My friend Michelle is getting married this fall. A few weeks ago, we celebrated with a weekend full of bachelorette and wedding shower festivities.
I took on the challenge of making a cake for the bachelorette party. Naturally, I turned to my trusted source for cakes, Joy the Baker and her latest cookbook, Homemade Decadence. Below is a series of pictures of the cake making process.
But first, a snapshot of myself and the bride-to-be.
July is fast-approaching, so we better get our potato salad game in check. In addition to the potatoes and the dressing, I like my potato salads to have something crunchy, something pungent, and a little something unexpected.
This potato salad recipe comes from the Cranberry Marketing Committee. Who says you can’t put a little fruit in your potato salad? Potatoes with chopped cucumber, sliced scallion, and dried cranberry get tossed in an easy yogurt and sour cream dressing.
Celebrate the summer season with this Cranberry and Cucumber Potato Salad. It’ll go swell with whatever it is you’re pulling off the grill. Continue reading
This month’s Recipe ReDux theme is all about pie: Tucked in a crust, nothing says love from the oven like pie. Give a healthy makeover to your favorite savory or sweet pie recipe.
I consider tarts to be in the pie category, so Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Tart it is.
This tart is inspired by two recipes in Sarah Britton’s cookbook, My New Roots. I used her recipe for oat crust that she pairs with a pecan cranberry pie in the book. The crust is made using gluten free rolled oats, coconut oil, maple syrup, salt, and nutmeg.
The filling for my tart was inspired by the cookbook’s fig and buckwheat breakfast tart. I haven’t seen figs around the markets here yet, so I went for berries instead. To make the filling, fold a touch of vanilla extract and maple syrup into some 2% plain Greek yogurt. A few large spoonfuls of homemade rhubarb compote and a pint of greenmarket strawberries give the tart a real spring zing. Continue reading
Casey and I on the roof, adorned in our chef gear
For the last five weeks, I have been interning with my friend and peer, Casey, at the Calhoun School for the food service rotation of our dietetic internship. The school serves breakfast and lunch everyday to a population of kindergarten through twelfth grade students. The chef, Chef Bobo, is wonderful and cares very much about the ingredients, healthfulness, and quality of the food he gives the students.
The chefs in the kitchen rotate positions planning out a menu every 10 days, giving everyone in the kitchen a chance to create a unique menu. My typical day at the school starts with breakfast, usually oatmeal with raisins, house-made granola, yogurt, and coffee. After breakfast, I help with lunch prep, prep for the following day’s lunch, or party prep.
Radishes from the rooftop garden
The school has a rooftop garden, so some days, Casey and I go up to the roof to harvest salad greens and herbs. A few days a week, I help serve the lunch line. I spend the majority of my day in the kitchen helping prep and cook, which really makes me miss my old life as a pastry cook working in restaurants. To me, there is nothing better than washing, peeling, chopping, and cooking in a well-stocked kitchen while I hang out with other cooks and kitchen staff.
Part of my role as a dietetic intern in food service is to learn how to analyze the nutrition and cost of a menu and to make sure food is safe to eat by understanding the flow of food from purchasing to receiving, storing, cooking, holding, cooling, reheating, and serving.
Casey and I, along with one of the chefs in the kitchen, also prepared a table for the school’s health fair where we sampled three different brownies made with healthy ingredients–avocado, black bean, and beet. We cut the brownies into tiny shapes and had students and faculty taste and try to identify which healthy brownie was which (thanks to some of our peers in class for the idea!). Another task that Casey and I helped with was conducting some food safety trainings for the kitchen staff on cross-contamination with gluten and on cleaning the “nooks and crannies” of the kitchen.
Chef Mark, myself, and Casey at the school’s health fair
It has been a fabulous five weeks. I am sad to leave, and a large part of that has to do with how much I will miss all of the fresh, cooked-from-scratch food I ate for lunch. Check out some of the amazing school lunch meals that I ate below. I really piled it on. Continue reading
This month’s Recipe ReDux theme is: What favorite kitchen staples do you now make from scratch – but in the past you purchased? Show us your best DIY recipe for keeping cupboards, fridge or freezer stocked with healthy basics.
Frozen waffles are good, but homemade are SO much better, and better for you. Even the “healthier” frozen waffle brands contain weird, mysterious ingredients and stabilizers.
I got a waffle iron last week (only thirty-something dollars), and have been cranking out these Whole Wheat Oat and Yogurt Waffles every chance I get.
My first go at the new waffle iron involved Continue reading
Figsinmybelly 