Delicious Treats

The focaccia we made and served today was topped with sliced pepperoni, red pepper and Parmesan cheese.

I love serving just-baked homemade bread at the Wednesday Community Meal. It does takes some extra effort to make the dough early enough so that it will be able to rise, be shaped and baked by the 11 a.m. start of the meal, but it's always well worth it.

Besides making the dining room smell wonderful and welcoming, the taste of warm bread makes our guests so happy.

It's also a real bargain for us to make. We get the flour from The Oregon Food Bank and then all we need to purchase is the yeast, sugar, oil and salt. I made 18 full recipes of foccacia today for less than $10.

A meal of chicken skewers, freekeh, green beans and foccacia. The uncooked freekeh,which is a cereal grain made from green wheat, was donated by Good Samaritan Hospital. I had never cooked or tasted freekah until today so it was a learning experience. It was very good and a nice change from rice and pasta.  We had to change our entree multiple times today but everyone got a piece of warm focaccia.

But that's not all, our guest today were also treated to big and beautiful fresh raspberries from The Oregon Food Bank. They were delivered to us this morning at 10 a.m., just in time to be utilized in today's lunch. We added them to the salads and served them in cups alongside slices of chocolate cake donated by Baker & Spice Bakery. It really was a delicious day!

Fresh raspberries and chocolate cake from Baker & Spice.

Here are some of the wonderful volunteers who helped serve 279 meals today at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral:

Cheryl and Dave help organize the weekly meal and are so dedicated. The meal simply wouldn't happen without them.  Cheryl cooked two whole turkey's for us to serve and Dave sliced the turkey and the giant ham that we served today. He's also part of our ace dishwashing team.

Cindy usually helps serve the dessert but we were short on kitchen volunteers today so she graciously pitched in to help plate food. She's wonderful and always willing to help wherever needed.

Bill and Leah are both dedicated longtime volunteers. Bill comes early to help set up the dining room and washes dishes. He's always one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. Leah is in charge of the salads but also pitches in wherever needed. Look at those gorgeous raspberries we served today! I must also mention that in the background is super volunteer Kevin in action. During the two hour service,  he's always on the move clearing dishes out of the dining room.