Let's look at the numbers, shall we....

Monday lunch: 48
Monday dinner: 69

Tuesday lunch: 42
Tuesday dinner: 69

Wednesday lunch: 46
Wednesday dinner: 70

Thursday lunch: 45
Thursday dinner: 58

Friday lunch: 62

All the new girls haven't signed up yet but this is what I have as of today....

Lettuce Chicken Wraps w/Rice

This is one I actually created myself, based on a) loving them personally, b) wanting to make them & c] incorporating several different recipes for them.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced
Asian sweet chili sauce, enough to marinade chicken in [found in Asian grocery stores or better grocery stores w/a nice Asian selection.]
Green leaf lettuce leaves
1 onion, thinly sliced
mushrooms, thinly sliced. You want about 3 oz for 1 lb of meat. Shitake mushrooms you'd use about 3 medium. I used button mushrooms, which you'd need more of.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger [fresh & minced would be ideal, but I used powdered at work]
soy sauce,optional for dipping
sesame oil, for frying

Marinate chicken overnight in Asian chili sauce.

Heat sesame oil in wok, or nonstick skillet.  Add onions and stir until they start to become translucent.  This shouldn't take long at all.  Add chicken, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often, until chicken begins to brown and is cooked through, about 5 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces.  Add mushrooms, and continue to stir frequently. If mixture becomes too dry or is sticking, add soy sauce or some additional chili sauce, to keep moist & according to your taste preference. 

Spoon chicken mixture into lettuce leaves.  Roll leaves around filling & eat.  You may dip into the chili sauce you haven't used in the marinade or soy sauce as well.

Serve with rice.  [Rice can be put in the lettuce leaf as part of your mixture instead of serving it on the side.]

Tip: With the amount of chicken I have to cook [I did a full case tonight at dinner], I baked the chicken & then diced it.  I find it to be easier & less messy that way with the quantity I'm working with.  If you choose to bake at home, once the chicken is done baking, let cool slightly before you dice & then add to the stir fry once you've got the vegetables almost finished.  This will bring it back up to temp for you.

After dicing, I put the chicken in pans, covered it & put on low in the oven to keep warm. This freed me to focus on the vegetable part.  I stir fried the onions, mushrooms, ginger & garlic on the grill, until they were thoroughly cooked.  Think soft but not mushy.  I served them separately so the girls could put in the amount of each that they wanted. Or if they didn't want mushrooms for example, they weren't stuck picking them out of the chicken.  The rice was also in its own pan & it was about 50/50 on the girls who put the rice in the wrap & the girls who put it on the side.

Rush Week

I survived my first Rush Week.  I almost feel like it was a just barely kinda moment.  There were constant changes to what was going on, 45 completely stressed out girls, a sick assistant one day and to cap it all off, a seal broke on the back of the dishwasher & I did appetizers for Pref Night in 1/2" of standing water. The cupcakes that I made, well, looked like cupcakes that I made.  They were obviously not bakery bought.  And I frosted them about 5 minutes before the girls showed up, due to that whole standing water, no helper issue.  I wanted to sit down & cry at one point. Seriously.  But after having at least 10 girls tell me how much they'd been talking about how they love me and how great I am, I just kept going.  I didn't want to let them down.  Which leads me to the next bit of news.

The girls have doubled the size of the sorority.  Doubled.  I will soon be cooking for almost 90 girls.  OMG!  I am in awe of all they accomplished & absolutely terrified of just how crazy it is going to get this year!  Who's up for guiness size batches of granola making.....

Tomato Soup from Cook's Illustrated, via Charlie

Ingredients

·         1/4cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more for drizzling

·         1medium onion , chopped medium (about 1 cup)

·         3medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)

·         pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)

·         1 bay leaf

·         2(28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice

·         1tablespoon brown sugar

·         3large slices good-quality sandwich bread , crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces

·         2cups low sodium vegetable broth

·         1/4cup chopped fresh chives 

I roasted several roma tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil & sprinkled w/granulated garlic, basil & oregano, to add to the flavor. The romas were from our local food co-op so really add something special to it.

Instructions

1.       Heat 2 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes (if using), and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Using potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain. Stir in sugar and bread; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

2.       Transfer half of soup to blender. Add 1 tablespoon oil and process until soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and repeat with remaining soup and oil. Rinse out Dutch oven and return soup to pot. Stir in vegetable broth and brandy (if using). Return soup to boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup in individual bowls. Sprinkle each portion with pepper and chives and drizzle with olive oil.

This soup is a favorite at the house & the girls requested it again.  I'm serving it for the end of Rush week, because they've all lost their voices, had little to no sleep and are in need of some major comfort food.

 

Sigh

So I already burned my left arm in the VERY same spot I burned my arm on the same type pan last year.  Niall suggested covering that arm in something fireproof.  I think a Kevlar armband would be pretty kick-ass actually.  At least it's the left arm  & doesn't mess w/the Vegas dragon.  Although I'm pretty sure I can't actually ever get a tattoo in that spot as it seems to be a danger zone....

Second Week

Last weekend, the power went out at State from Hurricane Irene.  So Monday we had to go through the fridge & freezer to see what could be salvaged. Luckily, we had made chocolate chip muffins on Friday to have for Monday anyway. Fortunately I guess we were low on most things, due to me learning just how much ahead to order, or not order, as the case may be. The good news is that everything went off ok & we got a big order Monday morning so things went fine.  It just was an incredibly busy day, even more so than usual.

The girls are still crazy for the granola.  It is such an easy & simple thing to do.  This week, we put in cashews & dried cranberries to mix up the flavor a bit.  I may try dried cherries too at some point so they don't get bored with it.  I will have to get some snack size bags though to pass it on in, since putting it in sandwich bags to go is making it disappear rather quickly! Gina made a batch that was x5 on Tuesday & it will be gone today.  The good news is that they are  mostly ignoring the crappy cereals this year & eating the granola.

Next week is rush & then things should settle down into a routine for everyone.