New Haven Independent

Specifically, students are eating string beans the way Cheryl Barbra cooks them at High School in the Community. She’s a cook there. She takes fresh string beans, blanches them to keep them crisp, adds olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little salt and pepper.

Barbara had cups of the string beans out for free tastes to freezing passersby at the weekly CitySeed farmers market by City Hall on Church Street. (Click on the play arrow for a video sampling.) She’s been cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables as part of a CitySeed-sparked push for more healthful foods in New Haven’s public school cafeterias.

Barbara had her food on display as part of a promotion for a community cookbook CitySeed is putting together. It’s still soliciting recipes. Tagen Engel, the group’s policy director, was on hand talking up the project. She said the cookbook will be in Spanish and English and promote a healthful diet. “A number of recipes will be incorporated into the school lunch” menu, she said.

Besides Barbara’s string beans, CitySeed was handing out samples of a second recipe bound for the book: “Food Dude” Tim Cipriano’s “Squapple Crisp.” It features butternet squash, apples, brown sugar, corn flakes, butter and sale. Cipriano is the TV chef brought in this year to oversee the new healthful regime.

To submit a recipe for the book (and qualify for a $50 prize), email here. For info, call Becky Elias at 773-3736. Recipes must include fresh foods or vegetables; the deadline is Friday.