Winners chosen for 'St. Hildegard Food Pantry Recipe Challenge' - Biddeford Journal Tribune

Winners chosen for 'St. Hildegard Food Pantry Recipe Challenge' - Biddeford Journal Tribune

Catholic Bishop Robert P. Deeley joins Catholic Charities Maine CEO Stephen Letourneau in honoring this year’s recipients of the ‘St. Hildegard Food Pantry Recipe Challenge.’ SUBMITTED PHOTO

SANFORD — A recent recipe challenge sponsored by Catholic Charities Maine’s Parish Social Ministry provided an opportunity for Mainers to put their recipes and cooking knowledge to the test while helping local parish food ministries in the process.

The rules for the “St. Hildegard Food Pantry Recipe Challenge” were simple: all were welcome to submit a recipe for any main dish, but all of the ingredients had to be items that can be found on a regular basis at a local community food pantry.

All told, over 70 entries were submitted in the challenge. A Mexican casserole entered by a parishioner at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Sanford won first place, with a chickpea, carrot, and olive salad submitted by a parishioner at St. Raphael in Kittery taking second place.

The winning contestants have chosen to have their names remain private, but their winning efforts will help many in the public.

“St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish will receive $1,000 for their food closet and St. Raphael Parish will receive $500 for the Footprints Food Pantry,” said Michael Smith, director of mission for Catholic Charities Maine.

The St. Thérèse Food Closet is located at the parish office on 66 North Ave. in Sanford and is open on the first and third Thursday of the month from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. for food distribution.

The Footprints Food Pantry provides free groceries once every seven days for income-qualified residents in the Eliot, Kittery, and Kittery Point area.

“The challenge was created to support and engage the food and nutrition ministries throughout our diocese,” said Smith. “A panel of reviewers well immersed in food panties and soup kitchens narrowed the selection to two recipes based upon ingredients that would be available in a food pantry, ease of use to make the recipe, and nutritional value.”

The winning recipes were announced Sept. 17, which is the feast day of St. Hildegard who is known for developing a nutritional philosophy centered on the healing properties of food.

“Having taken a vow of poverty on becoming a nun, St. Hildegard knew how to cook on a budget!” said Bill Wood of Catholic Charities Maine’s Parish Social Ministry. “That why we named this recipe contest that features food from the shelves of food pantries in her name.”

An electronic version of all of the recipes submitted will be made available for all parish food pantries and soup kitchens to use for those they serve.

The mission of Parish Social Ministry is to provide leadership, guidance, Catholic social teaching education, and training to empower parishioners to compassionately serve people of all faiths living in their communities.

From Kittery to Madawaska, the size and scope of the program continues to grow one successful initiative at a time through youth camps, case managers at soup kitchens, community fairs promoting strong family life, an educational series for seniors, and hundreds of other initiatives.

For more information about Parish Social Ministry, call 523-1161 or visit www.ccmaine.org/parish-social-ministry.