First week back at work...

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind.  To start things out I reported to my Laminated Dough class on Monday.  By Tuesday morning at 2:00am my Dad had suffered a stroke and my fall schedule was changed fully by Wednesday morning.  I decided to drop my LD class because if you miss three classes, according to the instructor, you will fail.  I have a 4.0 GPA after four complete years of school and knowing, at some point, that I will travel to see my parents after my Dad goes home, I knew I would miss at least three classes.  So as not to cause any waves I just dropped the class.  That decision also made my decision to finish my pastry degree unreachable by next May so I revamped my degree plan, too.  I do not want to be there past May... I want to be done done DONE!!!  I will now get the Culinary Arts degree with a pastry certificate and be happy with that.  I have every intention of going somewhere else to study pastry at some point... specifically bread baking classes to go with the nutrition degree I will pursue once I finish here.

That being said, I went back to work on Wednesday at 3:00pm and here is stuff from the week...

We served a Wednesday night dinner at the church...

Setting up the buffet station

Frying catfish... breaded, frying and done... very delicious!

Part of the menu for the evening

Vegan Cooking Day...

A tomato chunky vinaigrette to go on top of asparagus lightly roasted in the oven.

I love asparagus!!!

A creamy mushroom tarragon soup with vegan sour "cream" 

This was AMAZING!!!

Ok, adding this for Dana and anyone else interested...

The soup is made with about a pound (or more if you like it thicker) of chopped mushrooms and an onion both sauteed in a stock pot or sauce pan.  Then I added the vegetable stock and tarragon and let it cook down.  Simmered for about 20 to 30 minutes or so.  Once everything was soft and all the flavors were incorporated together I turned the heat down and added the sour cream, salt and pepper to taste and that was it... SO SIMPLE!!!  :)

For the cabbage rolls I will have to get the exact recipe from a book I used at work but it was basically Bok Choy Leaves softened by par boiling quickly in boiling water and then dried on paper towels while I worked on the rest.  I cooked about 1/2 cup barley with parsley and then added salt and pepper once it was done.  The other part of the filling that I mixed with the barley was sauteed zucchini and green onions that was incorporated with Pomi tomatoes, more parsley and garlic all mixed in a blender before pouring about half of it (reserve some to top with before baking) over the zucchini and onion.  I let that cook until incorporated and then added it to the barley.  Then I spooned it into the cabbage leaves and rolled it, put it onto an oiled sheet pan and then topped with more of the tomato mixture.  As you can see below I served the stuffed cabbage over a bed of the filling for a larger servings.   The book was called the Vegetarian Bible but I am not sure where it came from or how old it is.  It has some beautiful stuff in it.  The soup came from that book, too.

Stuffed cabbage rolls... with a barley and zucchini/tomato mix for the stuffing.

YUM!!!

Black bean patties made using a milled flax and water mixture to substitute for egg to hold it together.  The best part of my job is the "science kitchen" aspect of what we do.  We are ALWAYS experimenting with new stuff to make vegan and vegetarian menus.  SO MUCH FUN!!!