More than just meals

Cooking in this kitchen is about much more than putting dinner on the table.

At Miryam’s House, it’s about taking care of others and remembering the healing power of everyday routines. It’s about learning to care for oneself again.

Karen Brennan always cooked. For more than 17 years, she and her husband, Jim, ran a retirement home in Enterprise, Ore. But when Jim fell ill with cancer and died, the disease threatened Karen, too. The loss of her husband of 35 years sent her into a deep depression and she suffered a mental breakdown.

“I’d always taken care of everyone else,” she says.

That’s when she sought the solace and help at Miryam’s House. The residence, which is a program of Transitions, is a place for women recovering from personal crises caused by abuse, addiction, homlessness and displacement. The women work with trained staff and counselors to recover and begin to take back their lives. They stay for up to a year, until they’ve returned to self-sufficiency and are financially stable.

At Miryam’s House, the women take turns planning dinner and making meals for each other. Karen cooks on Wednesday nights. She also agreed to represent the center during the Agency Cook-off for Second Harvest Food Bank and won.

Each year, groups that receive donations from the food bank are invited to participate in a cook-off for a chance to win $1,000 for their program and share their dish with at Second Harvest’s annual Taking a Bite Out of Hunger event. The food and beverage tasting and auction, which will be held this year on May 17, is the food bank’s biggest fundraiser. Tickets are sold out.

Judges selected Karen’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs as the top dish in the cook-off last month (recipe follows). The other offerings were No Name Stew from Anaya Lynn of the Lake City Community Church Soup Kitchen; Potato Salad created by Amanda Jackson of the Community Detox Service; and Wicked Good Burritos from volunteer chef Bill Hare of St. Margaret’s Shelter (recipes follow).

She said other Miryam’s House residents helped her come up with the recipe one night in the kitchen. They wanted to create something a little healthier that still tasted great.

“It just gives me so much pleasure to be back in the kitchen,” Karen says.

For more information about Miryam’s House or other Transitions women’s programs, call 328-6702.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

From Karen Brennan of Miryam’s House

For the meatballs:

2 pounds ground turkey

1 1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 tablespoons pepper

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 cup chopped onion

For the sweet and sour sauce:

1 large can pineapple chunks, juice drained and reserved

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup chopped green peppers

1/2 cup chopped yellow peppers

Combine all ingredients for meatballs and roll into 1-inch balls. Brown meatballs in a frying pan. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon or spatula and keep warm.

Pour juice from pineapple into meat drippings. Whisk cornstarch into cold water; add to skillet and stir until thick.

Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, pineapple, peppers and seasonings.

Add meatballs and cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve over rice.

Yield: 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 324 calories, 11 grams fat (3.4 grams saturated, 32 percent fat calories), 24 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 142 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 1,790 milligrams sodium.

No Name Stew

From volunteer chef Anaya Lynn of the Lake City Community Church Soup Kitchen

2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch chunks (do not trim fat)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup red wine

1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, diced, crushed or whole

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Several shakes seasoned pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon celery powder or salt

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoon butter

4-5 cups fresh vegetables, medium dice (at least 5 varieties)

1 onion, medium dice

2 to 3 large cloves garlic, minced or crushed

Prepare meat by cutting into small chunks described above.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to smoke add the meat and increase heat to high.

Brown the meat, stirring frequently. If the water content is too high to brown, add the wine and continue cooking until the meat is well done and the liquid has reduced to a thickened broth.

Add tomatoes and all seasonings except garlic – Worcestershire through balsamic vinegar – and simmer covered for about one hour stirring occasionally. If using whole tomatoes, cut into small pieces.

Prepare the vegetables, keeping each separate for cooking.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter and first vegetable. Sauté stirring frequently. As each added vegetable starts to show transparency, add the next until all have been added and the last is transparent. Adjust heat during cooking to prevent burning and to achieve a dark caramelizing of the vegetables as they cook. Set aside while meat mixture cooks.

Sauté garlic with the onion.

Add the vegetables to the meat mixture and simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Shortcut: Sauté onion and garlic with meat and add all prepared, uncooked vegetables to mixture with tomatoes and seasonings

Yield: 6-8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.

Potato Salad

From Amanda Jackson of the Community Detox Service. Second Harvest staff helped Jackson estimate the measurements for this recipe. She cooks without measuring, estimating the amount of ingredients by using her hand and eyeballing.

6 medium potatoes, peeled, diced and boiled then cooled

5 hard boiled eggs, cooled and chopped

1 cup sliced olives

1 whole celery stalk, rinsed, ends cut off, then sliced

1/2 large onion, diced

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

3 teaspoons garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon basil

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

4 teaspoons seasoning salt

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise

While the eggs and potatoes are cooling in a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Stir into potatoes and eggs. chill and serve.

Yield: 12 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 311 calories, 24 grams fat (4 grams saturated, 71 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 19 grams carbohydrate, 119 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 1,246 milligrams sodium.

Wicked Good Burritos

From volunteer chef Bill Hare, St. Margaret’s Shelter

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoon olive oil, divided

1 (14-ounce) can refried beans

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 1/4 pound cooked chicken, diced

2/3 cup taco sauce, divided

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

5 large flour tortillas

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1/2 pound Monterey jack cheese, grated

1/3 pound cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided

5 green onions, chopped

1 avocado, sliced

1 cup sour cream (optional)

Sauté the garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil 3-4 minutes over medium heat.

Stir in the refried beans and heat gently. In a another pan, sauté the red pepper in remaining oil 2-3 minutes, just until softened; set aside.

Place the chicken in a separate pan and stir in 1/3 cup taco sauce and the cumin. Heat gently. When the beans and chicken are heated through, begin to assemble the burritos.

Moisten one side of a tortilla with water, and then place wet side down on a plate.

Spread about 1/4 cup of refried beans down the center of the tortilla, then top with about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture, 1 tablespoon red peppers, 1 tablespoon chopped tomato, 2 tablespoons cheese, 2 teaspoons cilantro.

Roll the tortilla and place in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan covered with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat with each tortilla.

Cover the rolled burritos with the remaining cheese, then top with the remaining 1/3 cup of taco sauce.

Bake at 375 about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Top each burrito with green onions, remaining cilantro and sliced avocado.

To serve, cut each burrito in half. Pass sour cream separately.

Yield: 10 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving (without sour cream): 467 calories, 23 grams fat (9.5 grams saturated, 44 percent fat calories), 33 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrate, 87 milligrams cholesterol, 5 grams dietary fiber, 652 milligrams sodium.