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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"><title>Catholic Outreach Soup Kitchen, Chef Bob Ballantyne, Grand Junction, Colorado, USA</title></head>
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<p>Well another month rolls into the third Saturday and I find myself at the
<a href="http://www.catholicoutreach.org/SoupKitchen.html">Catholic Outreach
Soup Kitchen</a> preparing a meal for less fortunate persons. Over three
years now of doing this and I still like doing it. Little light on
volunteers today as we only have five volunteers to get all the work done.
Worse yet, January is one of our lowest donation months of the year! So we
have almost no donations for the week. So to the pantry for an inspection.
I have to come up with a dinner and dessert for these folks.</p>
<p>Chef Rant On:</p>
<p>Ok folks I have said it before but it is worth repeating, if you donated
during the holidays to help those less fortunate but have done nothing this
month. I want you to know you are not fooling the deity you worship!
Whomever you worship knows if your December gesture to humanity was followed
through into January. So my advice is don't piss your God off, donate
every month! 'Nuff said!</p>
<p>Chef Rant Off:</p>
<p>Well I have the donations from all the restaurants that were organized to
save their unusable stuff for us. So to the Boston's chickens in the
freezer! Of course this means I need Chicken Pickers. Only job worse
than this is Crab picking! But it needs to be done. I do get some
complaints from some of the volunteers, to which I always respond "did you think
you were coming to the Bahamas on vacation when you said you would volunteer at
the soup kitchen?" Feeding those less fortunate is work, and it has to be
done to get these people fed. So out come the chickens and into the
chicken pickin' business the volunteers go!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/pickchi.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/chickpick.jpg" width="445" height="275"></p>
<p>Of course what the other volunteers don't ever remember is I have already
been working on things long before they got there. I have the base started
for the chicken and dumplings meal that will be served.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/tiltstrt.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>Onions, celery, and carrots have all already been prepped. The
Southwest Cream Corn is already prepped and ready to go into the convection
oven. I add the carrots to the tilt skillet and we begin to have the looks
of a decent Chicken and Dumplings meal. On of the things that is important
at the soup kitchen is to get as much balanced diet type foods into these
people. They already have problems, they don't need poor nutrition to add
to the dilemma they face daily.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/carrot.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>I was told that the entire beginning of the week is going to be light on
volunteers. Heck I am there anyway, only have one catering later in the
evening, so I slam together some other starts to meals for Monday and Tuesday's
crews. All the chicken carcasses will make a nice soup and a decent
Chicken and Noodles dinner. So extra stockpots are started and I begin to
render the life supporting nutrition out of the leftovers. Wing tips,
bones, backs, necks, it all gives up itself to create another meal.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/stock.jpg" width="423" height="320">
</p>
<p>Finally I add the dumplings on to it and close the lid to let it steam to a
finish!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/dumpling.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>Meanwhile I noticed a most unusual donation. 8 pounds of cut, steamed
and instantly frozen rhubarb. With none of the bakeries have any leftover
goods, I have to make a dessert. As usual, I will use this to sneak in
another fruit on the clients! I will have to create it from scratch.
So I make a heavy cream cheese cake. (Now this is one rich cheese cake,
since the cream won't be used by anyone else prior to going sour, I figure it is
a perfect use for it.) I then work up a rhubarb, cranberry and orange
compote for the cheese cake. We do not get gram cracker donated so the
cheese cake will be scooped like ice cream into a bowl with the Rhubarb compote
spooned over it.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/rhubarb.jpg" width="378" height="287"></p>
<p>In the end they ate it all. I like to think of that as a complement to
the skills of the chef and the volunteers, but it may have a lot to do with not
being able to afford food that most take for granted!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/service.jpg" width="445" height="244"></p>
<p>'Til we talk again, make sure you make that donation to your local soup
kitchen! They need it badly, and while you are at it, post it on the
calendar every month for the rest of the year. I can assure you it will
get used to sustain a humane life!</p>
<p>Chef Bob Ballantyne<br>
The Cowboy and The Rose Catering<br>
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA</p></body></html>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"><title>Catholic Outreach Soup Kitchen, Chef Bob Ballantyne, Grand Junction, Colorado, USA</title></head>
<body>
<p>Well another month rolls into the third Saturday and I find myself at the
<a href="http://www.catholicoutreach.org/SoupKitchen.html">Catholic Outreach
Soup Kitchen</a> preparing a meal for less fortunate persons. Over three
years now of doing this and I still like doing it. Little light on
volunteers today as we only have five volunteers to get all the work done.
Worse yet, January is one of our lowest donation months of the year! So we
have almost no donations for the week. So to the pantry for an inspection.
I have to come up with a dinner and dessert for these folks.</p>
<p>Chef Rant On:</p>
<p>Ok folks I have said it before but it is worth repeating, if you donated
during the holidays to help those less fortunate but have done nothing this
month. I want you to know you are not fooling the deity you worship!
Whomever you worship knows if your December gesture to humanity was followed
through into January. So my advice is don't piss your God off, donate
every month! 'Nuff said!</p>
<p>Chef Rant Off:</p>
<p>Well I have the donations from all the restaurants that were organized to
save their unusable stuff for us. So to the Boston's chickens in the
freezer! Of course this means I need Chicken Pickers. Only job worse
than this is Crab picking! But it needs to be done. I do get some
complaints from some of the volunteers, to which I always respond "did you think
you were coming to the Bahamas on vacation when you said you would volunteer at
the soup kitchen?" Feeding those less fortunate is work, and it has to be
done to get these people fed. So out come the chickens and into the
chicken pickin' business the volunteers go!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/pickchi.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/chickpick.jpg" width="445" height="275"></p>
<p>Of course what the other volunteers don't ever remember is I have already
been working on things long before they got there. I have the base started
for the chicken and dumplings meal that will be served.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/tiltstrt.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>Onions, celery, and carrots have all already been prepped. The
Southwest Cream Corn is already prepped and ready to go into the convection
oven. I add the carrots to the tilt skillet and we begin to have the looks
of a decent Chicken and Dumplings meal. On of the things that is important
at the soup kitchen is to get as much balanced diet type foods into these
people. They already have problems, they don't need poor nutrition to add
to the dilemma they face daily.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/carrot.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>I was told that the entire beginning of the week is going to be light on
volunteers. Heck I am there anyway, only have one catering later in the
evening, so I slam together some other starts to meals for Monday and Tuesday's
crews. All the chicken carcasses will make a nice soup and a decent
Chicken and Noodles dinner. So extra stockpots are started and I begin to
render the life supporting nutrition out of the leftovers. Wing tips,
bones, backs, necks, it all gives up itself to create another meal.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/stock.jpg" width="423" height="320">
</p>
<p>Finally I add the dumplings on to it and close the lid to let it steam to a
finish!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/dumpling.jpg" width="445" height="336"></p>
<p>Meanwhile I noticed a most unusual donation. 8 pounds of cut, steamed
and instantly frozen rhubarb. With none of the bakeries have any leftover
goods, I have to make a dessert. As usual, I will use this to sneak in
another fruit on the clients! I will have to create it from scratch.
So I make a heavy cream cheese cake. (Now this is one rich cheese cake,
since the cream won't be used by anyone else prior to going sour, I figure it is
a perfect use for it.) I then work up a rhubarb, cranberry and orange
compote for the cheese cake. We do not get gram cracker donated so the
cheese cake will be scooped like ice cream into a bowl with the Rhubarb compote
spooned over it.</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/rhubarb.jpg" width="378" height="287"></p>
<p>In the end they ate it all. I like to think of that as a complement to
the skills of the chef and the volunteers, but it may have a lot to do with not
being able to afford food that most take for granted!</p>
<p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.prochefblog.com/public_pics/soupkit/chickdumpling/service.jpg" width="445" height="244"></p>
<p>'Til we talk again, make sure you make that donation to your local soup
kitchen! They need it badly, and while you are at it, post it on the
calendar every month for the rest of the year. I can assure you it will
get used to sustain a humane life!</p>
<p>Chef Bob Ballantyne<br>
The Cowboy and The Rose Catering<br>
Grand Junction, Colorado, USA</p></body></html>
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