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Parade of Quilts through March 31st

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Guest Columnist
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The Yoder Parade of Quilts event is in full swing.  The event began on March 1 and continues through the end of the month. This year is the twenty-sixth year for the Parade of Quilts.  Linda Miller stopped by to visit the BW Morning show.

The event is hosted by six businesses in and around Yoder.

“So there’s six businesses that are participating. All of us are in right in the town of Yoder, except for the R and E. Country Store is out just little over a couple, yeah, just over two miles.” said Miller.

The participating businesses and hours open are:
• Carriage Crossing Restaurant – Monday through Saturday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.  •Yoder Furniture Company – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monay through Friday,  10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday.
• Yoder Meats and Kansas Station – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday
• Yoder Discount Grocery – 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
• Yoder Thrift Store – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday
• R & E Country Store – 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday

You can find out more about this event and other events in Yoder on their website at YoderKansas.com

Baked Oatmeal

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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This week I had the ‘hankering’ for my baked oatmeal, told everyone I was going to make a quadruple batch of one of my favorite things. This led our son, Phillip,. and I into a serious discussion on finding cereal that was half way healthy. So; he and his girlfriend began to study granolas at the market and they came up with one that is half way healthy. I ‘whipped out’ my baked oatmeal recipe and compared it against the cereal. Surprise, surprise, the ingredients were almost the same. You see if you make my baked oatmeal, you can then crumble it like granola and allow it to dry out in the oven! Poof, you’ve got a healthy breakfast or snack.

The granola label is ‘Nature’s Path’, an organic granola. They purchased the granola at our local Walmart. It will be significantly more economical if you make the baked oatmeal, crumble and dry it into granola.

The recipe explains how you can add all kinds of dry fruits, nuts, coconut, banana chips, etc. I’d even put in a few chocolate chips or peanut butter! I used half honey and half granulated sugar on my quad batch. I will note that it didn’t taste as sweet as it does when I use all granulated sugar.

When I do a quad recipe I place parchment under the mixture and use a pan that I refer to as a ‘jelly roll pan.’ It has a rim of about 1 inch all the way around. After it is done baking I pull it from the oven and use a spatula to break it all up, while it’s still hot. Then I lower the oven to about 275-300 degrees, place the oatmeal back in and turn the oven off. Leave it until the oatmeal becomes crunchy granola. We keep our oatmeal or granola in the refrigerator in a sealed bowl or ziploc bag.

When I was teaching school I would take a ziploc bag of the oatmeal, for my morning snack. A little oatmeal, milk and a quick pop in the microwave is a good start for any morning.

Now for an expensive ‘chuckle’ on me regarding this recipe. So; yesterday I made a quadruple of the dish, just like I described above. I had it all crumbled and back in the lowered oven etc., for it to get hard like granola. Ervin, my spouse, says he will start our special dinner, FISH STICKS, in the oven. I tell him to take out my oatmeal and put it on top of the stove before he starts because fish sticks bake at 425 degrees. He says I didn’t tell him this, but oh, I did! My baked oatmeal burnt up in the oven. It wasn’t all the time spent making the dish that was crushing, it was the amount of money that went down the tubes. The eggs for a quadruple batch were about 2.00

the butter was about 2.00, well you get the picture. The answer is no, I haven’t re-made the baked oatmeal. Maybe later in the week, The Covered Dish.

Baked oatmeal

8 x 8 baking pan for 1 batch

Large Mixing bowl, ‘do not’ use a mixer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 ½ cups quick cooking oatmeal

2 tablespoons wheat germ

2 tablespoons flax seed, optional

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup milk

½ cup melted butter

¾ teaspoon vanilla

I like to mix all my dry ingredients into a bowl, then make a well in the center and add the egg, cold milk and melted butter, vanilla and any extra ingredients. Stir to blend all ingredients and spread into the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 baking dish. Bake until golden brown on top, usually takes about 25 – 35 minutes. Depends on the baking pan. Feel free to add extra dried fruits, dried banana chips, coconut, nutmeats and the like. I also like to add a little bit of cinnamon to each batch.

McPherson State Fishing Lake Worthy of a Trip

By
Steve Gilliland
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The year was 1957; the date was somewhere between March 1 and May 1 depending on whose account you read. As quoted in the July 1957 issue of Kansas Fish and Game magazine, “The first light of dawn revealed a dismal scene. Light rain was falling and the dark skies overhead gave indication that the day would be unpleasant. Even so, an estimated 80 to 100 fishermen huddled in raincoats and waited in cars for the gun which would signal that fishing time had arrived. A few had been at the lake overnight sleeping in tents or cars. The sound of the shot echoed from the hills and baits hit the water. Spinning tackle, bait casting outfits and fly rods were all in evidence. Fish which had never seen a plug, spinner or baited hook were the object of all this activity. Would they be hungry on such a damp and chilly morning?” This was the scene on opening morning of the first day ever of fishing at McPherson State Fishing Lake. And yes, according to the article, the fish were hungry and fishing was “fabulous” that day.

Even though a lake was planned for Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, the story goes that a large sportsman’s club active in McPherson at the time was largely influential in getting McPherson State Fishing Lake built so club members would have a closer lake to fish than driving to Kanoplolis. So, in 1954, a 750-foot-long dam with a spillway was built across a tributary of the Gypsum Creek System, known locally as Battle Creek which runs through the north end of the Refuge. The creek already contained a couple deep holes that held fish plus several springs, so by 1955 the new dam had already retained enough water to allow stocking of the lake with largemouth bass and channel catfish.

Today McPherson State Fishing Lake covers about 46 acres when full and is over twenty feet deep at its deepest. The west side of the lake offers a nice boat ramp and parking lot big enough for several vehicles and boat trailers. The banks surrounding the upper end of the lake are nicely shaded with trees left from a timber claim in the 1800’s where parcels of land were deeded to private owners in return for their promise to plant trees on the property. Several primitive campsites with picnic tables are available for campers and fishermen, as well as a cabin to rent. Three long rock fishing piers stick out into the lake along the shore

of the campground. McPherson State Fishing Lake is known for producing nice largemouth bass and channel catfish, but crappie and saugeye also swim its waters. In the mid 1990’s, two fish feeders were added to feed and to act as attractors for channel catfish. Numerous brush piles have been added over the years and are marked by GPS so their locations can be accessed through the link on the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism website.

In May of 1956, volunteers from local oil patches built an observation tower from used oil well pipe and erected it on a high point above the lake. The upper deck was 24 feet above the ground, allowing visitors to see much more of the Refuge. Many days, parts of the elk and bison herds could be seen lounging on far-away hillsides. If you have visited Maxwell for a while, you’ll notice that tower is gone, as it had rusted and deteriorated to the point where it was no longer considered safe. A new observation deck, much like the ones at Quivera National Wildlife Refuge near Stafford, is planned in its place.

I think John Maxwell would be as proud of the lake as he would be of the wildlife preserve bearing his name. Although the fishing at McPherson State Fishing Lake will probably never be as good as on that opening morning in 1957, it is much closer than Kanopolis and its clear spring fed waters and shady campground make the lake worthy of a day’s fishing as you continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

KU News: KU Law students offer free tax preparation

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Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

KU Law students offer free tax preparation

LAWRENCE — Tax season is underway, and University of Kansas School of Law students will once again assist eligible community members with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program through April 14. Last year, the VITA clinic filed 118 returns. KU’s Legal Services for Students also offers free tax filing assistance through a VITA grant from the Internal Revenue Service.

Researcher urges emphasis on democratic accountability standards in public administration education

LAWRENCE — Changes in democracy around the world in the last decade-plus have made it evident the time has come for public administration officials to reexamine how they ensure future public administrators view democratic accountability, a University of Kansas researcher argues in a new piece for the Journal of Public Affairs Education. “This call to action is offered up during a time of crisis for the public administration of democracies, a time when democratic principles around rights and tolerance, checks on the concentration of power, adherence to the rule of law, are under threat in democracies on every continent,” said Chris Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration.

Jayhawk Athletic Performance Lab teams up with KU Football to elevate pro day training

LAWRENCE — The Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory, a sport performance-based research center housed under the Achievement & Assessment Institute, is collaborating with Kansas Athletics to help KU football players better prepare for the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and Big 12 Pro Day through technology and data analysis.

Presentation at KU Libraries to highlight impact of open education

LAWRENCE — Virginia Clinton-Lisell, associate professor at the University of North Dakota and lead researcher of the Open Education Group, will visit the University of Kansas to deliver a public lecture during KU Libraries’ celebration of Open Education Week. Clinton-Lisell will present “The Power of Open Education: Research-Based Insights on Open Licensing in the Classroom” at 10 a.m. March 14 in Watson Library 3 West.

 

Full stories below.

 

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Contact: Casey Bacot, School of Law, [email protected], @kulawschool

KU Law students offer free tax preparation

 

LAWRENCE — Tax season is underway, and University of Kansas School of Law students will once again assist eligible community members with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

This spring, KU Law students can prepare returns for taxpayers who make less than $67,000 per household per year and do not itemize their deductions. The VITA sessions began Feb. 17 and will end April 14. No sessions will take place March 17-23, during KU’s spring break.

Sessions are 6-8:45 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 9-11:45 a.m. Saturdays at Green Hall, 1535 W. 15th St. A satellite location is offered 5-7 p.m. Thursdays at Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, 1600 Haskell Ave.

This year’s clinic is coordinated by third-year law student Gabby Phillips. Phillips has been involved in the program since her first year at KU Law. She found the VITA Program to be a great way to merge her legal skills and philanthropic passion.

“Each year, the VITA program provides free tax preparation services for qualifying people in our community,” Phillips said. “Generally, it can cost $200 to $400 (or more) to file taxes. The VITA program alleviates a financial burden and provides quality tax preparation and e-filing services. Many KU and Lawrence community members have used the VITA program for years. It is great to hear about the positive experiences people have had with our tax clinic over the years.”

Last year, the VITA clinic filed 118 returns totaling roughly $124,000. KU Law had 29 VITA sessions where 32 students dedicated more than 750 volunteer hours.

“Our goals are to provide qualifying members in our community with high-quality tax preparation services, to be a reliable tax preparation resource for our community members each year and to connect KU Law students with more people in our community,” she said.

The law school’s VITA program operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and the number of preparers varies by site. Those seeking assistance are encouraged to arrive near the start of each session.

Taxpayers should bring proof of identification and all relevant documentation, including proof of income and expenditures.

For more information, contact the VITA program at 785-864-9227 or by email.

Legal Services for Students (LSS) also offers free tax filing assistance through a VITA grant from the Internal Revenue Service. U.S. resident taxpayers who earned less than $84,000 in 2024 can prepare and file their returns electronically for free with software provided by LSS. International students, faculty and staff at KU filing as nonresident aliens can file their taxes for free with LSS assistance with no income limit. LSS also offers in-person tax filing assistance workshops during the spring filing season. For more information about tax programs provided by LSS, visit the LSS website or contact them by email.

“We understand taxes can be confusing. That’s why we’re committed to making the process clear and straightforward,” said Jo Hardesty, director of Legal Services for Students. “At Legal Services for Students, our goal is to not only help you file but to equip you with the knowledge and confidence you need to tackle your taxes with ease, year after year.”

The last day to submit a federal income tax return for the 2024 tax year is April 15.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected]

Researcher urges emphasis on democratic accountability standards in public administration education

 

LAWRENCE — To say the field of public administration has changed rapidly in recent months would be an understatement. And as headlines about President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce reflect, the role of the public servant is changing. While that example is fresh, changes in democracy in the last decade-plus have made it evident the time has come for public administration officials to reexamine how they ensure future public administrators view democratic accountability, a University of Kansas researcher argues in a new piece published in the Journal of Public Affairs Education.

Chris Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at KU, reviews a history of public administration accreditation standards in the work and asks educators, deans, directors and researchers in the field if they need to redouble their efforts to ensure that democratic standards shape the accountability of the profession.

“This call to action is offered up during a time of crisis for the public administration of democracies,” Koliba said, “a time when democratic principles around rights and tolerance, checks on the concentration of power, adherence to the rule of law, are under threat in democracies on every continent.”

Koliba cites research indicating increases of democratic backsliding around the world, including in countries long considered strong, stable democracies. While those types of concerns were not front of mind when the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration drafted its first accreditation standards in the early 1970s, the United States’ place in the world and being a global leader were top of mind in the last decade-plus. The field of public administration education followed in looking toward globalization and preparing administrators in democratic and nondemocratic countries.

“I argue that our accreditation standards are not explicit enough in their dedication to democratic values. They are vague and leave things open to interpretation,” Koliba said. “Our field by nature is nonpartisan, and that sentiment remains. But what is a field and profession to do when that politics comes to us? We need to protect the profession from patronage and illiberal reforms.”

While the current political moment makes the debate timely and necessary, Koliba said it is not meant to advocate for party or ideology. It is a defense and protection of a profession, a profession with a strong commitment to democratic principles.

“Many of the executive orders coming out of Washington since the inauguration are squarely aimed at public servants, people who make a career of serving citizens,” Koliba said. “Much has been written about the state of democracy in the United States and around the world. We’re seeing certain leaders pressing the margins and exploiting loopholes in our democratic system. The United States is celebrating 250 years as a nation next year. While we have failed at times to uphold democratic principles, as a country we have rallied around certain legal and political accountabilities regardless of political party. These matters should not be relegated to some partisan beef between conservatives vs. liberals, but how we peacefully coexist as a democratic society.”

KU has long been a leader in public affairs and administration education and research. Former Stene Professors George Frederickson and Rosemary O’Leary have addressed some of the most pressing questions facing the field that have helped shape public affairs scholarship and education.

“Asking the big questions of the day comes with job,” Koliba said.

Koliba is director of KU’s Center for Democratic Governance, a multidisciplinary center dedicated to advancing democratic governance studies. The center is comprised of a growing number of affiliates from disciplines from across the university.

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Contact: Chance Dibben, Achievement & Assessment Institute, [email protected]

Jayhawk Athletic Performance Lab teams up with KU Football to elevate pro day training

 

LAWRENCE — The Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory (JAPL), a sport performance-based research center housed under the Achievement & Assessment Institute, is collaborating with Kansas Athletics to help KU football players better prepare for the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and Big 12 Pro Day through technology and data analysis.

The NFL Combine — ongoing through March 3 in Indianapolis – and pro days are annual multiday events where select college football athletes participate in tests designed to assess athlete health and biometrics, physical performance characteristics and potential for success at the professional level. Only around 250-330 football athletes receive an invitation each year, and this year, four Jayhawks have been invited to participate in the NFL Combine, and 13 will be participating in the Big 12 Pro Day from KU.

The JAPL, a member of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, focuses on optimizing high performance in athletic settings by utilizing top-of-the-line technology like force plates, motion capture systems, accelerometers and vertical jump testing systems. Collaborating with Kansas Football for a pro day-specific strength and conditioning program gives the KU athletes a leg up while helping further JAPL research.

Quincy Johnson, assistant director of the JAPL and assistant professor in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences, is leading JAPL’s research and analysis for the pro day program. Johnson has done extensive research on college football athletes, including his most recent publication on key performance indicators for college American football starters. He uses this research to better inform data collection and resulting recommendations.

“We are taking what we have found through our research and work with other KU teams to really focus in on pro day specific questions like, ‘How much weight is enough weight for athletes to lift and relative to their maximum weight that they can lift?’ ‘Does it matter if they lift as much as they can or as fast as they can?’ ‘How fast can they sprint?’” he said.

In collaboration with Kansas Football performance staff, JAPL researchers begin with logistics and initial planning of the training approach. During this phase, they work to identify how many athletes will be training, how often they will be training, the resources needed to evaluate and train them, and what approach may be best to get them to peak performance for the big day.

As researchers develop the training approach, a critical element is conducting an athlete needs analysis, creating an athletic performance testing battery and identifying key performance indicators, Johnson said. The athlete needs analysis is an important evaluation of three key components that contribute to athletic performance: bioenergetics, biomechanics and common injuries.

Bioenergetic demands relate to the primary energy system utilized during each event at the Pro Day, a biomechanical analysis relates to how athletes move their bodies, and an analysis of common football injuries helps the practitioner understand potential risks and the mechanisms for injury, Johnson said.

Once the data is collected, JAPL researchers utilize it to make suggestions to the Kansas Football performance staff overseeing the pro day training and to monitor adaptations to training and neuromuscular fatigue.

“It’s a very collaborative relationship. We help structure and guide the data collection and make sure that it is valid and reliable. From there, we pass it along to Coach (Matt) Gildersleeve and Coach (Eric) Scott, and they bridge the gap between research and performance,” Johnson said.

What makes this collaboration especially effective is that the research and data collection is performed under real-world conditions, not inside a lab.

“In a lot of sports research, researchers try to recreate something in a lab under different conditions that players normally wouldn’t be in,” said Sam Norwood, an exercise physiology doctoral student and a member of the JAPL research team. “Being able to monitor and collect data during live practice or actual games gives us a more accurate picture that can then better inform training.”

JAPL has worked together with Kansas Football in the past, but this is the first time they have partnered up for the Pro Day training. Norwood said that because the training group for the Pro Day is much smaller, they can provide more personalized training, leading to optimum results.

“I think it is one of the leading reasons why we are progressing forward and getting positive results. We have a couple more weeks, and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to continue this growth and help these guys be at their best,” Norwood said.

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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”

a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.

 

https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack

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Contact: Kevin McCarty, KU Libraries, 785-864-6428, [email protected], @KULibraries

Presentation at KU Libraries to highlight impact of open education

 

LAWRENCE — Virginia Clinton-Lisell, associate professor in educational foundations and research at University of North Dakota and lead researcher of the Open Education Group, will visit the University of Kansas Lawrence campus to deliver a public lecture about her research on open education.

Open educational resources (OER) are openly licensed teaching and learning materials accessible to anyone at no cost. Clinton-Lisell’s presentation, “The Power of Open Education: Research-Based Insights on Open Licensing in the Classroom,” will focus on the effects that OER can have on teaching and learning outcomes and the assessment needed to determine their influence.

The talk will take place at 10 a.m. March 14 in Watson Library 3 West.

“It’s important that the interventions we advocate for, such as the use of OER and related practices, are supported by research findings,” said Josh Bolick, head of the David Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright in KU Libraries. “Dr. Clinton-Lisell is a leader in the field, and I’m excited that she’s visiting KU.”

Clinton-Lisell’s presentation will examine research-supported benefits of open education for students, including allowing access to learning resources without financial barriers as well as open pedagogy. Research around current trends in educational materials for college students, including commercial homework systems with paid access codes and automatic textbook billing, will also be discussed.

Clinton-Lisell’s lecture is hosted by KU Libraries and has broad university support with sponsorship from the Center for Teaching Excellence, Achievement & Assessment Institute, William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, School of Education & Human Sciences, School of Architecture & Design, School of Law and School of Professional Studies.

KU Libraries has long been a leader in the advancement of open knowledge, including open education, joining the Open Education Network in 2015, and establishing an OER Grant Initiative that has provided 44 awards to KU instructors with an estimated annual savings of more than $1.2 million for KU students. The libraries support OER publishing via the Pressbooks platform, collaborating with co-authors to publish their work openly, with 24 titles in the KU Pressbooks catalog and more than 20 in development.

Other efforts include supporting the Faculty Senate Open Access Policy, OA publishing support, scholarly communication and copyright services, KU ScholarWorks repository, Digital Publishing Services and partnership in Research Data Management and Sharing.

The libraries have also recognized and encouraged OER advocacy at KU via Textbook Heroes since 2019. Prior to Clinton-Lisell’s presentation, the libraries’ Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright will announce the 2025 Textbook Hero, an honor presented to a member of the KU community who has taken extraordinary initiative to increase access to and affordability of required course materials by implementing and advocating for OER and other low- and no cost course materials.

The special guest, and award presentation, follow Open Education Week, a weeklong global event which aims to raise awareness, showcase initiatives, and celebrate the impact of open education on teaching and learning worldwide.

“We are excited to have Dr. Clinton-Lisell, a well-respected researcher in the field of open education, to speak about how open education and OER can impact teaching and learning for the Libraries Open Education Week event,” said Heather Mac Bean, KU Libraries’ Open Education Librarian. “We’re also delighted to announce this year’s Textbook Hero, someone who has championed OER creation and use in the classroom.”

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Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

 

Kansas Veteran And Chef Serves His Country And Stellar Dishes From Sumner County

By
tammiehoeme
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Sheridan Wimmer Kansas Living Magazine

Whether it’s a call to action serving in the Army or his calling to create culinary masterpieces, Mike Castaneda, from the south-central Kansas town of Wellington in Sumner County, embraces new opportunities as they come his way with humility and honor.
Growing up in Wellington, which isn’t where you typically hear chefs hailing from, gave Castaneda something to focus on and eventually became a selling point for his career when he was selected as one of 10 best home cooks in America to appear on the Food Network show “All-Star Academy” in 2015.
“I grew up poor, and I think that’s why I like food so much,” Castaneda says. “It was a way for me to really dive into something and learn. When I was doing interview cast questions for the show, I told them I felt like I was at a bit of a disadvantage because typically chefs are from Dallas and New York and cities of that size, and I felt like I didn’t have access to the ingredients a large metropolis offers. They said they felt that it was an advantage because I really had to know my ingredients.”
That turn of perspective set Castaneda up to succeed in his culinary ventures and encouraged him to keep pushing the boundaries of what he has available to him, staying true to his midwestern roots and Hispanic heritage.
Castaneda’s father’s family is from Guadalajara, Mexico, (Continued on page 18)
(FOOD TRUCK Continued from page 1) which is where Castaneda derives a lot of his inspiration from in his dishes. His first dish on “All-Star Academy” was pressure cooked carnitas with pico salsa and chipotle sauce. The use of the pressure cooker impressed one of the celebrity mentors.
“Why are you getting fancy with me now with the pressure cooker? Are you trying to show off for the big dogs?” joked Alex Guarnaschelli, one of four celebrity chef mentors the contestants hoped to impress for a spot on their team.
“I gotta show what I got a little bit, I guess,” Castaneda said.
Although Castaneda’s time on the show was cut short, being picked up by Food Network opened a lot of doors for him.
From Military Ambition to Knife Precision
Prior to his days as a full-time chef, Castaneda worked in short-range air defense in the U.S. Army, which uses tactics to defend against low-flying aircraft like drones.
“I’ve always felt the need to serve,” Castaneda says. “I worked for the Sheriff’s Department for a while, but I also was a touring musician for a while. I like anything creative, but I’m also very organized and disciplined, and I think that’s helped me in both my military journey and my career as a chef.”
Being methodical, organized and respecting his ingredients was a page he took out of his days of service. On “All-Star Academy,” Curtis Stone complimented him on how neat his workstation was.
“You’ve got the neatest station in the house, which impresses me a lot,” Stone said.
His experience in the military ended when he injured his shoulder while training, resulting in years of surgery and rehabilitation, which still didn’t fix it.
“I was still having issues and when they went in for surgery again, they discovered more damage than they initially thought I had,” Casteneda says. “They ended up having to take a couple inches of my collarbone and anchor my bicep tendon through my arm, but did nerve damage.”
With an injury like Castaneda’s, he couldn’t continue his service to his country, so he pivoted to serving dishes.
Traeger Grills, Food Trucks and World Food Championships
Even with numbness in his fingers from the nerve damage, Castaneda wields a culinary knife with ease and skill — although he will admit he’s had no formal training.
“I just like to eat,” Castaneda says. “I started watching, reading, doing everything I could. I got a Traeger grill and started taking pictures of my food when I was still in the military. They picked up on my work and asked me if I could write recipes for them. I was a poor soldier at the time, so I said, ‘absolutely!’”
Traeger would send Castaneda to SEC football games to prepare meals, then he picked up celebrities to cater for and the competitors on “All-Star Academy” looped him into competing at the World Food Championships. Castaneda has represented Kansas there for the past five years and received sixth in the world in desserts, a feat even Castaneda was surprised about.
“Desserts aren’t even my strongest category,” he says. “But it just kind of worked out.”
With his experience and growing recognition, Castaneda started his own food truck called Devour. The truck won best food truck in 2022 from The Wichita Eagle’s Best of Wichita. Devour served up dishes similar to what he served on “All-Star Academy” like carnitas, grilled achiote chicken, street tacos and a smothered burrito. His truck served other items like chicken sandwiches, barbecue and a lot more. Unfortunately, Castaneda’s food truck days are behind him when in 2024, an accident left the truck totaled. Ever an optimist, Castaneda saw the positive in the situation.
“It was difficult at the time, but then I started doing extra stuff outside of the food truck,” he says. “So then it made me kind of feel like, well, maybe this was kind of meant to be, and I just need to advance.”
While shutting the door on the food truck was a setback, it also opened new ones. With his culinary expertise and connections — particularly through the World Food Championships — Castaneda found new opportunities to share his passion for food. Now, he travels to Sam’s Clubs, demonstrating how to elevate everyday ingredients into something extraordinary.
Passion is Where You Sauté It
Stepping into Castaneda’s Wellington home, where he hosts cooking classes, is a warm invitation. You’re met with ingredients lined up, ready to be used and a chef with tattoos ready to get creative. He carries on a conversation with ease while chopping potatoes and onions to sauté in a skillet and creates a robust, complex and perfectly spicy curry dish. Served with naan, the dish is a testament to Castaneda’s ability to multi-task, which makes the experience approachable while seeing the passion he has for cooking.
“I like my hometown,” Castaneda says. “I like the slowness, the simplicity. Going to New York was a cool experience, but at the same time, coming home is quiet and I still get to do what I love.”
For Castaneda, serving comes in many forms — from protecting our country to creating the perfect dish that celebrates culture, creativity and a deep love for the craft of cooking — all from his home in Kansas.
Castaneda’s work can be seen on his Instagram and Facebook pages.

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