Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Makes 32 servings

• 3 cups all purpose flour

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 2 cups canned pumpkin

• 1 1/2 cups canola oil

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt and soda. In another bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour into greased full size pan and bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 30 minutes.  Cut into 32 portions.

Putting the "Sweet" in Sweet Potatoes

“It all started in a garden” can be said of the story of our creation, of the lifestyles of our agrarian ancestors, and, now, it can be said of The Nashville Food Project’s newest partnership with Harvest Hands, a local non-profit working in community development in the Wedgewood area.

For the past few weeks, I have personally been blessed with the opportunity to lead a small group of middle school students from Harvest Hands’ after-school program at Wedgewood Urban Gardens. During these few weeks of partnering, we’ve toured the garden, where the girls got to smell the smells and taste the tastes of a truly organic community garden. Once the girls were acquainted with our space, we had our first day of real work, where the girls got the chance to pull, dig, and eventually enjoy our sweet potatoes during their time in the garden.

We started with some facts about sweet potatoes, and after a short demonstration, we very literally jumped right in, cutting vines, unearthing the beautiful brown potatoes, and getting to understand (for the first time, for some of us!), with our hands as well as our heads, where sweet potatoes come from. It was definitely an adventure, and while we found out that some spiders just shouldn’t be messed with, the satisfaction of harvesting these root vegetables for ourselves was well worth the risk. After the girls were finished harvesting, we brought clipped potato vines to the compost pile, returned our trowels, shovels, and gloves to the toolshed, and went to enjoy a snack of toaster-oven-baked sweet potatoes (after, of course, appropriately washing and sanitizing our hands!) prepared while we were working by TNFP’s own Christina Bentrup. Digging into the still steaming potatoes after a hard day’s work let us experience for ourselves the benefits of this vitamin packed power food, and even the benefits of a little butter on top, which actually promotes our absorption of the potatoes’ rich supply of Vitamin A!

Working with Harvest Hands is a very real and very tangible opportunity for The Nashville Food Project can grow in our communities, where these girls are given the chance to get their hands dirty for the growth and improvement of their own neighborhoods. We are only in the beginning stages of nurturing the seeds of this partnership, but I can’t wait to see what blooms.

Love and potatoes,

Julia

Thank You and Amen

Talking to strangers is hard. Even when I meet another person who dresses like me, looks like me, talks like me—appears, in fact, almost indistinguishable from me—often I find myself at a loss for words. I open my mouth and out fall superficial questions like, “What do you do?” and, “Where are you from?”. Occasionally we share in common a city or acquaintance or hobby, but usually I walk away from these encounters as alone as I walked into them. Sometimes I wonder how people ever get to know each other at all.

Last month, The Nashville Food Project began partnering with Trinity United Methodist Church to host weekly “community dinners” in the church’s fellowship hall. I have gone to all of these meals so far (although I must admit I have only gone to eat and haven’t prepared food or served or really even helped clean up at any of them). Every week I sit at a different table with a different group of people: people who live in the area around Trinity, members of the church, TNFP staff members and volunteers. We all gather around tables of six or eight, pass one another platters of homemade entrees, sides, and desserts, and eat together. We also talk. While I have no trouble polishing off everything on my plate each week, I have not mastered the art of connecting with every person at my table, learning their stories and telling them mine. But I keep going back—not only because of the free, delicious food, but because I am learning how to make friends out of strangers.

I learn from the Trinity member who drives with his wife from Goodlettsville every Sunday to go to this church, the church where he was baptized as a baby and where he belongs as an adult. I learn from the woman who, as she wraps up napkinfuls of leftover brownies to take home, says she wants to be remembered for having a big heart. I learn from the young man who tells me every week he’s so happy to see me; even though he can’t quite remember my name, I know he means it. I learn from the child who says grace before we eat, forgets her words in the middle, and ends with a rather abrupt, “Thank you, God, for…Amen.”

Yes, thank you. Thank you for meals that nourish us body and soul. Thank you for friends and for strangers, and for those flashes of connection we cannot plan or predict. Thank you even for those awkward moments when we can do nothing but look at our watches and wonder what, exactly, we are doing here. And thank you for giving us just enough of an answer to call us back to each other each week, each day, each moment.

“Thank you, God, for…”. Amen indeed.

Breaking Down the Barriers

The Nashville Food Project has been partnering with Trinity UMC, a church in North Nashville near the intersection of Trinity Lane and Dickerson Road, to host a sit-down community meal every Tuesday night. Our volunteers load nourishing foods onto our trucks and deliver them to the church’s fellowship hall. Members of the community help prepare the space with flowers, tablecloths, real plates and cups and forks and knives. People from all over gather at 6:30 for a blessing and a meal served family style.

The collective “buy-in” from the neighborhood has been awesome—community members are volunteering as table hosts, greeters and helping with set up and clean up.

Learning when to step up and learning when to step back and let others take the lead has been a real education for me and others who are used to being the “givers.” I am serious when I say the line between who is living with plenty and who is living in poverty is pretty blurred. Theologian Ted Jennings wrote in his book Good News to the Poor:

Breaking down the barriers between the givers and the receivers of aid, between those who have and those who have not, is an essential expression of the solidarity that liberates the privileged from their blindness and the marginalized from their invisibility. 

Yes. A million times yes!

There are gaggles of children from the neighborhood who want to gulp down their dinner as quickly as possible so they can move to the basketball court. There are babies (like my very own) in highchairs making smiling eyes at the big kids. There are single moms, old men, big families, recovering addicts, church people, people living on the street, me and you. The room can get loud, the meal can feel hectic, but more than anything, people feel welcome.

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:8-11

Come break the bread with us one Tuesday night. God’s grace and peace, tallu

Kale Salad with Apple

This bright, delicious salad is the perfect addition to any meal.

8 -10 bunches of Red Russian or Lacinato kale washed, trimmed of tough stem and thinly sliced into ribbons (chiffonade)

3 - 4 apples (your favorite variety, cored, peeled and diced - we like Granny Smith or another tart apple)1 bunch celery, dicedPrepare dressing:

1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 cup of olive oil

7 cloves of garlic smashed and finely diced

1 tsp salt and pepper

Whisk the ingredients for the dressingThirty minutes before serving, add apples and celery to sliced kale. Pour dressing over kale mixture and gently "massage" dressing into the leaves for 5-7 minutes until kale is gently wilted. Enjoy!

Cowboy Cookies

Makes 5-6 dozen

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbl baking soda
• 1 Tbl cinnamon
• 1 Tbl baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbl vanilla
• 3 cups chocolate chips
• 3 cups oats
• 2 cups coconut
• 2 cups pecans

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs and the vanilla and beat until well blended. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add oats, nuts, chocolate chips and coconut, mix until combined. Spoon cookie mixture onto greased foil lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

What's Ordinary

My good friend C gave Lulah a money jar for her first birthday last month. It is an old tin coffee can with a slit in its plastic top for coins and a small sign on the front that reads “Lulah’s EDU Fund.” When he was writing out the words for the sign, it became clear to me that he didn’t feel that comfortable spelling the word “education,” so we left it at that. Every time I’ve seen him since her birthday, he has come back to my office with a sweaty handful of pennies for her jar. Last week he pointed out a quarter in all the copper and said with his toothless grin, “This week there’s some silver too!” C is our most devoted food project volunteer and also a meal recipient at one of our truck stops. He had some health trouble a couple months ago and when I went to visit him in the hospital his nurse told me, privately, that upon arriving at the hospital he first identified himself as a volunteer at The Nashville Food Project…

—

A few weeks ago my family and I landed in BNA after a weeklong vacation. While Robbie and Lulah were waiting for our bags at baggage claim, I ran into the women’s restroom. As I turned the corner, I saw a young woman and former camper of mine, T. She was servicing the bathroom stalls, working now as a custodian for a company who has a contract with the airport. We had our own little reunion in the bathroom, hugging and squealing with delight at seeing each other after all these years. We caught up a little and I heard about how she wasn’t in school because she was needing to work, how her sister has a job over on Elm Hill Pike and how her mom and grandma had been facing some health problems. I introduced her to Robbie and Lulah, exchanged contact info and we made plans to get together soon.

—

My staff and I have been fortunate enough to work with a small group of men who are living in a halfway house after many, many years in prison. They volunteer in our kitchens every week and do a lot of our baking for the hundreds of meals we send out on our trucks. Because they are at the food project so often, we have had some great time to get to know them and hear their stories. They were all locked up before they had the chance to finish school and get jobs. Now, with criminal records, it is almost impossible for them to find employment—the critical objective before their time is up at the halfway house. My staff and I are hustling now, trying to figure out how we can offer these guys some opportunities or hire them on at a living wage.

I recently heard an interview with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries in L.A. say about Christians:

“We have to have our sacred in a certain way. It has to be gold-plated and cost millions and cast of thousands or something… We’ve wrestled the cup out of Jesus’ hand and we’ve replaced it with a chalice. Because who doesn’t know that a chalice is more sacred than a cup? Never mind that Jesus didn’t use a chalice... Jesus doesn’t lose any sleep that we will forget that the Eucharist is sacred. He is anxious that we might forget that it’s ordinary, that it’s a meal shared among friends.”

As I grow in faith and in my ministry, I feel God pulling me toward what is ordinary. Pennies in pockets, old coffee cans, a joyful reunion in a bathroom stall, friends in need of work – any work. It is not always comfortable being there. But I don’t think Jesus calls us to be comfortable.

Would love to hear from you this week about times you’ve found God in what is most ordinary and how we can best share the cup in our hands.

Grace and peace and love, tallu

Cornbread

Cornbread (serves 50)

• 6 cups cornmeal
• 12 eggs
• 3 cups canola oil
• 3 large cans of creamed corn
• 1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly beat eggs and combine with all ingredients (do not over mix). Spray 1 ½ serving containers with non-stick spray. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Our New Bat Houses

Do you know how many mosquitoes a single bat can eat in an hour? Neither did we when our summer interns decided to build bat houses for our Wedgewood Urban Gardens for their independent summer project. Recent USN graduates, Jack Spiva and Miro Hurdle, along with help from their good friend Joey Simon, spent hours researching, planning and constructing these two multi-chamber bat houses.

Why bats? According to Bat Conservation International:

"Bats are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Most bats eat huge amounts of insects, including farm pests and many of the nasty bugs that harass outdoor gatherings.  They are vital pollinators and seed-dispersers for countless plants.  And homes are often in short supply for bats. Their populations are declining around the world, often because of disappearing habitat."

Here in Tennessee, we are also worried about the spread of white nose syndrome. Again according to BCI, "White-nose Syndrome has devastated bat populations across the eastern United States during the past five years, causing “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America,” according to biologists." We hope that in providing healthy summer habitat for these friendly neighbors, we will help strengthen their populations as they fight this devastating disease. Check out the photos below for pictures of the final build and installation of our new bat houses. We eagerly await our first night-time visitors. And thanks again to Jack, Miro and Joey for making it happen!

And, the answer to our question? One bat can eat over 1000 mosquito-sized insects in one hour!

Love Given Back and Forth

We think it is very important for the members of our Board to spend some time volunteering with The Nashville Food Project so we stay in touch with the day-to-day work of the organization. A story from one of my recent truck runs stands out in my mind as an example of why I am a part of TNFP and reminds me what it means for us to share food with each other in community.

It was a picture perfect day as we drove the short distance to the Vine Hill community. Once there we were met by several smiling faces awaiting our arrival. People are always glad to see you if you come bearing food! We set up the table at the back of the truck, spread a tablecloth across it, and gave away delicious and nutritious meals. Everyone was in high spirits because the weather was such a gift after a spell of some cold and rainy spring days. That day two of our volunteer cooks had prepared a tasty Mexican casserole with food we had gleaned from Chipotle, a beautiful and generous green salad with vegetables grown from our own gardens, and a very yummy cobbler with the first berries of the season.

We were about halfway through serving lunch when a car pulled up on the street near us. A woman got out of her car and approached me. I thought maybe she wanted a meal. Instead, she pressed some money into my hand and quickly said, “I’m glad for what you do and I want to be a part of it.” I glanced at the ten dollar bill she had given me and jammed it in my pocket. I thanked her warmly and smiled and waved at her as she drove away.

We had finished serving and were packing up when I remembered it. I said to my friends, “Did you see that lady in the white car? She gave us ten bucks!” As I fished the bills from my pocket I realized it was not a ten dollar bill, but two one hundred dollar bills. She had seen us serving and stopped and gave us a $200 donation.

I wish I had her name. I wish I could write her a thank you note, and maybe invite her to join us on a truck run sometime. But this is how it goes with The Nashville Food Project. The efforts of so many people go into getting those good meals onto the streets. The farmer who grew the lettuce and vegetables for the salad, the staff member who cultivated a relationship with Chipotle so that we might give away their extra food, the young people who picked the berries and the intern who made the cobbler. The person who made sure there was gas in the truck and the anonymous donor who gave us an extra freezer so we could use berries long after they were freshly picked. The cooks who give up their Fridays to cook for a crowd, and frugal Anne, our Meals Coordinator, who can stretch a dollar so that the food we served that day cost only 30 cents a meal.

All of these efforts and more keep our place humming with contagious excitement. We’re harvesting fresh food–the fruits of this good earth–and we’re giving it away to people who seldom get a delicious and home-cooked meal. We’re feeding bodies and spirits. We all give, and we all receive. Our place always smells fantastic because our little kitchen is in the middle of everything. And it’s not just the smell of lunch in the oven.  It’s the sweet sweet fragrance of hospitality shared and love given back and forth across the table.

Rev. Viki Matson

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Bars

Serves 24

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups oatmeal (uncooked)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 2/3 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add brown sugar and mix again. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stir until fully mixed. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout dough. Drop onto a well-greased cookie sheet and spread into a well-greased aluminum pan. (If making cookies, flatten slightly because they don't spread much). Bake for about 30minutes. Adjust time depending on if you want a chewy or crunchy texture. (Bake for 16 minutes if making cookies.) Let cool, then cut into individual bars. (Transfer cookies using spatula)

Optional: These can be customized by adding nuts, dried fruits, or different types of chocolate.