Terry McDonnell said his family’s go-to meals were once pizza, grilled cheese and hot dogs.
But, McDonnell, 56, became concerned about his diet when his doctor told him he had high cholesterol and pre-diabetes.
He went online to hunt for healthy recipes and ended up struggling to find simple, quick meals he could easily make for himself and his family, which includes five children. At one point, he remembers wandering through a Co-op Food Store looking for galangal, a type of tropical rhizome, called for by a recipe he found online.
Frustrated, McDonnell, an entrepreneur who owns Artisans Park in Windsor, reached out to nutritionist Susan Reade, of Florence, Mass., and natural food chef Lisa Mason, of Moretown, Vt.
“Let’s create simple, healthy food,” McDonnell recalled saying to them.
He spoke in an interview last week in a spacious storefront in his Windsor business park. The store is home to McDonnell’s company, Oh! Veggies, which he incorporated last February.
Together, the entrepreneur, the nutritionist and the chef have developed a collection of recipes featuring vegetables and plant-based proteins, as well as a line of sauces and seasonings. The sauces and seasonings are manufactured in small batches by co-packer C&K Foods in Rockingham, Vt.
Oh! Veggies’ recipes — available online at ohveggies.net — break down ingredients into two categories: a shopping list and pantry items — things McDonnell and his team would expect people to have at home. They call for a sauce and seasoning and provide directions for preparation and cooking.
“All of us need to be eating more fruits and vegetables,” McDonnell said. To get “five servings a day in, you’re eating a crap-load of veggies in a week.”
He can already see the difference in his own life, he said. During his journey to eating more healthfully, McDonnell said he has found doing a cleanse to be the most enlightening. For a week, he eliminated caffeine, sugar, dairy, gluten, meat and alcohol from his diet.
“I could tell that eating this way was better for me,” he said.
McDonnell said he lost almost a pound a day during his cleanse, though he’d still like to take off five more.
“How do we help other people decide it’s something they want to look into?” he said.
To answer that question, McDonnell has been working to market the sauces and seasonings, and get the recipes into people’s hands. He has worked with Dot Benham, the produce merchandiser at the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, to set up healthy recipe hubs at the Hanover and Lebanon Co-op Food Stores. The hubs, which went up last fall, are wooden display shelves that sit in the two stores’ produce departments and include recipe cards and the sauces and seasonings. Oh! Veggies has also been regularly offering samples at the stores.
Benham said in a phone interview last week the hubs are particularly geared for people who are “on-the-go after work.”
“Our customers are very, very interested in fresh produce,” she said. “Anything that can make it easier for them to eat fresh produce is a win for customers.”
The goal of the hubs is to help people like McDonnell who are not skilled chefs to make quick and healthy meals, he said. McDonnell’s vision is that, in time, these hubs will be present in many more grocery stores around the region.
“I hope it’s the same as when they took cigarettes from out front and moved them to the back,” he said. “So many people want to eat better.”
McDonnell also plans to host nutrition and cooking classes at Oh! Veggies’ Windsor storefront, which will be open seasonally, Memorial Day to Columbus Day, he said.
For McDonnell, healthy eating doesn’t mean that he and his family no longer turn to their old favorites, but it does mean they eat them less often.
On Monday, McDonnell cooked up a batch of Oh! Veggies’ mushroom and red pepper fajitas for lunch at his home in Norwich.
Mushroom And Red Pepper Fajitas
Serves: 2
1 portabella mushroom, 3 cups cut into ½-inch strips
1 red pepper, 1 cup cut into ½-inch strips
1 red onion, 1 ½ cup chopped medium
1 cup pinto beans
2 tablespoons Oh! Sesame Sizzle Seasoning
4 small flour tortillas
1 tablespoon oil
Clean and slice portabella. Cut red pepper into strips. Chop red onions. Drain and rinse beans.
Heat oil in a large cast iron pan over medium, until it sizzles when spritzed with water. Add mushroom, red pepper and red onion. Stirring occasionally, cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms begin to brown. Add Sesame Sizzle and beans and stir until heated through. Heat a small pan over medium heat. Toast tortillas, one at a time. Top each with vegetable-bean filling and serve.
Food Notes
Last year was a great one for food donations to Willing Hands, an Upper Valley nonprofit that delivers fresh produce and other foods to dozens of local service organizations.
The group collected more than 500,000 pounds of food, primarily fruits and vegetables from local farms and distributors, in 2016, according to a news release last month. That’s 22 percent more than Willing Hands collected in 2015.
“The generosity of our donors and volunteers keeps our truck on the road every day of the year, gathering and delivering healthy and nourishing food to folks in need,” Gabe Zoerheide, the group’s executive director, said in the release. “We thank everyone who made 2016 a success and we are excited to continue the trend in 2017.”
Donors include the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, Upper Valley Produce, King Arthur Flour, La Panciata, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs, Cedar Circle Farm, Crossroad Farm, Edgewater Farm, Long Wind Farm, Killdeer Farm, Maplewood Orchards, Riverview Farm and Whitman Brook Orchard. Additional produce came from Willing Hands’ own garden.
Recipients include Upper Valley food shelves, community meals, rehabilitation programs and families and seniors in affordable housing.
More information about Willing Hands can be found online at willinghands.org or by calling 802-698-0265.
Sweet Things
The First Universalist Society of Hartland will host its ninth annual Chocolate Auction on Sunday. Viewing starts at 11 a.m. and bidding at 11:15.
Simply Sweet Creations, Farro Deli, Hartland Diner, Taverne on the Square, Skunk Hollow Tavern and home chefs have contributed items. Some items will be specifically geared for children.
Samples of dark chocolate fondue will be provided. Raffle tickets for a $50 gift certificate to the Common Man Restaurant in Claremont will be on sale.
The event is set for the Hartland church, at the intersection of Brownsville Road and Route 12.
For more information call 802-436-2592 or visit hartlanduu.com.
Tenney Memorial Library on Main Street South in Newbury, Vt. will host Chocolate Indulgence for an early celebration of Valentine’s Day on Saturday at 1 p.m. Bring a friend, a teacup and some chocolate to share.
RSVP to Luisa at 802-866-5366 or tenneylibrary@gmail.com by Thursday.
The Tunbridge Church will sell dessert plates to raise funds for painting and capital projects at the Tunbridge Town Hall on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Admission is $5, dessert plates are $5 and beverages are bring your own. The event, Just Desserts, will also include live music, a silent auction, and door and table prizes.
More information is available at 802-889-3704 or 802-889-5528.
Four-Alarm Chili Cookoff
The 15th annual East Corinth Congregational Church Chili Contest will take place on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.
Chefs are invited to bring their chili to the vestry at the East Corinth Congregational Church on Village Road, just off Route 25. Diners will sample each chili and vote for their favorite. The winner will earn the chili champion’s apron.
Attendees will get a bowl of the chili of their choice and beverages, salad, cornbread and dessert will be on hand.
The cost of the event is by donation to benefit the Corinth Volunteer Fire Department. Preschoolers eat for free.
Yes, Cheese
The Upper Valley Food Co-op will host a cheese pairing workshop at the store on North Main Street in White River Junction on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Registration, at the front desk, by email info@uppervalleyfood.coop or phone 802-295-5804, is required by Thursday at 6 p.m.
The cost is $20 for members and $25 for non-members.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
