Community Living
Check out local wine, whip up some hot soup,
and get giving this holiday with the meanest, greeniest, local foodie-est organizations around.
By Victoria Bradley

Fill the Plate

Pittsburgh is one of 20 cities, nationwide, to be included in Morgan Stanley’s “Fill the Plate” program. The financial firm is partnering with Feeding America, the country’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, to target children who lack access to nutritious food during the after-school hours and weekends, when hunger is not combated by reduced cost or free lunch programs, available in schools. Through the program, backpacks, containing shelf-stable nutritious meals, will be distributed. Each will contain three wholesome meals that children can prepare themselves, if necessary.

Feeding America, www.feedingamerica.org

Morgan Stanley, www.morganstanley.com

Happy Holiday Hours

Mary Mac Bakehouse & Standing Chimney (a unique specialty bakery in New Galilee, typically open the first Saturday of each month) will be selling its sweets and bread for extended holiday hours during the weekend of December 3 and 4, before closing for the season. The bakery will reopen in March, but before then, it’s time to stock up on specialty rye breads, scones, muffins, and cookies. Even more exciting is the opportunity to sample almost everything in the store, along with coffee and tea from Prestogeorge Fine Foods. “Come in on holiday weekends, and try everything we have to offer,” encourages co-owner Mary McAnallen. Mary Mac Bakehouse & Standing Chimney, 566 Paden Road, New Castle. 724.336.5224. www.standingchimney.com

Community Garden

A used car parking lot in lower Lawrenceville was recently transformed into a community garden, thanks to more than 50 volunteers. The project was part of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s Green Up Pittsburgh Program and has been dubbed “Lola Garden’s Community Planting Day” by the residents. Lawrenceville Community, www.lawrencevillepgh.com

Soup’s Up!

Edible Allegheny Magazine recently attended the Local Harvest dinner at Whole Foods Market and fell in love with Chef Krystal Willson Doring’s recipe for Vegetarian French Six Onion Soup (the best we’ve ever had). We sweet-talked her into giving us the recipe:

Krystal’s Vegetarian French Six Onion Soup

By Krystal Willson Doring

Yield: 6 hearty servings

Ingredients :

1 (4-ounce) stick butter

1 pound each red onion, white onion, Spanish onion, sliced

Sherry cooking wine, as needed for deglazing

2 large leeks, sliced ½ inch on the bias

1 bunch thyme, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

2 quarts vegetable stock

6 slices bread, cut into circles the size of soup bowls*

¾ pound Gruyere cheese, sliced thick

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ bunch scallions, sliced thin on the bias
Directions:

1. Melt two ounces butter in cast-iron pot over medium-high heat. Toss in first three onions, and caramelize.

2. Deglaze with wine. Reduce heat to medium. Continue deglazing for a minimum of two hours.

3. Add leeks, half of the thyme, and all of the garlic and shallots. Let simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Pour in stock. Bring to boil. Reduce to low heat. Cover, and let simmer for one hour. Melt remaining butter with remaining thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Brush onto both sides of bread circles. Toast in 350º oven, about 7 minutes.

5. Ladle soup into bowls, top with circle “crouton,” and cheese. Broil, about four minutes. Garnish with scallions and thyme.

*Flip the bowl over, and cut around it!

Whole Foods Market, 5880 Centre Ave., East Liberty. 412.441.7960. www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Give a Little

When we’re making our year-end donations, we are including our top 10 non-profits, dedicated to local food and green living. “Like” them on Facebook for updates, deals, and inspiration all year long. (Psst —these are the coolest kids we know.)

Bike PGH: Making biking better for Pittsburgh riders and the world greener for all of us.

Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest: Restoring and protecting trees — along city sidewalks, busy sidewalks…

Grow Pittsburgh: Urban agriculture in the Levi-bottomed neighborhood of Braddock, and beyond.

GTECH: Applying innovation to green economy initiatives and vacant land reclamation.

The Sprout Fund: Changing Pittsburgh and catalyzing change, one grassroots project at a time.

FarmCorps: Cultivating future farmers and stocking local food banks, while building a local agricultural workforce.

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank: Eliminating hunger and developing strategies to encourage self-reliance.

These Come From Trees: The world’s first guerrilla public service announcement to eliminate paper waste. PASA : Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, connecting farmers to markets, restaurants, and consumers.

Friends of the Riverfront: Loving on the rivers and the river trails. Green Trail Work begins this January on the Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard project, a multi-modal transportation corridor, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the federal government.

The project will accommodate existing AVR freight along with regional passenger rail use, as well as a storm water management system and riverfront habitat restoration. City of Pittsburgh, www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us

Yan Can Cook

Martin Yan, the “Imperial Chef,” is returning to Market District from Giant Eagle on January 29. The cookbook author, restaurateur, and TV pioneer will visit the store’s

Robinson location for a free-to-the public interactive demonstration, featuring Chinese cuisine. Market District from Giant Eagle, 100 Settlers Ridge Center Drive, Campbells Run Road. 412.788.5392. www.marketdistrict.com

More Wine!

Glades Pike Winery is now offering its coveted bottles at Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District and The Confluence House Bed & Breakfast in Confluence, Pa. Pass your glass, and get sipping! Glades Pike Winery, 2208 Glades Pike, Somerset. 814.445.3753.

www.gladespikewinery.com