A Call for Helping One-Pot-Dish Hands

An e-mail from "Newton Mom," the Newton, Mass.-based sister of longtime reader "Bethesda Mom," arrived in my inbox last week, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Here's her kitchen scenario: A friend has organized a very large effort at my daughter's now former elementary school where once a month families make a tuna noodle casserole, using the identical recipe, and then she delivers them to a woman and children's homeless shelter in Boston called Rosies Place where they are served for dinner to the community. We have all been making these for some years. Apparently, it has been so successful that we have "graduated" to a different night of the month and are now free to change the menu and recipe. The new recipe does not need to be a casserole, must be able to be standardized, frozen and reheated and be easy enough that people will be...

By Kim ODonnel | April 2, 2008; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (32)