Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Green Chef

Breakfast
Yesterday morning I decided I really needed some veggies in my life. Plus I have a bunch of crushed pineapple that needs to be used. No better way to do both of these things than a SIAB! I used
  • a small bunch of kale
  • handful of spinach
  • two frozen mango slices
  • 1/3+ cup of crushed pineapple
  • 1/3 cup soy milk
  • 1 banana
  • 2 dates
  • green tea, just enough to get things spinning
I topped it all off with some honey oat granola.

Lunch
I was having a bit of a crisis with my second batch of coconut ice cream and spent most of the afternoon running around, checking in with Dad to get some chef to chef counseling, and cursing google until I finally found the dry ice place downtown. Eventually I did get a chance to sit down and eat lunch which was a bowl of lentil soup, vegan italian sausage, and a sandwich thin with earth balance. This lunch reminds me of my Dad's cooking :)

As the clock ticked closer to go time for the Green Chef I started making the carrot coconut garnish which I got the inspiration for from here. I started by shredding two cups of carrots. I used the spiral cutter to get really fine shreds but I'm sure a normal grater would work. Then I heated to a boil in a sauce pan:
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups water
Once that boiled I let it simmer for 2 minutes then added the carrots and simmered for 4 minutes.
I removed all the carrots with a slotted spaghetti spoon and laid them on parchment paper. I measured out 1/2 cup of sugar to sprinkle over the top but I didn't end up using all of it. I also sprinkled 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut and mixed everything around trying to keep an even a layer as possible. I heated the oven to 200 degrees and dried the carrots out for about 8 minutes checking half way to make sure they weren't getting too crisp.
They came out perfect! Sweet and sticky with the perfect firmness.

Green Chef!
The competition is finally here! Kelsey came a little early so I was able to give her my camera while I stayed inside and prepared my dish. She got some great shots like this one of the huge line! Wasn't expecting that!

I'm know gunna blow the surprise but I will just tell you, I didn't win. I was sort of sad about it but it was mostly about the challenge anyways not the prize. I have pictures of the winners though so I will try to fill you in!
My campus really is a beautiful one. There's the view of the lagoon from the line.
I was able to snap a few quick shots of my station before the commotion started.
The food was set up so that as you moved from right to let you got savory entrees and moved into the sweets.
This was actually one of the winners: Carrot Barely Soup served in mini bread bowls with carrot garnishes. I got to taste the soup but only in a plastic cup. I was too busy on the sweet side!

Hard at work.
Don't they look cute? I was so pleased with the way they came out. I just wish we could have gotten a clearer picture. People were going after these babies!
Next to me was one of the other winners: Vegan Carrot Cake Ice Cream.

Gettin vicious!
I garnished each one with love! haha
I was having a hard time keeping up with the demand. But I wasn't complaining :)
On my other side was a really sweet girl who made pineapple carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Ahh if only I weren't a vegan for just one minute! I bet they were delicious.
Carrot Pudding
Another winner: Carrot Jam

Carrot Pancakes
Carrot Cake and in those little cups Carrot Milkshakes

Carrot Sushi!
This was the last of the four winners: Carrot and Chickpea Teriyaki Stir Fry. I got to talk to this boy when the food started running out. He was really nice and his teriyaki sauce was home made. Props!

Spaghetti with carrot sauce


Ahh there are my little babies! One boys exact words were, "When I saw them I thought it was going to be plain and then it kicked me in the mouth". Um...thank you??
Kelsey decided that we could make a cake and just cover it with this stuff and that would be fine by her! Agreed, Kelsey. Agreed.

This was the dish of Brooke, the organizer who convinced me to sign up.
Ahhh so cute!!







This was my little bag for people to vote on my dish.



I had to taste my own dish!

When I had finally run out I went around and tasted some of the others. This was yams with honey glazed carrots. Not too sweet and creamy smooth. Can you come over for Thanksgiving pleeease?

I also got to try this Carrot Pudding which was delicious. Very light, not too sweet, the carrot flavor really came through and was well complimented with the raisins and the little bit of chocolate.
I had to go to work but before I ran out I topped my pudding with some of that carrot cake ice cream. Yum.

Dinner
For some reason I thought I would be getting more of a substantial amount of food at the competition but I was wrong about that one. When I got off work I was famish so I quickly cooked up some of my home made veggie patty mix with my home made pasta sauce.
I was so hungry I didn't even care about trying to make it look pretty.
Hmm... I defnitely had dessert so I must not have loaded the photos yet. I'll get to that tomorrow since it is waaaay past my bedtime. I'm glad I got to share the photos of the competition with you finally and hopefully I will not have to type the word carrot ever again! Ok, at least not for a while. Anyways Hump Day is over and it feels weird to be so close to the end of school. My plate is an over flowing one these days but soon I will be away in foreign lands pondering the meaning of life!

More on that to come ;)
Night!

1 comment:

muffin said...

How exciting! Those olive penguins were a surprise. Your dessert looked great. I want a taste.