A Week in Food

Of all the aspects of living in community, perhaps one of the most integral is food. Food brings us together, whether over supper, sharing a snack, or through... One example that comes to mind is the spontaneous conversations that occur here in the unit, usually late at night, usually in the kitchen, and usually with some sort of snack that is being created and eaten. Kitchens, for some reason, seem to be the perfect place for the most important talks, or “Kitchen Conversations” as dubbed by those of us in the unit house.

In any case, food is a central part of daily life, and this past week, I had the privilege of heading up culinary operations here at the unit house. As a unit, we try to eat five meals together every week: Sunday breakfast and Tuesday through Friday supper. There are two people who handle cooking each week. One of these two is head chef and decides the menu and generally directs cooking. The other, given the title of “sous-chef”, assists in the effort. The following week, the sous-chef becomes head chef, the head chef no longer has to cook, and another person comes on to fill the sous-chef’s role.

My first role this past week as head chef was deciding on a menu. Back home, I really haven’t done much cooking – the occasional batch of cookies, biscuits, and the like and very infrequently a simple meal. So I was excited to try my hand at the creation of something that I really enjoy consuming. In the process, I’m trying to abide by several mantras:

·    Try to make things based on what’s on hand

·    If in doubt, make something from More-With-Less (Extending the Table and Simply in Season if still stumped)

·    Healthy

·    Delicious

With these in mind, my leader Renee (sous-chef for the week) and I set off to the grocery store. The simple life that we’re trying to live while in Service Adventure means that we’re allotted $100 per week to feed five people. It can be hard to get all the staples and still have enough for fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy and delicious items. This week, we were lucky. We had enough flour, sugar, and other essentials in the cupboard so as to free up funds for things like feta and fresh spinach, cilantro, and tomatoes.

With shopping complete and a nicely stocked fridge, the cooking commenced. For Sunday breakfast, Renee made a nice egg casserole. The following day, I kicked things off with a batch of granola. 

granola

Our first actual supper was the next night. Soaking a pot of beans overnight, we cooked up some rice and beans. Toppings included lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, and a fresh salsa I whipped up which included some smoked habañeros. The salsa wasn’t quite hot enough, though – and I made a mental note to rectify the lack of heat later in the week. I also tried my hand at making churros – though a relative failiure, they were still quite tasty and a good finish to a good meal.

Rice and beans with colorful and delicious toppings

salsa!

Wednesday night, we hosted the weekly church Bible study at our house. On the menu was a very copious quantity of curried carrot soup, cheese biscuits, and assorted fruit crisp for dessert. The kitchen was filled with appetizing aromas of bubbling soup and baked goods.

We have been fortunate to receive some food from our service placements and other sources. The commute home from work is sometimes complicated by having to carry baguettes, bananas, or homemade salmon hot dogs. This week, we received a big bag of carrots from a church member’s garden, potatoes and half a cabbage my work supervisor’s garden, fruit, a pastry, and more.

Things I brought home one day from work 

Thursday night meant beef and spinach lasagna, multi-bean salad, and garlic bread.

lasagna

garlic bread about to go into the oven

Friday night was pizza night! That meant making pizza dough, a red sauce, and a white sauce from scratch. Our different pizzas are as follows:

·    “Supreme” (red sauce) with mushrooms, green pepper, onion, ground beeft, and cheese

·    “taco pizza” (red sauce) with left-over beans, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, oregano, habañero peppers, and cheese (This pizza was moderately to severely very hot due to a possibly excessive amount of habañero. Nonetheless, it was enjoyed by the hot-food lovers in the house)

·    white sauce with spinach, tomatoes, feta, garlic, basil, oregano (there was also a variation of this with red sauce and mozzarella instead of feta)

·    dessert pizza with peaches, cinnamon, and crumbles made with butter, flour, and sugar

preparing toppings for pizzas

Long story short, we ate well and I also really enjoyed cooking. It does take up a lot of time, but it’s fun to be creative, solve problems, not always follow recipes, and make delicious and healthy food. I look forward to the next time I’m cooking. Until then, it’ll be nice to relax and enjoy other’s cooking! Thanks for staying in touch and reading the blog – I still appreciate all your prayers, letters, emails, and other forms of communication. And if anyone has any recipe suggestions that are good for those on a budget, I’d love to hear them!