Muir Glen: Picked for Flavor

A couple of weeks ago Muir Glen, partnered with two Philadelphia food trucks (Sum Pig & Street Food Philly) and Philabundance for an event at City Hall.

While I couldn’t make the event I think that the work that Philabundance does is very important and I wanted to share some highlights with you.

The Event

Three hundred red gift boxes with green ribbons—reminiscent of a field of tomatoes—were placed around Philadelphia’s City Hall Courtyard to celebrate the gift of delicious tomatoes to the city by Muir Glen organic tomatoes. Each box contained a can of Muir Glen tomatoes, recipe cards and voucher for recipients to pick up a free meal made with delicious Muir Glen tomatoes at one of two food trucks parked nearby, Street Food Philly and Sum Pig.

How cool is that?

This time of year is a big time for tomatoes in our house. I make chili about once a week through the fall and winter and just about all of my chili recipes call for tomatoes.

Muir Glen tomatoes are all organic and packed within hours of being plucked off the vine. It doesn’t get much fresher or tastier than that (especially since the garden has probably gone dormant).

More than 2,500 cans of Muir Glen tomatoes were donated to Philabundance, helping the hunger relief organization’s need for canned goods this winter. Unveiling the donation was David Oh, Philadelphia city councilmember; Thomas J. Rossomando, Governor’s Action Team (GAT) development specialist; George Matysik, Philabundance director of policy and planning; Carolyn Nguyen, Street Food Philly food truck chef and co-owner; Jessica Iannuzzi, Sum Pig food truck co-owner; and Katie Proctor, RD, social voice for Muir Glen.

Probably the most important part of the event was Muir Glen donating those 2,500 cans of tomatoes. But it’s not going to stop there, Muir Glen will donate another thousand cans between now and November 10th. So many people will be helped by this donation and will be able to enjoy that taste of summer all winter long.

Three hundred free meals were prepared by the Sum Pig and Street Food Philly food trucks as part of the Muir Glen “Picked for Flavor” event at City Hall’s Courtyard.

I was pretty bummed to miss out on the food trucks.

Philabundance

Founded in 1984, Philabundance merged with the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank in 2005 to become the largest hunger relief organization in the area. Don’t let the name fool you, Philabundance services those in need from Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania and Western Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem Counties in New Jersey. That’s a lot of people they’re helping.

What I found fascinating is that for ever dollar donated to Philabundance they can provide two meals. That’s HUGE and proof that every little bit helps.

Philabundance has so many programs to make sure that no one has to go hungry. From old to young, there’s something to support everyone.

My Muir Glen Tomatoes

The folks at Muir Glen were kind enough to send me a couple cans of their tomatoes to try out at home.

We were at a loss for what to have for dinner last night so we used our Muir Glen tomatoes to make a pizza sauce and had homemade pizza bake. It was delicious! So much better than when I made it last time with the jarred pizza sauce.

All photos are compliments of Simon Public Relations.