• Recipes
    • Search my Recipes
    • Recipe Categories
  • Lifestyle
  • Fitness
  • Nutrition
  • |
  • About
  • Work With Me
    • Brand partnerships
    • Nutrition Coaching

Home » Uncategorized

May 23, 2011 (Updated March 30, 2023)

A Day with the NC Cooperative Extension

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

19 comments
share this post:
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Email

Good morning!

I wanted to share some of the fun stuff I’ve been involved in so far at my dietetic internship, since I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it! I’m interning with two local NC Cooperative Extension county offices. Cooperative extensions are basically local county organizations dedicated to educating and helping their community, including nutrition, health, and wellness related outreach. My classmate/co-intern Diana and I will be bouncing between two of their offices (because the RD we’re working with does, too), so after spending the beginning of last week in one county, on Thursday we headed out to the other county for the first time! It was SUCH a fun day I just have to share.

First up was a tour of the office’s community garden!

031

Want to save this post?

Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I'll send you great content every week!

Save Recipe

The cooperative extension offices are in the same building as all the county environmental organizations, so they have a number of agricultural experts around. They were happy to give us a tour when we expressed interest in seeing the garden! They’re going to teach us about gardening this summer, too 🙂

It was a GORGEOUS day and really fun to see all the stuff they have growing.

001 002 003

Look — the beginning of grapes!

005 006

Blackberries!

007010 013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the real highlight was checking out the vegetable gardens!

015 016 017

Check out this gorgeous swiss chard!

022

Carrots, still growing! He gave us these to eat and they were SO delicious and flavorful 🙂

020

021

And potatoes! We got to take these home 🙂

034

When the staff saw how excited we were about all the fresh veggies growing, they offered to let us help pick some greens that were ready to go — and let us keep what we picked, too!

Check out all that spinach!

019

We spent a solid hour exploring the garden and picking greens in the sunshine — it was so fun 🙂

025 026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

033

How cute is my classmate and co-intern, Diana? 🙂 She’s from Ghana! It’s been really fun getting to know her and hearing about life in Africa. She just moved here last August for this program!

029

After the garden extravaganza, we headed into the big office kitchen to make some recipes for taste-testing purposes! The RD we’re working with was asked to write a gluten-free tips and recipe article for a local newspaper, and asked Diana and I to find a couple gluten-free recipes to try out in their kitchen for a taste test. Whichever recipe everyone liked best would be included in the article, and the other would be held for later!

035

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some debate, we decided to make two recipes: my Turkey, Veggie, and Barley Chili (but with brown rice instead of barley so it was gluten free) and some Yogurt Chicken Enchiladas, adapted from a recipe I found online. We had already picked up groceries first thing in the morning so we were ready to rock! Diana made my chili and I made the enchiladas. 🙂

047

It was really fun to spend the afternoon leisurely cooking (something I haven’t had time to do in way too long!) and once the kitchen started to smell amazing, staff starting sticking their heads in to see what was going on. They were very excited when it was time to taste-test!

Here’s the chili ready for taste-testing:

046

And the final enchiladas!

052

Pretty, huh?

049

Everyone agreed that both recipes were delicious, but my chili was the clear winner with the majority of the votes. Woohoo! 🙂 Stay tuned — I’ll be sharing the recipe for the enchiladas tomorrow! They were awesome and healthy. Mmmm.

I can’t believe it’s Monday already — this weekend FLEW by! My flight out of DC last night was delayed and I didn’t get home to Chapel Hill until 1 a.m., bah! I have class all day today and will be trying to stay awake 🙂

Have a great day!

- anne
share this post:
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Email

join the list

Sign up for my e-newsletter and I'll send you a meal plan packed with a week's worth of healthy meals, snacks and a shopping list. Happy eating!

you might also like:

Yoga, Pitas, Stitch Fix, and True Food Kitchen Fun

A New Easy Breakfast Idea + Farmers Market Fun + Shoulder Mobility Moves

Friday Randomness

Wednesday Randomness

leave a comment

Cancel reply

19 comments
  • emily
    May 23, 2011 · 10:09AM:
    That garden looks amazing! I have my fingers crossed that I get to experience something like that when I do my internship.
    Reply
  • Matt @ The Athlete's Plate
    May 23, 2011 · 10:29AM:
    What a great experience! Super jealous ;)
    Reply
  • Renie May 23, 2011 · 10:55AM:
    The garden is beautiful and the food looks soooooo good. I have a garden that I planted myself full of salad veggies and potatoes and beets. Enjoy your internship.
    Reply
  • DHP May 23, 2011 · 11:04AM:
    You are clearly enjoying a wonderful internship. How nice and fun! And love that garden. When do you start planting one somewhere? :-)
    Reply
    • Anne P
      May 23, 2011 · 8:56PM:
      As soon as I learn how not to kill everything I plant, haha.
      Reply
  • Adventurer May 23, 2011 · 12:47PM:
    Love it, Anne. Another awesome day! Thanks for sharing...
    Reply
  • Beth
    May 23, 2011 · 5:24PM:
    I don't think I've ever seen spinach growing before. What an amazing garden. I can't wait for the enchilada recipe, they look amazing!
    Reply
  • Amy @ Love4Living
    May 23, 2011 · 7:30PM:
    Wow, that is one amazing garden! Imagine having a garden like that as your backyard? Swoon! And majah thanks for the tshirts! I got them today and was excited I blogged about them! Hope you don't mind!
    Reply
    • Anne P
      May 23, 2011 · 8:56PM:
      I'm so glad you liked them! :) Thanks for sharing with your readers!
      Reply
  • Sarah@The Flying ONION
    May 24, 2011 · 6:33AM:
    It's so fun to hear about other dietetic internships! I'll be finished with mine in 5 weeks and I can't believe how fast it's flown. The garden is absolutely gorgeous! :D
    Reply
  • Kristen
    May 24, 2011 · 1:44PM:
    I would love to have my own garden!
    Reply
- next post
previous post -

about Anne

anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
Learn more

fannetastic reads

Top Posts
01

My Top 9 Most Popular Recipes + Posts

02

Why I Don’t Recommend Whole30

03

What Causes Sugar Cravings (+ How to Stop Them!)

04

How I Make Money As a Blogger

05

Blog Recipes We Make Again and Again

06

What to Eat Before and After a Long Run

07

What to Eat During Long Runs

08

7 Common Nutrition Myths

09

How to Love Veggies

connect with Anne

Email me
anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

When I’m not writing or cooking for fannetastic food, you can find me running, coaching nutrition clients, or on an adventure with my family. Feel free to reach out - I'd love to hear from you!

follow anne:

join the list

Sign up for my e-newsletter and I'll send you a meal plan packed with a week's worth of healthy meals, snacks and a shopping list. Happy eating!

back to top
  • About
  • Contact
  • Recent Posts
  • Privacy Policy
  • FAQ

© copyright fannetastic food