Kitchen Angels   |    1222 Siler Road  Santa Fe, NM  87507   |    505.471.7780
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SEPTEMBER 2016
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Thank you for your on-going dedication and support of Kitchen Angels and the community of Santa Fe.

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VOLUNTEER
MILESTONE
ANNIVERSARIES

1 Year
Carla Conner
Ann Ross  
5 Years
Dean Alexis


IN MEMORIAM


Celebrating the lives of our volunteers and clients


Jack S.
 

Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these  
Of mid September; through the still warm noon  
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune  
Than ever in the summer; from the trees  
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,  
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon  
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon  
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas. 
                                   ~Edward Dowden, In September

AnnouncementsAnnouncements

Did you know that both Kitchen Angels and Kitchenality are on Yelp? For those of you who don't know, Yelp is an online site to help people find great local businesses. Once a member, you are able to rate businesses and organizations you've encountered. Members have written more than 102 million reviews to date, and an average 23 million users visit Yelp each month. In fact, Yelp has taken the place of the Yellow Pages for many people. You can visit our Yelp sites and rate Kitchen Angels and Kitchenality. The more people who weigh in on the work we do, the more eyes land on our listing. Thanks to all!
 

We're planning the upcoming volunteer appreciation party. It's shaping up to be a lovely event with a really fun band, delicious, catered food, drinks, and gorgeous views. Remember to save the date,  Friday, October 14th from 6 - 9 pm. You can start RSVPing anytime by sending us an email at [email protected] or calling the office at 471-7780.

Building Update
Our renovation project has cleared two major hurdles over the past two months, and we're a bit closer to determining our start date. Our new lease has been approved by the Santa Fe City Council, as has the updated Professional Services Agreement.
We now await approval from the state's  Department  of Finance and Administration before the legislature's appropriations can begin to flow.  After one more round of committee approvals, our contract will be finalized and the work can begin! 

Then can we create a timeline for our long-awaited expansion. 

Many thanks for your continued patience.  We're ALL excited to see this project through to completion and begin our 25 th year in service to Santa Fe! Stay tuned. 
Tasty TidbitsTastyTidbits

This month's Tasty Tidbits is dedicated to the humble, yet muy caliente GREEN CHILE!

Autumn is one of the best times of year in Santa Fe. September means pleasant sunny days, chilly evenings, blooming yellow chamisa, purple asters, and the smell of roasting chiles in the air. We love green chile so much, it has become our official state vegetable (an honor shared with frijoles). Most people have their favorite roasters - the Farmers Market, the Co-op, Jackalope, or the stands in front of Big Lots,
Teresa's delicious tamale casserole all dotted up and ready for delivery.
depending on your taste.

So once you purchase a bag and have it roasted, what then? Of course freezing the majority of chile is a necessity, but what are your favorite recipes? Here's a tasty list of 50 Fabulous Hatch Chile Recipes. There are some good ol' traditional recipes as well as some new takes.

Our clients rave about Kitchen Angels' delicious Corn & Green Chile Tamale Casserole. It's a delicious recipe to make ahead of time, freeze, and heat up on days when you don't feel like cooking.

Kitchen Angels' volunteer cook and local food journalist Nouf-Al Qasimi compiled some delicious and non-traditional green chile recipes for us. Take a look at what she says about her recommendations:
 
This is phenomenally good. I just sub whole roasted green chiles and poblanos for half the peppers in the recipe, and eliminate the piment d'Espelette.

Green Chile "BLOAT"-- I'm not really providing an exact recipe but this is so good -- basically a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with sliced red onion, avocado and green chile. You can also substitute cheese for the lettuce, press into a pan foaming with butter, and make the best ever green chile grilled cheese.
 
This one seems so obvious but doesn't pop up at potlucks as often as you might think! My favorite mac and cheese recipe, believe it or not, is Emeril's, minus his personally-branded hot sauce and seasoning, plus a whole cup of chopped roasted green chile.
 
This is fabulous - substitute one pound of fresh roasted whole green chile for the canned amount, and I recommend cutting the amount of cheese back to six cups. Commenters agree that the amount of cheese is just unnecessary and you'll never notice the difference. I've made it a million times. It's great hot and also cooled to room temp, sliced into squares, and piled on a plate for lunch. A great brunch dish after you've slept in - and a snap to pull together, even before the coffee kicks in.

Thanks for sharing your insight Nouf! If any other volunteers are interested in sharing their specialties with us, please contact Lauren in the office and you too might have your favorites featured in the Tasty Tidbits.
Volunteer OpportunitiesVolunteerOpportunities 

We always welcome new volunteers! Here are our current opportunities:
  • Friday Driver, Route 4 (Siringo)
  • Friday Driver, Route 7 (Rufina to Zafarano) 
  • Friday Driver, Route 8 (Mid Airport Rd.)
  • Friday Driver, Route 15 (Rodeo Rd.)
  • Delivery Substitutes (Every day M-F)
  • Kitchen Volunteers (Every day M-F, every shift AM/PM)
  • Kitchen Substitutes (Every day M-F, every shift AM/PM)

Upcoming Volunteer Orientations

 

Wednesday, September 7th from 11:00 - 1:00

Wednesday, September 21st from 11:00 - 1:00

 

Please tell people who may be interested to call Lauren at 471-7780   

 

Special Volunteer Opportunities...

 

Outreach is an important aspect of Kitchen Angels! 
 

We are still looking for two volunteers to help staff an information table at Santa Fe High School on Tuesday, September 13th from 1-2:15 pm. This is a great opportunity to let the younger generation know about the joys of volunteering. Last year, volunteers were successful in recruiting several teams of drivers who helped out throughout the year. One hour of your time can make a real difference for Kitchen Angels and students who are learning what it means to be a part of their community. Please speak with Lauren in the office if you can help.    

Jane folding our many recycled bags. When those run out, we need back-up bags!

 

 

 

Heather and Jim Van Cleave have rescued us several times when we've gotten close to  running out of grocery bags in which to delivery our meals. They have been in contact with various stores around Santa Fe and secured many bag donations. They have recently brokered an ongoing bag donation from Albertson's. Albertson's will donate two large bundles of bags to Kitchen Angels every month - we simply need a volunteer to pick up the bags. The bags will be available on the last Tuesday of each month. If you are able to stop at the Albertson's on Zafarano once a month to pick up some bags, please let Lauren know. Thank you!  

 

Continuing EducationContinuingEducation  

Nectarines were a surprise donation in August
Harvest season is here, and people are coming by Kitchen Angels with extra produce from their gardens and farms that they just can't eat fast enough. The seasoned gardener knows that this is the time to can and jar excess food to be enjoyed during the winter season. There's another process for putting veggies to good use: fermentation!
Kim Chi is delicious with noodles!

There's been a lot of talk lately about how healthy pickled &  fermented foods are. The benefit that most people cite is improved digestion through the introduction of lactic acid-producing bacteria. Other positive findings include the balance of stomach acid, an increase in an important neurotransmitter, improved pancreatic function, and the destruction of pathogenic bacteria. Click here to read more about how fermented food can improve your health.

A lot of people don't bother fermenting food because they're intimidated by how difficult they think it is. Nothing could be further from the truth. After prepping the food, you basically let it sit for a certain amount of time while
Japanese pickles are an acquired taste, but add such balance
to a meal
the lacto baccillia forms. Here's a favorite recipe for Korean Kim Chi. If you're adventurous, you can try your hand at Japanese pickles, or Tsukemono, which is considered one of the cornerstones of Japanese cooking. Izanami Restaurant at Ten Thousand Waves has a beautiful and delicious assortment of pickles if you've never tried them before. They have flavors unlike anything you've ever tasted! Tsukemono pickling is an excellent way to use up veggies so they don't go to waste.

Harvest season, it's the perfect time to try your hand at this age-old method for keeping food. Let us know how you fair and take pictures so we can show others!
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Kitchenality Hits a Mile-Stone!

Kitchena lity recently hit its revenue target for the year, null four months early!  We couldn't be happier with the  success of the store and the great donated  merchandise we keep receiving.  Sarah Taylor and   Jill Markstein have done a phenomenal job of organizing, building and managing the store. The many volunteers who work both in the store and behind the scenes by preparing the donations for sale have all helped make this new venture a huge success.  

Make a note -- we recently expanded store hours to include Tuesdays from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM.  
 
As we look to the holidays, we'll need to keep up our inventory of gently used kitchen, cooking and tableware items.  So please continue to tell your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers that Kitchenality is a fantastic place to shop as well as a fantastic place to donate those unwanted kitchen and entertaining utensils.  Remember, everything we sell helps support feeding another Kitchen Angels client! 
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Thanks 

Many thanks to all of the farmers, back yard gardeners, schools
Deb from the Ghost Ranch with a huge donation of beautiful herbs and vegetables.
, catering companies, and restaurants who donate food to Kitchen Angels. The summer and fall months are a time of tremendous bounty, when we receive quite a few food donations. This has been a great year for fruit, specifically apples, nectarines, and peaches! We had a special donation from Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch, where student interns are restoring her gardens by planting, tending, and harvesting the foods that Georgia used to plant. Click here for a live view of the gardens. Our clients love the delicious, organic food that is prepared for them during the summer. Please pass the word along that we accept produce donations.

Volunteer Spotlight...

Kitchen Angels is honored to have Peter King as a returning volunteer. Peter was a delivery driver for Project Angel Heart in Colorado Springs before he started delivering meals for Kitchen Angels. He took a break, and then rejoined our team of angels last November. Peter is retired, lives in Cochiti Lake with his two cats Thea and Theo, and is an artist and potter.

Here's why Peter is so noteworthy as a volunteer...

Peter King- delivery driver extraordinaire!
First of all, Peter is excellent at communicating with the office and other volunteers. He lets the office know how we can improve our driving directions so that substitutes and new drivers have an easier time. He is always helping us to fine tune them, as route 16 is one of our more challenging routes. This may seem like a small task, but it helps the entire delivery system flow better. After all, our drivers are the experts at how to navigate their routes! Peter recently introduced himself (via email) to the other route 16 drivers to offer himself as a substitute driver and share his knowledge about one of the clients. This is a great way to build community among our drivers who often don't get to meet one another.

Peter is a soft-spoken, humble, and kind man who always has friendly words to say. He's not volunteering at Kitchen Angels for notoriety, but because he is a genuinely caring person. This comes through when dealing with clients. When it became apparent that one of his clients needed more help than she was getting, he worked with Jeanette and Lauren, trying to find her more resources and services. He received word that this same client was taken to the hospital and alerted the office. He then arranged to feed this woman's cats and eventually delivered them to the shelter when the client was moved into a care facility. Peter visits her at Casa Real, giving her encouragement to get better so she can come home again. This goes far to keep up her spirits.

Thank you Peter, for being a shining example of how to best serve our homebound clients.

Kitchen Angels | 505-471-7780 | [email protected] | http://www.kitchenangels.org
1222 Siler Road
Santa Fe, NM 87507