Homemade Lasagna

When you glean fresh pasta sheets from two local businesses, how can you resist not making homemade lasagna? Fresh pasta isn't something we regularly pick up.

And, also knowing that I had two cases of Cascade Farms Beef still in the freezer really sealed the deal.

Yes, making lasagna for today's Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral felt meant to be.

The pasta donations from Phil's Uptown Meat Market and New Seasons Market and the beef from SP Provisions couldn't have come at a better time. It's the Wednesday before Valentine's Day and we wanted to treat our guests to an extra special meal. It worked out perfectly.

Of course we also served soup, salad, dessert and drinks. We served 283 meals today

A lasagna meal.

We have such a great team of hardworking volunteers who help pull the meal off each week. Anne has been a regular and dedicated volunteer since the beginning and I am grateful.

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.

Hearty Food

We had to change our entree menu a few times to utilize the food we had on hand but all of the 303 meals we served at the Wednesday Community Meal today were nutritious, hearty and well-received by our guests. In addition to the entree, guests were were served soup, salad and dessert. Dessert today was homemade pear crisp made by volunteer Cheryl.

The first guests in the door got oven-baked chicken with gravy over rice, green beans, cranberry sauce and orange slices. The chicken was crispy and flavorful and many guests stopped by the kitchen window to say how much they loved it. Harry, one of our regulars even fist bumped me and told me it was "the bomb."

A chicken meal.

The chicken was donated by Lift Urban Portland and we prepared it by seasoning it with a homemade blend of spices, herbs and salt and pepper and baking it until it was done and nicely brown, flipping it over once during baking. Every time we make baked chicken, our seasoning blend is different depending on what seasonings we have on hand, but that doesn't seem to matter. The chicken turns out delicious every time.

Next up today was gnocchi that we topped with a cheesy tomato sauce and served with meatballs, green beans and orange slices. The large meatballs were donated by Phil's Uptown Meat Market and a perfect accompaniment to the gnocchi that was donated by Good Samaritan Hospital. I have to give a special shout out to volunteer Terri who cooked a whole case of frozen gnocchi for us today by standing over the stove and dropping small batches into boiling water. It took a lot of time and a lot of patience and she cooked it perfectly.

A gnocchi and meatball meal.

The last thing we served today was shepherd's pie donated by Good Samaritan Hospital. The comforting entree, made with ground beef, mashed potatoes and vegetables is always popular with our guests. Alongside the shepherd's pie we served roasted potatoes, a green salad and orange slices.

A shepherd's pie meal.

Lingering And Not Wanting To Leave

Volunteer Frank serving the first two meals of the day — meatloaf, baked potato, roasted green beans and baked apple slices.

When I arrived at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral this morning, a bit before 7:30 a.m. to start cooking for the Wednesday Community Meal, I saw a man bundled up and huddled with his back against the church trying to stay warm.  He was first in line for a meal that was still three and a half hours away and he was so crouched over that I couldn't see his face.

The temperature was just below freezing but felt even colder because of heavy winds. It really was miserably cold and even with a winter coat and gloves,  I could barely stand just walking from my parked car to the church.

Once inside, I asked my friends Mary and Martha who volunteer with me,  "Did you see there's a man already in line? I'm going to ask him if he wants a cup of hot chocolate." They both thought that was a good idea and said I should just bring him one.

So I mixed up a rich cup of hot chocolate and headed outside towards the man expecting to encounter sadness and even some gruffness since that's how I'd be if I was freezing and stuck outside.

That's not what happened.

"Sir, I have a cup of hot chocolate for you," I said. His head quickly lifted and I saw a smiling ruddy face with sparkly kind eyes.

"Oh that's so nice of you, I'd love a cup of hot chocolate," he enthusiastically said and added "I'm looking forward to the meal today."

He really surprised me with his positivity and politeness amid such suffering. He amazed me. The next time I get whiny about something trivial, I'm going to try my best to remember him and put things in perspective.

We served 287 meals today and noticed that our guests lingered longer and some even got back in line to eat two or three times, not wanting to leave the warmth of Kempton Hall.

Guests today were treated to beautiful handmade scarves all lovingly made and donated by volunteer Nancy's 86-year old mother Chieko. When I told a man who had chosen a scarf that it was handmade he said "I can tell and I'm going to cherish it. Thank you."

Meal Closeup.

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.

Roasted Chicken And Greek Salad

Roasted Chicken

Greek Salad

We served nine different entrees today at the Wednesday Community Meal because as usual, we had to figure out the best way to utilize the food we had gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market and Trader Joe's. The gleaning is so important because it helps keep our operating costs down and prevents perfectly good food from going to waste.

One of the most popular entrees today was roasted chicken. We had six whole chickens donated from Trader Joe's that we seasoned with garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper and herbs and roasted in a 350-degree oven until they were done and beautifully browned.

Volunteers Dave and Steve graciously pitched in to carve the chickens and did a great job. Meat carving is not my forte so I really appreciated their help.

Dave and Steve carving the chickens.

With the roasted chicken we fed the first 25 guests inside the door. After that we moved onto the next entree, chicken piccata from Good Samaritan Hospital, which fed eight guests. Then it was onto roast pork, roast turkey, fried chicken, beef fajita mix over rice, shepherd's pie, ribs and finally more turkey. In the end we served 261 meals.

One consistent highlight of today's meal were beautiful Greek salads made with crisp lettuce, feta, olives and garden-fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. We also offered everyone soup, dessert and drinks.

By creatively using a little of this and and a little of that we were able to serve a well-rounded and nutritious meal to everyone who joined us today at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

A Quiet Day And Homemade Croutons

The best homemade croutons made by volunteer Leah at today's Wednesday Community Meal.

With it being the first week of the month, it was a quiet day at the Wednesday Community Meal. We typically feed smaller crowds earlier in the month because that's when people get their social security checks.

The slower-paced service gave us more time today to visit with our guests who are so nice and appreciative. One guest today told volunteer Dean who serves coffee in the dining room, "When I come here to have lunch, it feels like I'm coming to Grandma's house."

In order to utilize the food we gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital and Phil's Uptown Meat Market, we had to change our menu quite a few times. At the start of the meal we served Thai green curry and at the end we served spaghetti. In between there was meatloaf, ribs, chicken, beef casserole, Mexican casserole and a moist and delicious roasted pork loin that was purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Volunteer Nancy slicing the pork loin that was one of our most popular entrees today.

Guests were also offered also soup, salad and dessert. The salads were extra good today because they were topped with croutons made from scratch by volunteer Leah. They were crunchy and perfectly seasoned with garlic, Italian herbs, paprika, salt and pepper. It's hard to duplicate what we do each week because our ingredients are rarely the same but I hope Leah remembers her recipe because her croutons were the best.

We served 285 meals today.

Lots Of Veggies

In memory of our friend Sue who passed away last week, we placed flowers and a card at her reserved seat in front of the kitchen window.

Guests at the Wednesday Community Meal today were treated to lots of  veggies courtesy of The Oregon Food Bank and volunteer Kate who has an amazing garden and is so generous.

From the Oregon Food Bank we received four cases of asparagus that we roasted in the oven and seasoned with garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper. From Kate we had garden fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, carrots, beets, onions, garlic and cantaloup.

We sliced the cucumbers and seasoned them with rice vinegar, garlic, salt and a touch of sugar. They were crisp, cooling and an absolutely delicious addition to the meal. We used the tomatoes for the salads and roasted the squash, beets and carrots to serve as sides. The plates today were so colorful!

It's so wonderful to be able to treat our guests to such high-quality, fresh and nutritious produce. Our guests love it and many stopped by the kitchen window to say thanks.

We served 346 meals today.

The salads we served today.

Asparagus ready for the oven.

Another treat today was chicken from Phil's Uptown Meat Market that we coated with barbecue sauce and baked.

Ice Cream For Everyone

Official ice cream tasting at today's Wednesday Community Meal with Bill who is pointing to the flavor he likes best and from left to right, Sam, Eleanor, Otis, Dave and Ian.

We had to change our entree menu a few times today at the Wednesday Community Meal but our dessert was consistent. We had ice cream for everyone! And boy, was it good ice cream — Chocolate Prune from Salt & Straw and Chocolate Almond from Umpqua.

Of course us volunteers had to officially taste the ice cream too, you know just to make sure everything was okay. It most definitely was.

The ice cream was a wonderful and cooling treat for our guests. 

We served 262 meals today.

One of today's entrees, ribs donated from Phil's Uptown Meat Market, ramen and roasted squash, eggplant and kale. We had to change our menu a few times to utilize what we had but everyone got a well-rounded and nutritious meal.

Staying Positive

Our wonderful team of kitchen volunteers.

At the Wednesday Community Meal it takes positivity and determination to feed an unknown number of guests each week.

We have to utilize the limited amount of food we have the best we can and basically just work hard, keep an open mind and get creative if we have to, because we aim to feed everyone who comes to our door between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

I feel strongly that we shouldn't turn anyone away and it's an attitude I learned from my parents.

I grew up in a large family, I have three brothers and a twin sister, and it was common for at least one of us to have a friend over at dinnertime. My parents always said "of course they can join us, there's always enough for one more."  They were easygoing and welcoming and they were right — if you are willing to put in the effort to figure something out, there's enough. This positivity made our home happy and very popular.

Today at the meal, we had to put in some of that effort to feed everyone. There was an extra long line to get in for the first hour of service and by noon we were quickly running out of entrees.

For a side dish we were serving pasta with kale, garlic and shallots. I knew the dish was seasoned well and could be turned into an entree with a few additions. So my fellow volunteer Nancy and I ran down to the basement pantry to see what we could find. We found garbanzo beans, roasted red peppers and shredded cheese and ran upstairs and worked as fast as we could.

The rest of the  kitchen volunteers were so supportive. They said "that sounds good" and "oh, I would like to eat that," encouraging us to keep going. There wasn't time for perfection and our friends in the kitchen understood that.

Today was a success because we served 343 delicious and nutritious meals during our two-hour service and there was enough for everyone.

The pasta and kale side dish that morphed into an entree halfway through our service today. The first lucky guests in the door got the pasta as well as ribs from Phil's Uptown Meat Market and homemade biscuits made by Sierra, Quinn, Nicholas and Ava.

Good Food But Few Guests

One of today's 216 meals - A pork enchilada, ham, rice and veggies.

We had a large group of energetic volunteers eager to work at today's Wednesday Community Meal but a surprisingly small number of guests. At the end of the two hour service, we'd served only 216 meals. Last Wednesday, the first week of July,  we served 245 and our numbers typically go up each week until the end of the month.

The lulls in today's service actually made me more tired and my fellow kitchen volunteers said the same was true for them. When we're really busy it's easier to keep our energy levels up, especially in the summer heat. Continually stopping and starting is more tiring.

The meal was a success though, we served every person who came to our door a well-rounded and delicious meal. The first guests in the door got ribs from Phil's Uptown Meat Market, rice and vegetables. Then it was onto corned beef, chicken, hot roast beef sandwiches, ham sandwiches, sweet and sour chicken and pork enchiladas.

The corned beef, roast beef and ham were donated by the Oregon Food Bank. They came already cooked and just needed to be sliced and heated for serving. High school volunteers Micah and my nephew Sam took on the task of slicing all the meat and they did a great job. I told them I appreciated their hard  work and that they are now officially qualified to seek work in a deli.

Sam slicing the roast beef.

Olivia whisked up a combo of mayo and mustard to put on the sandwiches.

We also served soup, salad and dessert. The soup was donated from Good Samaritan Hospital, the salads were made from lettuce donated by Springhill Organic Farm and the dessert was delicious cake donated by Trader Joe's.

Linda and Leah plating salads.

Treats From Phil's

Homemade meatloaf made with prime ground chuck from Phil's Uptown Meat Market.

With it being the last Wednesday of the month, we were busy at the community meal today, serving 339 lunches during our two-hour service.

We needed to change our menu a few times today to utilize the food we had but the first 80 or so lucky guests got homemade meatloaf made with prime ground chuck donated by Phil's Uptown Meat Market. The local family-owned business has been generously donating to our weekly meal for nearly five years.

Later during the meal today, we changed to serving other specialties from Phil's — beef and chicken kabobs and barbecue and sweet chili ribs. The ribs especially create a lot of excitement whenever we serve them.

I am so grateful to Phil's for their generosity. It feels wonderful to be able to serve our guests such high-quality meat.

Here are a few pictures of our wonderful volunteers who helped make today's community meal a success:

Amanda is famous for serving the soup in our dining room. When guests spot her outside of the meal they excitedly say, "Hey, it's the soup lady!"

Cheryl and Mary Ann made a lot of pudding for dessert today.

Mary is our salad server in the dining room. It's a hard job that keeps her moving on her feet for 2 hours straight but she always smiles and makes it look easy.

A Sunny Service

Two super volunteers named Martha side by side in the sunny dining room at today's Wednesday Community Meal. Martha on the left volunteers in the kitchen and is in charge of preparing and serving the soup and Martha on the right works in the dining room, resetting tables and serving.

Diners at the Wednesday Community Meal got to eat by sunlight thanks to a bright and beautiful day in Portland, Oregon.

It's amazing how quickly a sunbeam can brighten the mood and enhance one's outlook. There were lots of smiles in the dining room.

The guests today were treated to a revolving menu that utilized food donated from Good Samaritan Hospital, Phil's Uptown Meat Market and The Oregon Food Bank. To start off, there was meatloaf, then it was onto chicken skewers, turkey, curried chicken, beef fajitas, fish, sweet and sour pork and finally spaghetti and meatballs.

Sweet and sour pork was just one of the meals we served today.

The constantly changing  menu kept our volunteer servers hopping but they were good sports about it, understanding that we simply do the best we can, using as much donated food as possible to help keep the cost of the meal down. 

For dessert today there was homemade marble cake made by volunteer Cheryl and of course there was also soup and salad.

Slices of homemade marble cake ready to be served.

We served 242 meals today.

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. 

Teamwork

Volunteer Linda getting salad plates ready. She and volunteer Joe worked together to assemble all of the individual salads that we served today. We served 354 meals so that was a lot of salad!

We are so lucky to have a united team of volunteers at the Wednesday Community Meal who are all hardworking and caring. And, because everyone is so nice, the work is actually fun and something I look forward to each week.

Our team works so well together that there are times when we get really busy like today (we served 354 meals in two hours) that it's almost like the volunteers are dancing together, going this way and that, knowing exactly what needs to be done.

I believe our teamwork enhances the dining experience of our guests because when people enjoy working together it's obvious and just makes everything better.

One of the meals we served today — Baked ham (from Phil's Uptown Meat Market), mashed potatoes and gravy, squash and roasted apples.

A Place To Get Warm

Usually there's a long line of people waiting to get into the Wednesday Community Meal at least an hour before the doors officially open at 11 a.m.

Not today. It was just too cold to wait in line. The temperature was in the 20's but with the wind chill factor it felt more like five degrees.

As soon as the doors to the meal opened, a large crowd of people suddenly appeared, anxious to get inside and get warm.

It is so hard to see people suffering when it's cold.

For two hours today, we volunteers did our best to warm our guests up by serving a hot meal along with hot soup, hot chocolate and hot coffee. 

Volunteer server Carol with a meal of homemade spaghetti made with ground beef donated by Phil's Uptown Meat Market. Look at that bright sunlight beaming into the dining room!

And even though it was cold, the sun made an appearance and it was pretty great to see bright light beaming into the dining room. The sunlight offered a bit of cheer before our guests had to head outside and back into the cold.

We served 267 meals today.

Utilizing Our Frozen Assets

Changing our menu more than ten times today to utilize food from our freezer meant a very busy kitchen. We have such a great team of dedicated volunteers who all work so hard.

Volunteers Cindy and Karen.

There is much more space in the freezer at the Wednesday Community Meal because boy did we have dig deep into it in order to feed everyone today.

Luckily we had a good assortment of frozen foods donated by Good Samaritan Hospital and Phil's Uptown Meat Market from which to pull - Italian chicken, curried chicken, barbecued chicken, turkey, breaded fish and beef fajitas,  just to name a few.

With not a lot of any particular item, we had to change our menu more than ten times.

We served 333 meals today including soup, salad and dessert. The latter was homemade fruit crisp made by volunteer Cheryl with what else but frozen fruit.

Thank goodness for frozen assets!