CaliPoutine

Wow Abra, everything looks great. How long did it take you to make everything? Did you do certain dishes a day before?

Welcome to the dinner that almost didn't happen. We can thank the lovely weather in SW Ontario for that. I'm supposed to leave my house at 11am. However, I was still here at 11:30 waiting to hear if the meal was still a go because 14 seniors called to cancel their reservation. The sun was bright and shiny here so I said I would attempt the drive and see if the weather was ok. The church is right across the street from the Lake and we get a lot of lake effect snow. I made it to Grand Bend no problem so we decided to go ahead with the meal. We ended up with 35 ppl to serve. Before I heated up the stew, I filled two 4L plastic containers with stew and froze it. I knew Id have too much. We sold 8 takeouts and had no stew or veg or dessert left. I used 3 600gram bags of frozen berries. 1 strawberry, 1 raspberry and 1 mixed berry. I added some sugar. and this is just for Ruth..... 1 L( or US quart) gave me enough cream for 36 shortcakes and 4 sugar free jellos. I'm so glad Ruth suggested baking the shortcakes in one pan. I just cut them into squares and then split each in half. It worked out great. I'm also really glad I bought the whipping cream. I think I spent around 100 bucks for this meal. I bought a few staples for the kitchen; coarse salt, brown sugar and oatmeal. Once again, I'm glad today is over!!! Thanks again for all your great suggestions.

Last quart of whipping cream I got at Fortinos was $5.99. Cheaper at Costco but that's all the way to London for you I suspect. ← Yep, I'd have to go to London for Costco. I'll be shopping at No Frills which is the cheapest store around here. How much whipping cream do you think I'd need?

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Phew, I'm exhausted. Making that stew was a lot of work. I can't fathom what it would have been like to make it tomorrow. I think I made way too much. I bought 18lbs of stew meat and 21lbs of potatoes. I used the recipe Kerry gave me, but I reduced the quantities of the onions and garlic and spices. Basically, the recipe called for 1.5lbs of meat for 6 ppl so I thought if I had 18lbs I'd multiply the recipe by 12. Well, that would have had me using over 50 garlic cloves and 36 onions. I used 5 onions, 3 leeks and 1 entire head of garlic. I also brought almost a full bottle of wine from home. Robin, my spouse bought it about a month ago and drank maybe 1 or 2 glasses. It's been fermenting in the bottle since then. ( It still smelled ok). Anyway, I guess I just donated that wine. Here are some pics After the stew cooled slightly, I transfered both pots into this large stock pot. This is a lot of stew!! My Jewish guilt was rearing her ugly head and I felt kinda bad that I was cooking for the seniors while I was working for Barb. So, my Canadian girl Robin came up this morning to cut up the 29lbs of spuds. Thank gawd she did, because it took her about an hour to cut them all up. Thanks honey!! I had some more time while the wedding cakes were baking so Barb told me to go ahead and use her ingredients and make the Thousand Island dressing. So I did. I'll give her back the ingredients tomorrow. So tomorrow I have to bake 50 shortcakes and oven roast a bunch of veg. I have so much potato left so I'm going to roast those with carrots and turnip. Barb gave me 6lbs of parsnips to put in the stew since she was going to throw them out. I'm exhausted, I need to go rest up for tomorrow.

How about a recipe for said bread pudding? I'd love to make it at work.

Update: I spoke to the co-ordinator about making the beef stew( Kerry's recipe) one day ahead( Wednesday Jan 24th) while I'm working at my other job. We're cooking for a ladies luncheon and I'll be baking a wedding cake. I explained to her that 1. I'll be cooking it in a commerical kitchen and 2. Stew tastes better made the day before and 3. I can borrow the huge braiser we have at work and use the walk in to store the stew. How could she say NO???? She didnt!! So, I spoke to the meat guy at the grocery store about the boneless blade roast that was on sale. He said he could give me something even better for the same price ( chuck tender). I've never heard of that cut, so I'm hoping its good. I asked him if he'd cut it up into stew pieces and he agreed. ( less work for me). I ordered 18lbs. I'm going to put potatoes in the stew and make a pan of honey roasted root vegetables on the side. I'm getting a donation of a bushel of turnips so the seniors should love that. I'll also use carrots and parsnips and maybe some sweet potato. For the salad I'm going to cut up iceberg in wedges( I hope to get 6 wedges from 1 head) and make a thousand island dressing. Radish and green onion will round that out. Dessert is the oat shortcakes( in honor of Robbie Burns day). The recipe only makes 6, but I'm going to make them slightly smaller to get at least 8. I made half a test batch earlier this week and I enjoyed them with some frozen berries. I bought 7 bags( 600g each) if frozen berries. 2 bags of strawberries, 2 of mixed berries and 3 of raspberries. I might not need them all. I doubt I'll have enough in the budget for whipped cream so cool whip it will have to be!! I'll be sure to take plenty of photos.

I bought one of those "one touch" openers. Its battery operated and you just press the button and walk away. It leaves no sharp edge. It worked well for the first 3 cans, no matter what brand of battery I used, I couldnt get it to open more than 3 cans on a set of batteries. I bought it at QVC, and I just returned it yesterday.

My Jewish Dad( 63) and my Jewish maternal grandpa( almost 97!!) both can NOT cook anything. Even salami and eggs( a favorite of my gramps). My dad won't go near it with a 10 foot pole unless it was egg beaters and fat free salami( after all, he lives in So Cal and has a 26yr old hooker, I mean girlfriend)

This is a huge pet peeve of mine as well. I'm the sous chef/pastry chef for a caterer. I usually only work Friday, Saturday and Sunday if we're having a Sunday brunch of Thurs-Saturday if we're prepping for a wedding. The servers tip us a measly 10%. It's based on the hours we work as well. I don't understand the formula and it seems very random to me so I'm going to have to approach the owner about this. I seem to remember the highest amount I was ever paid was maybe 5 bucks for 22 hrs work( over the 3 days). Not too much. Another time I was at a location( a corporate xmas party). I was there to make sure the trays were filled, etc. There was a bartender there as well, pouring WINE only. She was paid a flat 20$ an hour cash and I recieved nothing but my hourly wage. I felt like I should have been tipped out for that as well. It just doesnt seem very fair at all.

I use the marie brizzard banana liquor, enhances the banana flavor.

Love the dogs. I hope and pray mine live until they're 16.

Thanks Kerry!! I think I'm going to use this one. I'll need to ask the coordinator if I can make the stew the day before( Wednesday) while I'm at my other job. I have to bake a wedding cake at CBB( my other job, Catering By Barbara, hereinafter known as CBB) That way, it can sit on the stove and slowly cook. Barbara also has giant pots that I can use. I can store it in her walk in and reheat it the next day. I think I might oven roast a bunch of veg/potatoes so the seniors wont complain that they arent getting their 2 veg and starch. Now, I need a salad and a dessert. I see that 600g bags of frozen mixed berries are on for 2.99. I like the idea of a shortcake for Robbie Burns day. I found this one that uses oatmeal( here is the Scottish twist) and is a drop bisquit Hopefully, this will all work out and they'll let me make the stew the day ahead. If not, I'll have to come up with an alternate plan. Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it. Oh and I just found out I'm going to the The Canadian/International Food and Beverage Show in February. Anyone else in Canada going?

I'd probably use more beef stock and some wine or balsamic vinegar to replace the booze. (The LCBO has some nice dry sherries for about $7 a bottle though.) Would you consider getting one of those big table top 18 or 20 quart roasters from a thrift store to use as a giant slow cooker? It would allow you to cook ahead, and even reheat in the same vessel. I can keep an eye out for one inexpensively if you would like. ← I think they might have one, but another one would be helpful. But, the big thing is time constraints. I have to cook the food at the church. I only get paid for 7.5hrs of work. They might let me cook the meat the day ahead when I work at my other job( the caterer) since the caterer has a commercial kitchen. Would that recipe work on top of the stove?

Thanks for all the suggestions. However, I have a few more disclaimers. I don't have slow cookers, so everything has to be made on the day its served. Also, I can't use any liquor. I know the alcohol burns off, so that isnt the problem. Its just not in the budget. Alcohol is WAY more expensive here than in the states( as Kerry and Jay and Marlene can attest to) What else can I sub out for the booze? Please PM me any recipe you think might work, keeping in mind my time constraints. Has anyone made the saurbraten from All About Braising?

I'm already planning for the next meal on Jan 25th. This is on sale this week( starts tomorrow thru next Friday). 1.99 lb. 4.39/kg BONELESS BLADE ROAST( I think this might be the same as a chuck roast in the US) cut from Canada AA grade beef or higher Any suggestions for using this cut? Please point me to a recipe that you've used as well. Thanks!!

Because its a "healthy" dining program. I was told to remove the skin, but even if I wasnt told that, I would have removed it. It's where the majority of the spice was placed. Additionally, I had to layer the chicken in the other roasting pans, and the skin didnt crisp up. It was flabby and white.

I did take one, but it turned out very dark. That wasnt parsley in the rice, it was frozen chopped spinach. The Co-ordinator was out with a family emergency, so there was a substitute co-ordinator. She was the one that suggested cutting the breasts in half. She said everything went really well. I ran into the former cook this morning while out running errands and she told me that the co-ordinator had very positive things to say about the dinner last night. The Co-ordinator told me that she actually learned something from me. She didnt know that when you bake chix breasts with the skin on, it keeps them moister. So, at least I taught somebody something. The salad went over really well!! There was hardly any left and what was left, the volunteers ate up.

Here is my plate, I finally sat down to eat at 6:30. By this point, I kinda lost my appetite. I enjoyed the salad, the rice sucked, the chicken was dry and the carrots, well, they are just carrots. At least they were fresh and not frozen. I did get a lot of positive feedback, especially on the cake. As I said upthread, some ppl loved the rice, some ppl didnt. I need to learn to let complaints roll off my shoulders, because honestly, I'm not used to ppl complaining about my food. I'm proud to say I used NO margarine in the entire meal. There was no salad or carrots left over. We had 7ppl buy "take outs". The leftovers are packaged up in divided foil trays that can be frozen. So, at least some ppl liked the meal enough to take it home.

So, I totally screwed up the timing of everything. I was finished cooking everything( except the carrots) way too early. The women volunteers said it was better for me to be done early than late and I kinda panicked on how much chicken I had to cook so I started it at 3pm. It was done by 4, so basically I kept it warm for over an hour. I turned the ovens down when the chicken hit 165f, which was probably a mistake. It was probably 185 by the time it was served. I had no complaints on the chicken, but I thought it was too dry. It was very moist when I removed the skin and cut each breast in half. The coordinator thought there might be 51ppl attending so she thought I should cut them in half so we would have enough. As it turned out, there was a lot left over.

I'm getting there. Some did, some didnt. One person said it was too spicy. Funny, because there was zero spice in it. I thought it was rather bland myself and I wont make it again.. I cooked such large quantities of it, that it didnt cook right and was more mushy than separate grains.

So, when I got there, I unloaded the groceries and the million pots I schlepped there from my own kitchen and got to work. I made 4 finger lickin good cakes( recipe courtesty of the cake mix doctor). This cake is also known as pineapple mandarin cake. Basically, you take a vanilla cake mix, add melted butter, eggs, a bit of oil and a whole can of mandarin oranges and mix it all up. Thankfully, I brought my hand mixer from home because I couldnt find one there. After they cool, you poke holes in the cake and pour pineapple juice over the top. The frosting is a mixture of cool whip, pistachio pudding mix, coconut and crushed pineapple. I chucked these in the fridge and freezer to chill. I also made 1 box of raspberry sugar free jello for the diabetics. I received lots of compliments on the cake and one person even complimented me on the jello. LOL, she said she loved the flavor!! A batch of volunteers came in around 1 to set the tables and help me in the kitchen. I set one lady to work on cutting up the onions and celery for the rice. Another lady worked on cutting up the salad ingredients. I made the dressing which was really tasty. Just some Olive Oil( not evoo), red wine vinegar, a touch of honey mustard, fresh pepper and dried oregano. I left around 2:30 to pick up the chicken at my other job. I had stopped there on my way back from the grocery store and I realized that I had no room to store the chicken because I had to chill down the cakes. I also forgot my thermapen instant read thermometer and pepper mill at home so I borrowed the ones from work. I brought the chicken back and set to work on it. I opened 25 packages of chix breasts, rinsed it and divided it up between the 4 pans that I had availble. I used some salt free seasoning blend, fresh pepper and an italian blend. I mixed up some olive oil, fresh garlic and the juice of 3 lemons and poured that over. I removed the skin afterwards. The chicken was very moist, but since I cooked it off way too early, I had to keep it in the oven and it dried out a tad( more on that later).

Well, my first day with the seniors is over( thank gawd). I took a whole whack of pictures to share. Here is the kitchen and dining room I went to the grocery store at 11:30am to pick up the last of the items I needed. I bought 4 packages of romaine hearts( 2 per pack) at 1.79 each 3 large green peppers 1.27lb( 2.43), 2 red peppers( 2.49lb), 1.95 Feta cheese 400g 6.49 4 1L containers of generic whipped topping 1.49 each 6.00 2lbs of butter 3.69 each celery 99cents 3 field cucumbers 1.49 total 2 dozen large eggs 2.09 each dozen Three 2lb packages of baby carrots 2.49 each 3 lemons 99 cents 2L of half and half( for their coffee) 2.99 each. I had over a litre left over for the next time. In Total I spent 51.84 yesterday, 31.81 on Monday and 81.00 a few weeks ago when I picked up the chicken, oil and cake mixes. More pics to come.......

Amazon has a load of staub on sale this week. Staub is made in France and is comparable with Le Crueset

I was told they don't like pasta. Even though I consider myself from California. I grew up in S. Florida. I'm very familar with the elder population of Florida. My grandparents( 90 and 96) are still alive and they live in Sunrise, Florida. I'm do plan to limit salt, I'm only going to use the feta as a condiment on a greek salad. I'll probably only buy 8 oz for the entire quantity of salad. I also plan on doing the survey. I thought that was a great idea. Re: the Freezer. There is a large chest freezer at the location and I used it when I bought the chicken breasts 3 weeks ago. The current protocol is to shop the day before you cook. I asked if I could buy the chicken early because it was on sale. As I stated earlier, the senior rarely get chicken because it is so pricey here. I really dont want to, nor do I have the time( I have another job) to run all over London shopping in bulk. Additionally, I have to go to certain supermarkets where the agency has a charge account. The prior cook had NO problems meeting the 3 a person budget, but my whole point of this thread is that I DONT want to cook like I'm cooking at an institution. I dont want to make casseroles with canned soup or use bottled salad dressings. I'd rather make a buttermilk ranch than buy a bottle full of chemicals. With that said, I only have 7.5 hrs so I can't do too many labor intensive meals. I also only have 2 stoves and 2 large roasting pans. For this meal, I plan to make the rice on top of the stove in 3 different pots and cook 25 chix breasts in each pan. I spoke to the previous cook regarding the timing and she suggested I precook the rice and then mix it in with the tomatoes and spinach. This is what I mean about a different way of cooking. My plan is to cook it pilaf style using chix stock, some onions, garlic, olive oil, etc. I also bought basmatic. The previous cook would probably use minute rice. I'm sure the seniors would love the minute rice because that is what they are used to, but I don't feel good about serving that. I've scoped out some recipes for the next few meals. On my list is a ground turkey shepards pie from Rachael Ray and Stuffed cabbage from America's test kitchen family cookbook.