patti

I forgot to say that the boxes used were given to me by the lady who manages the food pantry/fridge. They were donated to the church, but aren’t particularly convenient to use. They’ve got to be folded into shape and they won’t stay closed without tape. My husband loves details like this! 😜 This was our second time using them and they worked out fine. Fully folded and taped.

Thank ya ma’am! I did it low and slow and did it for six hours. Wanted to be sure it was easily shreddable. Plus, ten pounds of chicken! This was a much smaller meal than I usually do. Hopefully, the recipients felt nourished and full.

Yesterday’s CFM was delivered by 2pm. 24 boxed lunches of slow cooker BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches and bean salad. I won’t start with pictures of cooking the dried beans, but they included these two, plus a pound of small white beans. In the future, if I’m making bean salad with dried beans and not canned, I would not add aromatics or anything else that will “muddy” the salad. In the first pot of beans, which was the pinto-like bean, I’d sautéed diced carrots, celery, and onion. Regretting that decision, I used larger aromatics in the second pot so they could be fished out easily, and in the third, no aromatics, to see if the beans would look “cleaner.” They did, but too late for this salad. Four of the six English cucumbers, first layer. 1.5 large red onions, diced, soaked in water, drained. In addition to the three beans previously mentioned, 2 28 oz cans of garbanzo beans, and a couple of cans of cannellini beans were also used, plus two bunches of fresh parsley and one small bunch of dill. It’s looking pretty, but I wish I had more cucumbers because they add so much. Seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, Tony’s. Sorry I didn’t quote the posts, but @blue_dolphin, I did use Samin Nosrat’s Creamy Oregano Dressing! Thought I had pics of it, but since I made enough for an army, I’ll snap a pic a little later. I don’t have leftover salad, but I have leftover dressing. @Smithy, I bought both sliced black olives and sliced Kalamatas with the intention of trying each of those, as well as capers, and picking a favorite. At one point I reminded myself to take them out, and then never thought of them again!! Yikes. I was not ignoring your suggestion, just got caught up and forgot! @SLB, dilly beans sound dill-icious, but alas, my groceries were purchased. I could’ve run to the store and bought some the next day so I could’ve forgotten to use them, like the other suggestions. 🤷‍♀️ And dressed Besides chicken, this stuff went into the slow cooker. First layer of chicken in the slow cooker. After second layer, it was about 10 pounds of chicken, with enough leftover to feed my son’s family. They’re not food insecure, they just like Mom’s cooking. Right before putting the sandwiches together. There were three trays like this of lightly buttered and toasted buns. Before topping with dill slices.

Tea leaf salad! I would SO stop for a tea leaf salad at a Burmese restaurant. Also, I love reading about your journey. Thanks.

Grilled pork chops and air fryer roasted cauliflower

The bean salad recipe I was looking at included capers, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to include them. They do offer that brininess. Will do taste tests and ponder. Thank you! I’m going to avoid those long skinny legumes this time. 😀

Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches will be on the menu this week. Easy enough in the slow cooker, and SO much easier than pulled pork or ham. PLUS, I already have half of the chicken I need in the freezer, not used in a previous CFM. I’ve made these twice before for different CFMs. Once, paired with a corn salad, and another time, served with rice dressing and coleslaw. Pulled chicken for sandwiches and corn salad. BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, rice dressing (aka dirty rice), coleslaw, boiled cookies (not homemade). I’m thinking bean salad as the side this week. Two kinds of Rancho Gordo beans (Domingo Rojo and Rio Zape) along with canned chickpeas, cucumber, onion, fresh herbs, etc. I know that green beans are often used in three bean salad, but I didn’t really want to use them. Opinions? Suggestions? Dressing recipe ideas? Alternate side ideas? Not sure what day of the week I’ll be cooking or delivering yet.

Looked so delicious I had to try it. And it IS delicious! Thank you @blue_dolphin The only ingredient sub I made was for the honey. Used a low carb sweetener. The fish is red snapper.

You are considerate, generous, and kind! Although I have a contact person at the church, I’m not a member, and I while I know they set aside money in their budget for stocking their pantry, I am not privy to any other details on their buying processes. While I had not heard of Emaco Foodservice, after looking them up, I have heard of the owner, Ema Haq, who is a well known restauranteur, respected for being generous to the community. One of the more visible things he does is that he opens his restaurant every year on Thanksgiving (or maybe Christmas) and dining is free for the food insecure. Coincidentally, I did business with one of his restaurants many years ago in my capacity as coordinator of an educational travel program. His staff worked with me and my less than generous budget so that my group could dine in for dinner one night of their visit. Thank you! Definitely worth investigating. As far as my purchase price for the three compartment hinged styrofoam to go containers, it’s about 15 cents a unit from Costco and maybe 14 at Sam’s. That is what I have used most frequently in the past.

Out to lunch a couple of days ago with my husband. A cup of seafood gumbo (with hardly any seafood), and a shrimp Caesar salad for me. What I enjoyed about the salad was how easy it was to eat. The romaine was chopped into bite sized pieces and I didn’t have to fight to make it ready to eat. Oh, and it tasted really good. He had crawfish enchiladas that came with sides of rice dressing and green beans. He ate every bite, although neither of us tried the bread. At an all day meeting a few days ago I chose to eat at the restaurant where the meeting was held. The other attendants went elsewhere for lunch, which was probably smart. This grilled chicken Caesar salad was bountiful, but also, overpriced (in my opinion). After tax and gratuity, it was $35 and some change for a salad and a glass of iced tea. I was not ashamed to take the leftovers to go.

@Shelby mentioned zoodles recently, which reminded me I haven’t had them in a while. Despite buying the zucchini specifically to make zoodles, I was too lazy to get out the zoodle maker, and used a veg peeler to make zucchini ribbons. Turns out I like the ribbons better than the noodles, so my laziness paid off. Shrimp scampi.

No restaurant depot, but a couple of restaurant supply stores. I have bought from each of those, but also found good prices on deli containers on Amazon (with careful looking), and I usually get the styrofoam three compartment and one compartment plates from Costco or Sam’s. I’ve priced things at Webstaurant, but the shipping costs don’t make sense for what I’m currently buying. I would love to know of other sources.

Louisiana’s high point … Mt. Driskill … 532 feet!

My husband recently mentioned something he thought we should spend money on in the house and I thought, “Can we afford that?” And then felt horribly guilty that I spend our money on something I want to do (like the CFMs), but considered telling him I didn’t think we could afford what he wants to do. It gives one pause. I’m not exhausted yet! But I have given some thought to how long I can realistically do this, or even how long I want to do this. Thank you. My contact at the church told me that the regulars loved the pizza last time I made it, and encouraged me to repeat. I hope they did enjoy it! Thank you all for your kind words and support. I feel like I’m already more than halfway to my goal and it could be very doable! I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t also get something out of it. It keeps me busy enough, it gives me purpose, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment each time we deliver. I can’t do much about the state of the US and the economy, but I can do what I can do, and I have always loved feeding people. Y’all wouldn’t be on this site if you didn’t know how good it feels to make good food. (And why I beat myself up when the food isn’t delicious.)

I needed a quick and easy meal for this week’s CFM, and chose to repeat French bread pizza. Pictures are minimal. What can I say? I bought 13 loaves of French bread (an extra, just in case). The plan was that each plate would get one of the halves of each loaf of French bread. For that half loaf to fit in the container, it was cut in half. Preparing to add butter and garlic powder to the first batch. These will go into the oven for a light toasting. Afterwards, pizza sauce will be added, followed by shredded mozzarella, and as many pepperoni slices as I can fit onto the bread. Test batch to see if broiling is the final step. Nope. Didn’t want to get them this done (however, it tasted pretty damn good). Although they don’t look as cheesy as I would like, there is actually a good bit of cheese on each, and I didn’t want to get too heavy handed. Plated. Yep, nothing else but the pizza. I revealed to my husband that my personal goal was to do this for an entire year. Although I made some grocery and meal donations in May and June, I didn’t start doing them weekly until July 2. That means I hope to be able to continue this through the end of June 2026. That won’t mean I’ll stop altogether, but will reassess. Not sure how on board he is with that length of time, but his participation is essential, and not just the physical participation.