So today was a BIG DAY in my Food Science Lab.

BIG.

the (…empty) lab

Foe about 3 weeks, we’ve been planning a dinner meal ourselves to make and present to out professor, along with a huge project (~20 + page paper).

We were assigned new groups, and chose a theme for a meal to make. Then, we had to find (or create) recipes to serve our professor an entrée (a 3 oz. protein, 1/2 cup starch, and 1/2 cup vegetable), along with an appetizer or dessert. We had to budget so the each recipe made 4 servings, and the total itemized ingredient list was under $25. Then the day of, we had to also set a table to match our dinner (fancy or casual, etc.)

We had to meticulously lay out a “Market Order”, for her to know what to buy and how much, a detailed “Master Schedule” of the steps (including exact times, down to when we washed out hands, what ingredients we cut and how, what and when we cleaned, etc.), and a recipe list including each ingredient and allll the steps.

Since I eat plant based, my group went with the vegetarian theme. They chose to make an Asian inspired meal, since it lends easily to meatless meals. We ended up making the baked tofu, which I commonly made at home, stir-fried green vegetables with ginger, and vegetable fried rice. Our group had 3 members instead of 2, so we had to make 2 appetizers or desserts. It took a while to come up with a second, but we decided on a green salad with a carrot, ginger, miso dressing, and a vegetable soup.

In all, it came together wonderfully! Literally everyone that tried the food, specifically the tofu, loved it! One of my partners could not stop eating the fried rice. Our professor said everything smelled amazing (we didn’t see her actually grade the food). Can you ask for more? Answer: NO. (except for maybe a 100%… )
I went to take pictures and thennnnn… my camera died. Darn new DSLR, I thought I had you figured out, but I guess I missed the battery bar. well, you get my crappy phone photos and borrowed iPhone photos then!

recipeees

Everyone else also made amazing food. Here’s what some of the groups made:

– baked tofu marinated in soy sauce and balsamic, with roasted potatoes (THEY WERE SO GOOD I HAD LIKE FOURTHS), cruciferous veg salad, and sautéed garlicky spinach
– the group behind us did SO MUCH. chicken cordon bleu (so fancy!) brussel sprouts with bacon and a balsamic glaze, roasted potatoes and an apple cake
– lots of salmon and asparagus, with rice or potatoes
– gnocchi with red sauce (YUM) and gnocchi with a white wine butter sauce, and cannoli’s (100% from scratch!). I ate all the strawberries left
– more roasted potatoes, some kale salad with almonds and a lemon, olive oil, and dijon dressing
– baked chicken, some mixed roasted veggies (more yum!), sweet potatoes and peanut butter brownies

It was a good day! I filled a second plate and have an extra meal (most the plate that is shown above) that I snuck out