Every year we have a Jedi Gathering, we’ve had someone coordinate the menu and cooking. We do this because it helps keep our guest’s cost down. This year, food seemed to take on a whole new meaning though. Throughout the world, meals with the family or community have meaning. Holidays and Festivals are formed around food world-wide, and every culture has it’s own style.
​
Food is important to any gathering of people, not just Jedi. It’s important to take into consideration what the person in charge of food can manage if they have to do everything on their own, and still mingle with the crowd. We each have different levels of ability too. And then there’s “can I add any of my personality to the mix?”. For me, it’s “can I add something unique…and this time around can I bring an educational element to it?”.
​
This year, someone else was in charge of the food, but unfortunately caught COVID days before the event- so he wasn’t able to make it out. Despite a Tuesday night scramble to figure out how to ensure everyone had enough food for the gathering starting that Thursday, the menu wasn’t just thrown together. There was real thought put into the logistics and even some health benefits added in where we could. So let’s talk about each meal!
​
Thursday Night Dinner
Everyone’s getting in and settled into their pods. Ally & Scy are scrambling to get the last of the groceries in hopes they never have to leave the site for another run, and suddenly they get a text message from Master Angelus “The natives are getting hungry”.
​
Honestly, this is normal at a gathering I end up in charge of the food…because we can never get onto the property until 4PM, and by then my car is so full I’m scared the suspension is going to break. So I still don’t have the frozen or refrigerated stuff yet, like meat. Fortunately, the first night is practically down to a science- we either get frozen pizzas and heat them up, or we go with Spaghetti. For this meal we added in a White Beans & Spinach salad, and for dessert Blueberry Toast. Other than the stove taking forever to get to a boil, all of this was incredibly easy to make.
​
Several people stepped up to the plate to ensure we could get this meal out for the attendees. And although it was fast and easy to create, there were elements of the meal chosen for health reasons.
​
First was the Spaghetti sauce, we were lucky that Ingles carried it! The Silver Palate San Marzano Blend Pasta Sauce. This uses Imported San Marzano tomatoes as its base. It’s not the only tomato, but if you’re going to make your own pasta sauce we recommend getting the Cento San Marzano tomatoes for a base. Why? Because according to the research, these tomatoes which are grown in the soil around Mt. Vesuvius have the highest concentration of Lycopene in the tomato family. Lycopene has been linked to Antiangiogenesis, helps fight prostate cancer, and can help protect your DNA from damage (Dr. William Li, 2019). Additionally, including lycopene rich foods in your diet can help reduce body fat (Dr. William Li, 2023)- as long as you’re not overdoing anything. Remember, nothing is a fix-all.
Spaghetti is pretty simple to cook, so we’ll just tell you that we added some pre-made Turkey Meatballs to the mix.
The White Beans & Spinach actually turned out a lot better than I anticipated. It wasn’t a lot, just enough for a singular side dish- but it was good. Spinach and Cannellini beans are good sources of fiber. Pull this together with some cayenne pepper, and you have a good culinary concoction to help with your digestive system.
​
You can find the recipe for this one here https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/white-beans-and-spinach/
Next was the dessert. The bread selected was Sourdough bread. Sourdough contains Lactobacillus reuteri which “has been shown to improve immunity and suppress tumor development” (William Li, 2019). It accomplishes this by impacting the microbiome. While the bread has amazing benefits, this dessert was highlighted by the blueberries which have the ability to help with angiogenesis, antiangiogenesis, immunity, DNA protection, improve the microbiome, regeneration, and increase brown fat (which is good at helping combat white fat!) (Dr. William Li, 2019 & 2023).
We didn’t have the arugula or lemon zest, but here’s where the base recipe comes from. https://brunchandbatter.com/blueberry-toast/
​
Friday Morning Breakfast
Sometimes you just have to have fun. In 2013, I purchased a Game of Thrones Cookbook called “A Feast of Ice & Fire” by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel & Sariann Lehrer. I haven’t used it since, so I went hunting in my library to pull some recipes for this gathering. The first one was for Boiled Eggs. The recipe can be found on Page 193. All but the Star Anise, because frankly I don’t know how anyone likes Star Anise! Our volunteers stepped up and made the Meereen Hard Boiled Eggs the night before and let them soak in a strange black tea & soy bath over night. They turned out gorgeous and tasty!
​
But that wasn’t the only fun thing we decided to go in on- we also had a very southern dish: Biscuits & Gravy. For the Gravy, we used Ground Italian Turkey because the Turkey Sausage was no where to be found. In fact, in hopes of finding it, we dispatched one of our committee members to seek it out at the nearby Walmart so dinner the night before could get started. Food is big business at a gathering, and just like a good community- we work together to make sure no one goes hungry!
​
Why Turkey, you may ask- isn’t regular Sausage the staple in the south? Yes, however, in an effort to not have to engage in more cooking, sometimes you have to sacrifice for the people who have different dietary options. In this case, we do have members in attendance that do not eat pork at all- and not just me (yes, I’m one of those people that doesn’t eat it).
​
For this recipe check out this link: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/282708/turkey-sausage-gravy/
​
On the side, we had stone fruits available for eating. You could choose from Nectarines (or was it plums? Originally we wanted persimmons…they weren’t available), Apricots and Peaches. The idea came from the Game of Thrones book, but there was an additional reason for this choice. “Two studies from the US national Cancer Institute snf University of Illinois at Chicago showed that consuming two medium-sized stone fruits per day is associated with 66% decreased risk of esophageal cancer and an 18% decreased risk of lung cancer in men.” (Dr. William Li, 2019). Furthermore, stone fruits have antiangiogenic and regenerative properties (Dr. William Li, 2019).
​
Friday Lunch
The Sandwich Bar. Admittedly, this doesn’t have the special touch the previous two meals do. But it was incredibly simple to set up. We put out lunch meats, bread, condiments, sliced tomatoes, super greans for lettuce and a fruit & veggie tray for people to craft their own meals. I think we also set out some potato salad.
​
Friday Dinner
Again, I wanted something fun. Days before I was told our cook was out of commission, I had purchased this fun Star Wars cookbook with other neat activities! It’s called Star Wars Everyday: A Year of Activities, Recipes, and Crafts from a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Ashley Eckstein. So I thought, why not! We’re all Jedi.
​
The first was something like a Shepherd’s Pie, but it used Pureed Cauliflower instead of Mashed Potatoes. Ashley Eckstein called this “Aunt Beru’s Harvest Bake”, and you can find it in the book on page 167. This was great, because Cauliflower, like broccoli, has antiangiogenic properties, but it also modifies the microbiome by decreasing harmful bacteria in your gut (Dr. William Li, 2019). While Potatoes are very tasty for a dish like this- we found that cauliflower worked perfectly because it doesn’t have it’s own taste- so we could modify the taste with the spices listed in the recipe. This dish was a success too, as there was none left by the time we cleaned up!
​
With that said, it wasn’t enough to make a meal, so we leaned in on another recipe from the book called “Not Porg Squash Roast”. We did modify it slightly, instead of it being a stuffed Butternut Squash, we diced the squash and turned it into more of a roasted salad. And because we couldn’t find pomegranate arils in stock, we opted in for craisins. The ingredient I want to highlight here is the Kale. Kale has several anntiangiogenic biolactives: brassinin, quercetin, indole-3-carbinol, sulforaphane, lutetin, and kaempferol (Dr. William Li, 2019). I’m not a fan of Kale on its own, so finding a way to make Kale palatable is important. And this roasted “salad” was perfect.
​
If you can get the pomegranate arils, it helps your microbiome to allow Akkermansia grow, which benefits people who are in cancer treatment by mobilizing the immune system to fight back (Dr. William Li, 2019). Cranberries can accomplish this too, thought I’m not sure if dried cranberries (craisins) counts. Though I do know that Crasins are good for antiangiogenesis, angiogenesis, regeneration and immunity (Dr. William Li, 2019).
​
You can find the recipe for Not Porg Squash Roast in Star Wars Everyday page 140.
​
Then came what was suppose to be dessert….but ended up being the first course: Cold Fruit Soup, which came out of the Game of Thrones book. In reality, it was Apple Sauce. And tracking down saffron at a reasonable price was its own adventure. Hint, go to either an International Grocer, or one that specializes in foods from the Middle-to-Near East. We didn’t have sandalwood powder so that didn’t get included.
​
The ingredient that was chosen for the apple, was the Organic Granny Smith. Let’s start with why Organic first. In a study by the University of Massachusetts in Amberst, it was found that when whole apples which commercially used pesticides were put through the post harvest wash, it was ineffective for removing the pesticide (Dr. William Li, 2023). The Granny Smith apple specifically, demonstrates itself as being good for Immunity, angiogenesis, antiangiogenesis, and regeneration (Dr. William Li, 2019). In general, however, studies have shown that eating apples can lower cholesterol in their blood, and the peep lowers fat associated inflammation. So although the recipe calls for you to peel off the peel- we left it intact.
​
The recipe for this is in the Game of Thrones Book on page 59. I should note that you want a food processor for this one, as well as for the cauliflower. I’m so grateful that one of our committee members (Travails ) brought hers for us to use!
Saturday Morning Breakfast
Having fun in the South means having more southern dishes. And that’s what we did for breakfast and lunch. We had a Grits Bar for breakfast. Unfortunately, very few people went for the shrimp topping. And maybe we cooked too much in the way of grits, still for anyone that engaged with it, they seemed to love it.
​
We also had some preserves out for anyone that wanted to eat it on bread. Unfortunately, we either didn’t have a toaster…or no one could locate it.
​
The only thing I want to highlight on this meal, is that the grits were purchased about a month prior to the event from a Farmer’s Market in Franklin, TN. They are an incredible group of vendors that are being pushed out from their normal location and to one they are having to build on their own so they can continue their business. It’s rather inspirational. Still with this breakfast, I just want to remind people that there is incredible value in supporting local farms!
​
Saturday Lunch
CROCKPOTS ARE THE KEY! If you’re coming to the South, we have to have some BBQ. And as I looked around for options, I soon discovered that you can absolutely use a Crockpot to accomplish this. So I brought mine, and Maggie brought hers. Between us, we were able to get the BBQ rolling, and later on the soup for dinner.
​
The crockpots were started at some point in the middle of the night (2AM?). One with Chuck Roast Beef, and the other with Dark Meat Chicken. In the Chicken, we used a Duke’s BBQ Sauce, and for the Beef a KC Master’s BBQ. Put in some extra spices and just let it run. Somewhere in the morning, Maggie grabbed her mixer and shredded both pots. It was great.
We also did an experiment for Chickpea BBQ. Originally this had been planned for a vegetarian attendee that wasn’t able to make it. Still I had someone that expressed some interest and I had an extra instapot to throw it in. So we just went with it. Unfortunately, that one was missing brown sugar…so we’re not really sure how it would actually taste….
Either way, the basis for each of these are the following:
​
Beef BBQ
https://www.modernhoney.com/slow-cooker-bbq-beef-sandwiches/
Chicken BBQ
https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-bbq-chicken/
Chickpea BBQ
https://realfoodwholelife.com/recipes/slow-cooker-barbecue-chickpeas-recipe
​
We put out the rest of the potato salad and coleslaw for people to eat. I should have known, coleslaw wasn’t it. Because, to my knowledge, no one touched it…including me- not a fan. We also had the leftover fruit and veggie tray so people had more food to choose from.
​
Saturday Dinner
Crockpots are great, because we were able to do the chicken tortilla soup (minus tortillas, I didn’t have time to hunt for it) for the Taco Night. It turned out great. By the time we got to setting everything out, everything that needed to be cooked was done and we just needed to set it out or reheat. We took the BBQ and put it out so people could use that for their tacos, ground beef from the night before just needed reheating and some Mexican spices thrown in, and we were set.
​
I was going to talk about the dark meat chicken in the previous meal, but I figured this one needed a bit more conversation in it. Although we oftentimes consider the breast the best part, thighs contain vitamin K2, which is fat-soluble and has antiangiogenic properties. At Hiroshima University, it was discovered that the dark meat in chicken can suppress growth of colon cancer cells; and at the University of Illinois research found that it could inhibit prostate cancer. (Dr. William Li, 2019)
​
For the Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe, see https://dashofsanity.com/chicken-tortilla-soup-crock-pot/ (We didn’t use as much enchilada sauce).
​
The next morning, people had left overs they could pack for breakfast and lunch as they drove home. That’s usually how it works for us- take whatever you need otherwise it goes to waste.
​
Books
Eckstein, Ashley. (2022). Star Wars Everyday: A year of activities, recipes & crafts from a galaxy far, far away.. Insight Editions.
Li, William W. (2019). Eat to beat disease: The new science of how the body can heal itself. Hachette Book Group.
Li, William W. (2023). Eat to Beat Your Diet: Burn fat, heal your metabolism and live longer. Hachette Book Group.
Monroe-Cassel, Chelsea & Lehrer, Sariann (2012). A Feast of Ice & Fire: The Official Companion Cookbook. Bantham Books.