Everything Nac

Members of the Student Association of Nutrition and Dietetics at Stephen F. Austin State University have created a cookbook, “The Lumberjack’s Guide to Whole Food Cooking,” and are offering it for sale to help benefit a local food bank.

SAND is an SFA student organization comprising about 30 members who are aspiring food, nutrition and dietetics professionals devoted to changing people’s health through eating wholesome, unprocessed meals.

Through this cookbook, the students hope to reintroduce people to the benefits of healthy cooking and to know what is in their food in addition to supplying funds to assist Nacogdoches HOPE (Helping Other People Eat), a food bank providing supplemental food to Nacogdoches County residents that helps feed more than 1,500 people each month.

SAND members collaborated with family, SFA faculty members and friends to develop the cookbook by asking them to submit recipes.

From appetizers, entrées, side dishes, breads and rolls to soups, salads and desserts, the cookbook is full of recipes promoting cooking with recognizable wholesome foods that are easy to prepare and delicious. The book also includes gluten-free, paleo and vegetarian recipes.

Lexi Perimon, SAND president from Mount Vernon, Illinois, had the idea to create the cookbook after visiting her mother during the summer.

“The cookbook is a great way to encourage our members’ involvement and for us to become more involved with the community,” Perimon said. “It’s also a way to make a donation to a local nonprofit.”

SFA students printed 200 books and a percentage of the sales will be donated to Nacogdoches HOPE.

Students have been selling the cookbooks since October. The group will take them to the Nacogdoches Farmers Market Saturday, Dec. 10 and 17, where they can be purchased for $15. The cookbooks also can be shipped for an additional $3. They also may be ordered by emailing sfasand@gmail.com.

“What Nacogdoches HOPE does is really important. It’s a way to help families that are going through tough times feed themselves,” Perimon said. “SFA is such a big part of Nacogdoches, and it’s good to show we care and that we are not just here for college. We want to help the community.”