We’ve been cooking with beautiful produce!

Recapping our Garden and Nutrition Workshop that was held at Indian Orchard Citizens Council

Summer gardens are such a bountiful source of fresh produce. There are so many easy and nutritious recipes that utilize fresh squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and other wonderful plants that grow during this time of year.

Summer also marked the beginning of NOFA Mass’ Food Access Nutrition Workshop Series. These garden-to-kitchen cooking demonstrations are sponsored by a grant from MDAR. Each workshop focused on working with ingredients that can be purchased at a farm stand, the farmer’s market, directly from a farm CSA, or even grown in a backyard garden.

The workshops outline healthy recipes using ingredients picked straight from the garden and address how to utilize SNAP/HIP benefits. On July 23rd, the first workshop was hosted at Indian Orchard Citizen’s Council by the IOCC Volunteer Committee. Participants at this location had been recipients of farm shares from the MDAR LFPA program that concluded in January 2025. Over 50 families received fresh produce from Woven Roots Farm in Tyringham, MA over a 2-year period.

Each workshop highlighted a garden or farm-grown vegetable recipe. The first featured ingredient was summer squash. Food Access staff demonstrated a fun and easy way to use summer squash (a blend of zucchini, yellow squash and patti pan), cherry tomatoes, peppers and spring onions. We discussed how Soil Health plays an integral role between healthy safe soil and healthy food.  Everyone sampled and participated in the demonstration. Other demonstrations that took place across the state this summer included a workshop on making Fresh Homemade Sofrito on July 31st at Dorchester Food Coop in Boston and one on Fall Salad on August 18th at Home City Housing in Springfield.

Our next event will be featuring Roasted Vegetables in Codman Square, MA. Date and details coming soon!

Ingredients

• About 2 pounds of summer squash

• 2 cups water

• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 Tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce or Coconut aminos

Instructions

• Rinse squash and cut into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces.

• Cut a circle of aluminum foil that will fit just inside a large skillet. Cut 3 small slits in the middle. This will let steam escape as squash cooks.

• In a large skillet, place squash. Add water and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Place the foil circle loosely on top of squash pieces. Cook until pieces are softened, about 7-10 minutes. Remove foil and pour soy sauce over squash. Replace foil and boil until liquid is almost gone, about 3-5 minutes more. Watch closely to be sure the sauce does not burn.