Week of December 13

I am pleased to announce that this year I am participating in the 6th Annual Menu for Hope fundraiser. Menu for Hope was started by Pim of Chez Pim as a response to the tsunami in Southeast Asia.This year, all proceeds from the Menu for Hope go to the UN World Food Programme. WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.

In the last two campaigns, we helped support a school lunch program in Lesotho. This year we're changing our direction a tiny bit. We're highlighting a new initiative at the WFP called Purchase for Progress (P4P). P4P enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation. P4P helps farmers improves farming practices and puts more cash directly into their pockets in return for their crops. This will also help buoy local economy by creating jobs and income locally. We food bloggers understand the importance of buying locally and supporting our local farms, P4P helps do the same for farmers in low income countries around the world. More on P4P at http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress.

This year, I have put an item up for auction. The Bacon-Lover's Candy Pack (that's it up there). The pack is a collection of bacon-based candies to delight the bacon lover in your life. The pack includes: Bacon brittle, a crunchy, smoky treat that’s great on ice cream or on its own. Bacon caramels, made with lard and bacon fat and topped with Australian pink flake salt. Bacon fudge, dark chocolate fudge layered with crisp, candied bacon. The pack includes 8 ounces of brittle, 8 caramels and 8 pieces of fudge.

The pack makes a great gift for a bacon-lover, candy-freak or someone with a taste for the deliciously different.

My prize code is UE17. To bid, go and make a donation to Menu for Hope 6 at First Giving and follow the instructions about placing a bid. There are a ton of other great prizes out there. Click on the links below to see what else is up for the bidding! Bidding is open until December 25th, so you won't be able to give any of these gifts as Christmas presents, but I think January is a great time for gift giving too, especially if that gift is to yourself!

Europe (hosted by David Lebovitz)
Asia Pacific (hosted by Ed of Tomatom)
USA: East Coast (hosted by Helen of Tartelette)
USA: West Coast (hosted by Shauna of Gluten Free Girl)
Canada (hosted by Tara of Seven Spoons)

This is a pretty busy week. I've got a lot of special orders for the holidays, so I'm trying to keep meals easy and delicious. A trip to the farmers' market yesterday yielded a bounty of easily-cooked, delicious vegetables to frame my meals around.

Menu for the Week

Sunday

• Pollock chowder (with fish from our CSF share) and biscuits

Monday

• Greens and feta pie

Tuesday

• Medley of roasted vegetables
• Fontina polenta with parsley pesto

Wednesday

• Avogolemono soup (Greek egg-lemon soup) with rice

Thursday

• Duck-fat fried potato pancakes topped with smoked salmon and creme fraiche
• Green salad

Friday

• Pizza night (time to resurrect this tradition!)