Proud “Mom”

Ok, before anyone who knows me very well wonders what the heck I’m talking about, no, I didn’t secretly run out and adopt a child or anything like that. I’m referring to of a new food product on the market.

Last year my friend Betsy asked me if I would be interested in helping develop a recipe for a vegetarian side dish using orzo as the base. It would be for the food business portion of Soup of Success, the job & life skills training program where she works. I think it’s an extremely worthwhile venture, so I told her I would give it a go.

Fast forward a few months and many different attempts later, I finally came up with something that I thought was a good possibility. I packed up and headed back to the midwest for a long weekend, so we could get together and tweak the recipe. A pinch of this and a pinch of that later, we had something that we all agreed was delicious!

Betsy took the recipe back to her organization and they began working on the process of converting a home cooking recipe into something that could be mass-produced. There was another round of a pinch of this, a pinch of that, and several tweaks along the way by various people, but it was finally ready for the public! So, I am now proud to present to you — No Worry Vegetarian Curry:

If any of you would like to give it a try, it can be mail ordered directly from Soup of Success. Since I know many of my blog readers are also concerned with following a healthy lifestyle, here is a closer view of the nutrition & ingredient information for this product (click image for larger view):

They also carry many other products including soup mixes, cookie mixes, dip/dressing mixes, etc. I’ve pretty much tried most of the products they carry and can recommend them all. A personal favorite is the Ruth’s Original Blend dip/dressing mix. It can be used in a variety of ways which makes it very appealing, in my opinion.

The women who participate in this program go through an intensive 5-month plan where they learn the necessary job & life skills to help them get off of, or avoid having to go on, public assistance. Part of that training includes working in the food business which plays an integral role in teaching them job skills which can help them find a job after graduating from the program. Profits from the food business are rolled back into the program to help keep it running.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Later!