Mini Smoothie Bowls

My Reflection

For one of my breakfast appetizers, my group and I made 8 mini fruit smoothie bowls with homemade granola. We made the smoothie by blending blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and oranges. We made the homemade granola to add on top of our mini bowls. We made it by soaking the oats in maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, fresh lemon juice, and melted butter. We roasted it in the oven for about an hour and rotated the pan, and mixing the oats around every 15 minutes. They were ready when the oats were caramelized and crunchy. For the other toppings, we added whole blueberries, sliced strawberries, and sliced bananas only on one half. on the other half was the granola and some chia seeds. The chia seeds went under the granola because the black colour wouldn’t look nice on the top with the bright colours. I loved this lab! I had never had or made a smoothie bowl before this and I enjoyed the process and plating of it all. It was a rustic plating but had to look like the others, which was cool. The granola turned out amazing and added some nice texture to the smoothie that was completely blended all the way through!

Christmas Chicken Dinner

My Reflection

Mashed Potatoes; They turned out amazing! no chunks, mashes really smooth, and flavourful because we added garlic salt and pepper. We mashed them using an electric mixer which worked out really well for us.

Stuffing; The ratio between bread and onions was not done well, because we had a ton of onions and it over powered the stuffing. I would make it again because how simple it is but I would add way less onions and mince them instead of dicing them.

Maple Glazed Carrots; The carrots were perfect size and shape to each other and the glaze was the perfect consistency that coated the carrots beautifully. I enjoyed how the glaze enhanced the flavours and didn’t overpower!

Chicken; The chicken tasted good and have a lot of flavours from the fresh poultry seasoning. The chicken was a little dry but it still tasted delicious. I like chicken and how simple it was to cook, and so I would totally make this again. This was a good experience learning to multitask with cooking these at the same to keep them hot and how to make things easier for us.

Mexican Rice

My Reflection

Chef Evan came into out class and taught us his recipe for his take on Mexican rice. It was an amazing experience for a professional chef to teach us! I really enjoyed learning and seeing his tips for cooking this dish. I loved this dish and have made this a few times for my family and they have enjoyed it as much as I did with a few modifications! I learnt some new things by making this dish; how to season with a rest break so the flavours enhanced over the rest, and how to perfectly cook rice with not just water.

Shakshuka and Rustic Bread

My Reflection

The shakshuka was colourful, flavourful, and tasted amazing. I really enjoyed this dish once again! I made it with a little less whole tomatoes and added more of the juices. The veggies we added into the sauce was roasted yellow peppers and spinach, which tastes amazing together! I have made this so many times for my family and they enjoy it every time. we kept the eggs a little more runny than firm which tasted well with the tomatoes sauce and homemade bread.

The rustic bread was really easy and simple recipe. I have made this bread before so this time I took a step back and just helped my partner as she took the lead. We were able to have out bread triple in size after it rested overnight. When we cut into our bread, we had air pockets which means the dry ingredients were sifted enough to add extra air! The bread tasted amazing with the shakshuka and runny eggs.

Crepes, Waffles and Blueberry Sauce

My Reflection

Our groups crepes and waffles turned out amazing! We had a rough start with the waffles because they kept sticking to the waffle iron but once we added a little bit more oil, they were good. The crepe batter was a little too thin at first, so we added a little but more flour and then it looked right. No crepes stuck to the pan and they cooked perfectly and tasted delicious. I would make the crepes again but not the waffles because I’m not a fan of waffles, I prefer crepes as they are thinner and a little sweeter.

The blueberry sauce was sweet and sour. I don’t normally like blueberry sauce but I loved this one! It tasted really well with the crepes and waffles! This blueberry sauce was very easy and fast to make. I would totally make this sauce again!