Collecting and rating recipes, becoming discouraged and encouraged, writing introductions, finding images, receiving nudges from parishioners, formatting, and finally choosing a print shop, that’s the short version of the journey we have taken to reach the production of our recipe book.  What started with a conversation in the Canyon County Extension Office has come to an end, or at least a first edition and printing.  Yes, at one time we had planned to enlarge the project and include additional information about produce, as part of another Extension program.  The Univ of Idaho gave us the red light and we returned to our humble project.  A shout out to my partner Ariel Agenbroad, who recently moved to the Ada County Extension, and to Trinity member Di Seba, who carried the project through its middle stage.  I am thankful to have found a great local business with which to work: Copies Plus in Nampa.  Finally, thank you one last time to ELCA World Hunger for the Domestic Hunger Grant which funded our project After the Harvest.

We are giving the book away to people who receive food from the Trinity Lutheran Church Food Pantry and would like to distribute more books through other food pantries and food banks in the Treasure Valley.  A $5.00 donation per book, when possible, will help us continue printing and distributing the resource for years to come.

What follows are the two introductions printed in the book:

This collection of recipes was lovingly crafted to help friends and neighbors learn to use and enjoy the bounty of fresh vegetables grown in home and community gardens. Jumpstarted by Trinity Lutheran Pastor Meggan Manlove and the creative cooks at Trinity Lutheran Church, with help from University of Idaho Extension faculty, Idaho Master Gardener Volunteers and Canyon County community gardeners, the idea for a recipe contest was set in motion.
The requirements for recipe submission were this: recipes should be simple, affordable, and healthy, six ingredients or less. They should feature produce typically grown or available in Southwest Idaho, like potatoes, onions, squash, cabbage and broccoli, greens, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, beans, melons, strawberries, etc. The main ingredient needs to be the produce!
Dozens of enthusiastic gardeners and cooks shared their favorite ways to prepare simple, affordable, and tasty dishes that nourish the body and soul. The recipe submissions poured in, and then we had a lucky group of Idaho Master Gardener Volunteers test the recipes at home and rate them based on the length of time it took them to prepare the dish, the simplicity, flavor, ease of preparation, and healthfulness.
In time for harvest season, we now present to you the finished product. We hope that you enjoy these recipes as much as we did. To healthy eating!
Ariel Agenbroad, MS
Area Extension Educator, Food Systems & Small Farms

Trinity Community Gardens was founded in the spring of 2008, when University of Idaho Advanced Master Gardeners Dale and Sheila Anderson and Paulette Blaseg planted the original plot in the backyard of Trinity Lutheran Church in Nampa, Idaho to provide fresh produce, free of charge, to neighbors in need. In the years that followed, the Trinity Community Gardeners began building and planting additional plots throughout the community and expanded to gleaning the fields of local commercial vegetable gardens.
University of Idaho Extension and Trinity Lutheran Church have since established a unique, mutually beneficial partnership built on their shared goals of outreach, service, and education. In the spring of 2011, Trinity began hosting the annual University of Idaho Extension’s popular six-week Idaho Victory Garden course, enabling participants to learn both in the classroom and out in the garden. The church garden has also been a site for several 4-H Youth Gardening Day Camps.
These opportunities would not have been possible without the Trinity Community Garden co-founders and Advanced Master Gardeners Dale, Sheila, and Paulette, who also began teaching their own two-day course, “How to Garden the Trinity Community Gardens Way” in 2012. We have watched many students from both the Idaho Victory Garden Course and the Trinity Community Gardens classes go on to start community gardens in their own neighborhoods, often under the guidance and nurture of Dale Anderson. Others simply grow large home gardens and find themselves with extra to share.
Through the growth of home and community gardens and increased awareness of food insecurity in Idaho, over the last several years more food banks and food pantries have been given fresh produce to distribute to their clients. We now have a population of food pantry clients in Southwest Idaho who regularly receive produce that they do not always know how to prepare. Thanks to a Domestic Hunger Grant from World Hunger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, this book was developed.
Meggan Manlove, Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church