Recipe: Honey Baked Chicken

Tara Conroy, a Holistic Health Coach, marketing consultant and mom of four teenagers, shares one of her favorite recipes with Luminari. She received her health coach certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Tara also worked directly with our Camp Delicious students lending her nutritional expertise and guidance. She coaches individuals and groups, presents Wellness Workshops to community organizations and businesses and teaches healthy cooking to children, teens and adults.

Tara's recipe shows you that nutritious food is also delicious. Enjoy!

Honey Baked Chicken

Ingredients

                     3 pounds chicken breasts (boneless)

                     1/3 cup butter, melted

                     1/2 cup raw organic local honey

                     1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard

                     1/2 teaspoon salt

                     1 teaspoon curry powder (or turmeric if you don’t have curry)

Directions

.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place chicken pieces in a shallow baking pan, skin side up. Combine the melted butter or margarine, honey, mustard, salt and curry powder and pour the mixture over the chicken. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with pan drippings, until the chicken is nicely browned and tender and the juices run clear.  Serves 6.

Serve with brown rice, steamed broccoli and enjoy!

Tara Hill Conroy, Holistic Health Coach

www.localwellness.org

Camp Delicious Alumn: Aleta Conroy

Aleta was one of 12 teenagers to participate in Luminari's first-ever Camp Delicious!, a 5-day summer camp that focuses on yummy food, culinary experimentation, and kitchen independence. The experience inspired Aleta and her Camp Delicious peers to get in the kitchen and cook - an important skill that will stay with them throughout their lives. Since last summer, Aleta has been busy with school, Marching Band, Key Club, Dance Club and French Club.  In her free time, she babysits for many families in the community and loves to bake with the kids while babysitting, in addition to preparing meals when requested.  She also loves making hot cocoa and other hot drinks for her friends and family. Through her experience with Camp Delicious! Aleta learned how to be more independent in the kitchen, as well as the importance of cleaning up after cooking - something the Moms she babysits for really appreciate! 

What have you been up since completing Camp Delicious? 

 I've been making more food at home independently and eating healthier things like fruits and vegetables and things that grow from the ground.

What was your favorite activity and why?  

Going to Whole Foods for a field trip to look at the healthy choices and eating outside on the patio.

What is your Favorite Dish?  

Twice baked potatoes.

What does “good nutrition” mean to you?  

Eating the right foods and keeping our entire body and lifestyle healthy.

Have you discovered new cooking tips and techniques and do you help in the kitchen more often since participating in the Camp, please explain? 

I help in the kitchen more and I like to show my family members and friends how to chop.  

What was the most bizarre food you tried during the Camp and what did you think after trying it?  

The buckwheat and it was very different. A weird texture. Not my favorite, but glad I tried it.

How has Camp Delicious encouraged you to try new things? 

I'm open to tasting more different foods now.

How would you describe your Camp experience in three words?  

Fun. Delicious. Interactive.

Would you recommend Camp Delicious to your friends and why?  

Yes because they can meet new people, make new friends and create a new lifestyle from learning how to cook and taste new things.

For those just learning about Luminari or Camp Delicious, what’s the one thing they should know to get involved? 

It was so much fun. You should definitely sign up for one of their summer camps - I had a blast!

Embracing Pittsburgh's New Immigrants

2014 I Want to be an Ambassador! students with leaders and entrepreneurs from the Business Round Table session. Front row (L to R) Jesse Schell (Schell Games), Paul Brahim (BPU Investment Management), Candi Castleberry Singleton (UPMC), and Rebecca Harris (Chatham University Center for Women's Entrepreneurship)

Pittsburgh is a great city and home to so many visionaries and entrepreneurs. That is one of the reasons Luminari was established – to heighten the awareness of those innovators, dreamers and doers and foster activities that expand imaginations to drive change. Luminari believes people create success when they offer different perspectives, ideas, skills and work ethics that stir things up and inspire innovation. As a result, Luminari is excited about a new initiative to bring more students from immigrant communities into the conversation.

For more than 25 years, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s K-12 English as a Second Language program (ESL), has been helping students from around the world. Arriving in Pittsburgh for the first time, these students must learn very quickly how to adapt and excel in their neighborhoods, language and culture.  They must quickly build cultural competency and tolerance, and approach the world with fresh, open minds. To this end, Luminari is a natural partner. 

As a Pittsburgh-based non-profit which seeks to promote community engagement, Luminari was pleased to offer a Luminari Award/ESLScholarship to a student in the AIU’s ESL program.  The scholarship, valued at more than $1,200, will allow a future leader to participate in the 2015 I Want to be an Ambassador! camp in June. Focused on building cultural competency and tolerance, the 2015 I Want to be an Ambassador! camp will focus on developing the vital art and skills of diplomacy. This is the first year that Luminari has offered a camp scholarship specifically for an ESL student.

There are currently 441 total students in the AIU ESL program.

With the wave of immigrants and refugees who have been slowly making their way to the Pittsburgh area, it is essential that we find as many opportunities as possible to include our newcomers into local events and programs. The AIU is excited to be a partner with Luminari and looks forward to announcing the first winner in February.

Written by Gina DeMarco Oliphant, K-12 ESL Coordinator and Sarah McCluan, Supervisor, Communication Services

Allegheny Intermediate Unit
475 East Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120

Statistics from the 2010 Census:

• From 2006 to 2010, there were 38,799 new immigrant business owners in Pennsylvania, and in 2010, 9.1 percentof all business owners in Pennsylvania were foreign-born.

• Pennsylvania is home to many successful companies with at least one founder who was an immigrant or child of an immigrant, including Fortune 500 companies such as U.S. Steel, Comcast, Cigna Health, and PPG Industries. Those four companies together employ 243,000 people and bring in $128 billion in revenue each year.

• In 2010, of the Pennsylvania metro areas that are among the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas by total population, the foreign-born share of business owners was 14 percent in Philadelphia, and 4 percent in Pittsburgh. In each case, the immigrant business ownership rate was higher than the particular metro area’s foreign-born share of total population.

• The Pittsburgh metropolitan area had 2,370 H-1B visa requests in 2010-2011, with 72.6 percent of visa-holders working in STEM occupations. Major employers include the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Deloitte Consulting, and Fujitsu America Inc.

Looking Forward to 2015

On Thursday, February 19, 2015 we welcome the Year of the Goat. Chinese New Year is an annual event that marks the beginning of the Lunar calendar with a spectacular 15-day celebration observed by many Asian cultures as a time of reflection, renewal, and most importantly reformation – embracing change and looking to a new and prosperous year ahead!

To ensure our growth and continued success in 2015, Luminari is pleased to announce that three of its long-time partners have pledged their support for this year’s summer programs including Schell Games, an award-winning, Pittsburgh-based game development company; Berner International, Corp., a leading manufacturer of air curtains and doors headquartered in New Castle Pennsylvania; Brown Brothers Harriman, a banking institution with more than 200 years of experience in investment services; and UPMC Center for Engagement and Inclusion, which promotes dignity and respect in the workplace and cultural competency in patient and family care.

We are extremely grateful to these outstanding organizations for their belief in our mission and continued support. If you would like to join them in supporting Luminari, or would like to learn more about our sponsorship opportunities, please visit our website or call (412) 877 - 1888.

Looking ahead we have big plans for the I Want to be an Ambassador! camp, and under the leadership of our new director Gina Catanzarite, we will be incorporating more new media in the camp this year. Luminari is all about the “ripple effect” of positive change and throughout the camp, our teens will be sharing inspirational images, quotes, video clips, and advice for being an “ambassador” at home, at school, in the community and beyond. Be sure to follow Luminari on Facebook and Twitter for instant updates and to witness first-hand the progression of our new ambassadors.

In addition, we have an exciting change for our Teen Writer! Fantastic Fiction camp too. In the past, our teen writers frequently told us they wished the camp lasted even longer – and we heard you. Luminari is happy to say that this year’s Fantastic Fiction camp has been extended to four days!

More good news! For the first time, Luminari invites Teen Writers to apply for a scholarship to its Teen Writer! camps. Students who want to submit entries for the Teen Writer/Luminari Award can write a 500 - 700 word essay on the importance of contributing diverse opinions and ideas to the public through creative and journalistic writing. They should also state how they, personally, want their writing to broaden the minds of readers. One student will be selected for a Teen Writer Luminari Award, which includes a full scholarship to attend a Teen Writer! camp in 2015, a $395.00 value.

To learn more about the Luminari Award, other available scholarships or to apply, visit www.luminari.org.

Luminari Award winners will be announced beginning in February (beginning with our ESL Award) – so stay tuned!

Sincerely,
Team Luminari