Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud Recipes for Those Who Need to Know How

Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud provides healthy, great tasting recipes using Kentucky Proud products in order to increase consumer purchase, preparation, and preservation of Kentucky grown and value-added commodities, through marketing and educational collaborations. The project is a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension driven partnership with the School of Human Environmental Sciences and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Since 2011 over 1M recipe cards and hundreds of programs have informed local citizens of the availability and nutritional value of locally grown commodities. Fayette County FCS Extension partnered with Lexington-Urban County Government and local CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) contracted to service 50 LFUCG employees. Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipes were appropriately matched with cards provided for weekly produce deliveries. Additional recipes were provided to CSA customers in a weekly newsletter. 

Post surveys from all 50 participants provided the following data:
 50% of employees utilized one or more Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud resources
 52% prepared at least one meal featuring Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipes with 24% preparing 4 to 10+ different recipes.
 56% of employees found the Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud tasting held during CSA pick-up helpful.
 92% of employees were not aware of Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipes prior to contracting with their CSA. 

The following responses indicate the benefits received from receiving Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipes:

• Received foods we have never used or heard of with helpful recipes.
• I learned the proper method for storing vegetables and fruits.
• Having these recipes and instructions not only allowed me to cook those recipes but gave me a familiarity with how to process those unfamiliar ingredients so I could incorporate them into other dishes. 
• Became more educated on nutrition
• Helpful to have recipes when it is a veggie that I do not normally buy. I learned how to store different foods to lengthen the storage life, and I tried a lot of new recipes.