SEPTEMBER 2022

Kitchen Angels' 30-Year Anniversary Benefit Concert at the Santa Fe Opera featuring the legendary Emmylou Harris is SOLD OUT, but some tickets still might be released. The concert is Friday, September 23, 2022.

For those of you who want to attend the show but don't have tickets, try checking the Amp Concerts website, Ampconcerts.org, the week of the event for any last minute tickets.

Thank you all for your enthusiastic response to our 30-year anniversary main event. It will be a night to remember!

Without the generous support of our corporate sponsors, the concert would not be possible. We are deeply grateful for their support.

Our Tuesday Crop Swap has been such a hit that we are opening it up to other days. We'll keep the extra produce on a cart that we'll roll out to various kitchen and delivery shifts. If you have something to donate, leave it and someone will most certainly take it. If you see something you can use, don't hesitate to take it home. We've had very little produce go to waste since initiating this program.

We've had greens, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lots of stone fruit lately. Come partake of the bounty!

We had a fabulous time at our third quarterly Cooking Class in August. Chef David Sundberg taught attendees how to cook some delicious French cuisine. The class prepared summertime bouillabaisse, ratatouille, chicken liver mousse, and apple & peach galette for dessert.Thanks to everyone who made the event special.

“You are all wonderful, magnificent people and I love you all. Thank you for the good food.” ~ Sylvia S.

“I am really enjoying all the food. It is so tasty!” ~ Dorothy K.

"I am just calling to say . . . thank you for always taking care of me, protecting me and being there for me. I really appreciate that.” ~ Belinda L.

The best thing about eating in September? You can have all your favorite summer foods with all your favorite fall foods, too!

Some of the best foods are in season during September. Things that grow well here in New Mexico, and can usually be purchased from local farmers or growers, are apples, arugula, beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers (of course green chile, but lots of other varietals, too), pumpkins, summer squash, and those sweet, sweet late summer tomatoes. Tasty.com has about thirty recipes listed that use these seasonal ingredients. Eggplant can meld some of those beautiful summer flavors with the coziness of fall foods. So it makes sense that warm eggplant salad with mint is the first recipe on this list. Originally from Food52, just take olive oil, salt, and lemon juice for roasting the eggplant and then toss with mint when finished. The pumpkin polenta with roasted beets also sounds delicious, as does the Thai pumpkin and coconut soup.

Obviously, as New Mexico residents, we are all ready for the annual green chile roasting and, helpfully, Parade Magazine has listed thirty-four green chile recipes for us to get our spice on! Of course there is the classic green chile stew (which tastes great with pork or chicken or vegetarian), but maybe try to change things up with a green chile tomato and egg casserole or a green chile tortilla pie. New Mexico Magazine has a list of six essential green chile recipes for those who want New Mexico-tested recipes only. One recipe is green chile stuffed eggplant: eggplant halved and filled with green chiles, mushrooms, garlic, and cheese! What is a more perfect dish for September?

With our gardens thriving, apple and apricot trees growing a bumper crop, and many rainy days and afternoons spent inside this summer, it might seem like this monsoon season has pushed us out of a drought. But alas, although monsoon weather has prevented some of the water shortages officials warned us about, one monsoon season isn’t enough to curb the drought that still covers the American West.  According to Jonathan Deason, an environmental engineering professor at George Washington University, we will need at least three years of above average rainfall for the West to end its drought.

New Mexico state government officials aren't sitting around and waiting for the land to dry out, but are drafting a fifty-year water plan in response to this historic western drought and the uncertainty of climate change. The basic goals of the plan are to identify the impacts of a changing climate and making sure that Indigenous and traditional acequia communities are treated fairly in any water legislation. Eventually, the state will offer recommendations for how to handle the shrinking water supply.

New Mexico State University has a very simple primer on how to save water while also saving money. The top users of water in the home are toilets, showers, faucets, and washing machines and the document goes through how to save water in each of those categories. Most of the tips are extremely easy and require very little lifestyle change. There are also articles about how to properly xeriscape your yard and how to effectively water your plants (even how to effectively water lawns) As we enter a dry time between the monsoon season and snow season, we should all be conscious of how much water we use.

Kitchen Angels is excited to welcome back students from the KIVA program (Keeping Independent Visions Alive). The students haven't been able to volunteer since March 2020 when the pandemic changed everyone's lives. We sure missed their smiling faced, enthusiastic attitudes, and dynamic personalities. The students will start by helping with our thermal bag sanitization process. They will also help sort and set up paper bags that will then be loaded with meals later in the day. We hope to get them back in the kitchen once we can allow more volunteers onto a shift.

The KIVA program helps students with disabilities transition from high school into the community by teaching them life skills and emphasizing independence. A few of the KIVA students hold part-time jobs at local restaurants. It's been shown that employees with disabilities have high workforce performance ratings, better retention rates and less absenteeism in the workplace. Through this program, the students develop skills to help transition to a more active and productive adult life.

Kitchen Angels has partnered with the KIVA program for over 15 years now! 

Kay dotting slips and always ready to do extra for us, Friday kitchen volunteers Suzy, Raimund & Sue shopping at the crop swap, and Wayne with a towering pile of thermal bags to clean.

We appreciate when volunteers take those small extra steps, often when a client cannot. Thank you to drivers who pick up mail, take out the trash, walk the dog and check in when a favorite client goes off service. Thank you to the drivers who circle back when a client didn’t hear them.

We know the afternoon thunderstorm weather has been challenging with deliveries. Thanks to the drivers who held meals in their own fridges and freezers, then delivered them later when the threat of flash flooding had passed.

Thank you to every driver who picks up paper bags from clients and brings them in to reuse for meal delivery. It’s base level recycling and it saves us money.

Thanks to the people bringing in such great produce and treats for the crop swap! We are adding more days of the week, so more of you can have a small taste of the goodness we are given. We love the produce but do not often have capacity to process everything we receive.

Thanks to those volunteers who are able to look around and see the jobs that need doing, and simply do them without being asked. We are especially grateful for the kitchen volunteers who stay later and help process donated produce.

We truly appreciate our volunteer Wayne and how much care goes into each thermal bag that he cleans throughout the week. His steady presence and attention to detail has made the bag cleaning process seamless.

We appreciate those of you who take the time to get to know one another and reach out with compassion. Your kind and simple displays of love can make all the difference in someone’s life. We’ve seen it happen.

Thanks to the volunteers, staff & clients who recognize when they’ve made a mistake and step right up to claim it and apologize. We’re all human, and admitting our missteps with sincerity and openness helps all of us get through life more gracefully.