The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank held its annual Chopped Competition virtually in March, as part of National Nutrition Month and today announces local winners in eight categories.

The annual Chopped Competition is a way for the Food Bank’s partner agencies (food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and more) share resources and best practices for nutrition education and wellness that they can pass to the neighbors they serve on the local level.  For this year’s virtual competition, partners were asked to make a healthy recipe using squash, ham steak and beans.  Bonus points were awarded if more than one of the healthy ingredients were used in each recipe.

The Food Bank’s Agency Services team members choose the top two recipes from each category based on ease of preparation, presentation, and creative use of ingredients.  The winners were:

 

  • Best Soup and Salad – Emma Witwer, Project SHARE of Carlisle, Carlisle (Cumberland County)
    • Asian-Inspired Crunchy Rainbow Salad
  • Runner Up for Soup and Salad – Maryann Combs, The New Love Center Café, Jersey Shore (Lycoming & Clinton County)
    • Spring Minestrone Soup Recipe
  • Best Side Dish – Melissa Edmonds, STEP Head Start, Williamsport (Lycoming County)
    • Zucchini Cheddar Corn Biscuits
  • Runner Up for Side Dish (Tied) – Maryann Combs, The New Love Center Café, Jersey Shore (Lycoming & Clinton County)
    • Black Bean & Chick Pee Puree
  • Runner Up for Side Dish (Tied) – Amy Dettinger, Lifepath Christian Ministries, York (York County)
    • Black Bean & Tomato Salsa
  • Best Main Entrée – Lori Shienvold, HANNA’s Pantry/HANNA Foundation, Harrisburg (Dauphin County)
    • Crustless Zucchini Quiche
  • Runner Up for Main Entrée – Darlene Colon & Captain Michael Buzzard, Lancaster Salvation Army, Lancaster (Lancaster County)
    • Spaghetti Squash Burrito Bowls
  • Best Dessert – Amy Dettinger, Lifepath Christian Ministries, York (York County)
    • Butternut Squash chocolate Mug Cake
  • Runner Up for Dessert – Bonnie Strayer, Bedford Food Outreach, Bedford (Bedford County)
    • Zucchini Squash Cake

 

“The Chopped Competition is always a fun event bringing together many of our partner agencies and allowing them to share resources with each other, including recipes they can share with the people they serve,” said Joe Arthur, executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.  “Our partners share their winning recipes with their clients and teach them how to use the food they receive in their weekly distributions.  We believe everyone deserves access to good, nutritious food, and it is a joy to help folks learn how to deliciously prepare it.  We congratulate our winners and are happy to have been able to continue this event virtually this year.”

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, with locations in Harrisburg and Williamsport, helps to sustain its mission of feeding neighbors in need at the local level, by sharing its resources to invest in its 1,000 partner agencies and programs across its 27-county service territory. In 2020, the Food Bank awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct Bold Goal Grants to supply, support, and sustain many of these partners. These grants allowed partners to improve their capacity, provide more refrigerator and freezer space, expand their selection of food items, and set up safe “no touch” distribution methods. During the pandemic the Food Bank waived the usual modest cost sharing for nearly 400,000 Crisis Response Boxes of healthy, shelf-stable food and delivered more than 30 million pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, and protein, much of which was available at no cost to partners from USDA commodities programs.

 

A recipe booklet of all entries to Chopped, can be found here.