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Exploring the 2025 Nutrition Education Program Calendar · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello and welcome to Talking FACS. We have information you can use to strengthen
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  your family, your community, and our state.
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  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  The beginning of the year is an exciting time. It's fresh and new and full of
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  opportunities. So when we flip over the calendar, it is a blank slate.
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  The Nutrition Education Program Calendar is one of my favorite calendars because
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  it is full of beautiful new recipes that I can try throughout the year to serve to my family.
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  We can test new cooking methods, and we can enjoy the flavors of Kentucky together.
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  So my guest today is LaToya Drake, Extension Specialist for Food Access with
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  the Nutrition Education Program. Welcome, LaToya.
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  Hey, Mindy. I am so excited to talk to you about the Nutrition Education Program calendar for 2025.
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  I can't believe we're in 2025 already. Me either. We blinked and 2024 is over.
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  I'm excited to talk about it as well. It's super awesome. It is a beautiful calendar.
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  And that's one of the things that
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  really appeals to me the most about our calendars. They are so lovely.
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  They just really have such beautiful recipes included.
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  And the food styling of the photographs. And I know that you played a big role
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  in getting our photographs so attractive.
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  So can you talk to me just a little bit about that process?
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  Yeah, it's one of my favorite pieces of my job. I really like to tell stories through pictures.
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  And I think when you set up food really well, you tell a story of a good meal
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  through that picture of food. And I start collecting stuff to tell that story
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  the next year, all year long.
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  Like I stop at random Good Wills throughout the state when I'm out and about
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  with work to look for random plates and napkins to make sure that it looks like
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  something that would be appealing to our audiences and everyone.
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  Sure. And they are so beautiful. And that's one of the things that many people may not realize.
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  Commercial magazines and commercial calendars have to use real food just like
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  we do, but they can use hairspray or they can use whatever props they need to
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  to make the photographs look good.
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  Attractive. We use the real food and we don't do anything to it.
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  We just don't do anything to it, but eat it after we're done because we want
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  to make sure we're not being wasteful with the funds that we're using to purchase
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  these items, to create these lovely educational materials.
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  But because we eat those the day that we're creating the calendar,
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  we said that's our lunch that day. So we can't add anything to it.
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  The only thing that I use that might be fake is I put, I got some ice,
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  some fake ice to add to water because ice melts so quickly.
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  And then a spray bottle to make the ice, the water sweat. Yeah.
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  Because ice melts too quickly to use.
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  Yes. And so that is probably the best testament ever.
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  You all eat the food that you have displayed so beautifully.
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  And so if you all enjoy it, then probably everybody else across the state is
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  going to enjoy it as well.
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  Yeah, we also want to make sure we're being food safe when we're preparing the
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  day of the calendar because we are going to eat the food and we are going to enjoy the food.
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  So we don't want anybody on our staff to get sick the day of calendar preparation.
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  Well, and that's one of the things that is included in the calendar.
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  You have food safety recommendations right in each of the recipes.
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  Yeah, we have some food safety recommendations, some substitution information,
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  an ingredient spotlight in each recipe and how to make these recipes a meal
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  in a healthy way as well as a bunch of additional information in these super cute calendars.
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  That is, they are really just so attractive and they grab your attention and
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  they make you want to try the recipe.
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  You know, so many times you'll see a recipe and it's like,
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  Well, this sounds good, but is it worth my time?
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  And these recipes are all so attractive that you know they're worth your time
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  because not only do you have the ingredients listed there, but you also have a cost breakdown.
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  And so you know, you know, it's not only is it going to taste good,
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  but it's also going to be cost effective.
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  Well, the cost breakdown is not as inclusive as it was in the past years because
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  the costs change so much.
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  But that's true. We need to make sure that we put that these recipes are created
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  with cost in mind because the grocery prices seem so unstable right now.
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  So we want to make sure that we're including things that are generally budget
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  friendly, no matter where the prices go.
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  That is true. And we do see such fluctuation at the grocery store,
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  you know, not just month to month, but week to week. It seems like things are changing.
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  Yeah, like our January recipe, Mindy, is split pea soup.
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  And we know split peas are super cost effective all the time.
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  And often folks are not really exposed to them because they're not the cutest
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  when they're cooked but they're really, really tasty and can hold a lot of flavor
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  and that split pea soup is especially delicious.
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  I helped create that recipe actually. It's got a- I was going to say,
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  that's one of your recipes.
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  Yeah, I really love it. One of the optional things was to add some meat that you have available.
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  If you've got some leftover ham, if you've got some leftover sausage of any
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  kind, put that in that split pea soup.
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  It's going to be super delicious. I think that that's a really exciting thing to try.
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  I was going to say, peas are not one of my favorite things, but that recipe
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  looks so delicious that I just might even give it a try.
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  So as we're moving through the calendar, I'm sure that you're probably partial
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  to the recipe that you submitted, but is there another one that really grabs
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  your attention that you're really excited to try?
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  Yeah, I've tried a majority of them. And one of my favorites is the February recipe.
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  It's the cauliflower bites. I love a good buffalo cauliflower recipe.
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  And these, the air fryer version gets super crispy and they're just super tasty
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  little bites. We made a little yogurt buffalo sauce the day I'm testing just
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  to pair with the picture.
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  And all I did was do plain yogurt with a little bit of buffalo sauce.
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  If you think about it, buffalo sauces and hot sauces maybe have a lot of sodium in them.
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  So you can back that sodium off by adding a little bit to some yogurt and dipping
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  those cauliflower bites into that sauce was super delicious.
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  And I will definitely be making those at my house. Well, and I can imagine that
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  if you are celebrating a big football game that might be happening in February,
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  that these might be the great snack food that you would serve at that football game.
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  Definitely a healthy option to pair with a variety of things.
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  You can really set up your plate, right? And have a really varied amount of
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  snack foods and make this your vegetable portion of your Super Bowl plate.
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  Well, and the other thing that I liked about this recipe is that it showcases
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  maybe a different cooking method that people haven't tried yet.
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  The air fryer is something that's been on the market for quite a few years,
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  but maybe if you don't have one in your kitchen, this might be something that you want to try.
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  Right. And I love my air fryer. It's my favorite kitchen utensil. Mine too.
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  And people don't realize that an air fryer is simply a convection oven with a fan.
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  So it's just a lot of heat in there. It's cooking things quickly.
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  It's cooking things crispier.
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  Your old fries are going to be refreshed in an air fryer.
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  In NEP, we didn't really talk about air fryers until recently.
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  They became more affordable.
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  You can find an air fryer during tax season on sale for about 40 bucks or so.
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  And that can be an expense, but that's something that is super worth it as it
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  relates to food waste because my leftovers are refreshed anew frequently because of my air fryer.
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  I save lots of money with food waste. Well, and I have a convection oven as part of my range.
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  My air fryer heats up so much more quickly than my oven that I know I save so
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  much money in electricity costs.
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  My air fryer is definitely my go-to in the summer and hot months,
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  and I rarely turn on my oven in the summer months. Exactly. Because I don't
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  want to heat the house up.
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  I think it's a great cooking tool. I love it.
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  So let's talk about my favorite recipe that I'm excited to try is the December
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  recipe, the Lasagna Soup.
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  My family has lasagna for our Christmas dinner because that's our tradition.
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  So maybe I will try to sneak in lasagna soup because the prep time is so much
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  shorter than what it takes me to prepare a whole big lasagna casserole.
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  So maybe I'll be able to sneak that in and I won't have to spend as much time
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  in the kitchen next Christmas.
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  Right. We always do a brunch at Christmas time. And there's even the recipes
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  for brunch in this calendar as well.
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  We've got an egg bowl, I think. I saw that. And that looked like so much fun.
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  I love the lasagna too. It's a grits, greens, and egg bowl.
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  And then you've got the lasagna soup, like you were talking about,
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  is super delicious with that ricotta or cottage cheese on top.
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  Yeah. I love it that it includes spinach. So it's got some good greens in there.
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  But it's got those traditional flavors that you'll find in lasagna and you're
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  not missing anything by eating it.
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  Well, and what I liked about the egg bowl and actually all of our recipes is
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  that it gives you a little bit of information about what is included in an egg. Panotheneic acid.
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  Panotheneic acid. That's a hard one, Mendy. That is included in an egg that maybe
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  it's not part of your regular everyday vocabulary.
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  It is something that we all need. Helps convert food into energy and helps in our metabolism.
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  I love ingredients spotlights, because you can learn so much indirectly about
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  nutrition and why you need the foods and a variety of foods that we need.
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  Yeah, so all of these recipes not only are good for our body,
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  but they're good for our brain because it helps us to learn more about the different
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  nutrients that are available to us and how we can use them in our body to just
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  become healthier and also smarter.
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  Yeah, I love too that folks are expanding their lessons in the counties with the calendar.
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  In our 120 counties, many folks are having cooking with the calendar classes.
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  So check that out. Reach out to your extension office in your Kentucky counties
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  to see if they're having classes that let you try these recipes before you buy these recipes.
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  You can go in, go to a class, and sometimes they sample the recipe of the month.
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  And then we also provide these calendars in Spanish.
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  Yeah, definitely in the counties where there's frequent Spanish speakers.
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  If you have a county that's got a high population of Spanish speakers,
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  look for those in Spanish. If they're not in your county, we can definitely
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  get those to you online if you need one in Spanish. But they are available in Spanish for sure.
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  So if you need the calendar in Spanish, then we can certainly provide that.
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  So we try to provide something that will be beneficial for everyone across the state.
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  LaToya, I just really want to thank you for your part in making these calendars come to life.
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  They are just such a wonderful part of our contribution to the nutrition habits of Kentuckians.
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  Thank you, Mindy. I hope you guys will check out the calendar.
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  If you are just tuning in, you're listening to Talking FACS,
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  and we're available wherever you find your favorite podcast.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea,
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  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT or send us an email at UKFCSEXT@UKY.EDU.
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  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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  Music.