Baked Potatoes

Some of the 120 pounds of baked potatoes we served today. We made them extra good by rubbing them with oil and sprinkling them with Kosher salt before baking. Volunteers Cheryl and Mary worked hard today prepping all of them for the ovens.

Baked potatoes were a hit today at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Wednesday Community Meal. The 120 pounds that we used came free from The Oregon Food Bank and we turned them into a full meal by topping them with chili, cheese and sour cream.

"Everyone is so happy when they see we're serving baked potatoes," said longtime volunteer Carol who serves in the dining room. "Their eyes just light up when they see what's on their plate."

Today's meal.

Alongside the potatoes we served oven roasted tomatoes that we seasoned with salt, garlic and fresh basil.

I think our guests liked the baked potatoes because they are delicious, comforting and easy to eat. Most of our guests can't afford dental care and because of this, quite a few have difficulty eating anything that's tough to chew.  How easy a food is to eat is something we always have to consider when we are deciding what to make.

I learned this years ago when I offered a guest an apple to take home and he said "Now Heidi, do you really think I can eat that?"  Then he smiled and revealed a mouth full of missing and broken teeth. It really hit me that having dental care is something I shouldn't take for granted. I wish so much that it could be made affordable and available to everyone because having it improves the quality of life.

In addition to the potatoes we served soup, salad and dessert. The dessert was an assortment of tasty cakes and pies donated from the Trader Joe's on NW Glisan Street. 

Lemon tart slices that were just one of many desserts from Trader Joe's that we offered today.

We weren't too busy since it's the very first of the month but we still served 214 meals and saw a lot of smiles in the dining room.

Pretty Potatoes

Purple potatoes, red potatoes and thin skinned yellow potatoes.

The colorful potatoes we served at the Wednesday Community Meal today were as pretty as they were delicious.

Volunteer Kate who has a large garden and is so generous, brought us organic purple potatoes and creamy thin skinned yellow potatoes that she said were closely related to the Yukon Gold. We also had some red potatoes from the Oregon Food Bank.

We seasoned all of the potatoes by simply tossing them with vegetable oil, fresh rosemary, black pepper, garlic and salt and cooked them in a 400 degree oven until they were golden brown.

We served 331 meals today and the first 30 or so guests got a real treat - roasted lamb chops, the colorful potatoes and maple glazed carrots.

For the lamb, we immersed it in a lemon, garlic and rosemary marinade and then cooked it in a very hot 425 degree oven for the first 15 minutes and then reduced the temperature to 325 and cooked it until was tender and falling from the bone.

A lamb chop with roasted potatoes and maple glazed carrots.

Maple glazed carrots.

For the remaining guests we served barbecued chicken thighs and wings, turkey, breaded fish, ribs and chicken breasts. And of course everyone was also offered soup, salad and dessert.