AmeriCorp Week 2011

For AmeriCorp Week the North Central Region RSVP and Foster Grandparent Program along with the Volunteers of America Dakotas staff spent an evening packaging food for Kids Against Hunger. Kids Against Hunger is a humanitarian food-aid organization, whose mission is to significantly reduce the number of hungry children in the USA and to feed starving children throughout the world. A total of 18 volunteers packaged 1,728 meals to be delivered all across the globe including Pine Ridge Reservation right here in South Dakota.

Someone has friends in high places!

Not everyone has a town named in their honor, after all.

Enchiladas

Started with sliced onions and carmelized them in Balsamic vinegar.
Meanwhile, back at the front burner, saute some Boulder Chorizo with sliced mushrooms, diced onions and a can of fire-roasted, diced tomatoes. Let it simmer for a while.
Slice some avocados and shredded some Mexican melting cheese, cheddar and asiago. Mixed the cheeses and steamed some corn tortillas.
When the tortillas are flexible, spread the meat mixture on a third of the tortilla. Add two or three slices of avocado, some cheese, and roll. Place roll in a baking dish. Repeat until you've filled your dish or run out of ingredients.
Bake, covered, at 350 for a while.
If you have some shredded cheese left over, sprinkle it over the enchiladas about ten or so minutes before you're ready to take them out of the oven, and allow to finish baking without the cover to crisp the tortillas. 


Serve hot with a dallop of sour cream or creme fraiche, salsa, and/or whatever you like with your enchiladas!!


Ing
Chorizo
Onions
can of fire roasted, diced tomatoes
mushrooms
olive oil
package corn tortillas (use the flour wraps and you got some burritos!)
Cheddar
Asiago
Mexican melting cheese
balsamic vinegar
garlic and other seasonings (I used cumin, chili powder, cayenne, paprika, cholula hot sauce, sometimes use cilantro or episote)

BV Community Christmas Tree

The Volunteers of America, Dakotas Brandon Outreach Office helped with a Community Christmas Tree and the Brandon Valley Challenger published an article about it. You can see it here: http://brandoninfo.com/article/20101231/NEWS/101230006/1001.

Congrats Michelle!

Look at what great things South Dakota's AmeriCorps VISTA Members are doing for the communities they are serving. Great Job, Michelle.

A good resource I just found

http://learningforsustainability.net/about.php

CAPn Kangaroo!

I was lead to believe the roos would not taste good since Aussies don't eat them so I went to my old friend the internet to see what I could find after a friend gave me some roo steaks. A very lean meat, I learned it's best to marinate 'roo steaks in oil-based marinades. I read that native Aussie spices of course pair well with the meat but was unable to locate Australian spices in Rapid City. So I mixed up a variety I found in my cabinets and had a delicious meal. Served this time with Fried Green Tomatoes, pickled beets (delicious!) and whole-grain, gluten-free bread. I just wish I'd brought my camera!

Marinade:
1/2 c Coffee grounds
2 T cocoa
1 T cinnamon
1/2 c honey
1 c white wine or ww vinegar
1 c olive oil
1/4 c crushed black pepper
1 T cayenne
1 T salt


I put four 'roo steaks in the marinade and added enough water to cover, put it in the fridge for two days, and then grilled the steaks to medium rare. Yum!