Our sixth Cook for a Cause breaks all records!

On Sunday we had our sixth Cook for a Cause, and this one was special because we asked for donations of any extra garden produce in the hope that we could help turn some unwanted vegetables into healthy and tasty food for local families who need it.  This posed a unique challenge for me in planning the recipes for the cook-a-thon, since I wasn't quite sure what ingredients we were going to end up with!  To tell the truth, I really enjoy that kind of puzzle, and I'm proud of the interesting and delicious dishes we ended up making to utilize all the produce we got.

A small subset of the vegetables we started with--many from our friends' gardens and our local farmers' market.

Now that I think of it, doesn't this sound like a great idea for the next cooking reality show?  People often ask me if I want to be on one of those silly shows, and I answer honestly that I'd rather eat bugs (which I already have anyway) than make a fool of myself pretending to cook on camera (because it's not real, you know) and saying scripted lines to create drama.  But I would totally participate in a show where amateur or professional cooks were given a small budget and challenged to cook as much food as possible in 12 hours, all to be donated to a food bank.  There we go, my ticket to fame.

I did the planning for Sunday's event, but I certainly didn't do all the work!  We had 72 great volunteers who worked tirelessly to chop, simmer, stir, and eventually package over 2,000 pounds of ready-to-eat food.  That's right, we made more than a TON of food to donate!  And it's all delicious food that I'd be happy to eat for my own dinner: ratatouille with penne, and gumbo z'herbes (a traditional Cajun dish with many kinds of greens and meats).  These volunteers also donated money to help pay for ingredients, and we also received donations from Cargill Meats, Heirloom Gardens, Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Patch, Monroe Farm, and Delmonico Farm.  Thank you to everyone who made this event possible and so much fun!  Here are some pictures of the day:

Many volunteers chopped the hundreds of pounds of greens that turned into gumbo z'herbes.

The meat table--which was in constant use for 6 hours--required dedication, as we trimmed and diced 300 pounds of meat for the gumbo.

Those freshly harvested vegetables turned into a delicious ratatouille.

So this week we've fed thousands of people who probably really need a wholesome, homemade dinner right now.  It won't solve anyone's big problems, but I know from my own experience that a good meal can really turn around a day.  And if we can do that while also helping avoid waste of any excess harvests, that feels like a good thing all around.