Power Up Your Meals

Power Up Your Meals

Powerful Pairings are unique combinations of wholesome foods that help make every bite count. Packed with nutrients, bursting with flavor and rich in texture, pulses, sorghum, bread and bread products come together to create a bountiful plate that makes the family meal as enjoyable as the company around the table.

Learn more about what makes pulses, sorghum and breads and bread products Powerful Pairings.

Infographics

Below please find various infographics you can use to educate about pulses, sorghum, bread and bread products, to promote Powerful Pairings and to encourage more family meals! #PowerfulPairings

Videos

Registered Dietitian Nutritionists across the country are talking about combining pulses, sorghum, bread products and animal proteins on the plate. These Powerful Pairings add taste, nutrition, and versatility to your diet and to enhance family meals. Check out what a few of them have to say!

+ Powerful Pairings, Las Vegas, NV

Powerful Pairings - San Francisco
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Powerful Pairings - San Francisco

Powerful Pairings - Tampa
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Powerful Pairings - Tampa

Powerful Pairings - Kansas City
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Powerful Pairings - Kansas City

Recipes

Combining pulses, sorghum, and bread products creates meals with unexpected tastes and textures sure to make every bite count. With the rich textures of pulses, the nutty sorghum flavor and so many bread and bread products from which to choose, the taste and sensory combinations are endless.

Winning RDN-Created Recipes

Additional Recipes

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Grand Prize Winner

Submitted by: Marissa Gregurek

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Total Servings: 6
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

This warm and hearty meal brings together flavors from the Southern U.S., including spicy andouille sausage, savory black-eyed peas, and peppery turnip greens. Served with your favorite cornbread, it's perfect for a cold day or for bringing good fortune to your New Year's feast!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • ½ cup pearled sorghum grain
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 6 oz Andouille sausage, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 3 ribs celery, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1 (32 oz) carton reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 (15 oz) can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
  • 3 cups roughly chopped turnip greens
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Cornbread, for serving
  • 2 green onions, sliced

USA Pulses (USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, American Pulse Association), the United Sorghum Checkoff Program and the Grain Foods Foundation continue to educate RDNs about the delicious, nutritious and easy ways Powerful Pairings can be combined to create great tasting, inventive dishes families can enjoy together.

Earlier this year, Powerful Pairings hosted a contest to solicit unique recipes that combine pulses, sorghum and grain foods, creating flavorful meals and snacks that are packed with nutrients. Following are the award-winning recipes; you’ll be delighted by the tastes, textures and nutritional punch these recipes bring to the table.

Instructions

  1. In a small pot, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add pearled sorghum. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large stockpot, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add Andouille sausage and cook 3-5 minutes until browned. Remove sausage from pot using a slotted spoon and set aside.
  3. Add onion and celery to stockpot and sauté 3-5 minutes until they begin to turn translucent. Add garlic, bay leaves, and Cajun seasoning. Mix well, and sauté 1-2 additional minutes.
  4. Slowly stir in chicken broth, using a spoon to gently loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil. Add black-eyed peas and reduce heat to simmer for 5-7 minutes.
  5. Return andouille sausage to stockpot. Transfer precooked sorghum into the stockpot and mix well. Stir in turnip greens. Simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes, until greens are wilted, and sorghum is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Serve in bowls with cornbread for dipping. Top with green onion as desired.

Press Release

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Commodity Partnership Earns Top Industry Award Amidst Expansion

Washington, DC, January 26, 2022

For the second time in two years, Powerful Pairings, a unique collaboration of several commodity groups including the National Pork Board, USA Pulses (USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, American Pulse Association) and the United Sorghum Checkoff Program earned one of the food industry’s most coveted awards as the partnership expands.

Powerful Pairings was awarded FMI Foundation’s distinguished 2021 Gold Plate Award in the Community Collaborators category. Since 2013, the Gold Plate Award has been recognizing programs created by suppliers, food retailers and community collaborators that encourage families to share more meals together at home.

Powerful Pairings promotes the pairing of various foods to bring taste, balance, and nutrition to family meals. Aimed at retailers, registered dietitian nutritionists and consumers, the campaign promotes ways to power up plates with delicious and nutritious family meals. The unique characteristics of each of the partners’ commodities are promoted, while showcasing the exponential impact of combining them as part of family meals. Free recipes and resources, including infographics, fact sheets and nutrition information, are available on the website.

The award bestowal coincides with the expansion of the Powerful Pairings coalition. In September 2021, the Grain Foods Foundation joined the partners in their quest to educate about how easy it is to create delicious meals that combine tastes and textures while bringing nutrition and versatility to the plate.

“As soon as we were introduced to Powerful Pairings, we knew this would be a wonderful opportunity to showcase grain foods as an essential part of delicious and nutritious family meals,” said Erin Ball, acting executive director for the Grain Foods Foundation. “There are so many wonderful grain foods from which to choose to bring nutrients and flavor to the plate which makes Powerful Pairings a perfect fit.”

The coalition will continue to promote the wonderful benefits of Powerful Pairings in 2022. Commodities interested in participating should contact at [email protected] for more information.


Commodity Group Partnerships to Promote Health Gain Traction and Industry Attention

Washington, DC, January 26, 2021

Celebrate the Family Meals Movement

The Family Meals Movement celebrates the importance of family meals all year long. Fortunately, pulses, sorghum, bread products are always in season, making it easy and convenient to make every bite count by bringing Powerful Pairings to the table throughout the year.

Increasing the frequency of eating family meals improves the family unit and bolsters individual health and wellness.[1],[2],[3],[4],[5] Research also shows that people who frequently cook meals together at home eat healthier and consume fewer calories. New research shows that more than half of consumers say they plan to stay connected by continuing to plan meals together, cook together and enjoy family meals. The data shows that the increase in family meal consumption has persisted since the beginning of the pandemic with no signs of slowing down.

Click here to go to Supporting Research to go to Supporting Research to review the breadth of research affirming the powerful impact of family meals.

As stronger families build stronger communities, family meals are more important today than ever before. Click here to go to Toolkits for tools you can use to help spread the word.

Family Meals Movement
Celebrate the Family Meals Movement