Meals for a Week

Good morning. Happy Saturday! I wanted to share a very special cause with you. This is important to me and I hope I can adequately convey how amazing this is.

How many meals could you eat on $25? Probably not your Thanksgiving dinner. You likely couldn’t eat all that many meals for that price. Did you go out to lunch this week? Lunch at a restaurant, or even a few pumpkin spice lattes this week would get you pretty close to $25.

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Community Servings can feed a person for a WEEK on $25. A week of meals. Could you do that? I definitely spend more than that even without any crazy ingredients. A week of meals for $25. They also deliver them. Stop and think about that.

Now that you’ve thought about how amazing it is that Community Servings can make real, culturally sensitive, and homemade food for $25 for a person for a week. Let’s talk about Thanksgiving pie. I’m not a big baker. If you’re a regular reader then you know this. Pie in the Sky is the perfect solution for me. For $25 you pay for a week of meals to be delivered to a critically ill and homebound person in Massachusetts and then you get to pick up a pie.

17,000 pies are donated from bakeries/restaurants/caterers/and hotels who care….DONATED. That is amazing how much they want to help. 75 pick up sites are staffed by volunteers from those locations who stay late and work to hand out the pies out of goodwill the day before Thanksgiving when they could be home getting a jump-start on holiday travel, prep, or relaxing. What will you do?

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I hope you’re still here so now I want to share why it matters. I tear up thinking about it. I have never wondered where my meal was coming from. I grew up knowing that food was never a question. I learned that meals were family time and food was valued.

When my family was caring for our own critically ill patient, we were not at risk of lacking food. Can you imagine? This is what people here…in Massachusetts, deal with on a regular basis. I did not have to wonder what would become of my family while our patient received chemo at MGH. My parents didn’t risk loosing custody of their children because they weren’t able to work and feed them while undergoing intense treatments. I felt like it wasn’t fair and it was hard to see the future, but what would it have been like if meals were also a question?

I can’t even get over that our amazing medical institutions can only do their best, but when the patient is weak, possibly having lost their jobs to be able to receive care, is then expected to shop, prepare, and eat it seems like quite the feat. Community Servings hopes that meals can keep some of these people out of hospitals, that these meals can keep families together, and that these people know somebody cares about how they’re doing.

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That’s what your $25 can do. I don’t care where you live. I don’t care where you’re going for Thanksgiving or who normally bakes your pie. Buy a pie here. Or donate a pie to a Community Servings client. Or make an outright donation.

It isn’t really about the pie. And what else can you really do with $25? You must care about food, especially if you’ve read this huuugely long post. Pay $25 to show that everyone, especially the critically ill, should get to eat.

I‘ve given you think aboutttt 6 times now. What are you waiting for? Do it now.

What I Ate: Sweet Pumpkin Dip

What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with you for the idea or inspiration.

It is Pumpkin Week here. Check out my Pumpkin French Toast and my Pumpkin Risotto. This is too easy to share, but it is just such a fall delight and very addictive.

I’m not a big baker so this sweet dip hit the spot. It also isn’t the worst sweet treat to eat. I whipped this up, refrigerated it until I was ready, and then packed it for an Octoberfest party. Now that’s easy.

The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients:

1, 15-oz can pumpkin
1, 15-oz container non-dairy whipped cream
1 box vanilla pudding mix (regular, cook to serve)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Whip everything together.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Dip
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Dip
Serve with graham crackers for dipping.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Dip
I like this dip. The flavors and ease are definitely the high points. It is delightfully light and fluffy. I didn’t even think about dipping apples until now, but how great would that be?! I spread this onto toast one morning and couldn’t get over my genius moment. Whip this up for Thanksgiving when everyone needs something to munch on.

This is basically a quickie pumpkin mousse. Sprinkle some graham cracker crumbles on the bottom and top with a dollop of whipped cream and you’ve got dessert.

Should we keep talking about pumpkin? One more day! Tomorrow is something out of the ordinary for The Three Bite Rule and I want you to see it.

Pumpkin Risotto

I haven’t made risotto for awhile, but figured it was perfect for pumpkin week! I wanted a savory pumpkin dish since the first thought with pumpkin is pie.

The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Risotto
One of my favorite risottos is tomato and zucchini risotto using tomato juice for even more flavor. Risotto gets bad wrap for being difficult. I think it is just a dish that requires some attention. This risotto gets pure pumpkin cooked in with the liquid. It makes it more like a flavor boost than an addition (like butternut squash chunks would be). I like to stir. I come from a family of folks who like to stir. This is the perfect dish for that!

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio rice
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat rice and 2 tbs olive oil in large pot, over medium heat to toast the rice a bit (about 3-5 minutes).
In another pot over low heat, warm the broth, pumpkin, and water.
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Stir the rice as it toasts and begins to get lightly tanned. Reduce heat to medium low.
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Add a cup of the pumpkin liquid to the rice and stir.
Continue adding liquid in 1 cup increments adding more once the last liquid gets absorbed.
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Continue cooking, stirring, and adding liquid until all the liquid gets absorbed. When the rice is cooked add in the nutmeg and Parmesan.
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I love the flavors in this. It is so easy and goes with anything. Sage would be good with this but I find it a bit intense and it is hard to justify a $4 herb that I only want one leaf from. The risotto takes about 20-25 minutes. It isn’t that much work with other easy-ish dishes going on. I think I grilled some chicken sausages and tossed a salad that night.

I used this as a side dish but it could serve as a whole meal. Spinach or arugula would be good for some color. Mushrooms would make it more meal-centric.

We even fried up some leftover risotto into cakes from the leftovers. Nothing else added, just risotto crisp-a-fied. So good, and wayyy easier than aranchini. I don’t have photos of that because it basically was a no-fuss dinner one night. I feel so productive, grown up, and accomplished when leftovers get created into something amazing.

Need more pumpkin dinner ideas? I’ve made a pumpkin pasta that is so easy and a great variation. I owe you a pumpkin black bean soup I repeatedly fall in love each fall.

What do you like for savory pumpkin dishes?

Pumpkin Bread French Toast

Happy Pumpkin Week! The next few days are going to be PUMPKIN filled featuring some of my pumpkin favs. I hope this pumpkin breakfast makes for a happier Monday. The first few days after daylight savings are always weird. I felt old when I realized that I used to like daylight savings to get more to Saturday night. Now it makes for a longer Sunday.

I’ve shared quickie pumpkin muffins last year. Spice Cake + pumpkin = easy muffins. I believe Weight Watchers suggests this because there’s no eggs, and no oil. I drop in cinnamon chips. I made that into bread using some leftovers into french toast. Craisins or walnuts would be so good in here.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Bread French Toast

Ingredients:

pumpkin bread (2 slices per person)
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Head griddle to medium heat.
Mix up eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla into a shallow dish.
Dunk pumpkin bread into the liquid mix on both sides.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Bread French Toast
Cook on the griddle for 3 minutes on each side, flipping once.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Bread French Toast
Serve with butter and syrup.
The Three Bite Rule - Pumpkin Bread French Toast
I loved this. It was also a really seasonal bfast made of some pumpkin bread that was getting stale. This idea came to me at a local diner which uses banana bread for french toast. This would work with any sweet bread! How great would lemon poppyseed be? Or blueberry pound cake? Yum! It would be easy for a crowd all chopped up as french toast – bread pudding.

Make this for Thanksgiving breakfast. Stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes this week!

October in Review

Happy halloween eve! I’m hoping to get more trick or treaters than last year. We’ll see how that goes.

October was BIG in my life. I left the old job and started a new one! It was a pretttty big day on the blog when I announced it, probably thanks to facebook.

Did you get a chance to read about Paris here, here, or here
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and Prague here or here

The Three Bite Rule - Prague Dinner
I made a really good pizza with grilled chicken and veggies. It was topped with fontina, grilled chicken, asparagus, tomatoes, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.
The Three Bite Rule - Balsamic Chicken Pizza
This pizza and then this salad were both last ditch effort to make the best of still fresh local produce. I had a cuke from the ‘rents so I shipped up a Chopped Greek Salad
The Three Bite Rule - Chopped Greek Salad
I made a really amazing grilled cheese with balsamic onions. I realize you don’t need a recipe for it, but it was sooo good and perfectly fall.
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November will be busy at my new job. I’m getting ready for PUMPKIN week next week. Get ready for 3 posts of pumpkin foods! I have a post to feature a really cool fall program I want to share.