It’s time to cook! I’m excited to get in the kitchen again with you. I guess if it feels like it’s been awhile, that’s because it HAS been awhile! I have some tasty recipes lined up for this month – Roasted vegetable and Chicken Pot Pie, Brocolli and sunflower seed salad and a Fruit cobbler with a crunchy oat and nut topping for dessert! Please let me know if you’re coming and then register at the Greenwood Senior Center (206) 297-0875

This is what you’ll need to bring:

For the: Bring:
Pot Pie 8×8 casserole dish (oven safe)

Salad plastic container, ziplock bag, or jar.

cobbler 8×8 casserole dish (oven or microwavable).

apron if you’d like

Where: Greenwood Senior Center

When: Tuesday February 9 from 6-8ish.

Cost: $15 for members, $20 for non members.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all again.  Lesa

Fresh Produce

Full Circle Farm is not the only organic farm within an hour of Seattle that sells directly to consumers, but it is among the first to bring boxes of its own produce — along with bread and tea and chocolate — directly to their doorsteps.

A few months ago, Full Circle in Carnation began offering a home-delivery option to its 8,000 members, who for years have picked up their weekly boxes of food at the farm or at centralized locations such as schools, churches and offices.

To read complete article click here.

By Melissa Allison and Amy Martinez,  Seattle Times business reporters

This series of blog posts from the “The Slow Cook” on what is served in a D.C. school kitchen is eye opening. 

Chronicling a week behind the food line

The lunch menu said chicken patty on a bun, but there was a problem: ingredients for the week had never been delivered. Tiffany Whittington, food service manager at H.D. Cooke Elementary School, conducted a quick mental inventory of ingredients she had on hand and decided to improvise lunch for the school’s 326 students.

She opened the door to the walk-in freezer and grabbed several 5-pound bags of something called “beef crumbles,” then pulled a 10-pound box of curly egg noddles and two 6-pound cans of tomato sauce off a shelf in dry storage. The pre-cooked “beef crumbles” would be heated in a steamer; the egg noodles as well. Then Whittington would slather the beef with the canned tomato sauce, spice it up with a little garlic powder, and finally stir in the noodles and some pre-shredded cheese.

Voila: “Baked ziti!” Whittington declared.

To read more click here.

Woke up this morning and looked out at the pouring rain.  Do I really want to prune the fruit trees today?  Yes!  On with the rain gear and out I go to trim damaged, crossed or wayward branches. 

I have Asian pear trees, apple trees and an Italian prune plum.  Am hoping for a good crop this year then I can make tarts, jam and my favorite, pear butter.

If you want to learn more about caring for your fruit trees visit cityfruit.org for more information.

This article appear on Wallyhood, the Wallingford neighborhood blog and was written by Helen Kim.  To see the full article please visit the Wallywood site at:   http://www.wallyhood.org/2010/01/wallingford-community-kitchen-2/

Imagine being a member of a big extended family. Big. Really big.

photo by Matt Mason

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, teenagers, even an adorable little baby. All cooking a big meal together. Now, imagine the residents of Wallingford as the members of that family in the kitchen of the Good Shepherd’s Senior Center. This was the scene at the Community Kitchen I attended on Friday night.

About 30 of us gathered to prepare Beef Stew, Roasted Vegetable Lasagna and Root Vegetable Stew with everyone contributing ingredients, side dishes or funds (entire out-of-pocket cost, $10 a head). Much chopping, peeling, talking and laughter ensued. I couldn’t remember a time when I was happier to be a Wallingford (-ian? –ite? –er?, help me out here). And then after an impromptu and very moving Shabbat blessing we sat down to an amazingly delicious meal together.

The family’s matriarch was Rachel Duboff who organized the event and provided recipes and wisdom. 

This is a monthly event, with the intriguing theme for Feb. 26th being “Winter Salads & Chocolate”. More information on Facebook or their website:  http://greenwallingford.ning.com/group/communitykitchenswallingford

The chickens are busy ladies laying an egg a day!

Brown eggs from the Rhode Island Red and green ones from the Araucunas

Here are the ladies having some fresh grass

The Salishan Community Kitchen is cooking up community in Tacoma!  Residents of the Salishan Housing Community are now doing a monthly community kitchen.  For more information please contact Lisa Zahn at:  lzahn@tacomahousing.org

Hi Diana and friends:

I am back from vacation. For Christmas I had wished for freezer books I
might use for CK. Got three!!  One that might be of use is The Freezer
Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet by Nanci Slagle. She also has a web
site for members– those who bought the book–but I haven’t yet figured
out how to access it since the book was bought for me. I am working on that.

This book has helpful info on getting started–alone or with others,
many worksheets for planning, purchasing, equipment, time schedules,
etc. Has many good charts for multiplying recipes, estimating yields
from produce and all kinds of equivalency charts. The main feature is
great many recipes charted, usually in units of 6 servings, mostly for
36 or 72 servings. All are freezable, with instructions for packaging etc.

For a Christmas gift for my family members–a couple of whom might be
interested in starting their own community kitchen on the east coast, I
produced a recipe book of almost all the recipes we have used, all
scaled for 12 servings. I would be happy to contribute these recipes to
your web site, if I could figure out how to do it. They are all on my
computer so I don’t think it should be too hard.

Our January kitchen was canceled due to insufficient registration. I
expect we will do better in February.

Have a Lovely!!!

Pat Barger

(Pat is the leader of the Queen Anne Community Kitchen)

Just made noodles tonight.  Instead of hauling out the pasta machine and rolling them out thin then doing the thin noodles I put them on a floured table, rolled them out, rolled up the flattened dough then cut them with a knife.   The result was thicker, easier noodles and a lot less clean up!

This free, two hour roundtable is an opportunity to meet other CK leaders, to share and hear about other kitchen activities, challenges & successes.  No registration required.

Date/Time: Thurs, March 4, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Vancouver Food Bank, 1150 Raymur Ave. (Click here for directions)