Recipes Galore!

I started a new job! I'm cooking in a little cafe that caters to senior citizens! Nutritional and price friendly meals! It's only been a week since I've started, but I already think it has been the best place I've worked in the food industry. The Chef and I are always on the same page. She stresses the importance of sanitation, and comes up with great menus - a different one every day! Here are one of the recipes we adjusted and put together for my job interview! Vegetable Soup Ingredients: 2 cups - Onion, medium diced 2 tablespoons - Garlic, minced 1 cup - Carrot, medium diced 1 cup - Celery, medium diced 1 cup Zucchini, medium diced 1 - Red pepper, medium diced 1 Green pepper, medium diced No salt substitute and pepper 1 – 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes – reserve liquid 2 quarts vegetable stock Olive oil 1 tablespoon rough chopped Basil 1 tablespoon rough chopped oregano • Heat pan with oil. Add the garlic and onions until translucent. • Sweat chopped vegetables with onions on heat for about 10 minutes or until tender. • Add no salt substitute and pepper while vegetables cook. • Combine vegetables with can of diced tomato and juices. • Add stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. • Finish soup with fresh herbs. Season to taste!

The Blessed Eucharist

"St. Jane Francis de Chantal once over heard her father disputing with a Calvinist the Real Present of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. She was at that time only FIVE years of age, but when hearing the dispute, she advanced to the heretic and said: "What, Sir! You do not believe that Jesus Christ is really present in the Holy Eucharist, and yet He has told us that He IS present? You then make Him a liar. If you dared attack the honor of the King, my father would defend it at the risk of his life, and even at the cost of yours; what have you then to expect from God for calling His Son a liar?" The Calvinist was greatly surprised at the child's zeal, ad endeavored to appease his young adversary with presents; but, full of the love for her holy faith, she took his gifts and threw them into the fire saying: "Thus shall all those burn in Hell who do not believe the words of Jesus Christ.'" ~ "The Blessed Eucharist: Our Greatest Treasure" by Michael Mueller, CSSR

Happy New Year!

Hard to believe this video is from so many years ago!

The Rest of the Story

Christmas DAY has come and gone...but the celebration of the Octave of Christmas still continues!

But just wanted to catch up on my Garde Manger finals...mostly because I find the finals practical's oddly amusing. (And I just found out I did get an A!)

All people have different tastes and styles. Chefs are no different. And they make their likes and dislikes known! It's how they teach. For instance: My first Chef instructor liked salt, and his favorite herb was tarragon...so that's what I added to my sauce! My second Chef liked artificial flavor bases, LOTS of salt, and disliked white pepper...so that's what I kept in mind when I made my risotto! Chef Johnston paid attention on presentation detail.

After 8 weeks of mastering Garde Manger from Chef J...came our finals. Naturally I'd use the techniques he taught me to prepare my food...but wait!... I walk into the classroom on the first day of finals (recipes in hand!) to find a substitute teacher!

We had two days of final practical's with substitute teachers. On each day we were to prepare a menu with a description, a diagram of the final product, recipes and an Mise en Place/prep list attached. We would take a day of finals to make cold salad, and the second day to make a tray of h'orderves. But just image walking into the classroom to find a total different personality there waiting to grade you on what you were taught by someone else!

The first substitute Chef on the first day called my salad "boring" (but it was how Chef J taught us!). So I received a lower grade than I expected. On my second day I had learned my lesson. I impressed my teacher with h'rderves of Pear Chutney Crostini with Goat Cheese. It was perfect. She even gave me a lead on a job position!

All in all, getting a good grade in this program is all about impressing the instructor! The end!

A quiz!

 Survivors Pro-Life Club of Elgin Community College, proud American Life League Associates, held a pro-life display on Tuesday, November 26th in the student lounge.

Our table display consisted of many educational materials: fetal models borrowed from Dr. & Mrs. Johnson (friends of the club), American Life League literature, and a short quiz composed by club members. 

The fetal models were very attractive to passers-by. One young lady in particular was interested in first trimester fetal development. After some brief conversation she told us that she was about 8 weeks pregnant. We were able to offer her local crisis pregnancy center information and exchange personal contacts.

 

In addition to passing out American Life League literature, members of the club created a short "quiz" with questions such as: "How many abortions occur in the US each day?" and "During what stage of pregnancy is abortion legal in the US"? Once students took the quiz and were given the answers, they were awarded a can of Coke for their participation. (It was a huge hit!)

 

This may be hard to believe, but the baby in this picture is actually a "Reborn" doll!

Most people thought baby "Ben" was real!  He is the size of a 4 month old baby.

About 50 students took the quiz, the majority of them identified themselves to be pro-life. However, most were shocked to find out that abortion is legal up to all nine months of pregnancy and that there are 3,288 abortions performed each day in the US. With this new knowledge, many students who took the quiz were prompted to sign up for the college club!

The club looks forward to our next week's event of showing "October Baby"and welcoming our new members!

Special thanks to our club adviser Mrs. K S for her time and assistance!

Cake Day!

Today was back-to-back cake day!

This morning I made gluten free cake for a friend's 50th birthday!  I love how it turned out! (It was my first time baking a gluten free cake!)

Then I headed over to my friend Finley's house to "help" her with a baby shower cake.  (She did it mostly by her talented self!)

We are definitively not "Cake Boss" perfect (yet), but had so much fun just catching up and doing what we love!

The Future of the Catholic Church

A friend of mine wrote an article here.

I think he hit the nail on the head. Our generation is searching for tradition - and the latin mass. 

Here's another video that discusses the same subject.

The latin mass is truly timeless!

Courage

Tonight I received a late night call from a friend.

She was distraught over what I too have been dealing with lately: defending our faith against homosexuality.

Everywhere I go I meet people dealing with this disorder: the hair dressers, my culinary class, school clubs... And more and more our culture keeps force feeding the lie that homosexuality is natural, and that we should be accepting, or better yet "tolerating" of it. But no. We cannot remain silent. If you saw a friend drowning, would you not throw them a safety net?

But how does one go about this?  Well, turns out Holy Mother Church is the safety net.

Fr. John Hollowel of Indiana has great YouTube channel full of videos that explore the Church's teaching on the subject.  These videos are from the religion class he teaches, and some homilies. Check them out! Know your faith!

The Guardian

It is always a treat to have friends visit. Especially when you don't see them very often... There is a joy that comes with catching up, as if there could never be too great of a distance between the friendship.

St. Stanisalus

Church touring with a friend. 

Holy Trinity 

Beautiful inside and out!

The children of the world are separated one from another because their hearts are in different places; but the children of God, having their hearts where their treasure is, and sharing only one treasure - which is the same God - are consequently always united and joined together. 
~St. Francis de Sales