Ginny & Sarah at KITCHENALITY's holiday grand opening last year.

KITCHENALITY is overflowing with beautiful kitchen wares you may have missed if you haven't been in lately! We need your help spreading the word about our kitchen re-sale store. 

Tell people you know who are ready to thin their cupboards of kitchen items about us. If others are wondering about where to shop for the foodies in their lives, send them over. 

Cookbooks, like-new kitchen wares and KITCHENALITY gift certificates are fabulous gift items for party hosts, teachers, friends & family. We will have an extra room opening up October 15th for our Holiday Boutique. You can purchase entertainment items for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas to spruce up your holiday tabletop. Pass it on! 

Tofu & butternut squash make for a yummy fall dish.

October is National Vegetarian Month, and here at Kitchen Angels we are happy to provide meals for homebound clients who have chosen to be vegetarians. There are many good reasons to choose to eat meals with a greater focus on the veggies. Here is a collection of tantalizing vegetarian main courses from the BBC's Good Food that will make you forget the meat is missing at all!

Our vegetarian clients have great things to say about the meals they receive from Kitchen Angels. One of their favorites is the seasonally sweet and savory maple baked tofu and butternut squash, brought to us by the lovely Ann Putterman. Thanks Ann.  It's truly delicious.

	Tomato & picked fennel salad.

We have a nice, long growing season here in Santa Fe, which means that tomatoes are still  being harvested well into October. If you've already had a hefty haul of tomatoes and are looking for ideas on what to do with that last batch, click here for 37 Tomato Recipes from Bon Appétit that are deliciously inspiring.

Washing some donated cherry tomatoes along with the Wednesday fruit bounty.

There's quite a bit of controversy regarding the best way to store tomatoes that have been picked at the peak of ripeness. Some say to leave them out on the counter, others swear by refrigeration. Considering the numerous variables present (organic vs. conventional, degree of ripeness, type of tomato, and temperatures on the counter and in the fridge), it's no wonder there are so many different opinions on the subject. Serious Eats food blogger Daniel Gritzer has run a number of tomato experiments with results based on optimal taste. Click here for his results on how best to store your harvested tomatoes.

We always welcome new volunteers! Here are our current opportunities:

• Monday Driver, Route 16 (Jaguar Drive)
• Friday Driver, Route 4 (Siringo Rd.)
• Friday Driver, Route 8 (Mid Airport Rd.)
• Kitchen Volunteers (M-F, PM shifts)
• Substitute Drivers & Kitchen Volunteers

Upcoming Volunteer Orientations

 

Wednesday, October 12th from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Wednesday, October 26th from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

 

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

 

 

Spirit of Giving ~ Volunteer !

 

Karen, Sudarshan & Alex wrapping their hearts out during the 2014 Spirit of Giving.

 

It's time to gather gift items for the Spirit of Giving Project. For those of you new to Kitchen Angels and unaware of this event . . . each year we accept gift donations from individuals and businesses. On Saturday, December 3rd from 10 AM to 1 PM, volunteers gather, wrap presents, and create gift bags for our homebound clients, so they feel a little more connected to a community of people who care about their happiness and well-being. There are a number of ways that you can participate in the project.  

1. Donate a gift. This year we're asking for a specific gift item: a towel set (bath towel, hand towel and face cloth). If you'd like to donate more than one, that's great! Other items people have donated in the past include toiletries, sweets, books, candles, slippers, puzzles, calendars, scarves, socks, mugs, and holiday ornaments. You can wrap it ahead of time and note if it is appropriate for a male or female client. If you have a gift in mind for a specific client, please attach their first name and last initial to the gift.
2. Donate money. If you don't have the time to go out and purchase a gift, you can always write a check (be sure to write Spirit of Giving on the memo line) and drop it off at the office. We will make certain the donation goes toward purchasing gifts for the clients.
3. Volunteer. If you'd like to help wrap gifts on the day of the event, please RSVP to the office so we know how many people will be attending. It's a fun & festive community event where our volunteers get to meet one another, share, and work together for a common goal - bringing a bit of holiday cheer into the lives of our homebound clients. At the end of the event we share in a delicious lunch served by Kitchen Angels staff.

If you haven't participated in this event before, we'd love to welcome you! Please RSVP on or before November 30th. Thank you!  

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has announced that we have officially entered the flu season! We

	The final gift of  a season of roses.

know it's nothing to celebrate, but it can't hurt to be thoroughly prepared. One way is to bolster the immune system. Vitamin C has long been cited as one of the essential vitamins that beefs up immunity. It's quite easy to head to the health food store and pick up a bottle of "C" pills, but there are a lot of foods that contain vitamin C, in a more soluble form that the body can absorb quickly and utilize easily.

As the days get colder, it's the perfect time to take a brisk hike in nature and do some wild-harvesting of rose hips, which are the fruit of the rose bushes. Rose hips contain the highest levels of vitamin C in the plant kingdom, and they are very high in antioxidants as well. Click here to learn more about wild-harvesting and cooking up rose hips.

                                                                      * * *

We're truly grateful for our delivery drivers, who go out into the community five days a week and deliver the delicious meals that we prepare. Every now and then, we need to remind our drivers of the proper time to deliver. Our clients sign a contract saying that they will be home between 4:30 and 6:30 to receive their meals. Although our clients are homebound, they also go out to doctor and therapy appointments. We need to be consistent with our delivery times so that

Vivian A. arriving on time to pick up her meal bags!

our clients can reliably make their appointments without worrying that they will miss their dinner due to an early delivery driver.

Some drivers arrive at Kitchen Angels early, get their meals, and then run errands until the proper delivery time. This isn't a good idea, because as you're driving around, the hot meals are cooling off and the cool food is warming up.  As food enters the "temperature danger zone" where bacteria proliferates, the food can become unsafe to consume. That could be dangerous for our clients who are medically fragile.

Please take these facts into consideration and DO NOT arrive to pick up meals before 4:00 pm. Coordinators will not begin filling the bags until 4:00. Delivery before 4:30 on days that are not expected holidays should be performed in emergency situations only, and all clients should be called in advance to let them know you will be early. 

Thanks again for all you do, and please help us ensure this part of our meal delivery program is functioning properly.     

	The recent KITCHENALITY celebration was splendid!

A big shout out to all of the volunteers who have made KITCHENALITY a resounding success. Sarah Taylor & Jill Markstein have put in countless hours of work from conception to the full realization  of our little store. We have received so many outstanding donations of high quality kitchen items from people in our community. Suellen, Marilyn, Jill & Sarah take the time to research some of the nicer items and price them fairly. Susan and the two Cindys take great care in washing incoming items and preparing them for their debut on the store shelves. Our hats off to all the friendly store volunteers who welcome shoppers, helping them to find the items they're looking for.

Jeanette is a networking angel...among other great things!

We recently hit our end-of-year financial goal...three months early! That means that Kitchen Angels now has $50,000 in our coffers that will go directly toward our meal delivery program.

Thanks to Jeanette Iskat, our client services manager, for establishing relationships with Casa Familia, Esperanza and Sojourners. When we can't use a donated item, we pass it along to those organizations who are helping house individuals and families in need. Absolutely nothing goes to waste. 

You're a top-notch networker, Jeanette!