Sign up to bake by sending an email to craigskitchen@gmail.com.

• Wed Dec 29. New Years Cake (any type of holiday cake you love to bake!)
  
• Wed Jan 5.  Bread Pudding
  
• Wed Jan 12. Apple Pie or Apple Cake
  
• Wed Jan 19. Babka, Cinnamon rolls, or Cinnamon Cake
• Wed Jan 26. Brownies or Blondies or your fave “bar” creation!
• Wed Feb 2. Pound Cake or Angels Food Cake (we will top it w/ this yummy plum & peach sauce we made over the summer and canned for a cold winters day…) Need 4 bakers
• Wed Feb 9. Pineapple Upside Down Cake or Apple Upside Down Cake Need 5 bakers
• Wed Feb 16. Valentines Cupcakes! Need 0 bakers!
  
• Wed Feb 23. Carrot Cake Need 3 bakers

Once you have rsvp-ed, we will put you on our master list. The weekend before the meal, we will send you a reminder email with the drop-off logistics.

There are a lot of opportunities to volunteer at the soup kitchen in the upcoming year, either at fundraisers or at the weekly meal or on weekend workdays. Join our volunteer mailing list to keep updated…

Thanks for your support of this project; Nothing beats a homemade dessert!

Brownies, Blondies, & Fruit Bars @ the Sept 1st meal

As Fall rolls along and the season starts to shift to cooler days, the meals are getting heartier as we celebrate our local bounty with menus rooted in beets, turnips, squash, and potatoes. At the soup kitchen, we are harvesting the final vegetables from our garden and relishing the final month of fresh produce donated by our neighborhood CSAs and local gardeners. In the dessert corps, we are looking forward to this Fall and filling the kitchen with holiday treats and seasonal glories. Cheers to apples, pumpkins, butter & sugar!

Blackberry Buckle. July 2010.

One of the highlights of our weekly meal is the homemade desserts. They always make our meal complete. To be a volunteer baker, email craigskitchen@gmail.com. Send us the dates you can bake. We will confirm and send you a reminder email the weekend before the Wednesday Meal in which you are participating. If you cannot drop off at the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen before 6pm on Wednesdays, there are drop offs in Greenpoint & Williamsburg on Tuesday & Wed morning. The logistics of it all are pretty easy…

Check out the baking calendar below and email us with the dates you can be a volunteer baker:

• Oct 13: Apple/Plum Bars, Brownies, or Blondies.
  
• Oct 20: Apple Pie.
  
• Oct 27: Whoopie Pies.
  
• Nov 3: Apple Cake.
  
• Nov 10: Seasonal Cupcakes.
  
• Nov 17: Carrot Cake or Cheesecake Bars.
  
• Nov 24: Pumpkin Pie or Pumpkin Cake.
  
• Dec 1: Apple, Chocolate, or Pecan Pies.
  
• Dec 8: Couple Dozen of Holiday Cookies. Need 0 bakers.
• Dec 15: Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars, Candy Cane Cake, or Crushed Peppermint Cheesecake. Need 2 bakers.
• Dec 22: Holiday Pies. Need 1 baker.

We are also looking for more volunteers to help prep, serve, & clean up @ the Wednesday meals. Prep shifts run from 3-6pm. Serving shifts run from 530-730pm, and clean-up shifs run from 7-830pm. Even if you can only help for an hour or so a month, we would really appreciate your helping hands. Email craigskitchen@gmail.com for more info.

Aug 25th: Peaches & Mint, Sauteed Summer Squash, and Green Beans & Corn Salad

Always need more volunteers for the clean-up shift. 7-830pm.

lil' volunteers watering the soup kitchen garden

It has been a few busy months @ the soup kitchen. We planted and tended a garden, which doubled in size from last year. Big thanks to the compost donation from Kate Zidar & the North Brooklyn Compost Project. Our plants are seriously thriving in the worm-ladden, black gold they gave us! Also, super props to all the local gardeners who sprouted seeds and donated plants–vegetables, trees, & flowers– for this year’s garden. The harvest has just begun but it has been a fruitful start; herbs from the garden have been amazing and the cucumber plants have been producing enough for lots of salads, pickles, and soups.  We are looking forward to harvesting the tomatoes, jalapenos, radishes, fennel, celery, carrots and various herbs until the cool days of October set in. We have a great lil compost baby that looks like it might be taking over the garden with a crop of pumpkins. If you would like to volunteer in the garden, join the facebook group to be plugged into work-days & watering schedules. [There will be a big workday in early November[ stay tuned for details]

Summer is a busy time at the kitchen and we are always looking for extra hands. On Wednesday the kitchen runs from 3pm-9pm & the Food Pantry prep runs from 5-9pm as well. Lend a hand in cooking, serving, cleaning, taking out the trash, mopping floors, unloading vegetables and making bags for the pantry. On Saturdays, volunteers meet at noon to unload vegetables and prep for the upcoming week’s meal. Gardening is also always on the agenda.

Dessert Corps is still running strong, bringing the sweet desserts even in the hot hot heat of the Summer. Email craigskitchen@gmail[dot]com if you can bake for any of the following meals.

• aug 18: zucchini cake or fruit pie.  NEED 4 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS
• aug 25: brownies, blondies, or fruit bars. NEED 1 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKER
• sept 1: pound or angel’s food cake. NEED 6 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS
• sept 8: fruit buckle or coffee cake. NEED 6 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS
• sept 15: chocolate cake w/ fruit topping. NEED 6 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS
• sept 22: zucchini cake or fruit pie. NEED 6 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS
• sept 29: brownies, blondies or fruit bars. NEED 6 MORE VOLUNTEER BAKERS

We have a lot planned for the Fall in terms of fundraising $$ for food & supplies for the upcoming winter. Supper clubs, concerts, brunches, and more. Let us know if you would like to become more involved.

If you would like to bake for any of the following meals or to get on our volunteer list, please email craigskitchen [at] gmail [dot] com

• April 14.  Carrot Cake.  Need 5 volunteers
• April 21.  Apple Cake.   Need 2 volunteers
• April 28.  Brownies.  Need 4 volunteers
• May 5.  Cookies.  Need 2 volunteers
• May 12.  Zucchini Cake.  Need 10 volunteers
• May 19. Chocolate Cake.  Need 10 volunteers
• May 26. Apple Pie or Apple Cake.  Need 10 volunteers

Also, we have A LOT of frozen blueberries. If you want to pick some up in order to create a delicious blueberry based dessert, give us a shout.

volunteer baking = we all eat (yeah) cake

pumpkin cheesecake brownies. march 2010

spring is about to bloom. backyard magnolia tree

The time change has brought about a great change at the soup kitchen. Milder temps and the magnolia tree’s buds are about to burst.

volunteer magic

The backyard is coming to life, a community garden is formulating, and we are pushing through the last few months before the local harvest starts to roll in.

prepped cabbage

More helping hands are always welcome.

sides & salad. march 2010

We celebrated a very festive St Patrick’s meal thanks to an amazing corned beef donation to the church.

corned beef donation

HAPPY ST PATRICKS TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN, TO ALL THE DONORS WHO MAKE IT POSSIBLE, TO EVERYONE WHO SHARES THE DREAM OF NO MORE HUNGER IN ALL OUR WORLD COMMUNITIES FROM ALL THE FOLKS YOU HELP FEED DOWN IN GREENPOINT

Cupcakes from the "Valentines meal"

We are recruiting volunteer bakers for the following weeks; If you would like to bake, send us an email at craigskitchen [at] gmail [dot] com

• Feb 24. Apple Bars.
• Mar 3. Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies.
• Mar 10. Fruit Buckles
• • Buckle is a dessert which combines fruit, a rich cake batter, and a streusel topping. The result is a rich, dense cake with a moist crumb which is sometimes compared to a coffee cake.
  • i have frozen fruit from over the summer. Hit me up if you want to use some.
• Mar 17. Blueberry Pie Bars
  • i have frozen blueberries from over the summer. Hit me up if you want to pick up some.
  • Need 7 volunteers
• Mar 24. Pound Cake or any other “plain” or “slightly fruited cakes” that the chefs can top with a yummy fruit sauce
  • Need 4 volunteers
• Mar 31: Whoopie Pies
  • Need 5 volunteers

Sweet!

dining & dancing

It has been a busy busy winter so far at the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen: battling the “blizzard” with a hot meal, chopping veggies, slaughtering chickens, the violin serenades and sing-alongs, serving homemade desserts, cleaning projects, dreams of a new stove, lead paint disasters, cute kids in the kitchen, seriously laughing it up with the other volunteers, security patrols, piles of pickles, and lots more fun stuff.

If you would like to volunteer during the weekly wednesday meal at the soup kitchen, contact us @ craigskitchen [at] gmail [dot] com and we will hook you up with info on how to plug in. Basically, kitchen cleaning and early prep starts around 2pm. Chopping and cleaning and general organizing continues on throughout the day as we prep for mealtime @ 6pm. Neighborhood security patrols starts at 5pm (involves wearing a sexy orange security vest and greeting neighbors on the street). Serving starts @ 6pm. (and so does clean up) Clean up runs until 730pm or 8pm. We always need more helping hands and fresh smiling faces.

Don’t have the time but you can spare some cash to fight hunger in the hood; Donations always accepted through the church (see www.greenpointchurch.org)

Diners are digging the live music at the weekly meal

As we move into the cold months of Winter, our dessert donations are keeping things sweet and scrumptious! Below is the calendar for the next six weeks. Please email us if you would like to become a volunteer baker. [craigskitchen (at) gmail (dot) com]

• January 13:   Pineapple Upside Down Cake. (Need 0 volunteers)
• January 20:   Babka, Cinnamon Rolls, or  Cinnamon Cake (Need 1 volunteers)
• January 27:  Brownies (Need  0 volunteers)
• Feb 3:  Apple Pie (Need 9 volunteers)
• Feb 10:  Cupcake Maddness (Need 5 volunteers)
• Feb 17:  King Cake or any type of festive “Mardis Gras” cake (Need 7 volunteers)
• Feb 24:  Apple Bars (Need 9 volunteers)

Logistics

Happy Holidays!

THANK YOU CRAIG’S KITCHEN SUPPORTERS!

You showered this project with so much support and this family with so much love!  You made mom and dad cry. The boys couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces.  I cant even find the words to express how cool it was to be involved with this little project. (And quite an honor to be Santa to all your generosity!)

Secret Santas

The Secret Santa project was an absolute success beyond my wildest dreams (even if, in the end, it wasn’t very secret…plans to sneak into the apartment all Santa-style were totally foiled)  It was crazy amazing, the amount of support the community gave us in helping give a Greenpoint family some special love during a tough holiday season.

Peace & Love!

Serious shout outs to everyone who donated gifts, food, cash, love, and a helping hand. We seriously blew some minds with all the books, games, food & love we delivered.

Cheers to a Happy New Year!

Below are pics of Isaiah jumping for joy and doing a happy dance (He insisted i take pics and show you’all…)

On a side note: Mom was so blown away by all the books and really feels like her prayers were answered. Their house is like the coolest library EVER now. Anyways, we had so many books and not so much wrapping paper (or energy, truth be told) so we decided to make a giant box of books for each of the boys. Kinda like a treasure chest of books! Anyways, it was absolute hilarity when delivering the goods and the boys were convinced that there was some sort of robot in the big boxes……and would not believe that it was a box of books. They were convinced I was “tricking them”. Too too funny! (Like i said, it was truly an honor to play Santa’s elf to all your generosity!)

Jumping for JOY

Happy Dance!

pic by imakeinterwebs @flickr.com

Join us in a little Secret Santa project.

Our goal is to provide a little holiday cheer for a family in the neighborhood that can’t afford Christmas.

How you can help: Donatations of  $$, gifts, decorations, and food stuffs all welcome.

• GIFTS: The boys are age 5 and 8. They literally have no toys in their apartment. Mom is worried about the reading level of the 5 year old (he is behind at school) so cool books would be amazing. Also, art supplies like paper, paint, crayons, etc. Things like Legos or Science Experiment type things that are “educational and fun” are also key. For mom, cute things like picture frames or cute writing notebooks would make her day!
• $$: We are collecting cash for a tree, wreath, lights, wrapping paper, and decorations.
• Decorations: We are collecting decorations for the tree and apartment.
• Food Stuffs: We will be gathering food and treats too!

Please let me know if you can help us bring Christmas to this corner of Greenpoint. We can pick stuff up or you can drop stuff off. Our thought is to deliver everything next Wed, Dec 23rd. (Probably sneak in and set up the tree and presents while the family is dining at the soup kitchen although that plan depends on neighbors, etc so it is a little in flux…..)

Any donations can be dropped off at 140 Metropolitan Ave. First Floor. Typically, any time will work. If no one is home (or answering the doorbell) stuff can be dropped off at our neighbors, Bar Berry (on the corner of Berry and Metropolitan). Cash can be dropped in the mail, Craigs Kitchen 140 Metropolitan Ave. First Floor, Brooklyn NY 11211. (Checks to Craigs Kitchen w/ Secret Santa in memo).

Feel free to email craigskitchen [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or to arrange pickups or drop offs…