Week 11

Things continue to go well. We are gearing up for a busy catering season as Christmas approaches. We've been lucky to get lots of business purely by word of mouth since we haven't done any formal advertising yet. 

I've been having lots of fun experimenting with dessert recipes. In order to meet the Food and Beverage guidelines for the schools, baked goods need to have a minimal amount of fat and at least 2 grams of fibre. Most traditional dessert recipes do not fit the guidelines so I make substitutions to make them fit. Sometimes the substitutions work but sometimes they don't! Some of the favourites: dark chocolate dipped strawberries, apple slices with low fat caramel dip, chocolate cake, black bean brownies, butterscotch blondies, apple streusel cake, double chocolate cookies and apple crisp.

However, when it comes to catering outside of the school setting, the guidelines don't apply so I can bake whatever I want! It's such a treat to indulge in recipes that I wouldn't necessarily make at home. I get to taste test too. I sometimes add some healthier selections to the trays, to balance things out. I AM a nutritionist after all!

Week 9

I don't want to jinx anything, but things seem to be running better each week. This week we were able to get 25 pizzas ready for the elementary students by 10:45am, prepare for a corporate catering event for 11:30 and prepare another 10 pizzas for the highschool students and staff. 

And we had fun doing it!

Week 8

This week's menu highlights:  lasagna- both vegetarian and meat, beef on a bun, chili and cheese biscuits, along with caesar salad with homemade dressing and croutons. Kale chips, apple chips, double chocolate cookies, date squares and banana berry smoothies rounded out the menu. The cinnamon maple muffins are a popular snack choice too.

There is a possibility of selling our desserts and baked goods to other schools that don't have kitchens but want healthy snacks to sell to their students. We sent out a sample platter to a school in Kitchener- we'll see what happens.


For Friday's 'spaghetti' fundraiser lunch, we decided to try whole wheat elbow macaroni to see if the younger students would be able to eat this easier than spaghetti. It was easier for us to portion and serve, and the kids were able to eat the pasta with a spoon rather than asking the teachers to cut the spaghetti for them.

Week 8 ended with a large school fundraising dinner. Roast beef, parisien potatoes, green beans, vegetarian lasagna and tofu chocolate mousse for 200! There was also a photo op with Chef Jed.

Week 6

We made healthier poutine this week, using baked fries, low fat homemade gravy and lower fat mozzarella cheese.  It was a success- we sold out very quickly.
We've also been experimenting with making our own pizza dough. We make a 40 pound batch at one time- that's a lot of dough. The mixer sure gets a workout! Then we weigh each piece to make 1 pound balls of dough and roll them into thin crust pizzas. We also make our own pizza sauce using local Roma tomatoes. 
And so, the end of week 6...

Week 5

Our big event this week was the Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. On Friday, we served over 260 meals to the students and staff. This was considered an exemption day, meaning that we didn't need to follow the food and beverage guidelines that we normally adhere to. The meal was still quite healthy but we indulged a little with the desserts.  

The traditional meal:
Roast Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Holiday Punch
Cranberry Slush


Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Squares
Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle
Double Chocolate Cookies
Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Cranberry Coffee Cake

Mmmm....

Cooking Show Guest Host

You can view my tv debut as guest host on Simply Cooking with Jed on Rogers Cable Woodstock, channel 13. It's on again Friday October 7 at 6:30pm and Saturday October 8 at 3pm or 9pm. We're making lime ginger chicken with roasted asparagus, quesadillas with chicken, veggies and pineapple, and tofu chocolate mousse.

Week 4

Busy week...


This week presented a new problem, when we realized that we don't have enough pots to boil potatoes, cook veggies and make pasta all at the same time! So, we were a little late delivering our spaghetti dinners to St. Marguerite Bourgeoys. Sorry kids. Won't happen again!


We catered our first elementary school lunch outside of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys/Notre Dame (to clarify: St. Marguerite is the elementary school and Notre Dame is the high school. The schools are housed in the same building. We run the cafeteria in Notre Dame for the high school students and staff, but the elementary students are given occasional cafeteria priviledges and we also supply the meals for some of the fundraising events.) We made beef wraps and fruit salad with an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.


On Wednesday we served a roast turkey dinner. It was sort of a trial run for next week's big Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. On Friday, we catered a lunch for 100 people and also made spaghetti and garlic bread for the St. Marguerite fundraiser. It went well, after the initial delivery mishap. 

Other menu highlights: apple ginger pork with stir fried veggies, double chocolate flax cookies, hummus with pita chips, tofu peach mousse and peach clafoutis.

Week 3

Hello again! The end of week 3.


Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary happened this week. No unexpected need to evacuate! However, we did have a planned fire drill on Thursday morning- which is Pizza Day at the school.  We worked around the fire drill and somehow managed to make over 40 pizzas.


On Friday we had a catering event at a local company for 50 people as well as the regular lunch for the highschool students, which also turned out to be very busy. Everyone seemed to want to buy lunch on Friday, and we ran out of the regular lunch menu. Jed magically created a few more meals out of thin air, so that no one went away hungry. Way to go Jed!


We made kale chips for the staff and students to sample this week. For those of you who don't know what kale chips are: kale drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with various seasonings, and roasted in the over until crispy. By the way, kale is a very nutritious leafy green vegetable not to be confused with kelp which is seaweed :) The first people to sample these kale chips did NOT like them (I appreciate the honesty, really!!) so I started to wonder whether this was a good idea. However, as more staff and students sampled the chips, we got positive feedback. Four students actually came back and asked for a bag of kale chips to take home. It makes me so happy when people actually enjoy eating healthy food!


The staff and students also sampled a green smoothie made with fruit and romaine lettuce. Most people were surprised at how fruity and sweet they tasted. The samples were gone very quickly so I guess that's a good sign. We'll see what happens when the smoothies are actually for sale!

Other tasty menu items included lemon grass chicken with rice and stir-fried vegetables, roast beef dinner with smashed potatoes, caesar salad with homemade dressing, yogurt parfaits with fresh berries and quinoa granola. Mmmmm.


So, another successful week. Until next time...

Week 2

End of week 2. 

Our team is working well together, especially with the help of our student volunteers. Our appliances also seem to be working (mostly) which is a great improvement from last week.
Thursday was our first Pizza Day. We purchased the whole wheat dough from a local store and made the pizza crusts, as well as the sauce from scratch. All in all, we made over 40 pizza on Thursday morning. The line of students waiting to purchase pizza seemed never-ending! I guess just about everyone loves pizza!

Friday was an interesting day. The school needed to be evacuated at 9:30 am due to a natural gas smell in the building, for about an hour. Of course, this cut into our lunch preparation time significantly! However, the weather was beautiful and it gave us a chance to talk to some of the staff and students. What a great bunch of people! The students are eager to help and we have our volunteer list for the upcoming week is now full. They also asked if we would teach a cooking class sometime. It's is such a great motivator for us, to see their enthusiasm! We feel very welcomed at Notre Dame.

So, once we were allowed back into the school we scrambled to get lunch ready. We started serving at 11:25 and at 11:35 the school was evacuated once again. We were told that we could stay in the building to clean up the kitchen but that the students would probably be going home. Jed and I cleaned up and were just getting ready to leave when everyone came back in and wanted lunch! So, out came the food again, and we just about sold out. 

Students and staff also sampled roasted chick peas and apple chips which most people seemed to like.  We will try to make these available each week for healthy snacks.

We look forward to upcoming week and whatever challenges and discoveries it holds!

Week 1

Well, we survived our first week! It was surprisingly smooth- at least that's what Jed tells me, and he's the one with the restaurant-opening experience. It as a little chaotic at times and our brand new salad display cooler leaked all over the floor, but everything worked out in the end. The staff and students are so excited that we are there, and are very supportive of us as we attempt to practise our french. 
Each day, we offered fresh vegetable salad, fruit salad, pieces of fruit and 100% real fruit juice slushy. This week we made watermelon slush/juice sweetened with a little honey. We also offered freshly baked muffins- banana chocolate chip, blueberry bran, cranberry orange and apple spice. Our entrees featured chicken in various forms- chicken caesar wrap, chicken stuffed with goat cheese, crispy chicken, grilled chicken with sundried tomato sauce; roast beef and teriyaki beef with sides of broccoli/cauliflower/carrots, coleslaw, low-fat mashed potatoes, green beans and baby greens salad. The chocolate cake was also a hit. 
All menu items meet the requirements set by the new Food and Beverage Policy, including fat, sodium and fibre content.

Each day was a little busier than the last. On Friday, we actually sold all of our food, and Jed had to go searching the refrigerator for another couple of meals! In the midst of our very busy lunch hour, the delivery guy arrived- bad timing! However, everything worked out.  It will be interesting to see if every Friday will be that successful.
There is still lots to do. We still have to unpack some boxes and kitchen tools, get our office space set up, learn how to use the convection-steam-microwave oven, shop for more kitchen tools, create the monthly menu, do nutritional analyses of all recipes, and probably 1000 other things we haven't thought of yet! Each day is an adventure!

Woodstock`s Food Revolution

September 6, 2011 marks the date of the beginning of my newest food adventure. Along with chef Jed Lau, I will be co-managing the cafe at Notre Dame High School in Woodstock, Ontario.  We will be providing trendy and nutritious meal options to the staff and students of Notre Dame as well as catering to other schools in the Woodstock area.
Follow me as I document our journey - our successful and not-so-successful days!

How to Eat More Veggies

Recently, there was an interesting article on Canada.com with some tips on how to get more vegetables into your diet.
Here's a link to How to Boost Your Veggie Intake. There are some great ideas here.


When you have a chance, take a look. Feel free to post some of your ideas here, about how you try to meet the daily veggie quota!

SUNSCREEN?

 

 

It seems like everyone's talking about sunscreen these days. Is it safe? Does it work? Is it really reducing skin cancer? Here's a link to an interesting article about foods that help protect your skin: Five Foods to Protect From Sunburn and Skin Cancer   So, while you're trying to decide whether or not to put on that sunscreen, eat some leafy greens and dark chocolate. It seems that eating Brazil nuts may also be helpful... something to think about!

Incidentally, I am always on the lookout for an effective, all natural sunscreen that's safe to use on my kids as well as myself. My current favourites are Green Beaver and Badger. They feel a little greasy so they're not great for faces, but are easy to apply and work quite well.

Thanks for participating!

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's Sugar-Free Day. I hope it was an eye-opening experience for you. I welcome any comments!

SUGAR FREE DAY TODAY!

Let us know what you're eating today. 
Are you finding it difficult to find foods without added sugar? 
Have you tried anything new?
Are you craving sugar?


I hope this is an eye-opening experience for everyone!

TOMORROW's CHALLENGE!

Tomorrow is Sugar Free Day!!


See my previous blog entry for more details.


Dare to join us!

Some Really Good Reasons to Avoid Sugar

I thought I would post a quick note about why we should all be avoiding sugar. Most people know that excess sugar can lead to weight gain and problems with cavities.

However, possibly more serious effects of sugar result from the inflammation that excess sugar causes. Inflammation within the body is linked to various diseases such as arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, Crohn's, Alzheimer's, asthma, heart disease and 'clogging of the arteries' to name just a few. Excess sugar consumption also increases your cholesterol and can lead to osteoporosis. Of course, sugar is not the only culprit, but it's a BIG one.

So, why not spare yourself some future health problems by reducing your sugar intake. Try one day without sugar - Wednesday June 1st, 2011.


Life can still be sweet without sugar! (maybe even sweeter...)

JUNE 1ST is SUGAR FREE DAY!

   Go 'sugar-free' on Wednesday June 1st. And before you ask, this does NOT mean that you should stock up on artificially sweetened food - that's even worse, in my opinion.


The guidelines are simple:
1) Eat whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible.
2) Stay away from foods that have refined sugar (most boxed foods). Look for ingredients that end with the letters 'ose' such as glucose and dextrose.
3) Natural sweeteners are optional. These would include honey, agave, black strap molasses and maple syrup. If you really want to go 'all out', try to avoid all sweeteners unless they occur in their whole form (think FRUIT!).
4) Avoid white sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup.


Really, the whole point is to get you to think about how much sugar you're putting into your body each day and to read food labels. You might be surprised to see how much sugar is added to processed foods, even food that you don't consider to be 'sweet' like some salad dressings or deli meat.  Most people know that when reading the ingredient list, the items are listed from highest amount to the lowest amount. So naturally, you would assume that a product is low in sugar if sugar is near the end of that list. However, the manufacturers use a little trick: they sweeten a product with several different sweeteners so that they can be used in smaller amounts and therefore included in the latter part of the ingredient list. Sneaky...


Join us on Wednesday June 1st and keep that white sugar out of your body for one day.
Feel free to add your comments about your experience.


Good luck and good health!