free veggie lunch

I have to tell everyone. I LOVE the Free Veggie Lunch in Lawrence, KS. When I was a resident, Thursdays were my favorite day of the week (and not just because I could leave with free artisan breads). I volunteered to cook any chance I got. I made this special trip to Lawrence just to slave away in a kitchen in order to feed as many people as possible!

I cook with one of my very bestest buds, Ryan. We lived together for two years and cooked together almost every day. When we join forces in the kitchen, it's a magic synergistic event, like Simon and Garfunkel or some shit.

Here was our menu we created:

Greek salad w/ dressing
Hummus w/ pita and carrots
Mujadara
Greek potato un-salad
Lentil un-soup


The ECM had limited funds this week. Here was our challenge: feed 200 people with $100.

Sound impossible? Well, I threw down an extra $47 to make our vision a reality. That makes this meal about $0.75 a person.

Chopped up taters

We were in the kitchen SIX hours the night before. Ryan's girlfriend Sarah came in later and was super helpful by taking charge of the lentils. I came back in 1.5 hours before the lunch so I could make the salad.

Before this happened, I had never even SEEN this much hummus in real life. 

Ryan's 4.5 Gallons of glory

This is mashed potatoes, shredded carrots, garlic, wine vinegar, olive oil and chili powder.

Two cookers with warm potato mash/bake

Then made what is basically a lentil soup, but was thick enough to put on a plate.

Two cookers w/ lentils

The Mujadara RULED. This was another dish that was alternative to the traditional version. The rice lost it's textural integrity as it slow-cooked overnight, but transformed it into the eastern European version of thanksgiving stuffing!

Then there is the Greek salad, which also ruled like crazy. I used this recipe for the dressing, and put it in this one gallon pickle jar.

This morning I made enough salad two fill two of those big tubs. In each one I put 4 heads of romaine, 10 roma tomatoes, 3 large cucumbers, 2 bell peppers, 2 large red onions, 2 cans of olives and a 1/2 gallon of dressing. Here's one of 'em:

ANNND welcome to the free veggie lunch! Here's the spread:

And the beautiful bread table:

And an example of a plate:

It was a huge success. No one ever really knows who cooked until they mention it during the announcements, so I got to walk around and hear people say things like "This is the best veggie lunch in the history of free veggie lunch!" It makes me all warm and squishy inside!

While I was in Lawrence I bought some ingredients from the co-op that I've never used before, so time for some experimentation! Till then.