Teach healthy living skills to adults with autism

Few foods in life evoke warm summer days better than sautéed squash fresh picked from the garden. Participants in the CSS Garden to Table program have been working hard and enjoying the results!

It’s mid-summer here in Maryland and the squashes are beginning to arrive in abundance.  Specifically we’ve begun harvesting summer squashes such as the typical yellow, crookneck and patty pan squash.

Squash is a vegetable with a long tradition in North America. It is the lynchpin of the “three sisters” crop technique. Often known as companion planting it means that when you plant the different crops close together they all do better than they would apart. In this case, the three sisters are squash, corn and beans. Corn provides the much needed shade for squash to be cultivated successfully while the squash vines prohibit weed growth allowing the corn and beans to flourish. Beans then add nitrogen to the soil sharing nutrients between all three plans. The CSS gardens at Wootton’s Mill Park are planted with this symbiosis in mind thus maximizing the space and increasing the yield from all three crops.

Crops are tended carefully by our Gardening Group throughout the workweek. Individuals work in shifts being careful not to overheat, and many breaks are taken for shade and water.  July is a busy time in the garden with weeding, harvesting and replanting. There’s more than enough work for everyone. The crew gathers ripened vegetables, taking care not to damage the produce.

The harvested vegetables are brought back to the CSS kitchen where the dinner group then gets the chance to use them in their meals. A crowd favorite is to simply sauté squash with onions and bell peppers. After cutting the vegetables into manageable pieces, they are placed in a pan with a small amount of oil and seasonings and cooked until the vegetables are tender. The Tuesday dinner group enjoys squash as an ample side dish. As Craig S. says, “I like it because I grow it at work!”

Links:

• See more pictures from the harvest on our facebook page!
• Community Support Services, Inc.

The Healthy Cooking class at 1 o’clock on Thursday is a favorite for individuals and staff alike! The group is full of energy and anticipation as they gather, chatting about how they like learning to cook – and the fact that the food tastes great while also being good for them is an added bonus! 

Adam Rast, the cooking instructor at CSS, guides the class through each step of the cooking process of today’s recipe for Peanut Butter Bread. Each member of the group takes a turn as head chef while another group member reads the instructions aloud. They rotate until all the ingredients have come together, staying engaged during each step and supporting each other with applause! 

With the bread in the oven, the group utilizes the time by cleaning up the mess inevitably left behind by any kitchen project. Dishes are washed and dried while the recipe is reviewed. As the aroma of peanut butter wafts from the oven, Michael S. keeps a close eye on the timer, letting the rest of the group know how much time stands between them and their delicious snack. The increasingly hungry group distracts themselves by asking questions about the recipe. Then they kick back and relax, discussing their upcoming plans. 

At last, the final minute of baking time has arrived. The class counts down the seconds aloud and erupts in a cheer as the timer buzzes! The warm bread is sliced and passed around the table. The group savors the fruits of their labor, proving the Healthy Cooking class is not only educational but fun, and most importantly, delicious as well! 

Links:

• http://css-md.org