Linn Benton Food Share or from members of our communities with abundant home gardens. We are especially grateful for community gardens like Produce for the People and our partnership with the Student Sustainability Initiative, Growing Food Security who help us be generous with produce at the HSRC.

A white board is on a silver surface — Each freezer contains different items. The numbers indicate how many servings the item counts for. In this case, a whole chicken is four servings of protein.

Our freezers can also sometimes have frozen meals or frozen vegetables.

Eggs and margarine on a tray, on a black table — We usually distribute eggs and margarine on a one-per-household basis.

After you shop for fresh produce and frozen items, you’ll move into our dry-good storage area where you can choose from the shelf-stable items.

If you like raisins, we almost always have lots of them! This is our canned fruits and vegetable section. Each canned item usually counts as one serving.

We also have non-meat proteins like beans and nut butters.

If you have dietary restrictions or food allergies, let the volunteer or staff person who’s assisting you know – we’ll make sure you get extra of something else to make things equitable. You don’t have to take home anything you don’t like or don’t need.