Eat it with a spoon

January 26, 2010
Test lunch #2

Tasters: Lisa, Mr. H, Kristin and me

Menu:
Minestrone soup with bacon and beans
Whole wheat roll
Hunk of cheese
Applesauce
Pistachio cardamom rice pudding

Recipes, notes and feedback:

Soup: Recipe from January Cooks Illustrated.
Bacon was well received but I thought chunks were too big. Soup needed more salt. Biggest issue was portion size and serving containers. I used wide mouth mason jars for storage/serving. Most folks got 16oz but container was a bit deep. Female tasters found this was way too much soup. Mr. H said it was just right. I had 8oz which seemed about right for me.

Roll: Used same whole wheat bread recipe as last time but made into rolls about 4inch diameter.
Baked for 22 minutes--they were a touch overdone. Put in container with a hunk of cheddar about 1"x4"x.5". Cheese was very popular. Couldn't figure out a way to offer butter...

Applesauce: made/processed in the fall with Apple Hill apples.
One 24 oz jar served 4 (so 6 oz servings I guess). By far the most popular part of the meal. I didn't do a veg since the soup had so many veggies.

Pudding: Pistachio Cardamom Rice Pudding from MS Everyday Foods.
This was a bust. I was the only one who ate it. Rice pudding was a risk on its own and with the cardamom it was a total fail. I still think it's delicious; oh well. Other pudding flavors may do okay.

Other accomplishments:
Found silverware

Goals for next week:
Oops, same as last week.
Make napkins.
Better menu planning
Layout menu attachment for binder clip
Plan a week's worth of menus just to see.

Starting with a sandwich

January 19, 2010
Test lunch #1

Tasters: Lisa and Mr. H

Menu:
Egg salad sandwich on homemade bread
Carrot and celery sticks
Cubed kiwi and mandarin sections
Chocolate Chip Cookie

Recipes, notes and feedback:

Egg Salad: 4 hardboiled eggs from our hens, 2T mayo, 1T chopped green onion, 2T finely chopped celery, 1/2t dijon, 1/2t mustard, 1T lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Egg salad needed more salt and pepper, sandwich needed lettuce/sprouts/excitement, most folks don't like/want egg salad, eggs should be chopped smaller

Bread: this recipe
Large loaf should have cooked 30 rather than 25 minutes, was a touch soggy.

Carrot and celery: boring but acceptable and seemed healthy. Should have used farmers' market carrots. Maybe include dip?

Cubed kiwi and mandarin: very popular

Chocolate chip cookie: Ina's recipe. How could that go wrong? It didn't.

Other accomplishments:
Made my first lunch!
Made two, lined lunch bags.
Purchased some reusable containers

Goals for next week:
Better menu planning (before farmers' market)
Remember to include silverware!
Make cloth napkins to include
Layout menu attachment for binder clip