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.

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.

Patiently Waiting

Catherine and Helen were part of today's great team of dining room volunteers. They worked nonstop, serving 418 meals in two hours!

Today, just like the last three Wednesdays, a man was already in line for the community meal when I entered Trinity Episcopal Cathedral to start cooking.

I always arrive before 7:30 a.m. and the meal doesn't even start until 11 a.m., so he had a very long wait ahead of him.

The first Wednesday I saw him waiting by the door,  I said, "good morning" and asked him if I could bring him a cup of coffee.

"Oh yes please," he said and when I returned with the cup of coffee and a Starbucks pastry he said, "God bless you lady."

Now that we've encountered each other three times, we know each other by name and I know just how Alfred likes his coffee.

"Hello, it's good to see you," I said to him this morning. "I'll be right out with your cup of coffee and I remember that you like it with sugar." He gave me a really big smile.

Alfred's sweet and grateful response is one of the reasons I love volunteering. Treating nice people just makes you feel good. Soon there were others waiting behind him and when the doors finally opened at 11 a.m. there was a very long line for the free for everyone meal.

Being the last Wednesday of the month, we were expecting a big crowd and we were right. We served 418 meals today.

One of today's most popular and colorful entrees was barbecued ribs with mashed sweet potatoes, tomatoes and blueberries. The ribs were donated by Good Samaritan Hospital and the blueberries and sweet potatoes were picked up by our gleaners from The Oregon Food Bank.

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.

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.

A South Of The Border Feast

Volunteers Justine and Rusti with today's lunch.

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal enjoyed homemade shredded pork and chicken enchiladas served with a side of chips, salsa and cold watermelon.

We made the enchiladas casserole-style using ingredients donated by the just-opened New Season's Market on NW Raleigh and ingredients purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Thank you New Season's for partnering with us to help feed the hungry in our community!

In addition to shredded pork and roasted chicken, they were filled with rice, black beans, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, carrot, kale, tomato and cheese. They were tasty, healthy and a hit in the dining room.

Roasted chicken for the enchiladas. We seasoned it with garlic, chili powder, cumin and Kosher salt.

Getting ready to mix the enchilada filling made with rice, shredded pork, roasted chicken, mushrooms, zucchini, black beans, tomatoes, kale, carrot, onion, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and Kosher salt.

mmm.... homemade enchiladas!

Also a big hit, was the cold watermelon that our wonderful volunteer gleaners found at The Oregon Food Bank.  The watermelon was crisp, sweet and cooling, a real treat on a hot day.

In addition to the entree, everyone was offered soup, salad and dessert. The salads were especially nice and were made with a mix of lettuces, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, olives, homemade croutons and Parmesan cheese. Some of the tomatoes in the salads were even home-grown and just-picked thanks to Dan, our volunteer coffee barista, who kindly shares his garden's bounty.

Today's gorgeous salads were made by volunteers John and Leah.

We served 265 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.

Fresh Blackberries

Volunteers Mary and Leah with the best blackberries.

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal were treated to the best blackberries I have ever tasted, and I mean it. They were biggest, sweetest and juiciest blackberries and amazingly they were free thanks to our wonderful volunteer gleaners Ed, Joe and Bill who found them for us at The Oregon Food Bank.

The blackberries were in perfect condition.

Usually the gleaned produce we receive is good but in all honesty needs to be eaten ASAP. I seriously don't know these blackberries ended up at the food bank because they weren't even close to going bad. They were in their prime and we had four flats of them!  We used them to garnish the salads and also served them as a dessert option along with homemade marble cake made by volunteer Cheryl. 

The beautiful salads we served today were made by volunteers John, Leah and Craig.

Our main entree today was pigs in a blanket made with all beef hotdogs and homemade crescent dough. We also served crispy tater tots which thrilled our guests. There were quite a few special requests for "another plate of tots," and we happily obliged. We had plenty of food and we weren't too busy with it being the first Wednesday of the month.

We served 215 meals today.

A pig in a blanket with tater tots and a tomato cucumber salad.

We were lucky to have the help of Isla Blue in the dining room. She worked with volunteer Mary Ann, serving the desserts.

Volunteer Linda who besides working in the kitchen, gleans for us each week from Good Samaritan Hospital and Phil's Uptown Meat Market, dished up every single bowl of the soup we served today.

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.

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!