From Your Kitchen
to Our Hearts

Individuals, religious groups and other organizations are invited to join our Casseroles Out Of Kindness (C.O.O.K.) program, helping Camillus House provide nutritious meals to the hungry and/or homeless in our community.

Through your culinary casserole support, you will be helping Camillus House meet the challenge of providing over 1,000 meals daily to residents in our emergency housing and treatment programs, and to the street homeless we serve daily in our Day Center program. Each casserole serves ten people, so you’ll be making a much needed, satisfying difference in the lives of hungry and homeless individuals, families and youth.

Here’s How It Works

From the comfort of your home kitchen, follow the easy cooking and food safety directions listed below to prepare your choice of one or all three casserole recipes. Aluminum containers are provided, if needed. Casseroles must be frozen after they are prepared. The frozen casseroles may then be delivered to Camillus House.

We can arrange pick-up of donations of more than 50 casseroles.

While we are not able to provide community service hours for casserole donations, we will be happy to provide a letter acknowledging and thanking you for your donation.

Delivery & Pick-Up Information

Casserole donations are accepted Monday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Camillus House is located at 1603 NW 7th Avenue in Miami’s hospital district. Pick-up service is available for larger food donations, such as donations of 50 or more casseroles.

Ready to Get Started?

Show Our Community How You Do Casseroles of Kindness!

Information

To get started, or for more information, please email Bob Lozada at [email protected]. He can also help arrange pick-ups for donations of 50 or more casseroles. Thank you!

Cooling & Freezing Directions

Food-borne bacteria love food at room temperature. Therefore, it is crucial to expedite hot-to-cold temperature transfers. When transferring cooked contents to the aluminum pan, leave 1/2” from the edge of the pan for expansion during freezing.

For cooling: place the uncovered aluminum pan with hot contents into a larger pan containing half ice, half cold water and two tablespoons of salt. As soon as the contents are no longer hot, cover the pan with the lid and seal all around. Label and date the lid. Place in the freezer.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. ground turkey
  • 1 lb. elbow macaroni
  • (2) 8-oz. cans of pinto beans drained
  • (1) 8-oz. can diced tomatoes with green peppers
  • (1) 26-oz. jar 6-cheese tomato sauce 1 large onion, diced small
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • Olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. chili powder
  • 2 tbsp. of salt
  • 1 tbsp. ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. In a pot of salted boiling water, cook macaroni al dente, which means 2 minutes less than package cooking instructions. Immediately rinse and drain cooked pasta in cold water and put aside.
  2. In a frying pan, brown the turkey over high heat with enough olive oil to coat the pan. Keep crumbling the turkey until all the redness is gone. Transfer to a bowl.
  3. In a frying pan with a little more olive oil sauté the onions and peppers until golden; add garlic until golden. Remove and place in the same bowl with the turkey.
  4. In a large pot stir in the beans, diced tomatoes, six-cheese tomato sauce, plus one jar of water from the tomato sauce jar. Add sautéed vegetables and turkey. Bring to a boil. Add chili powder and stir. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Add 2 tbsp. of salt and 1 tbsp. of pepper. Add the cooked pasta to the mixture and transfer to the aluminum baking pan.
  5. See cooling and freezing directions.

Ingredients

  • (2) 26-oz. jars six-cheese tomato sauce
  • 1 lb. ziti macaroni
  • 1 large onion diced small
  • 2 celery stalks diced small
  • 4 tbsp. dry basil
  • 1 large carrot diced small
  • (3) 1/2 lbs. ground chuck beef
  • 4 tbsp. fresh parsley diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic diced fine
  • 13 oz. water (1/2 26 oz. jar)
  • 2 tbsp. of salt
  • 1 tbsp. ground black pepper
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Brown and crumble the meat in a hot frying pan coated with olive oil until redness is gone. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
  2. In a hot frying pan with 1/4” of oil, sauté the onions, carrots, garlic and celery until golden; add to the bowl of meat.
  3. In a large pot, add the cooked and uncooked ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
  4. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook al dente or 2 minutes less than package instructions.
  5. Combine the pasta and Bolognese sauce after adding salt and pepper.
  6. Transfer to the aluminum baking pan.
  7. See cooling and freezing directions.

Ingredients

  • 6 lbs. of mixed chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, legs, etc)
  • 1 large onion diced small
  • 4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper fresh
  • 1/2 tsp. white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
  3. Clean and rinse the chicken and then dry each piece with paper towels. Keep the skin on for added flavor and moist chicken. Rub each dry piece of chicken with the spice mixture.
  4. Place a piece of parchment paper on your roasting pan and place the chicken and the onions on it, then drizzle the olive oil sparingly on top of the chicken and the onions.
  5. Bake for 45-50 minutes, make sure chicken is cooked thoroughly. Transfer chicken and onions into the casserole tin.
  6. See cooling and freezing directions.

In the News

Channel 7 News Miami

Check out Channel 7 News Miami’s story on our C.O.O.K. Program.