Hot pocket

April 27, 2010
Test lunch #13
Tasters: Lisa, Mr. H, Will and Kristin

Menu:
Meatball "pocket" sandwich
Roasted cauliflower
Orange
Caramel pudding
Recipes, notes and feedback:
Meatball sandwich: Meatballs and sauce made from an old recipe I found in the newspaper ages ago. The meatballs were a combo of pork and beef which I purchased, ground, at the UC Davis meat lab. It was pretty cool to use local meat as well as vegetables. I halved the already smallish meatballs and put about 3 halves in each pocket along with sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan. The dough for the pocket was Olive Oil Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I rolled dough circles about 6-7 inches across making a smallish pocket. The sandwiches were a hit. Kristin said she doesn't normally order/like meatball sandwiches but it's primarily because of the mess so she appreciated the pocket that kept the sauce contained. Lisa thought it was just the right portion size.

Roasted Cauliflower: I sliced the cauliflower about 3/8 inches thick and then roasted it in olive oil with salt in a 375 degree oven until tender with brown/crispy edges. I think it was about 30 minutes. Despite cauliflower's status as an unpopular veggie everyone ate theirs and seemed to like it. The roasting brought flavor for those who think cauliflower is boring. It was good cold/cool or warm.
Orange: Navel orange peeled and sectioned (about 3 oranges for 5 servings). Lisa really likes having her fruit peeled for her. I guess it's the small luxuries in life.
Caramel Pudding: This recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Generally considered too sweet and the texture was off. I had never made a cornstarch thickened pudding and should not have cooked it so long. It thickened considerably upon cooling. I would try this again with about 2/3 cup sugar and 5 T cornstarch but only because I love caramel, pudding and sweet stuff so I thought it was fabulous. Not a big hit for lunch although the packaging in little gladwares is fun.

Lessons Learned:
Don't overcook pudding
Adding another tester does make a difference--I ran out of cauliflower--one head barely serves 6.
Hot pockets were well received but a hassle. Could be offered to use up spaghetti sauce if that were on the menu (that's why I made them--we had lots of leftovers)

Goals for next week:
?

Dinner!

April 25, 2010
Test lunch #13
Tasters: Jan, Bob, Mr. H

Menu:
Wheatberry salad

Recipes, notes and feedback:
Wheatberry salad: This was based on a pre-packaged salad I saw at Trader Joes. It included: cooked wheatberries, mixed green lettuce, apple, chicken, toasted almonds and gorgonzola served with balsamic vinaigrette. Wheatberries were boiled with a bit of salt for about 30 min. until quite tender then I let them cool in the cooking water before draining. I cooked about 1 cup of berries which was more than enough for 4.5 salads. That many salads also took: 1 large apple, one large chicken breast (grilled, cooled and chopped), about 1/4 block of gorgonzola, ~1/2 cup of toasted almonds.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the salad and the wheatberries made it extra interesting. If it were part of a lunch, it would need another reasonably hearty item since there was only a bit of chicken. I thought it needed more gorgonzola (I did about 1.5 tbsp, crumbled per salad). Need to see if the almonds would stay crispy and the apple stay white overnight. Craisins would have been a nice apple alternative.

Wow, the chicken looks awfully raw/pink in these photos but I think it was done. Something is off with the photo color (I hope!)

A tribute to George Washington Carver

April 20, 2010
Test lunch #12
Tasters: Lisa and Kristin

Menu:
Peanut noodles
Strawberries
Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Recipes, notes and feedback:

Peanut Noodles: A modified version of this recipe. I added some red bell pepper, left out the sesame seeds and made extra sauce. I also shredded the chicken and mixed it in. Sometimes I add carrots but not this time. The salad pretty much covered everything I try to put in a lunch (vegetable, protein (chicken in this case), whole grain carb (whole wheat spaghetti) so it was hard to know what to pair with it to make a complete lunch. I gave each taster a full tupperware (perhaps 3 cups volume?) and it was far too much. Kristin and Lisa both ate only half and had the remainder for lunch the next day.

Strawberries

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: Recipe from Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa. I made these smaller than called for and managed to underbake them. Bummer but everyone still ate them.

Lessons Learned:
I need to plan the whole menu rather than just making items that sound good (again!)--it wasn't good to have two peanut dishes.
I am wondering about making single items rather than complete meals. In the case of this salad, it was a complete meal.

Goals for next week:
Remember to take photos (again!)

CoHo inspired (and creamy)

April 13, 2010
Test lunch #11
Tasters: Lisa, Kristin and Mr. H

Menu:
Chicken Tetrazzini
Pea Salad
Banana
Orange Chocolate Chipper Cookie
Recipes, notes and feedback:

Chicken Tet: A highly modified recipe. 1 bag fusilli noodles cooked and combined with: 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup sour cream, 10 oz sliced mushrooms sauteed with garlic and salt, ~2 lbs chicken thighs sauteed and chopped, ~1/4 cup fresh parsley. Bake with parmesan on top. This was easy but not that delicious. A bit dry after baking (although too creamy before). I should err on the side of extra creamy since things tend to dry out over night.

Pea Salad: Frozen peas (I didn't even defrost) equal parts mayo and plain yogurt (a few tbsps each), celery, green onion and peanuts. Salt and pepper. Mr. H loved this. It needed more celery and the peanuts got mushy.

Banana:

Orange Chocolate Chipper Cookie: Recipe from Coffee House cookbook. A soft, flavorful cookie.

Lessons Learned:
I need to plan the whole menu rather than just making items that sound good--it wasn't good to have two creamy dishes.
I can realistically make three items for the lunch but four is too many. If I'm going to include four items one needs to be super simple or pre done (like a piece of fruit).

Goals for next week:
??

Easter hangover

April 6, 2010
Test lunch #10
Tasters: Lisa and Mr. H

Menu:
Bowtie pasta salad with ham and peas
Citrus salad
Granola bite
Chocolate
Recipes, notes and feedback:

Salad: I made up the recipe! 1 bag bowtie pasta, cooked, 3 green onions, chopped, 1/2 cup chopped celery, ~8 oz frozen peas blanched in pasta water, 1 1/4 cup chopped ham. Dressing: 1/2 c sour cream, 1/4 c. mayo, 2 T apple cider vinegar 1 clove garlic, pressed, 1/4 c chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Unfortunately this wasn't very good. It tasted very vinegary the night it was made but by the time lunch rolled around it was really, really bland. Some oregano and more lemon juice/vinegar might have helped along with more salt and garlic. Still, it was boring.

Citrus salad: From the farmers' market: pommelo, navel orange, tangerine, Cara Cara navel, ruby red grapefruit all cut away from the membranes. Six pieces of citrus barely made five servings of salad so this was a pain to make. Biscuit and I loved this. Mr. H wasn't a fan of the tart citrus.
Granola bites: Recipe from King Arthur Flour but made in a mini muffin tin. I overbaked them but they were still yummy. Mr. H thought the meal was too carb heavy. A half recipe made about 15 mini bars.

Chocolate: Everyone got 2 chocolate eggs. I'd baked so much for Easter I had a sugar/baking hangover.

Other accomplishments:
Getting better at photographing food
Made the entire meal, start to finish for 5 people (including Biscuit) in 1.5 hours. Including packaging and label making it was about 2 hours but still a record.

Goals for next week:
Figure out if I want to continue this.

Vernal equinox

March 23, 2010
Test lunch #9

Tasters: Lisa, Kristin and Mr. H

Menu:
Orzo and spinach salad with spiced walnuts
Deviled eggs
Kiwi
Lemon roll cakeRecipes, notes and feedback:

Salad: Potluck Blue Ribbon Pecan Spinach Toss. Recipe from Susan Branch's "Autumn" cookbook (p 47). It's a mix of orzo pasta, chopped fresh spinach, feta and spicy/sweet pecans (I used walnuts) with a light lemon dressing. A touch dry even though I already doubled the olive oil. Maybe even more oil if it's sitting over night. I wondered if it needed salt but others said no, they liked the light flavor. Lisa thought this was really only appropriate for nice weather and she's right. A perfect spring/summer salad.

Deviled eggs: used the abundance of hen eggs, mashed the yolks with mayo, mustard S&P then put the egg halves back together like a sandwich so everyone got one full egg. They got a bit watery sitting over night but everyone seemed to like them

Kiwi: One kiwi/person. Peeled and sliced.

Lemon Roll: Susan Branch's "Vineyard Seasons" cookbook (p 123). I love Susan Branch! I used the large cookie sheet which seemed okay although the cake stuck to the towel. Filled with lemon curd from Small Batch Preserving rather than the lemon sauce recipe in the cookbook. This was a big hit with Kristin and Lisa. Mr. H didn't sample.

Other accomplishments:
Did I mention I started using the linen napkins purchased for Lunch Valet?

Goals for next week:
Figure out if I want to continue this.

Preserved

March 16, 2010
Test lunch #8

Tasters: Lisa, Kristin and Mr. H

Menu:
Peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread
Yogurt with strawberries and meyer lemon curd
Sunshine Salad (aka carrot slaw)
Jam Thumbprint Cookie

Recipes, notes and feedback:
PB&J: Jam was a low sugar stone fruit jam I made last summer. Peanut butter was Jif crunchy (the best kind!) and bread was the Simple Whole Wheat, this recipe. It was all okay. Nothing amazing but no major complaints. I found the bread a bit heavy.

Yogurt with strawberries and meyer lemon curd: Homemade plain yogurt, with a few tablespoons of meyer lemon curd and one large, chopped strawberry on top. Lemon curd recipe from Small Batch Preserving (p 111). Yogurt was a total fail. It was gummy--the texture was way off. Oops. The lemon curd and strawberry were great but I should have noted on the menu card that it was "fruit on the bottom" yogurt and should have been stirred. The canning jars worked great but it was a lot of yogurt.

Sunshine Salad: Recipe from Susan Branch's "The Summer Book" (page 72). Subbed about 1/4 part plain yogurt for mayo. This is a basic carrot slaw with mayo, lemon juice, walnuts and raisins. Popular even with Kristin who didn't like raisins. Servings were a bit large.

Jam Thumbprint Cookie: UC Davis Coffee House Cookbook (p 147). Recipe made only about 2 dozen and took more chopped walnuts than were called for. Used stone fruit jam which was perfect. Very tasty cookies.

Other accomplishments:
None, this was a rough week.

Goals for next week:
Do better.