Rotating Entrees

If you join us at The Wednesday Community Meal, you'll quickly learn that our entrees are always a changing.

We seat six to a table and it's common for guests to have a different entree than their tablemates. And, that's just the way it has to be because most of the food we serve is gleaned from our community partners — Good Samaritan Hospital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market, Pizza Schmizza, Ken's Artisan Bakery, Grand Central Bakery, New Seasons Market, Trader Joe's, Starbucks, SP Provisions and The Oregon Food Bank.  Utilizing gleaned food serves two purposes, it keeps our costs down and it prevents perfectly good food from going to waste.

Our regular guests are so understanding of the quirky rotating entree part of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's free for everyone meal. I've even been told that it adds a little excitement to their dining experience. 

"What you serve is always a surprise." said one of today's guests. "I thought I was going to get the ribs but I got turkey and that was pretty good."

The one thing that is consistent is that we always do our best to serve a delicious and nutritious meal. And, we strive to accommodate dietary needs such as vegetarian, vegan and even gluten-free.

We served 279 meals today. Here are some of them:

The first guests in the door today got oven roasted chicken made by volunteer Terri. Oh my gosh it looked good, magazine cover good! The whole chicken was gleaned from Trader Joe's.

The barbecue ribs we served came from Good Samaritan Hospital.

The turkey also came from Good Samaritan Hospital. The potatoes came from The Oregon Food Bank and we made the kale and cabbage side dish from greens gleaned from New Seasons Market.

We made lamb meatballs from ground lamb from SP Provisions.

The chicken fried steak also came from SP Provisions.

Thankful For Our Community Partners

A leg of lamb ready for the oven. We seasoned it with garlic, kosher salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and the guests loved it.

The first guests at The Wednesday Community Meal today were treated to an entree of roasted leg of lamb, baked potato and sauteed zucchini.

The gorgeous lamb was generously donated to us by Lift Urban Portland and we were so lucky to have it, especially today when we served 413 meals during our two hour service and needed every single bit of food that we had.

After the lamb, we served chicken, another gift from Lift Urban Portland, that we coated with breadcrumbs, herbs and spices and baked until golden brown and crispy.

Next up were gifts from Good Samaritan Hospital — corned beef, salmon, orange chicken and pork.

Then it was onto treats from Phil's Uptown Meat Market, ribs (which are probably the most popular of everything we serve), roasted chicken and pasta and meatballs. We ended our community meal today with pizza donated by Pizza Schmizza.

In addition to the entrees, there was soup, salad, dessert and drinks which included cups of cold milk thanks to New Seasons Market on NW Raleigh. The newly opened store kindly has invited us to glean from them every Monday morning and this week we hit the organic milk jackpot. Our guests were very happy.

Because of our wonderful community partners were were able to feed everyone who came to our door a delicious, nutritious and well-rounded meal. We are indeed blessed.

Pizza To The Rescue

Volunteer servers Carol and Rusti posed for a quick picture at the start of today's meal. After days of rain in Portland,  it was so nice to see warm sunlight beaming into the dining room.

Well what a difference a week makes.

Unlike last week at The Wednesday Community Meal, when we had plenty of food and the service was smooth and easy, today's meal kept us hopping but we survived.

As luck would have it, we just weren't able to glean as much food early in the week and so when we emptied the refrigerators this morning and saw what we had — a few large containers of soup, some white rice, some fried rice, half of a pork roast, about 2 cups of sliced chicken, six pieces of salmon, a gallon of white sauce, pepperoni, some cheese and 32 pounds of ground beef  — we knew we had to think fast right from the start if we were going to feed everyone who would come to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral to eat.

In our downstairs stockroom we had pasta, tomato sauce and tortillas so we brainstormed and  quickly got a meal plan together.

We would make a pasta dish with the white sauce and a few pans of ground beef enchiladas with the tortillas, tomato sauce and cheese. With the remaining ground beef we would make meatballs and with the pepperoni we would make pizzas using French bread gleaned from Grand Central Bakery.

The pork roast and fish could be heated and served as is and the sliced chicken could be added to a small portion of soup to make a "chicken gravy" that could be served over a bed of rice.

Volunteer Dave kindly made a run to Cash 'n' Carry for salad ingredients and some additional items that were necessary to implement our plan including extra cheese and tomato sauce for the pizzas.

It really is amazing how our team comes together to make the meal happen no matter the circumstances. And truth be told, the times we're scrambling are often the most fun because it's exciting and challenging.

The first entree we served today was pasta with meatballs.

French Bread Pizza

There wasn't a dull moment at the meal today but it was indeed a success thanks in large part to pizza.  Besides the French bread pizzas that we made from scratch, we were fortunate to get a large donation of pizza from Pizza Schmizza right before the meal. At the end of the two hour lunch service every bit of pizza was gone but we made it, we served 306 meals and fed every single person who came to our door.

Lots Of Entrees

Dining room volunteers Diana and Mary Ann with the very first meal of the day: Turkey Breast, Stuffing, Freekeh, Green Beans and Cranberry Sauce.

It was a busy day at the Wednesday Community Meal. We served 293 meals and had to change our entree nine different times to utilize the ingredients we had but most importantly everyone who came to our door received a nutritious and well-rounded meal.

Please excuse my poor handwriting. Here is the list of entrees we served today, crossed out once they were gone.

The first few guests in the door got sliced turkey breast with stuffing, freekeh, green beans and cranberry sauce and then we had to change our main dish to chicken strips, chicken breasts, beef and broccoli over rice, sweet and sour chicken, salmon, ground beef and gravy over rice and finally pizza.

The pizza was donated by Pizza Schmizza and is always very popular with our guests. The restaurant generously donates pizza to us each week and slices that aren't served at the Wednesday meal are handed out the next day to guests who come to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for food bags. 

The third entree we served today was chicken breasts over rice with green beans and pineapple. Diana graciously posed for a quick picture. The dining room was hopping today and kept our servers very busy.

A meal of sweet and sour chicken, brown rice and green beans.

Pizza from Pizza Schmizza

In addition to the entrees,  guests got hot soup, salad and dessert. The latter was homemade vanilla pudding and blueberry cobbler. Needless to say, our guests were very happy.

Today's salad were garnished with 1/2 a mini pizza made by volunteers Cindy, Nancy and John. It was a delicious way to utilize a donation of pepperoni, flat bread and English muffins from Good Samaritan Hospital.

Cheryl testing the homemade vanilla pudding. The decision to make pudding came about because I had 24 egg yolks left over from making French macarons and didn't want them to go to waste. Cheryl and I found an easy pudding recipe and came in extra early today to make it, knowing that it would need a couple hours to cool. Volunteer John also helped by measuring ingredients and constantly stirring the pudding while it cooked. It feels so good to stop food from going to waste. And, it feels extra good to create something delicious from it.

Homemade Blueberry Crisp made with blueberries from The Oregon Food Bank that Cheryl sweetened and topped with biscuits from Good Samaritan Hospital. As an extra touch, she sprinkled the biscuits with a bit of cinnamon sugar, added a few pats of butter and baked the cobbler until it was golden and bubbly. Soooo goooood!

And last but not least, I have to give a special shout to our wonderful dedicated dishwashers who come in each week and work harder than anyone. I snapped this picture mid-service when they all had their noses to the grindstone. From left to right is Jay, Bill, Steve and Dave. Not pictured is Kevin who runs to and from the dining room busing the dirty dishes. They simply are the best!

Changing Weather And A Full Dining Room

After a long dry summer, the weather in Portland has suddenly changed to rain, marking the start of cooler temperatures and rough outdoor living conditions for our homeless Wednesday Community Meal guests.

When I entered Trinity Episcopal Cathedral this morning at 7:30 a.m, there already was a line for the meal which was still three and a half hours away. By opening time, the line went all the way through the church's large courtyard and out to the sidewalk.

Unpleasant weather always causes our guests linger longer in the dining room and who can blame them for that? — But this means that tables don't clear up as quickly, there's a constant line to be seated and a more hectic feel to the meal. All of our volunteers worked really hard today.

The first 75 guests inside got chili dogs as their main entree. After that there were tamales, enchiladas, chicken, beef stir fry, green curry, cod, halibut, gumbo and pizza. It was a challenge changing entrees so many times but we need to utilize the food we glean from our donors to help keep our costs down.

Seventy-five of our guests today got a chili dog, quinoa, collard greens and fruit.

We offered all of our guests green salads made by volunteer Linda. We were short kitchen volunteers today but that didn't faze Linda who on her own made all of the salads we served. The just-picked tomatoes in the salads are from Linda and her husband John's garden.

Thank you Good Samaritan Hospital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market, Trader Joes, Pizza Schmizza, Grand Central Bakery and Starbucks! Because of your generosity, we were able to feed everyone who came to our door today a well-rounded delicious and nutritious meal. We served 362.

Dessert today was an assortment of cakes and pastries courtesy of the Trader Joe's on NW Glisan Street.

Just Enough For Everyone

Today's lunch of roast chicken and rice. We garnished the plates with sliced apples and cantaloup from The Oregon Food Bank.

Today was one of those rare days at the Wednesday Community Meal when we served a hearty meal to every single person who came to our door and in the end had nothing left over.

Considering we have no idea how many people we will serve each week because the meal is free and everyone is welcome, this is a rare feat indeed.

I honestly don't know how or why but everything worked out just perfectly.

We served 348 meals today. For the first 200 meals or so, we served oven-roasted chicken, rice, salad, soup and dessert. Then we moved on to serving food gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital and Phil's Uptown Meat Market — Chicken Satay, Ribs, Fried Fish, Green Curry or Beef Curry alongside salad, soup and dessert.

The salads we served today.

Dessert today was homemade apple crisp made by Cheryl.

Of course if more people came to our door we wouldn't have turned them away for lack of food. We had a backup stash of pizza in our refrigerator that was generously donated from Pizza Schmizza on Northwest 21st ready if we needed it.

And if so, we would have heated up the pizza in a heartbeat because we aim to feed everyone who comes to our door.

Don't worry about that pizza going to waste. On other days of the week people can come to the door of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a bag of canned food, so we'll hand out the pizza tomorrow as an extra treat. 

Roast Pork Loin

Mmmm.....Our guests were very happy today.

The first 100 or so guests today at the Wednesday Community Meal were treated to oven-roasted pork loin and homemade mac and cheese. The lean meat was seasoned with a rub made of sugar, salt, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, chili powder and Italian seasoning and came out of the oven with a nice flavorful crust and super moist inside.

Roast pork loin just out of the oven.

Volunteer Linda serving the pork. It's always a treat to put beautiful and nutritious food on the plates.

We served sauteed chard as a side with the pork. The just-picked chard was donated by longtime volunteer Kate who has an amazing garden and is so generous. Kate also brought in zucchini and squash that we roasted and served with the following entrees — crispy chicken wings, barbecue chicken, Thai green curry, sauteed beef and peppers, breaded halibut, oven-baked chicken, ribs and pizza.

We had to change our menu multiple times to utilize the food we receive from wonderful donors like Good Samaritan Hopspital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market and Pizza Schmizza.

The pork loin that we served was purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral to extend the meal and help us feed every single person who comes to our door.


For dessert we served rice pudding made by volunteer Cheryl whose creativity amazes me. She made the rice pudding by mixing leftover cooked rice with boxed vanilla pudding. She topped servings of it with crushed Oreos and vanilla wafers and the guests loved it.

Cups of rice pudding topped with crushed Oreos and vanilla wafers.

We also served hot soup, salad and drinks.

At the end of the day, we served 266 meals and received the following comment from a satisfied guest that just about sums everything up:

"Nothing lifts the spirit like good food."

A Lively Day

The first entree to be served was homemade meatloaf and mac and cheese with a side of sauteed greens. We served an unexpected 447 meals today.

I always try to get pictures of the food and activity during the service of Wednesday Community Meal but today was just too busy.

I snapped a few pictures before the doors opened but after that there was just no time because we served an unexpected 447 meals during our two hours of service and in the end had nothing left over.

All I can say is thank goodness we had an extra big bucket of pizza gleaned from Pizza Schmizza because it saved us and helped us feed everyone.

The meal started out with homemade meatloaf and mac and cheese. We put a crispy topping of bread crumbs on the latter and added a few bits of "yellow" cauliflower from Food Front Grocery Cooperative in Hillsdale. The pretty cauliflower combined perfectly with the cheesy pasta and was a great way to add nutrition to the dish.

Once the service started at 11 a.m, it took just twenty minutes for 14 large meatloafs to be sliced and gone. Then it was on to turkey, chicken, burritos, ribs, sweet and sour chicken and shrimp, a spicy vegetarian dish, chili, pizza and finally hot dogs.

We also offered guests soup, salad and dessert.
 
There was a lot of improvising and running around but in the end everything worked out and everyone who came for food was fed and we had positive comments from the guests. 

Longtime volunteer Cheryl, who oversees the dining room, has started putting paper on a clipboard in the kitchen for volunteers to record comments from the diners. It's a wonderful thing and helps us remember why we serve.

One especially nice comment today came from a man who was just released from jail for violating his probation. He said being in jail for 30 days was "my fault," and all he had been eating while there was "baloney sandwiches" - so "thank you" for "my first real meal in a very long time."

Why We Work

Cheryl with fresh fruit cups of honeydew from The Oregon Food Bank and beautiful strawberries donated from Shannon who works at Trinity.

It's not easy cooking and serving food to an unknown number of people every week at the Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

And, we don't even know the majority of what ingredients we will have to work with until Tuesday afternoon since most of the food is gleaned the day before the meal from generous businesses like Food Front Cooperative Grocery in Hillsdale, Spring Hill Organic Farm in Albany, Good Samaritan Hospital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market, Grand Central Bakery, Pizza Schmizza, Baker & Spice and Starbucks.

We also weekly "shop the dock" at The Oregon Food Bank, looking for free items we can use. Every week is a surprise.

But despite this, the work is rewarding and something I and the other volunteers love.  I've even heard my friend Bill who volunteers each week to wash dishes say "it's the highlight of my week." Now that's saying something.

What makes the work rewarding is that the volunteers are the nicest people and the guests are lovely and appreciative.

My friend Cheryl who oversees the dining room volunteers shared these stories from today:

A male guest told volunteer Dorrie that he "hadn't eaten in two days" and was so hungry and really looking forward to the meal.

Another male guest told Dorrie "this is such a wonderful place," and then enthusiastically said "let the feast begin."

And volunteer Jan who was stationed at the exit door, said one man said as he was leaving that he was so happy because "it's my birthday today and I got all of my favorite foods."  That would be homemade pigs 'n' a blanket and ribs from Phil's Uptown Meat Market.

We served 296 meals today.

We made pigs 'n' a blanket today with Hebrew National Hotdogs and homemade dough that we spiked with chunks of cheese. The guests loved it.

What a treat!

Last Community Meal Of 2012

Santa Claus? Or is it longtime volunteer Dan? Whoever it is, he worked very hard serving coffee, tea and hot chocolate and made our guests smile.

Today was our last Wednesday Community Meal of 2012.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral will be closed the Wednesday after Christmas so the next service will be on January 2, 2013.

It's been a busy year at the Wednesday Community Meal. Every month we've seen the number of meals we serve continue to rise. We've also increased our gleaning to help fight the increase in food costs. Without the support of organizations and businesses like The Oregon Food Bank, Good Samaritian Hospital, Pizza Schmizza, Starbucks, Baker & Spice, Spring Hill Organic Farm, Phil's Meat Market and Grand Central Bakery, we couldn't feed our guests with our limited budget. The gleaning has been a real blessing to our program.

When we started the Wednesday Lunch in 2004, there were just two of us handing out peanut butter sandwiches and if we served 50 we thought that was huge.

In the Spring of 2008 we served our first full-service indoor meal and our numbers were hardly ever over 150 for that first year.

Now, four years later, we regularly serve between 250 and 320 meals each Wednesday. Guest come for the food but I believe they return because of the hospitality. Everyone is welcome and treated with kindness.

Thanks to our wonderful hardworking volunteers, we served 289 meals today.

We had numerous meal changes today. One of the most popular was roasted pork with gravy, asparagus and a baked potato.

With school out for Winter Break, we had extra help from some young volunteers today. Here is high school student Zane stirring a pan of teriyaki chicken.

The meal couldn't go on without our hardworking dishwashers. Longtime volunteer Bill even smiles as he works.