Week 5 at University of North Dakota!

My fifth week here at UND was spent at Terrace Dining Center testing out allergen free recipes--- many of which Haley and I contributed! I spent most of my time working with James, who I had previously worked with when doing recipe testing for catering. James let me do a lot of cooking on my own, which was a little nerve racking, but fun! I consider myself to be pretty good at baking, but I had a bit to learn about cooking.

All of the recipes we tested, as I mentioned, are completely allergen free. This includes the eight most common allergens—fish, shellfish, eggs, dairy, treenuts, peanuts, soy, and wheat…with the addition of gluten. I found it tricky enough finding recipes that were entirely allergen-free, but putting them together with no cross contamination or sneaky ingredients was even more difficult! For the most part, our recipes were successful. We tweaked a few recipes and went back to re-test them, which was mildly frustrating. I had the kitchen staff try the recipes and got mostly positive feedback! Here is a visual list of the recipes I helped create this week, ordered from least delicious to most delicious:

Tropical Chicken: With pineapple, nectarine, and orange flavor. I wanted something more creative, but this may have been a bit TOO adventurous…

Spicy Orange Beef: Another overly ambitious recipe, I’d say

Gluten Free Baked Oatmeal: I was disappointed with this (considering my love of oatmeal)--- The final product was pretty dry and flavorless. It was a little better when I added some almond milk and banana!

Autumn Crockpot Chicken: Included chicken, bacon, cinnamon, apples, and rice. The recipe reminded me of fall!

Gluten Free Spaghetti Soup with Chickpeas and Thyme: The first time we made this, we used spaghetti, which was a bit awkward in the soup. We re-tested it with penne and it turned out much better!

Quinoa with Brown Rice and Sweet Potatoes: A very simple, healthy recipe consisting of quinoa, rice, and all kinds of veggies. It was bland on its own, but made for a perfect lunch when I added sriracha to it!

Lentil Soup with Rosemary: I loved the flavor of the rosemary with the soup, but not so much with the lentils. This was another recipe we added gluten free penne to.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings: These were delicious—just a tiny bit on the sweet side for me. Mary, the dishwasher at Terrace, has been on a gluten free diet for years and requested the recipe for these since she loved them so much!

Garden Vegetable Quinoa Salad: Plain quinoa served cold with a plethora of veggies and drizzled with a vinaigrette. Another perfect lunch once I spiced it up a bit!

Italian Stuffed Peppers: YUM. The filling was made with rice, tomato sauce, onions and spices. With a bit of red pepper flakes, this recipe was far from bland!!

Avocado Quinoa Salad with Olives: Avocado—the magic word. This was another quinoa salad served cold with olives, black beans, and corn. Obviously a delicious and nutritious recipe gets my vote for the best recipe!

As much as I loved recipe testing and developing more cooking skills, this week was not all fun and games! On Thursday, Haley and I had to take inventory for all of Terrace Dining Center. It was a bit frustrating trying to decipher what name on the inventory sheet went with which product on the shelves. And then there was the freezer……. After accounting for all the products in the cooler, Haley and I were absolutely dreading standing in the negative 5 degree freezer for a half hour! Luckily, James was willing to help us out, and we developed a rotating system so we could warm up between  counting each shelf. We may have still been a little bit grumpy by the end…

 

Our "cold and grumpy" faces after working in the freezer

Luckily after enduring inventory, I was able to enjoy a long holiday weekend!! Saturday morning I ran in the YMCA Firework 10K on the Greenway in downtown Grand Forks. I was very excited to find a local race while I was in town! That night, I went downtown again to see the fireworks display with a few friends. There was also live music and food vendors in the town square. 

A souvenir! 

Do you know how difficult it is to take a decent picture of fireworks!?

Overall, it was a busy week followed by a very relaxing weekend! Only 3 more weeks!