A broke woman's blog.

Yesterday some of the Culinary students volunteered to help at the Chefs Ball at the Governor's Mansion. I was sooooooo nervous going to the mansion. I've lived in Little Rock up until I was 16 and the only thing I've ever done was pass by the mansion. There I was at the security gate and I forgot to turn my radio down. It wasn't loud but I'm pretty sure the guard could hear. I introduced myself and told him what I was doing there and he told me where to go. No he didn't tell me to go to H E double hockey sticks!!!!! So I get to the side entrance and once again I had to introduce myself and the gentleman told me where to park.

I had to think about what I was doing. I grabbed my cap and jump out of my truck and walked up to the door. I know people was looking at me like I was crazy but I was nervous as a bull rider! When I walked in the house my mouth hit the floor (not literally but you know what I'm saying!) It was so pretty in there. The first person who I say was Mrs. Beebe. In a low faint voice I asked where the culinary students were. She told me and I proceeded on. As I walked towards the steps I saw the dining area and I was in complete awe! There were so many tables and what caught my eyes were the globes on the table. They had red flowers in them. But I thought to myself, "How in the world are we going to serve all of these people?"

I found the kitchen! There were about 10 students and chefs in the kitchen. I didn't know where to turn. There was Chef Will and I asked him what he wanted me to do. I had the great pleasure of trimming toothpicks down to about 2 inches. Oh what fun. If you believe that I can sell you water from a water fountain! Once I finished that I watched Chef Will roll some sushi. It was interesting. At that moment I probably would have been amused watching water boil lol.

There was a familiar face that I saw. It was my lab partner Jason! I was so happy to see him. Jason and I have so much fun. He's funny. We talked and laughed. Chef Douglas brought us trays and told us how we needed to carry them. Jason, Lee and I handled the hors d'oeuvres. PAUSE...Wait a second....who in the world came up with that spelling? That word is not spelled the way it is pronounced. Is the v silent? Doesn't it seem like it should be pronounced ordurves? Okay that's just me. Never mind. It's a French word. No wonder! PLAY...Jason had Teriyaki beef. I had shrimp shooter's and poor Lee had sushi lol.

We were standing in the walkway and I kept advertising for my shrimp shooters. Jason and I had almost emptied our trays. Lee my poor friend he still had almost a full tray of sushi lol. Jason and I finally moved to our second tray and Lee was still on his first. I'm was good at advertising there was a gentleman that came up and Jason asked him if he wanted to try the Teriyaki beef. He took one and I said how about a shrimp shooter. He said I don't like shrimp much. I said all you have to do is chew it up really fast, swallow it and get more Teriyaki beef. So he said I heard they were good. I said go ahead and get one. He ate it and chased it with some Teriyaki beef. He said it wasn't that bad. So I said how about some sushi? He just looked at me. I said come on now you gotta try it lol. I said chase it down with more Teriyaki beef. He said okay. If I was a sales woman I would have made five sales!!!!!! I've never had sushi and I had to choke it down. After the fifth one I think I was okay with the taste.

We kept advertising to everybody who walked by. I heard some music playing. I turned around it was a band playing some Jazz. The drummer turned out to be the guy who I sold the Teriyaki beef, shrimp, and sushi to lol. I told Jason and Lee and they said they hope he wouldn't get sick!

We made our way back to the kitchen and that is where the rest of the magic took place! All of us students and chefs got in the kitchen and hustled our behinds off. Every chef had their own dish to put out but WE ALL worked on the dishes together. It was tight in that kitchen but we worked our way. We were all together as one heart beat. I have never seen so many people come together and be productive as we were. One chef handed out trays of food and I pulled the trays in from the servers. It was beautiful. On the main course we had 15 people in an assembly line fixing plates. Everything went so quickly we finally finished. We all were tired.

Governor Beebe came in and told us that we had done a fantastic job! We all pitched in to clean up and all the Chefs commended us for doing an excellent job. All I can say is, I'm so glad that I have chosen this profession to go in. Team work is so important and that is what we had in the kitchen!

You already know what today is. It's Sunday and it's my turn to cook. Well see here is the problem.......I went to the store last night to get what I wanted to cook for dinner. I wanted baked chicken covered with cream of mushroom, mashed potatoes, corn and cornbread. My stepdad had other plans. He baked some ribs. All I can say is mmmmmm delicious. Well I woke up to him yelling, "Are you going to finish dinner." How could I say no! We had baked ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, fruit salad, and a cake. I had my tummy ready for that baked chicken! What's so funny about it is that he LOVES chicken but he wanted ribs. Oh well. I shall have it one day. But all I want to know is are you ready to cook? Well let's hit the kitchen!

Ribs

Ribs (beef or pork)
Bay leaves
Seasoning

1. Cut your ribs up and wash them off.
2. Season them really good to where you can smell your seasoning.
3. Get a roasting pan and put the bay leaves at the bottom.
4. Put ribs in the pan and let them cook to your desired finish.
5. You can pour off the fat or leave it in the pan so your ribs aren’t dry.

Mashed potatoes

I do not measure butter or milk. So use it at your discretion.

Box of potato buds
Butter
Milk
Water

1. Boil water and add a dash of salt in it.
2. Put buds in a plastic bowl or mixing bowl.
3. Add water, butter and milk.
4. If you like a lot of butter add more.
5. Use a mixer to mix all the contents together.
6. Whatever more you need add it.
7. Potatoes should come out fluffy like a cloud!

Corn

Can of corn

1. Clean off top of can.
2. Open can.
3. Put corn in a pot and heat them up.
4. Once heated you may eat!

Chocolate cake
Any chocolate cake mix will do

1. Read the directions!
2. Once cooled cut cake in half horizontally.
3. Put icing and whatever topping you want in between the layers.
4. Do the same on top layer.
5. Put in fridge and let chill for about an hour and serve!



Fruit salad

5 large strawberries
1 Granny Smith apple
1 Red apple
½ peach
10 medium sized seedless grapes

1. Cut up strawberries in small dices ¼ in x ¼ in x ¼ inor close to it.
2. Slice apples in half down the middle.
3. Turn apple on flat side and cut in ¼ in halves.
4. Turn them on flat side again, cut down the middle and turn them horizontally.
5. Cut them in ¼ in squares.
6. Do the peach the same way but only half of it.
7. Put fruit in a bowl and put in grapes.
8. Mix the fruit and refrigerate.
9. When ready to eat put a teaspoon of cream cheese topping and eat up!

Source: TJ (my stepdad) and Bree

Friday was here and I couldn't wait to get off work to go home, take a shower and just relax. It was my last day to work. Boy was I happier than a puppy with a new chew toy! I knew that next day I was going to help out for an event at the school. I think I had excitement written on my forehead. Sleep was not my friend at all until about 1:30 or 2 A.M. Well, finally when the alarm went off for me to get up, I kept hitting the snooze button. It's so funny. I know I hit that snooze for about an hour lol. But anyways, I got up and got ready to leave for school!

I had my uncle with me and my word. He just would not shut up for nothing. All I heard on the road was, "Did you see those blue lights? Man if you can't drive that truck better than that you need to pull over (that was to another driver not me)." I just turned the radio up while he kept talking. I even started singing real loud to get him to see that I was really trying to tune him out. Only if I had an eject button in my truck for the passenger seat like Inspector Gadget! I would have pressed that button as soon as he asked me if I saw the blue lights. Yes I know, I know. I shouldn't do my uncle like that. BUT IT'S FUN!!!!!!!

On to the school I shall go! Well, I finally make it to the school. I was walking to the front door and I caught a beat down by the wind. Yes it was windy outside. I walked into the kitchen and I was put to work! Chef Will had me to cut up the strawberries. By the time I finished cutting up those strawberries I felt like a strawberry queen. Here comes Chef Douglas wanting me to watch some sauces he made. I was so funny. He says, "Bree, put these sauces in some sauce pans and don't let them scorch. Watch them!" He points with his index and middle fingers from his eyes to the pots lol. So me being me, I stood there at the stove and made sure they didn't scorch lol. Then I stripped the bark off some asparagus. Not bark literally but the hard part on the stem. It was so cute. I would stir the sauces between stripping the bark.

On to Chef Will....he's so funny. Him, Toast and I were making dumpling balls and singing to some songs on his phone. I must say I wouldn't pay to see us singing. We sang Queensryche's Bohemian Rhapsody, Nickelback and somebody else. I made up my own words because I didn't know all the words. Now that's how I do it! We had to go introduce ourselves to our dinner guests. I was the first to walk through the door. But I was the last to introduce myself. I was nervous lol. We went back to the kitchen and cleaned up the dishes we had used. A little while later we went back to the dinning area and ate.

Some how Chef Douglas, Toast, Lee, and Wolverine (Glen is his real name he has hair like Wolverine lol) got me to try some hummus. I must say the first bit was not so good but the more I chewed it tasted pretty decent. Everything we ate was good. We sat around and talk and back to cleaning up the kitchen we went! Lee and I mopped the floor. Poor Lee. His mop bucket fell over twice I believe lol. Good thing it wasn't filled all the way up to the top lol. We helped him clean it up. All in all we had fun. Those guys are crazy lol.

Sunday dinner again! Let’s see what do we have here! Hamburger casserole. Hmmm hmmm hmmm. This was my first time making it and it was delicious! It started off with my dad wanting some lasagna. Well, he always gets what he wants so I cooked what I wanted lol. For dessert I made a cake. That was good too! Let’s get this party started shall we?

Hamburger casserole

Hamburger meat
Noodles
Sour cream
Cottage cheese
Chopped basil
Chopped chives
Chopped onions
Cheese
Can of sweet peas
Can of corn
Seasoning

1. Brown hamburger meat and add in onions, chives, basil and seasoning.
2. Boil water for noodles while hamburger meat is cooking.
3. Add noodles when water starts to boil.
4. Once hamburger and noodles are done drain them.
5. Dump hamburger meat in a pan and top it with cheese.
6. Pour peas, corn, sour cream, and cottage cheese on top of hamburger meat.
7. Pour noodles on top and add more cheese.
8. Mix all together and then add the chives.
9. Put in oven and bake it for about 20 minutes and let stand for 10 minutes.
10. Now you may eat!

Source: Bree

Quesadilla? Nope! Breadsadilla? Yes! So I ran out of tortilla shells! Even the store was out of them. So what was I to do? I did the next best thing. I had to use bread! I had to use what I had to make what I wanted. There is nothing wrong with that! They turned out good too. Oh wait! Yea, I made some breadsadillas lol. They were better with bread than with the tortilla shell. My family loved them. Are you ready to get started on the breadsadillas? Remember cook accordingly to your household! I used a griddle to cook everything on instead of the stove. You can cook everything at the same time on it! Here we go!

Breadsadilla

Eggs
Hash browns
Bacon
Cheese (I used shredded)
Chopped chives
Chopped onions
Seasoning
Bread

1. Cook bacon until crispy and drain the grease off.
2. Use some bacon grease to cook the hash browns and onions in. Add some seasoning.
3. Once they are done take them out put them in a bowl.
4. Take your bread and lightly toast it on both sides.
5. Add cheese on the tops of both pieces.
6. Cook your eggs while the cheese is melting on bread.
7. Put some hash browns on a piece of bread and top it with the egg, bacon and chive.
8. Put the other piece of bread on top and gently mash it down.
9. Flip it over and let the cheese continue to melt through everything.
10. Now you may eat!

Source: Bree

Sunday dinners are the best dinners ever. I always ask my family what they want to eat but not this time! I cooked one of my favorite meals for dinner. Meatloaf, candied yams (NOT OUT OF THE CAN BUT HOME MADE!), and whole wheat rotini and spaghetti w/ cheese and bacon. Boy oh boy it was some gooooooood eating! You know the food is good when you don’t hear anybody talking but the tv! Well you already know what time it is. It’s time to cook! So let’s go! One more thing, remember to cook according to you family needs. I cook enough for at least two days.

Meatloaf

3 lbs of hamburger meat
Saltine crackers
1 large chopped onion
1 large chopped green bell pepper
1 egg
2 cans of Manwich (yes I did say Manwich it’s sweet and will go well with your spices)
Spices (you can put whatever kind of spices you want in it)

1. In a large bowl combine all of your ingredients.
2. Once mixed all together put mixture in a baking pan that is suitable for the size that you want your meatloaf to be.
3. Put in oven and baked it for about 45 minutes.
4. Take out the oven and drain the grease off of it.
5. Take a knife and cut the meatloaf in square and space the squares out if you have room in room pan.
6. Pour the Manwich over the square and in between them.
7. Bake for another 20 minutes and serve!

Candied yams

I didn’t measure the sugar BUT put in more brown sugar than white.

3 large sweet potatoes
½ stick of butter or how much you prefer
Brown sugar (yes yes yes experiment a little)
White sugar
Cinnamon

1. Rinse sweet potatoes off and peel off the skin.
2. Cut them up a ¼ inch thick cross ways the sweet potato. They cook quicker when sliced thin.
3. Rinse them off.
4. In a medium sauce pan put enough water to coat the bottom of it.
5. Add sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon.
6. Let the sweet potatoes cook and simmer in the juice.
7. Taste the juice to see if it’s sweet enough and taste the potato to see if it’s done enough for you.
8. Once they are the way you like them serve them.



Rotini and spaghetti w/ cheese and bacon

1 box each Whole wheat rotini and spaghetti
Velveeta cheese
1 pack of bacon

1. Boil water for the noodles.
2. Cook bacon while noodles are boiling.
3. Cook bacon according to how you want it but make sure it’s done!
4. Cut up cheese into ¼ inch small dices and cover the bottom of a large bowl with it.
5. Once noodles are done, drain them and rinse them off with hot water to get the starch off. Why hot water? When you put the noodles in the bowl it will melt the cheese.
6. Rinse off bacon to get access grease off and put in noodles.
7. Cut up more cheese to cover top of noodles.
8. Mix noodles up so the cheese can melt through.
9. Cover noodles and let the cheese continue to melt.
10. Once melted to your liking serve and eat!

Source: Bree

Since I go to school on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, I spend the night over to my sister’s since she lives about a mile away from school. The first night I stayed I made a homemade pizza. I didn’t even take a picture of it like I usually do. Ugh! But hey, I did cook Monday night! I made some lemon pepper chicken and some veggies. Oh gosh it was so goooooood. Yes I did take a picture and I will share it with you. So are you ready to get to cooking? Well let’s go!

Chicken

Any type chicken breast, legs, wings, or thighs

Veggies

Broccoli & cauliflower (frozen mix…..cuts down time!)
Carrots (baby carrots already cut!)
Onions
Potatoes

Seasoning you like
Lemon pepper

Green scouring pad (to scrub your potato skin) Hey I learned it in lab! I actually did it on these potatoes.

1. Wash your chicken and season it real good with the lemon pepper.
2. Scrub your potato skins with the scouring pad.
3. Cut them about ¼ inch thick so they can cook all the way through.
4. Cut the ends off the onions and cut the onion in half though the ends.
5. Cut the onions vertically.
6. Put the potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower in a plastic bowl and rinse off.
7. Season the veggies with whatever season you chose but not the lemon pepper. Why? You want a mixture of flavor.
8. Put veggies at the bottom of a roasting pan and put chicken on top.
9. Bake at 350 until done.
10. Plate it up and eat!

Source: Bree

Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m back! Well, I haven’t been gone really. I’ve been swamped with reading in my Food Production I (Douglas) and Healthy Foods/Nutrition (Blackmon) class. I love my classes. Chef Blackmon and Chef Douglas are pretty cool. We have a lot of fun in class. It’s kind of hard to be me in class because I’m trying to take my classes serious. We’ve been in school for six weeks and I really haven’t opened up. Ugh! I know, I know. There is a time and place for everything including laughter and cutting up. My ears and eyes are open in class. Wait! Sometimes they flutter when we watch the videos. Okay, okay, okay! They are pretty interesting but sometimes sitting so long makes me restless. BUT………..I have learned a lot of stuff in my Nutrition class. If you are not big on Nutrition, I suggest you go do some research on the web or go buy a Nutrition book. You will be surprised at what you learn!
So far in my Food Pro. I class we have learned how to do Juliene, Batonett, Brunoise, Small dice, dice onions, and do diagonal cuts on carrots. For the love of Marty Moose! It is hard trying to cut the way we were should how to cut. It drives me insane! I have to pretend I’m a virgin cutter. That is hard to do! It’s so funny. I’m in the kitchen and Chef Douglas will tell me to straighten my knife when I cut. The first lab we had to do Juliene, Batonett, Brunoise, and Small dice cuts on potatoes. That was terrible. He said I did good but……..Okay I did do good for my first time. I think I cut up about 40 potatoes that day! Just kidding. I did about four. Now the carrots…….that’s another subject. 1/8 inch diagonal cuts. I think I maybe have had one that was perfect. Not one carrot but one diagonal cut perfect lol. Oh well! I’m working on it. Oh well enough of my rambling. See you next blog!