Important day at school today!

This morning, we were divided according to our Friday Night dinner groups. My group was first up for our pastry exam, where we had to replicate one of the apple galettes we made on Monday for grading.

I seem to have an issue with practical exams: I get all nervous and neurotic and inevitably miss an important step. With our basic cook tech test, I forgot to turn down the flame while cooking rice and ended up with it completely undercooked (yes, I messed up plain rice); with our midterm, I neglected to cook the onions and carrots before simmering them. Thankfully both times I was able to salvage the recipe and come out with a good final product, but today I reminded myself to calm down and take a deep breath before beginning. I still didn’t get a perfect score, but I didn’t do anything stupid, either :)

In the afternoon, we met with the chef who’s overseeing our Friday Night Dinner to discuss our menu! There’s a ton of criteria involved in the meal, including:

  • Seasonality
  • Whole grains, leafy greens and raw food
  • Vegan
  • A variety of cooking techniques
Our group decided on a Southern comfort food theme- think gumbo, pie and collard greens. Unfortunately, there can’t be any butter, fried chicken or Cool Whip involved. Sorry, Paula.

 

Changing things to be health-supportive turned out to be quite the challenge, but the six of us put our heads together and came up with some courses we’re all really excited about. I want to keep things under wraps until the big night, but we are including:
  • Bourbon
  • Pecans
  • Cornbread
  • Apple pie
All vegan and mostly health supportive, too. I’m working on the dessert (of course), and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us! Apparently the next two months are going to zoom by- I’m excited for it :)
What’s your favorite comfort food? And does anyone have a great vegan cornbread recipe they’d like to share? I’ll love you forever and ever!