
October is here and it was gracious enough to finally bring the season of fall along with it. I think I’d mentioned last month that September doesn’t mean “fall” for the Sacramento area and I was definitely right! At last, the 100 degree days are over and I can now concentrate on fall fashion (one of my other great loves) and plenty of cozy, tasty fall food.
I have to admit that I am still a little off course after having embarked on last month’s San Francisco Food Bank Hunger Challenge (in a good way, of course!), so forgive me if I don’t have anything too specific planned for this month. Fret not, my pets; just because I don’t have anything planned doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on…
~ Though I did mean to recap the wonderful couple weeks of amazing birthday food from August (because seriously, there was a LOT of great food bestowed upon me just for getting old), I decided that the Hunger Challenge was far more important and necessary to blog about. I must have been on a real sugar low when I wrote the final entry about that because I forgot to mention how much I “spent” (so to speak) for the entire week. I had purchased about $6 of food for myself before the challenge and when I tallied up the rest of the ingredients I used from my stocked pantry, my total for the week was about $27, which was just under the $28 one would have for a full week of food if one were receiving food stamp assistance. Again, this is food that I would have had to buy to have the dishes I made throughout the week and the fact that I still had plenty of leftover products to use like berries, seitan, etc. while staying within the allotted budget makes this first challenge of mine quite a success. I really recommend you try this exercise even if it’s just for one day – it will really make you think about things differently. I definitely plan on doing this next year, and it will be pretty interesting to see if the amount per day goes back down to $3 (this year’s amount was $4 due to the stimulus package; that could go back down eventually).
~ And if I didn’t say it enough last week, THANK YOU for all your support during the challenge. I’d also like to extend a giant WELCOME to all of you new readers who may have landed here because of the Hunger Challenge! I love having new readers and truly appreciate all your kind words thus far.
~ On to some current, recipe related stuff now! I think it may finally be time to try my hand at some Poor Girl spanakopita again. I know, I know – this spring was a nightmare of empty spinach-filled fillo dough promises, but I think things are a little less chaotic and I can finally play with this properly.
~ Though temperatures have only “plummeted” to the 70’s, I’m a big chicken when it comes to cold weather and I’m already craving soup – and LOTS of it! Stay tuned for the first soups of the season, which will more than likely include some sort of delicious squash. After all, it’s that time of year!
~ Because of the Hunger Challenge, I’m very much into the idea of more bare-bones recipes, so be on the lookout for some more extremely cheap, yet healthy recipes that will incorporate a lot of the good stuff we should be having, like whole grains, fiber, and protein.
~ Now, my big project for October is one that I’m already proud of, even if the event has yet to happen. On October 17th, I will be holding two workshops at the Child Action, Inc. “Caring for Children in Stressful Times” conference. Child Action, Inc. is a wonderful organization that provides child care resources and assistance to local Sacramento families. I am very excited to have been asked to be a featured presenter for this event, since I know I can offer some valuable information to those who attend. I’m really looking forward to this, even though I am a bit nervous about doing the whole workshop thing again after so many years. It’s been a while and I’m a bit out of practice, but I think I’ll do fine. 🙂 My mom, who is absolutely awesome, is coming to be my lovely assistant, so I may end up having a couple of video clips to share if I can convince her to give the whole cameraman thing a try!
That’s it for now! Halloween is also a-coming, so I’m sure there will be plenty of spooky day posts & footage towards the end of the month. Have an awesome October!
