As if Jesus himself were our guest

I've made 2019 the year of helping/assisting/loving/donating/volunteering on my Discovering Love inspirational site. Most of the articles will be mine, but I’ve asked friends for guest articles on how they’re working in their circles of influence. Stay tuned!    

 

© 2019 Christy K Robinson

Based on some of the foods I've cooked and taken to host churches to serve to Central American refugees, I've decided to post a couple of recipes appropriate for feeding large groups. If you would like to help volunteers with their cooking supplies, please see the end of this article for ideas.

The old Andre' House

 Many years ago, a group I led was involved in volunteer community service, and one of the places we enjoyed working was a Catholic-but-interfaith charity called Andre' House. At the time, it was a tiny old house in a poor part of Phoenix, though now it's a large kitchen and dining room at a different location. It served the homeless people of the area, some who were veterans, domestic violence victims, or economically disadvantaged people. Some appeared to me to be severely mentally ill, drug or alcohol dependent, and frankly, extremely unkempt.  We would prepare donated food (from restaurants or supermarkets) in the back yard of the old house, and the entree was cooked in the small kitchen. We spread margarine on sliced bread, we tore lettuces and sliced vegetables for the green salad, which was mixed in large plastic bags stretched over milk crates. The entree on Saturday evenings was a tuna casserole made with noodles or macaroni, cream cheese sauce, and mixed vegetables. At 5:30 pm, we loaded tables, the crates of food, and the large vats of casserole, coffee, and plates and forks onto a flatbed truck and set up the tables a few blocks away. The guests lined up quietly and waited to be served at 6:00. I remember seeing one man month after month, because under his matted hair and a deep tan from living outside, he had brilliant blue eyes, like the waters around a Caribbean island. I had the sense that though his hair was streaked with gray and his leathery face had deep creases, he was a young man whose dire circumstances had prematurely aged him. He never spoke. The lights were on, but no one was home.

As we prepared the food, one of the Andre' House staff would stop at each cluster of volunteers to greet and thank us, and remind us that if we came upon a bit of mold on bread, or frozen lettuce, we were to throw it away, because we would be preparing meals as if Jesus himself were our guest.

It was a life lesson.

 I've worked with other volunteer efforts over the years, and currently am serving with an interfaith group that's loosely (but extremely well) organized to meet the needs of Central American refugees and asylum seekers. Because there are hateful people who might harm our guests, we don't tell the locations where Homeland Security drops busloads of 100 young parents with children. When I showed up at a new location my friend recommended, the volunteer coordinator was curious about who I was with, and how I'd learned of the location. Once I dropped a couple of familiar names, we were on a friendly basis, and off to the races.

Our dinner menu was simple, and designed to nourish refugees who had spent months walking from Guatemala or Honduras through Mexico, and reached the American border. To apply for asylum, they must be on American soil. So they come across the border, sit down, and wait to be arrested so they can request asylum. They're taken to a for-profit prison for processing, where they spend about three (terrible) weeks before being bused to a host church or the public bus station to go to their sponsor family until their immigration court date. The meal we serve them is the first home-cooked food they've had in months. Yes, months. We don't serve fancy food or huge portions because their stomachs would be upset. They get beans, Mexican-style rice, a hearty chicken-vegetable stew, fresh-grilled corn tortillas, fruit, lemonade or apple juice, milk for children, and a dessert of brownies or cookies. Also, we volunteers are providing the food from our own middle- or lower-middle-class budgets. Beans and rice and soup are what we can afford to make in quantity.

This is how I made a large pot of delicious rice that our volunteer coordinator pronounced "blue-ribbon" and said I shouldn't change the recipe when I bring it next time. I hope it will be useful to you if you need to feed a crowd affordably. The vegetables and rice can be found at a dollar store, supermarket, or, if you have a membership (I don't right now), at Costco.

Blue-ribbon Mexican rice

Can be vegan if you alter it slightly.

(makes about 50 half-cup servings, or fills one large crock pot)

Saute’ in a smaller frying pan:

2 large onions (white, brown, or sweet)

2 green pasilla or poblano chilies, seeded, diced small

1 yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded, diced small

1 large diced tomato or several handfuls of halved cherry tomatoes

1 can of corn kernels (save liquid to add to rice while it cooks)

2 tsp minced garlic

In a large, lidded frying pan:

*4 cups white rice, any variety you prefer

*3-4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

6+ cups hot water

½ tsp Penzey’s ancho or other mild chili powder

3 Sazon Goya seasoning packets

4 tbsp. Knorr chicken bouillon powder (use vegetable bouillon or a chicken-like flavoring if you want to keep it vegan/vegetarian)

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*When cooking for myself, and obviously on a much smaller scale, I use brown rice and avocado oil because of the chewy fiber and the more healthful oil that can stand higher heat than olive oil. The brown rice requires about 30 minutes simmering time (double the time of white rice) to soften properly. When cooking for others, I use white rice because most people prefer it.

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            Sauté the vegetables for 15-20 minutes until the onions become translucent. You might use a little oil, or you can cover a nonstick pan and let the steam lubricate the bottom. Set aside. If you have some odd-shaped pieces of onion or chili, or a small tomato on hand, you can liquefy them in the blender and add the slurry to the rice as it’s simmering.

            When making the rice in the larger pan, work in two batches. Use 2 cups rice and 3 cups water for each batch, and half the seasoning. When the rice is cooked soft after about 15 minutes, transfer it to a large slow cooker set on warm (not on low cook, or it will burn).

The most important step is toasting the uncooked rice in oil. Heat the oil in a large skillet that has a lid, add the rice, and coat the rice in the oil. Over medium-high heat, continue moving the rice around the pan so it browns but doesn’t burn. When the rice is light tan (and your house smells fantastic), keep the lid in one hand and pour the hot water into the skillet, then clamp down the lid over the steam, as the water will boil on contact with the hot rice.

After a minute or so, you can remove the lid and add your seasonings.

• When cooking for a crowd, it’s best not to use too much “heat” in the chili powder or the diced chilies, which is why I prefer to use pasillas or poblanos minus their seeds, and ancho powder. Ancho powder is dried and ground red poblano or pasilla pepper, which has a sweeter flavor than the green pepper it once was. They add flavor, not stinging heat. 
• There’s a lot of salt in the bouillon, so you should not add salt.
• Sazon Goya seasoning comes in tomato-cilantro or saffron, and adds a wonderful flavor. You’ll find it in the Hispanic foods section of the supermarket.

Cover the rice, reduce heat to medium, and continue to simmer the toasted rice and seasonings for 15 minutes, stirring every three or four minutes to be sure it’s not sticking to the pan, or the water hasn’t evaporated away.

Stir in the sautéed vegetable mix, and your blue-ribbon Mexican rice is ready to serve, or take to the church hall or picnic site.

The end result is much more moist—and more flavorful because of the toasted rice and the bits of vegetables—than the bland side dish you’d get in a Mexican restaurant. This recipe is unforgettably good!

Green chili stew with chicken or turkey

(Serves 20-25 small bowls)

Turkey and green chili stew, with my Penzey's Spices jars in the background.
I mention Penzey’s because it’s a socially responsible company that I admire, and their spices, herbs, and blends are delicious and fresh. They have stores around the United States, but also ship from their website.

In a slow cooker, combine:

6 cups hot water

3 tbsp Knorr chicken bouillon powder

1 huge white or sweet onion, diced

3 large pasilla or poblano chilies, diced (These are very mild.)

1 tbsp minced Penzey’s garlic

2 peeled and diced yellow squash

1 Anaheim chili pepper, minced

1 bell pepper, minced

1 tsp Penzey’s seasoned salt

¼ tsp Penzey’s smoked paprika

When they were cooked, I reserved two cups of veggies and blended them for flavor and thickening before pouring it back into the crock.
            Then add:

1-2 pounds roasted turkey or chicken breast meat, diced small

Allow the veg and meat to simmer together for several hours.

Transporting the sloshing-full crock pot across the city in traffic is risky, so while at home, I ladled out four cups of broth, and thickened it into gravy with a flour paste, which I put into a lidded container and mixed in once I got to the church kitchen.

The result was absolutely fabulous, the house smelled terrific, and stomachs growled in anticipation of the stew.


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Here's how you can help me help others. I'm not a tax-deductible charity, nor am I affiliated with one. 
Roll over the bulleted items for hotlinks. 

• An annual Costco membership ($65)
• A 20-pound bag of white rice
• An 8-pound tub of Knorr's chicken bouillon powder from Amazon (Costco has a 4.4-lb tub)
• A Costco, Fry's/Kroger, or Safeway gift card with which to buy boneless chicken
• A Sprouts gift card to buy vegetables when my patio garden of tomatoes and peppers withers in the desert heat. That will take place in mid-May. 

You can contact me through my WEBSITE (the address in my website is only a corner near my house, not my actual address) or through Facebook, to reach me.


For other articles on refugees seeking asylum, click this link: https://christykrobinson.blogspot.com/search?q=asylum


   

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Christy K Robinson is author of these books:

We Shall Be Changed (2010)

Mary Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)  

Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)

The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)  

Effigy Hunter (2015)  

Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)

And of these sites:  

Discovering Love  (inspiration and service)

Rooting for Ancestors  (history and genealogy)

William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

Editornado [ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)