End of Summer Menus:

1. Pesto Primavera

Carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, onions

2. Ribs and salad

Meat, Lettuce, Ranch, tomatoes, carrots

3. Baked Potatoes

Potatoes, sour cream, butter, broccoli, cheese

4. Quesadillas

ground beef, cheese, bell peppers, bacon grease :)

5. BLTs

Bacon Lettuce, Tomato,

6. Shish kabobs

zucchini, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, pineapple, marinade

7. Caprese Sandwiches

Fresh Mozzarella, tomatoes, pesto

8. Fajitas

Steak, tomatoes, bell peppers,

9. Hamburgers

Lettuce, Pickles,tomatoes

10. Taco Salad

Cheese, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream,

Shopping list:

Carrots2, broccoli 2, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, Lettuce 4, tomatoes 7, zucchini, , onions, mushrooms2, bell peppers, Potatoes,

sour cream, sour cream, cheese Cheese ,cheese, butter,bacon grease :)

pineapple, marinade, Pickles, pesto, Ranch,

Fresh Mozzarella, Steak,Country style ribs, ground beef2, Bacon

Baptism picnic

Rachel's Baptism Lunch turned out truly cool! As Liz said, "Everything was just as I would have wanted it to be."

We served gourmet cheeses, and grapes, and gourmet sandwiches such as Ham and Swiss Baguettes, Turkey Caesar with the sauce in a serving bottle, Caprese Sandwich (Tomato, fresh mozzarella, pesto on ciabatta, Yum!) and the show stopper was the Cranberry Brie Turkey sandwich from Flour girls Dough Boys in AF. I bought their special sauce which for future reference was cream cheese cranberries (fresh steamed?) and orange rind, all of which was generously slathered on their Cranberry Walnut Bread, followed by brie cheese and turkey.

Meanwhile, we served platters of the leftover lettuce, tomato, cheese, meat, etc so people could make their own sandwiches. (It looked generous, didn't cost a thing and handled picky eaters.) Then we invited the Adams families to bring salads and the Summerhays families to bring deserts, which were all luscious.

Meanwhile the kids (T, Millie, Jody) served a picnic outside with frozen Welch's juice 6 packs, PB&J's supplemented by adult sandwiches, watermelon and chips. The kids used the camping chairs and camping pavilion, along with my table and table clothes etc. Part of the success was that I let the kids design this party. The teenagers were entertained and babies were not underfoot. Voila!

We my eclectic collection of fabric for table clothes along with my glass and garage sale silver, that came together with a Martha Stewart Charm and grace. Altogether we served at least 50 from this tiny kitchen and it was smashing, if I do say so myself.

Altogether, the Cranberry sandwiches cost about $20 for the platter (about 16-20 sandwiches?) which seemed expensive until you counted up the others, Caprese ran about $20 Ham and cheese was probably $15, the Turkey Caesar probably $10 cause I already had the Parmesan cheese. But with all the details the whole party came out to about $120, Best Party we have ever had!

Questions for the Cooking Agenda

Pesto Salad (200 servings)
? Cold, refrigerate?
? Buy Bread the Day of
Roast Chicken Ahead
Cut up & Freeze
Defrost
Assemble
Serving tray?
?

Caesars Salad (=20 salads)
?Do we have serving bowls large enough to mix this up in?
?How do we carry this across the building
?Do we have serving bowls
?Tongs or serving spoons

Artichoke Dip
?Does Mary Still have time to cook this for 200 ?
Are there enough ovens to cook this?
?Do we have a back up?
?



Dessert
? Should/could we do a cold dessert, would it be worth adding a spoon?
?Separate plates for desert
-BYU does a pan of brownies (60-100 ) for $38, That's $100-150 total.
?

Chocolate dipped strawberries?
?Does Christy still have time to do this?
-BYU does this 1.10/piece
Belgiansprings.com chocolate fountaons $200/34" fountain 175-250 people.
People are going to pig out on the cooler stuff since it will be hot. Should we plan some kind of fruit/ cold/ wet filler food? Like a fruit salad? or Jello salad
Should we add a fruit course since it will be so hot?
-Price fruit trays @ $160 to serve 175-200.
-Fruit Kabobs @ $130 for 200. they are .65/piece and are shorter than Laura's.
-JSMB serves trays of semi-circle sliced cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. Splayed on a tray, it's very pretty.
-My mom did a frozen fruit dessert for my sister's wedding (10 9x13 trays could cover that easy)

Lemonade
Ice
How do we keep Ice cold
What do we serve this in?
You can rent gaudy silver fountain for $45
Could this be self serve?
Are the cups In the same room? Or different room? On Porch?
How will we handle refilling punch bowl? Will we carry water through a crowded room?
With a picher of water? Do we have a pitcher of water?


Water
?Add,Lemons, or cucumber?
Ice? Pick up that day?
How do we keep ice cold?
This should be self serve.
In the same room? Different room? On Porch?
How will will refill the punch bowl
Serving items
Cups, by the water and lemonade? or on tables?
or with the assembly line? Or by servers?

Napkins fork (and spoon?)-
Should we preasemble, wrap in napkin?
Put in assembly line?
or leave on tables?

Do we have serving trays?
Bowls?
Aprons?
Tongs?
Spoons?
How many coolers do we need?
Do the serving girls have some kind of unifying flower or apron so people know who to ask for help.
How do we handle spills?

Garbage and clean up committee?
Can we ask the cousins to plan on helping with this?
What Crisis will unfold if it rains? How will we handle it?

Marshmallow Roast

We had a campfire picnic for the end of the year, so the cousins could torch their homework. With all the yard work, we failed to make dinner and turned it into a dawg roast at the last minute. We started with a short hike... up our driveway, Everyone raving about the yard; and come to think of it, they were right; Jim had tidied it up so well. The boys quickly started a fire, and it just took off. A foot ball game erupted on the Plateau, and the ladies huddled in blankets on the cold side of the fire;) Nathaniel was pleased to roast his hot dog to utter charcoal.

I think we had 4-5 packages of hot dogs ($0.74) (we only used 3 packages), 2 bags of buns (16? or 18? per package) two bags of chips, 2 small watermelons, and then I grabbed three bags of frozen steak fries (36 servings), and threw them into the oven on convection bake. The fries went in a mad rush, partly because they were the first cooked items out(and the chips were hidden in the corner.) I think it was about 12-18 oz of chocolate, a large box of Grahm crackers, and 2-3 bags of marshmellows. The cousins brought a small collection of candy, to augment and experiment with their marshmellow favorites. It turned out well. Note to self, quick and affordable ($25) party.

Wish I had pictures, but the real sorrow is that I left my purse beside the car and didn't take it in until it was too dark to find it, although we searched. It melted with the morning dew, and I now have no wallet, library book, favorite left earring, and rechargeable camera battery. Sigh. I never change.

Charred and scarred is apparently all I know about cooking while camping. Yet the cowboy sophisticate in me is still enamoured with the Dutch Oven. After plenty of research, I thought I would make a couple of notes in hopes of future success.

First of all, Mis en place.

Things you can't cook without:

Leather gloves

Lid lifter

Shovel or tongs

Scoop and fork (for serving)

Lid stand (tuna can or rocks)

Storage bag or box

Paper towels

Oil

Whiskbroom

Aluminum Foil

Briquettes

Matches

Other stuff:

bio soap	cheese grater	veggie peeler
spice rack	measuring cups	can opener
hot pad holder	water bottle	pie tins
knives	cutting board	cooking oil
bottle opener

Time and Temp:

Most campers claim briquettes are the only way to predict cooking success. But being the Utah child of Carlos, I am thrilled to have found the Dutch oven Dude who offers a much more thorough approach, and prefers coals.

#1 Hand test the temp- count down from 550, (one second =50 degrees) until you can't keep your hand in the heat.

#2 Rule of 3- Usually you double the diameter to count the number of briquettes needed. But the rule of 3 is to take 3 from the bottom (leaving 9) and add 3 on top (15) (on a 12 inch D.O.) This needs to be changed depending on the type of cooking you are doing.

Baking	More heat from top so bottom does not burn. Place 3/4 coals on top and 1/4 underneath.
Roasting	Heat comes equally from top and bottom. Place 1/2 coals on top and 1/2 underneath.
Stewing, Simmering	Most heat from bottom. Place 1/4 coals on top and 3/4 underneath.
Frying, Boiling	All head from bottom. Place all coals underneath.

The Dutch Oven Dude has an awesome little calculator to figure out how to achieve the temperature you want. Check it out!

or #3, "A Real Scotsman Never uses Briquettes!"

A ring around the top and the bottom is about 325 to 350 degrees.
Remove every other briquette (or coal) underneath to make 300 degrees.
Add a second ring to the top to make 375 degrees.

*Remember to turn your pot and lid (in opposite directions) every ten minutes in order to avoid hot spots.

*Coals should last 35-40 minutes, check your coals every 20.

*stack Recipes from coolest to hottest, hottest on top. In other words, breads and desert first, then meat, then stews etc.

#4 so, how did it go?

I tried the bacon spuds tonight.

It took forever to get going. It convinced me to get one of those briquette starters. They cooked very slow and very steady; I really had to double and triple the number of briquettes that I used though-- Instead of a ring around the edge, I used an entire cirle top and bottom. Two hours later when finished, the briquettes were 1/4 - 1/2 in smaller but still glowing red.

PS. He's got a good collection of recipes. Black forest Cobler, Spiced Rhubarb, Bacon spuds, Jambalaya, even German Pancakes.

Here's the rough draft plan for the Anniversary party For Terry and Anna.

The Specific prices we checked were as follows:

Strawberries 4@ $6 =$24

Cht. Chips 2-3@$8.99=$27 (72 oz, 146 T)

Spinach 15@ $4 =$60

Pesto 4@$7.79 =$32 (22 oz.)

Chicken 7@$15.25 =$107 (26 servings)

Bread 10@$3.95 =$40

Dressing 3@$6.99 =$21

Croutons 2@$5.39 =$11

Parmesan 2@$10.89 =$22

tomatoes 4@$4.99 =$20

Lemonade is $50?

Artichoke dip $50

Pita Chips 6@$5.75 =$35

$472 Total

we noticed waldorf Salad, and Mary suggested a filler Buffet, though we couldn't think of what.

Pesto Sandwich (0.99)

Spinach or Caesar Salad (0.86)

Artichoke dip W/ Pita chips (0.33)

Dessert

Drink (0.30)

Chocolate dipped strawberries (0.28)

Forks (0.053)

Plates cups

BYU catering has sheets of (frosted) brownies for $37.55. They will cut them into 60-100 squares depending on how big you want the sqaures. (0.25? not bad)

Broownies & Icecream

White sheet cake with

Costco cake 3@14.99 (30-40)

Cheesecakes 12-16

Parfait Brownie

Ice Cream with Pirouettes

Strawberry mousse

Cream puffs

Searching for teriyaki

Ingredients

1 c. soy sauce

1/2 c. (packed) brown

sugar

1/4 c. salad oil

2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. monosodium

glutamate

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 cloves of garlic,

minced

1 3-lb. sirloin

steak, 1-in. thick

Canned water

chestnuts, drained

How to make Island Teriyaki

Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, ginger, mono- sodium glutamate, pepper and garlic in deep bowl; mix well.
Cut steak into thin slices.
Add steak and water chestnuts to marinade; toss until coated.
Marinate for 2 hours at room temperature.
Thread steak strips on skewers accordion fashion alternately with water chestnuts.
Broil for 5 to 6 minutes, over hot coals, turning frequently.

Ruebens

I'm making Reuben sandwiches, tonight for T's Birthday.

Here's the bread recipe from KAF:

Ingredients

View by: Volume Weight

• 1 1/2 packets "highly active" active dry yeast; or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2/3 cup to 7/8 cup lukewarm water*
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup dill pickle juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dill seeds
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds OR 1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
• 1 1/3 cups pumpernickel
• *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Directions

1) Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes, till it becomes puffy. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the dissolved yeast (or instant yeast) with the remaining ingredients, and mix till clumps form; the dough may seem dry at this point. Let it rest for 20 minutes, for the flour to start to absorb the liquid.

3) Knead the dough—by mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—to make a stiff, but fairly smooth dough. It'll take about 7 minutes in a stand mixer at second speed, using the dough hook. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl; if it doesn't sprinkle in a bit more all-purpose flour. We don't recommend kneading this dough by hand, as it's hard to develop the gluten sufficiently. If you DO knead by hand, realize that the dough will take longer to rise, and won't rise as high.

4) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise till it's puffy, about 1 to 2 hours. It may or may not have doubled in bulk, but it definitely will have expanded.

5) Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan (for a stiffer dough), or 9" x 5" loaf pan (for a slacker dough). Press it to the edges of the pan, and flatten the top.

6) Tent the pan with greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaf to rise till it's crowned about 1" to 1 1/2" over the edge of the pan, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

7) Bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent it lightly with foil, and bake for an additional 20 minutes. When done the bread will be golden brown, and its internal temperature will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

8) Remove the bread from the oven, wait 5 minutes, remove it from the pan, and allow it to cool completely on a rack before slicing. Store for up to a week at cool room temperature.

This easy-to-slice rye br

Reuben Sandwich Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Sandwich ingredients
2 Tbsp butter, softened
8 slices rye bread
8 slices Swiss cheese
3/4 lb corned beef brisket, thinly sliced
1/2 lb sauerkraut
1/4 cup Russian Dressing

Russian Dressing
Combine the following ingredients. Makes one-half cup
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

METHOD

1 Butter one side of four slices of bread, and place the slices buttered-side down on a large piece of wax paper on a flat surface. Top each with a slice of Swiss cheese, and then divide half of the corned beef among them.

2 Using paper towels, squeeze out excess moisture from the sauerkraut. Divide the sauerkraut among the sandwiches, and top each with one tablespoon of Russian dressing. Add another layer of corned beef and a second slice of Swiss cheese to each sandwich. Top with the remaining bread slices; butter the side facing out.

3 Preheat a griddle or frying pan to medium heat. Cook the sandwiches on one side until the bread is golden brown. Use a spatula to carefully flip the sandwiches over and finish cooking on the second side. Cut the sandwiches in half before serving.

Make 4 sandwiches. Serve with a side of coleslaw.

German Potato Salad

• 9 potatoes, peeled
• 6 slices bacon
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

• Directions
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 30 minutes. Drain, cool and slice thin.
• Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside, reserving drippings.
• Saute onions in bacon drippings until they are golden-brown.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, and pepper. Add to the sauteed onions and cook and stir until bubbly, then remove from heat. Stir in water and vinegar, then return to the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Carefully stir bacon and sliced potatoes into the vinegar/water mixture, stirring gently until potatoes are heated through.