Carrots, Carrots And More Carrots

The Wednesday Community Meal Carrot Team: Ann, Davis, Terri, Linda and Madeline.

There were lots of carrots at today's Wednesday Community Meal.

There were carrots in the salads, roasted carrots as a side dish and carrot ginger cake for dessert.

I am thankful for the wonderful volunteers who spent a large chunk of today's prep time, in the corner of the kitchen, peeling and slicing the pounds and pounds of carrots that our gleaners picked up from The Oregon Food Bank.

It was especially tedious work because the carrots were small and some even came in unusual shapes which made them difficult to peel.

For fun and motivation, volunteer Linda, who has a great sense of humor and is so clever, lined up the more interesting carrots on the window sill above the work station.

 "It's a carrot family," she said.

It even looked like they were waving, being friendly and encouraging us to keep on peeling.

We served 284 meals today.

The friendly carrot family.

An Early Easter Meal

We had an early Easter celebration today at The Wednesday Community Meal and served an extra special entree of mustard-glazed pork loin and crispy oven-roasted potatoes.

Usually we have to change our menu multiple times to utilize the ingredients we glean, but today we served the same entree throughout our entire two-hour lunch service.

The ingredients for the meal were donated by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and our guests were very appreciative and complimentary.

Just out of the oven, mustard-glazed pork loin.

Also receiving raves was a homemade horseradish sauce that we added to the plates. One guest even asked me for the recipe — It's just sour cream, horseradish sauce, fresh parsley, salt and black pepper mixed together. Super easy and really delicious!

We served 377 meals today.

Volunteers John and Mary came in early at 7 a.m. to help with all the tedious prep work. In the foreground are the pork loins that we cooked today.

Davis assembled the oven s'mores that we served for dessert and he sliced all of the pork loins that we served.

My daughter Eleanor with our friend Bob, who was so sweet and brought us each a box of Easter chocolate. Eleanor has known Bob her entire life. I first met Bob a little over 16 years ago when I began volunteering at the Trinity Food Pantry and Eleanor was a newborn baby, strapped to me in her baby carrier.

Many Meals

Longtime community meal volunteer Mary Ann with a meatloaf meal. She and all of the other dining room volunteers are amazing! Serving nonstop for two hours is hard work but they do it while smiling and taking the time to visit with our guests and make them feel welcome.

It was another very busy day at the Wednesday Community Meal. We served 372 meals during our two hour service at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Northwest Portland.

The entrees we served were meatloaf, pork spare ribs, pork short ribs, enchiladas, chile rellenos and vegetarian lasagna. It's typical that we change our menu at least three or four times during the meal because that's just what you have do do when you utilize gleaned and donated food to feed a crowd.

The pork short ribs were particularly popular with today's guests and were actually short rib trimmings that were donated by SP Provisions. We seasoned them with chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and oregano, moistened them with a bit of tomato sauce and cooked them long and slow until they were very very tender. The meat pieces might not have been uniform in size but they were darn delicious and there were many requests for seconds.

In additon to the entrees, there was soup, salad and dessert — a full four-course meal,  free to everyone, no questions asked.

One of the side dishes we served today was roasted red potatoes with caramelized Walla Walla Sweet onions. The potatoes were gleaned from The Oregon Food Bank and the onions were gleaned from New Seasons Market.

Our dishwashing team is the best! They are the last to leave after a long day's work but never complain and even seem to have some fun. Craig helped keep things especially light today with his green hairdo in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Friends At Work

We were fortunate to have Catherine's help serving in the dining room. Today is her 10th birthday and she chose to celebrate it by coming in to help. Now,  how did we get so lucky?

One of the best things about volunteering at The Wednesday Community Meal is that I get to work with my friends each week.

The aim of the free meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is always to serve hospitality and a delicious and nutritious meal to those in need. But, who says you can't also have some fun while you work?

It's such a joy each week to work among smiling volunteers and hear lots of chatter and laughter. One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is hearing volunteers and longtime friends Martha and Leah visiting and giggling. Their glee is infectious. Hearing them happy, makes me happy.

You know, I believe friendship just may be secret sauce that makes our meal program thrive.

It was a joy spending time with my friends today and helping to serve 290 meals.

Most of the guest today got homemade chicken enchiladas and roasted red potatoes that we topped with a bit of cheese sauce.

Three of my favorite people, Linda, Steve and Leah. Steve is part of our super dishwashing team and he was putting away pans when I told Linda and Leah to grab him for a quick picture. They are great!

Mixing It Up!

A serving of the chili we made today.

One of the most popular entrees at today's The Wednesday Community Meal was created by just mixing up small amounts of food gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital to create a large amount of something new.

That something new was a hearty chili and we made it from small portions of shredded pork, sliced beef, black beans and corn that was all donated by the hospital. 

After looking our gleaned ingredients and doing a little brainstorming,  my fellow volunteer Mary and I decided it would be most practical to combine all of them with some more beans and canned tomatoes from our pantry to make a big single dish. We also seasoned it with chili powder, garlic powder and ground cumin.

So what initially looked like small amounts of food suddenly became a big pan of a meaty and flavorful chili that we heated, served over rice and topped with peppers, green onions and shredded cheese.

It really is a great feeling when you not only save perfectly good food from going to waste but you create a delicious new dish. 

We served 413 meals today.

Super Sweet Potatoes

When I spotted Dean, our volunteer dining room barista, by the kitchen window, I couldn't resist convincing him to pose for a quick picture.  I love his smile and positive energy.  Serving coffee and hot chocolate nonstop for two hours straight is hard work.

It was a busy day at The Wednesday Community Meal. We served 395 meals during our two hour service and everyone who came to eat received a delicious and well-balanced meal.

One of the highlights of the meal were the roasted and mashed sweet potatoes that we served as a side dish. The potatoes came from the Oregon Food Bank and volunteer Kate suggested and took on preparing them my now new favorite way.

Prepping potatoes usually eats up a lot of time, so to make things easier, Kate suggested we just wash, cut them in half and bake them cut side down on a parchment lined sheetpan. Her method worked worked like a charm. The potatoes were soft and caramelized when we pulled them out of the oven and then all we had to do was let them cool for a bit and scoop out the sweet flesh.

Then we mashed them with a bit of butter, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. They were soooo gooood!

The sweet potatoes after baking.

After the baked potatoes cooled for a bit, it was easy to scoop the flesh out of the skin. Look at that caramelized goodness! I love Kate's method!

Our main entrees today were pork loin, barbecue chicken, chicken curry, baked fish, chili rellenos, vegetarian lasagna and hot dogs. We had to change our menu in order to utilize all of the week's gleaned food. Making do with what we get is a challenge that keeps us on our toes, but it is the right thing to do because we save perfectly good food from going to waste.

A meal of roasted pork loin, mixed rice, roasted zucchini and tomato. We always strive to serve meals that are both nutritious and delicious.

I also have to give a special shout out to longtime and very dedicated volunteers Leah and Martha. They were absolutely indispensable in the kitchen today. We were short on volunteers so unassisted, they prepared and dished up every single bowl of soup and plate of salad that left the kitchen today. They worked nonstop for more than five hours and just wow! —I am so grateful.

Serving Shelter

The view of the dining room from the kitchen during our last half hour of service. I was so happy to see my friend Bob seated closest to the kitchen so that I could smile and wave at him. We've been friends for more than 16 years.

So far this year, Portland's weather has been very hard on the homeless. Last week it was snow and ice and this week it's been rain, nonstop rain.

Those who joined us at the Wednesday Community Meal today seemed to be seeking shelter just as much as a hot meal because they lingered longer than usual in the dining room. The tables cleared up slowly and there was a constant line to get in throughout most of our two hour lunch service.

But who can blame our guests for staying inside as long as possible? The wet weather has been miserable and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Kempton Hall is a beautiful, warm and comfortable place to eat.

We served 310 meals today and helped a lot of cold and wet folks warm up. 

Our entrees were crispy oven-baked chicken and homemade meat loaf. We also served soup, salad, dessert and lots and lots of hot chocolate and coffee.

Meatloaf was one of today's entrees.

Last Wednesday Community Meal Of 2015

Our last Wednesday Community Meal of 2015 turned out to be pretty great thanks to our wonderful team of dedicated volunteers and some generous food donations.

Three of the entrees that we served today — roast beef, salmon and spiral sliced ham — were donated by two Trinity Episcopal Cathedral parishioners. The premium treats helped make today's meal extra special for our guests. 

Salmon with noodle salad and roasted vegetables.

In addition to the roast beef, salmon and ham, we served meatloaf and teriyaki chicken skewers. There was also soup, salad, dessert and drinks.

One of our volunteers passed on a sweet compliment about the meatloaf from one of our guests. "He said it was delicious and just like his mother's," she told me.  

That made me so happy to hear because our aim is not only feed our guests, it's to please our guests. That extra care is important and what makes the meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral thrive. 

We served 331 meals during out two-hour service today which brings the total number of meals served in 2015 to 16,230.  Such a large number proves that we are indeed fulfilling a need in our community and encourages us to keep working in 2016. 

Here are some of our super volunteers who worked hard to make today's meal special for our guests. We truly couldn't do it without them.

John and Linda with the cutest little photobomber, Isla Blue. 

Zane, Nicholas, Sam and Ian.

Dan who served the coffee and hot chocolate in the dining room. We also celebrated his 79th birthday by singing to him.

Hamburgers For Everyone

Today's lunch.

We served hamburgers, which proved to be a very popular lunch, at today's Wednesday Community Meal. We were non-stop busy from the moment we opened our doors at 11 a.m. and served 368 meals during our two hour service.

When I told one of our guests who was in line early what we would be serving he smiled and the man standing behind him responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!".

The Cascade Farms hamburger patties were donated to us by Lift Urban Portland and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral provided the buns, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and condiments.

The cathedral and its members are so generous and supportive of the weekly meal and fund extra necessary purchases. It's not just food they provide — they also provide the paper placemats, napkins, cups, foil, plastic wrap... and more....anything that we need to make the weekly free to everyone meal happen. Trinity also lets us use their commercial kitchen and serve in their large beautiful dining room.

My two full carts at Cash 'n' Carry on Tuesday, shopping for the additional ingredients and supplies that we needed for today's meal.

Alongside the hamburgers, we served Tim' Cascade chips and grapes. There was also soup, salad, dessert and drinks. Thanks to Trinity and Lift Urban Portland, it was a tasty and satisfying meal for our hungry friends.

Chop, Chop, Chop

Volunteers Leo, Helen and Steve worked nonstop in the dining room today.

Gosh it took a lot of chopping to prepare today's Wednesday Community Meal. I am so thankful for all of the volunteers who helped because we served one labor intensive lunch,  and it was a very busy day. We served 443 meals during our two hour service.

The line for the meal started forming early, just after 8 a.m. and by the time our doors opened at 11 a.m., it went all the way through the courtyard of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and out to the sidewalk on NW 19th. I think everyone was just happy that there was a break from days of rain and anxious for the opportunity to sit and eat inside.

There just was so much prep work to be done. There was the bread that needed to be cut for the croutons, vegetables that needed to be chopped for the salads, oranges that needed to be sliced as a side and then there were the ingredients for our main dish.

We made a flavorful saute of Italian sausages, zucchini, onions, tomato and beans that we served over pasta and rice. The dish was our own creation, utilizing the ingredients we had on hand and we made enough of it to serve more than 400.

Just the chopping of the zucchini and onions took more than an hour and a half and for nearly an hour,  there were five volunteers in the kitchen just vigorously cutting the five cases of Italian sausages that were donated by Lift Urban Portland.

We topped our creation with shredded Parmesan.

The dining room volunteers and dishwashers worked nonstop too and deserve kudos. The Wednesday Community Meal really is a team effort and I know our guests are thankful for it.   


 

A Fantastic Bargain Of A Meal

A meal of beef fajitas.

The most expensive part of putting on the Wednesday Community Meal is buying the protein. It's hard to find donations of lean meat. So typically each week, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral purchases it for the free-for-everyone weekly meal.

Of course, there's a budget that we need to stay within, so we shop sales and look for deals. We usually buy pork or chicken.  

Beef is the protein that rarely makes an appearance on our menu. But today was different. The best part: It was all free!

Our guests were able to enjoy homemade beef fajitas because of donations of high-quality beef from two of our wonderful community partners, Lift Urban Portland and Good Samaritan Hospital.

Lift Urban Portland donated two giant roasts; Good Samaritan Hospital gave us 40 six-ounce steaks.

We chose to make fajitas because we knew slicing the beef thin and adding peppers, onions and tomatoes would make it go farther, feeding more people.

After the beef fajitas, we served chili-topped baked potatoes, chicken skewers, meatloaf, ribs, chicken curry and ham. The latter was a gorgeous spiral cut ham from Whole Foods, donated by a Trinity parishioner.

A ham meal.

All of the proteins we served today were donated and helped us stay way under budget. Here's the breakdown: We spent $149.08 on ingredients for today's meal and served 398! That's soup, salad, entree, dessert and drinks for .37 cents a person! It was delicious, too.

Striving To Serve Healthy Food

Volunteer Zane did a wonderful job slicing all of the pork tenderloin that we served today.

Lean, oven-roasted pork tenderloin was a highlight of today's Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Alongside the pork, we served baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, slices of cold watermelon and soup, salad and dessert.

Dessert today was warm, just-baked cake that volunteers Ava and Quinn sliced and topped with chocolate and chopped peanuts.

High-quality proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive to buy and what's usually lacking in our guest's diets so that's what we always strive to serve at Trinity's weekly free meal.  Our guests are primarily the homeless but we also serve the elderly, the working poor and families.

For the meal, we utilize gleaned ingredients as much as possible and then compete the meal with ingredients generously purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Lunch is served between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and everyone is welcome, no questions asked. All you have to do is show up and I promise you will be greeted, seated and served. We served 366 meals today.

A Summer Reunion

I am so happy that Ian and Nicholas came in to help today. They are hard workers and lots of fun!

I love it when school is out and young volunteers come in to help at The Wednesday Community Meal.

My daughter Eleanor and I were the first volunteers to arrive at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral this morning and I had hopes that other young volunteers would also come in to help, but I didn't want to get my heart set on it with it being the first week of the summer break. School did just get out and lets face it, sleeping in does sound pretty appealing.

I shouldn't have for a second doubted the dedication of our fantastic young volunteers.

By 8 a.m., Sierra was in the kitchen ready to get to work washing and dicing three cases of squash from the Oregon Food Bank. Eleanor took on making croutons for the salads and then I peeked out into the dining room and saw Ian had come in and was already helping to set up tables in the dining room. Before I knew it, Nicholas, Ava, Zane and Olivia were also in the kitchen helping.

It really is a pleasure to see volunteers of all ages, working together to feed the hungry in our community. Ian, Zane and Nicholas just graduated from high school and will soon be heading off to college and I hate to think this might be their last summer volunteering at the community meal.  They've been coming in to help for years and they are an absolute joy to work alongside.

On the menu today was soup, salad, chicken enchiladas, pork tamales, rice, roasted summer squash, fresh salsa and watermelon.

A meal of chicken enchiladas, rice, roasted summer squash, fresh salsa and watermelon.

Zane made the salsa by combining diced fresh tomatoes, onion and cilantro with donated containers of salsa from Trader Joe's and a jug of La Victoria salsa purchased by Trinity from Cash 'n' Carry. He carefully seasoned it with extra chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and salt and made honestly one of the best and freshest tasting salsas I've ever tasted. It really is amazing what you can create with a little of this, a little of that, an open mind and a positive attitude. Negativity can really ruin a dish and there's no room or time for that in a busy and productive kitchen.

Zane's one of a kind super salsa!

By the time it was ready to serve, we had three more young helpers join our crew — Aidan, Scarlett and Isla Blue.

It was a fun and productive day and we made a lot of hungry people happy. We served 337 meals during our two hour service.

Olivia, Eleanor and Sierra getting the juice station ready. Eleanor burned her hand on the oven and as a remedy, has cold yellow mustard on it, held on with a plastic glove and painter's tape. I know this looks and sounds strange but for mild burns, cold yellow mustard works like a charm to cool and heal.

Aidan and Ave dishing up the chocolate pudding for dessert.

Isla Blue helped Cindy serve dessert in the dining room. They make the best team!

In addition to making the salsa, Zane cooked all of the pork tamales which were generously donated by Trader Joe's. He cooked every single one perfectly. Eleanor is alongside him, getting a plate of food for her lunch break.

Thankful

I am so thankful for all the terrific volunteers at The Wednesday Community Meal who pitched in to fill in for me while I was away this week. I appreciate it so much and so do our guests who have come to depend on the weekly meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. It's important to me that we never let them down.

Everyone came together to serve 309 beautiful well-rounded meals and I have no doubt there were a lot of smiles in the dining room.

My friend Cheryl deserves a special shout out for planning the menu around all of the gleaned food. She also kindly snapped and shared a few pictures so I wouldn't feel too left out.

Wednesdays really are a highlight for me and I can't wait to see everyone next week and thank them in person for all their hard work.

Linda and Mary are so dedicated. They come each week to serve in the dining room and are always willing to fill in wherever needed.

I love Diana. She is a dedicated server in the dining room and it's not easy work. The pace is fast, and you're on your feet moving about the large room for two hours straight.

I always appreciate having Tom's help in the kitchen. He fits volunteering at the meal around his work schedule and comes in regularly to help every other week. He is great to work alongside and makes everyone miss him on the weeks he's gone.

Chicken For Lunch!

The roasted chicken we served today drew a large crowd to our meal.

Chicken is hands down the most popular entree that we serve at The Wednesday Community Meal.

In the past, we've been able to serve it quite frequently because of the generosity of Lift Urban Portland which donates to us large boxes of frozen chicken quarters.

But lately, they haven't had it to give to us and our guests missed it until today because the local nonprofit treated us to four boxes.

We seasoned the large pieces of chicken with a homemade seasoning blend of garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and little chili powder and baked it in a 350-degree oven until it was done and the skin was crisp and golden brown. The smell in the kitchen was amazing and after our first seating of 60 people, there was a long line to get into the lunch. Word on the street spreads really fast when roasted chicken is being served.

The first 130 or so guests got chicken and then it was onto ribs, enchiladas, lasagna and finally ham. Everyone got a good meal.

The side dishes we served today were rice, green beans, mashed potatoes and mashed carrots. The latter was a dish we concocted on the fly because of the largest carrots I've ever seen that our gleaners picked up at The Oregon Food Bank. Last week we roasted the carrots but this week I thought we should try something different and our carrot mash ended up better than I could have imagined.

We boiled the carrots for over an hour and then mashed them by hand (thank you Andy!) and added butter, salt and pepper and fresh parsley. It was a beautiful and very fresh tasting dish.

Our special carrot side dish.

Here are some of the wonderful volunteers who helped us prepare and serve 333 meals today:

Isla Blue who is 5-years-old, worked alongside volunteer Cindy serving pudding in the busy dining room. Isla Blue's dad is a regular volunteer in the dining room, greeting and seating our guests, and her grandma is the co-chair of Outreach at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. With such great role models for volunteering in her life, I have a feeling she'll do great things.

I can't say enough good things about Terri. She comes early to help cook and stays until the very end,  helping to clean up. She's smart and efficient in the kitchen and a huge help to me.

Justine, John and Leah are also indispensable. They are hard workers and up for any task. After prepping food for the meal, Justine went out into the dining room to wait on tables and Leah and John stayed in the kitchen plating the salads.

Nancy just knows exactly what to do without being told. It's like she's a mind reader! I'll say "oh I forgot to get the rice out of the oven," and she'll say "I already did it." Keeping track of what's cooking would be overwhelming without Nancy. She also stays late to help clean up.

I owe Andy big time for mashing pounds and pound of boiled carrots in small batches. It was tedious work!

Andy insisted that I mash one batch of carrots and pose for a picture because in his words, "you're never on your blog." So here I am, but really, he deserves the credit for mashing the carrots.

An Easy Service

It was a relatively slow service at the Wednesday Community Meal today so dining room volunteers Martha, Amanda and Carol even had time for a short salad break.

It was a scramble pulling together today's Wednesday Community Meal since we chose to make a pasta dish which is always labor intensive because of the noodle cooking, but luckily the service was easy. We weren't too busy and the guests really liked the food.

I especially have to thank volunteer Andy who worked nonstop over a pot of boiling hot water for more than two hours, cooking pounds and pounds of pasta in small batches. It was a hot and sweaty job and he never complained. I told him, "at least you've got clean pores today, " and he laughed. I'm so lucky to get to work alongside the nicest volunteers. They are always positive and work so hard.

We tossed the pasta with a homemade cheese sauce, ground beef and diced tomatoes and created a dish that really pleased our guests. It wasn't anything fancy but everyone said it was delicious. Alongside the pasta, we served slices of flank steak, baked apples and roasted carrots and beans.

Slices of flank steak. We cooked the steaks in a hot oven, let them rest and volunteer John sliced them.

High school student Sydney was on Spring break and came in to help. She made the cheese sauce for our pasta dish and helped with the plating.

A meal almost ready to be served. It just needs some roasted carrots and beans and baked apples.

A guest stopped to tell me, "You guys did great today. This is delicious." It's the simple comfort foods that always seem to be the best received.

We also served soup, salad and dessert and in the end served 232 meals today.