Inside Look: What’s On Your Fork?

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Stephanie Ronco

Have you ever gotten a bit carried away on a new project?

I know I have.

But that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.

In fact, getting carried away on a wave on enthusiasm and creativity often leads to the creation of some of my favorite materials!

Take these fork photo resources, for example.

I was experimenting with forks holding different foods and I… well… got carried away. I had just made a new photo studio with strobe lights and all kinds of props. As I played with each one, I saw styrofoam and stuck a fork in it.

The rest is history.

The timing was extra fortuitous for this particular round of inspiration because it turns out that the theme for National Nutrition Month 2017 is “Put Your Best Fork Forward!” These materials — which I have been creating since this summer when I was working on my food photo portfolio — will be perfect for that celebration.

Here’s a collection of the fork lessons in different formats. Which will appeal most to your clients?

Display Resources:

Prizes:

And here’s a closer look at my artist’s statement, which captures why and how I do what I do…

The concept of my work is that I create art with food and then photograph it in an evocative and dramatic manner. I am drawn to working with fruits and vegetables. The first reason is because my business is dedicated to nutrition education and the promotion of foods that are nutrient dense, high in fiber and low in added fat, sugar, and salt (three evils of processed food in the Western world). The second reason is because I love finding fruits and vegetables in farmers’ markets and coming home with them and exploring new and creative ways to photograph them. My experience as a pastry chef leads me to want to arrange my subjects in a very artistic manner and to create salads and many other types of dishes that appear decadent even though they are healthful.

The materials that I use consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein foods that are fresh, in season, and available in local markets. I have a variety of props and backdrops as well as a light table. I have a full sensor Nikon D800 camera, strobe lights, and a natural light studio, also known as my dining room, which has a taller table for my shoots.

My process consists of researching and shopping in local food markets to purchase items from local farmers and food producers. I create a scene and shoot it different ways in my studio. This makes my shots more compiled than found and they have a theme for the viewer. They might be based on Mediterranean foods, phytochemicals, food groups, or just one seasonal ingredient like berries. The outcome is an artistic photograph that is inspirational to the viewer. It is a celebration of food as it nourishes the body!

By Judy Doherty, AOS, BS, PC II

As a special treat today, I want to share the printable handout that accompanies the Wise Choices Poster. Take a look!

And here are a few of the fork resources that you can get today!

Fork Banner 48" X 36"

$88.00 ~~$110.00~~

Add to Cart

Fork Photo Wall Decals - "Walloons" Set of 8" Wall Decals - Set of 6

$45.00

Add to Cart

Fork Stickers 2" - Pack of 100

$12.99 ~~$12.99~~

Add to Cart

When in Greece

Posted on August 26, 2015 by cheryle

My husband and I recently went on a Mediterranean cruise. One of the stops was the beautiful volcanic island of Santorini. I’m sure you’d recognize the place if you saw the photos — it’s a beautiful location with stark white buildings and an occasional blue-roofed church dome overlooking the Aegean Sea. Like thousands of our fellow cruisers, we toured the island and took many photos.

I love visiting local grocery stores when I travel. I like it best if I can check out where the locals really shop — not a tourist attraction. I enjoy looking at the fresh fruits and vegetables, learning about what’s local and what’s in season. It’s also a treat to check out the refrigerated cases and packaged products. During this trip, I found Greek yogurt, pistachios, and olives alongside American foods like Oreos and Starbucks.

Wanting to prolong our stay on the island and try a little local cuisine, we stopped at a restaurant that had all the pre-requisites — outdoor dining with a view of the ocean, local beer, and an appetizer menu. We ordered tzatziki dip accompanied by a basket of warm pita bread. When I asked the waiter about the ingredients, he said that it was only yogurt, garlic, and cucumbers. I think also tasted a little dill. The tzatziki was thick and rich, but also satisfying. I’m sure that the yogurt they used to make this was full-fat Greek strained yogurt.

Now that we’re home, I’ve recreated this appetizer.

First, I did a lot of research. I found several brands of commercially-prepared tzatziki available in the dairy case. In checking the ingredient lists, I discovered that many contain a yogurt base and sour cream, along with cucumbers, vinegar, garlic, and dill. The nutrition facts vary by brand, but most contain around 40 calories, with 3 grams of fat for a 2 tablespoon serving.

Tzatziki is frequently used as the sauce on gyros, but it can also be a salad dressing, sauce for grilled meats or mild fish, or a dip. Instead of dill you can season tzatziki with mint or parsley.

After I learned about what was available, I asked Chef Judy, President and Founder of Food and Health Communications for an easy recipe for make-at-home tzatziki that is low in fat, but also high in flavor. Judy’s recipe uses low-fat or non-fat plain Greek yogurt and both dill and mint. You can experiment with how much seasoning you like. This recipe contains only 31 calories for ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) and one gram of fat per serving. Serve it by itself as a salad, or as a dip with whole-grain crackers, pita chips, or vegetable crudités.

Tzatziki Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, cut in half and sliced thinly
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 tsp dried dill
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

Toss ingredients together.
Chill until ready to serve.

Thanks, Judy, for helping to recreate these great memories in a healthful way!

By Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University

Would you like to share this with your clients? Here’s a free handout with the recipe and a few fun tzatziki facts!

And remember, there’s always more in the Nutrition Education Store!

Mediterranean Diet PowerPoint and Handout Set

Complete School Lunch Poster Set

Recipe Card: Watermelon “Cake”

We are here to help you look your very best, right now.

Going to California: Food and Health’s Next Adventure

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Stephanie Ronco

Press Release: A Move for Food and Health Communications, Inc.

Food and Health Communications, Inc. was founded in Florida. Once the innovations and creativity of the Colorado food scene became irresistible, founder Judy Doherty, PC II, moved the company to Louisville. There, Doherty spent years learning about the factors that made Colorado one of the healthiest states in the nation. After many years growing the business in Colorado, however, Doherty realized that it was time to move the company elsewhere. In a few weeks, Food and Health will be starting up new headquarters in California.

The websites, email, and contact information for Food and Health will all remain the same. Plus, since the Food and Health team is spread out across the world, there will be no changes made to the staff. Even the shipping facility in Michigan will not move, since that location is perfect for speedy shipping across the United States.

So what is changing?

The home address of Food and Health Communications will now be…

Food and Health Communications, Inc.
164 Robles Way, #290
Vallejo, CA 94591

Customers and members of the media can still reach the team at Food and Health by phone at 800-462-2352 or by fax at 800-433-7435.

The promising food scene in California, especially the farmers’ markets, wine country, ethnic cuisine, and fantastic restaurants all proved to be too inspiring to ignore. With this move, Doherty can offer new resources for health educators based on all the fresh ideas and inspiration to be found in California. Since Food and Health Communications, Inc. is one of the leading suppliers of nutrition and health education materials for professionals, this move to a new locale will offer the opportunity to grow and innovate, driving the team to create new products and resources for everyone who might need them.

For more information, call 800-462-2352 or visit www.foodandhealth.com.

The Mediterranean Diet: 7 Things I Learned

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

Have you tried Mediterranean food?

I have always loved meals from the Mediterranean region. One of my favorite restaurants in Miami served the most exquisite baba ganoush, hummus, falafel, and fattoush dishes that I have ever eaten. Once I tried them, I couldn’t get enough.

Because I loved Mediterranean food so much, I sought out ways to learn more about it. I made major strides in my study of and recipe development for the Mediterranean area in 2005. That was after I took a class at the Culinary Institute of America as part of my continuing education and ProChef II exam preparation.

The class was a 5-day intensive course on Mediterranean cuisine with Certified Master Chef Ken Arnone, CMC. Chef Arnone has spent a great deal of time in the Mediterranean and is one of the most passionate and detail-oriented chefs I have ever known. The 5-day course covered key foods from Provence, Sicily, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. In that class, I worked with a group of chefs from all over the country. We spent hours learning about the history, ingredients, and cuisine of a particular Mediterranean region every day. After that, we would cook the food as a class and end the day with a huge feast.

That may sound like a walk in the park, but the course was intense. Every day, we worked in teams to prepare a staggering number of dishes. Each one required extraordinary levels of mis en place. It was certainly a restaurant-style experience that involved sharing stoves, grills, and prep table space while working on a tight timeline. You see, Chef Arnone wanted all the food served at 6 pm sharp.

Now, once all the work was done, it was tons of fun to sit down and eat everything family-style in a large group. I remembered grabbing small portions of everything and making copious notes about what I liked in each dish.

If anything, that class increased my fascination with cooking foods from the Mediterranean region. When I got home, I bought tons of Mediterranean cookbooks. Then I read, studied, experimented, and read some more, cooking an endless parade of new dishes in my kitchen. After all, my ProChef II exam was just around the corner, and since the test was going to be a mystery basket with a 3-hour time limit and a specific serving time that needed to be hit precisely, I wanted to have as much practice as I could get.

For the exam, I would draw a card out of a stack. That card would contain the name of a country, a type of protein, and a cooking method. I then would have to prepare a dish that matched the criteria on the card, which meant that I really had to study all of the countries and their cuisine, being able to make a dish from scratch in the time allotted — all with a master chef and other judges observing my process and technique.

The exam day arrived, and so did the moment of truth. I drew a card. Greece, lamb, and grilling.

What a wonderful Mediterranean surprise! I won’t keep you in suspense — the final dish was a smashing success. My score was one of the highest in the class and my examining chef told me that my dish made him think that he was in a café in Greece!

Okay, that’s enough about my time with the ProChef II exam (though if you’d like to read more, it’s all in the post, CIA ProChef 2 Story).

Let’s get back to the Mediterranean.

In 2014, I was approached by a book publisher who wanted me to write a Mediterranean cookbook. Unfortunately, the deadline was tight and the budget was scarce, so I had to turn it down. After that conversation, I started thinking about how I would outline my own book and what I would want to teach in order to help people learn about this wonderful region and its ingredients. I knew that I didn’t want to make just another cooking tour or gourmet encyclopedia. People are busy, so I wanted to make sure that I told them about the health benefits, ingredients, and popular dishes — all the keys, none of the wasted time.

Around this time, I started teaching an advanced pastry course at Johnson and Wales University. During that course, I learned that photos of beautiful dishes motivate students to create their own masterpieces. I knew that I would want to carry that information into my Mediterranean project too.

From there, I started planning a multimedia class for the clients of Food and Health Communications, Inc. and the Nutrition Education Store. My plan was set into motion when our client, Michelle Ernanga, MS, RD, sent in a request for a Mediterranean Diet PowerPoint. I decided that this PowerPoint was a great place to start my larger project, because it is a lot more visual and interactive than a book. The infographics, research summaries, photos, and video make it very easy to learn all anyone would need to know about the health benefits, key ingredients, featured countries, and easy recipes of the Mediterranean.

The point of the new Mediterranean Diet Class PowerPoint and Handout Set was to present the research, show the ingredients, and provide a look at a few popular dishes, along with exploring everyday substitutions that people could make in order to shift to a healthful plant-based diet.

Thus the Mediterranean PowerPoint was born.

I would like to thank Lynn Greiger, RD, LD, for her tireless research on the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and Victoria Shanta Retelny, RD, for her contributions about the flavors and health benefits of this diet as well. I would also like to thank my editor, Stephanie Ronco, who was flexible, organized, and very detail-oriented. And of course I would like to give a shout-out to my son, Nicholas, who was very good at tasting and critiquing the finished dishes. Mostly, he clamored for more!

Creating this nutrition PowerPoint was an intense and wonderful experience, and I certainly learned a lot. Here’s my list of the 7 most important lessons that I took away from this project.

1. The ingredients overlap. The ingredient lists for many dishes from a variety of Mediterranean regions actually overlap! Yes, the dishes are different, but many of the base ingredients are the same. The whole point to cooking in a Mediterranean style is to use all of the delicious, highly-flavored and beautifully-colored fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans that are so prevalent in all cuisines in the Mediterranean region.

2. Mediterranean dishes are based on vegetables. Vegetables are the key, which makes this is a whole new world of cooking. I hadn’t realized how much I had painted myself into a corner by relying solely on old favorites until I started creating hundreds of delicious vegetable dishes and salads based on Mediterranean ingredients.

3. Sardines are delicious. No, really! I had read about them before, but I never really ate them until I created the Sicilian fennel, olive, and sardine salad. Sardines aren’t that high in sodium, they’re inexpensive, and they keep for a long time (in their cans). Plus, sardines are not on the big list of fish that can contain a lot of mercury, and yet they are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Of course, they also add a lot of flavor. You don’t need that many sardines in order to add rich flavor to many dishes. I had never added them to a salad or veggie dish before, but now I really like using them.

4. Grilling is prevalent but easy. You can create a whole dinner on a grill. Grilling is popular in the Mediterranean, and it has been popular for a long time. This has a lot to do with the history of the area, where fresh water is often sparse. Many dishes are made over a small wood fire, and many of the protein and vegetable components are grilled.

5. Tagines are awesome. A tagine is a Moroccan stew pot with a funny lid that’s conically-shaped. I originally bought one for learning about Moroccan stews. The thing I love the most about a tagine is that you can cook with a tiny amount of water and the meat and vegetables will cook very well. The stew can also cook on very low heat without burning.

6. Olive oils come in many flavors. I have since started shopping in olive oil boutiques and I am amazed at the variety of flavors. Some are bitter, some are smooth, some are grassy, some are acidic. And there are a million variations on a ton of flavor combinations. It’s always fun to come home with a new olive oil!

7. There are so many new grains to try. Where to start? Bulgur and couscous cook so quickly. And I love working with Valencia rice for paella. Risotto is also very delicious. Farro is a new-to-me grain with a crunchy, nutty flavor and texture. And pasta is always fun — I love to buy new shapes. The best part is that cooking grains Mediterranean-style is fast and easy. People will gather around the stove to watch you make paella and they will remember it for a long time.

Of course, the show is full of great lessons in health, easy cooking, and nutrition. You can get a sneak preview today — all 100+ slides are featured in the flash version, so take a look and let me know what you think!

I’ve also added tons of new recipes to the Mediterranean recipe database, which is totally free and always available.

Mediterranean cuisine is constantly growing and changing. The region is home to the Modernist Cuisine movement, which was started by Barcelonan Chef Ferran Adria, who founded elBulli in the 1980s. Although he closed the restaurant in 2011, Chef Adria is starting a foundation to record, preserve, and create new cooking methods and presentations.

How will you try Mediterranean meals?

By Chef Doherty, PC II

Get the Mediterranean PowerPoint and Handout Set today! And there are lots of other nutrition education resources in the Nutrition Education Store!

Mediterranean Diet Class with PowerPoint, Handouts, and Leader Guide

Kids Activity with MyPlate Bookmark

Freedom from Chronic Disease Poster

Salad Secrets

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

I had a mission. I was going to take pictures of all 1,000 recipes in the free recipe database.

Salad Secrets Cookbook and Demo Set

It didn’t seem especially daunting. I figured that I would print a copy of each recipe, then sort everything into piles of similar recipes. I would tackle salads, then fruits, pasta, rice, chicken, fish, veggies, beans, soups, holidays, desserts, etc.

As I began to sort, I was blown away by the hundreds and hundreds of salad recipes. There seemed to be way more salads than anything else. In fact, we had roughly 10 times the number of salads than recipes in any other category.

Since I had so many healthful salad recipes, I decided to take pictures of those first.

Little did I know that this would take a whole summer.

You see, once I started taking pictures of the salads, I got a little sidetracked. There were just so many wonderful recipes to share. I ended up putting all the salad recipes into a book and combining them with an instruction set. That’s how Salad Secrets was born.

I also posted some of my favorite salads and presentation tips on the Food and Health blog, and they quickly became some of the most popular posts I’d ever written. I shouldn’t really have been surprised — who doesn’t want to learn about healthful new ways to make tasty and creative salads?

Carrot Cake Salad from the Salad Secrets Cookbook

One of my best salad features was the carrot cake salad. It uses the same spices as carrot cake and can be served dessert-style in a stemmed glass. I was so pleased with the resources that I’d made to help people fall in love with salad. In fact, that delight soon led to the creation of a nutrition poster called Fall in Love with Salad.

Who knew that all of those wonderful nutrition education materials would come out of a simple photography project?

Of course, I eventually did get back on track. I finished my pile of salads, and you can see the recipes (with photos!) in the salad section of the free recipe database.

Once the salads were done, I decided to tackle fruit.

Well, that was my intention.

Home Run Cooking Book and Demo Program

The recipes just kept inspiring me, and before I knew it, I had compiled my favorite show-stopping fruit desserts into Fruit Tooth, a cookbook that helps people turn a sweet tooth into a “fruit tooth” with simple and delicious fruit desserts.

At that point, I decided to roll with it, turning the holiday recipes into Holiday Secrets, my best healthful holiday cooking book yet. That was quickly followed by the Home Run Cooking Book, which is basically a compilation of my very favorite recipes that I’ve ever created.

So, here we are in 2014, and I’ve still got a few stacks of recipes to photograph. Plus, I’m constantly adding new and exciting recipes to the database, which means that my to-do list is always growing.

But really, I’m sure I’ll finish it all any minute now.

By Judy Doherty PC II and Founder of Food and Health Communcations

PS Because I love you, here’s a free handout with one of my latest salad creations, the Chicken Fajita Salad. Get your copy today!

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