Chef,
We have missed you and I really want someone to make me some Latkes sometime.

BTW...have you ever done Apple Fritters for a meal? Sometimes I treat friends to Canadian Bacon with an Apricot Sauce (Preserves and Brandy), then fry up a batch of Apple Fritters with Vermont Maple Syrup on the side. It's heavenly!

When we were kids, we died for my mom to make Blintzes for dinner. She made up the crepes, filled them and put them in a baking dish, and did a sour cream topping. This would satisfy both your Vegetarians and Jewish Girls (and probably the rest of the house)

Excellent !!!! comment. My husband may like it, tho --I may just try this for a casual dinner. I lived in my house for two years. The dishes that I remember best were Cheese Grits (as a side dish, I'm from the north & they were great) and Chicken Divan, which I now want to recreate. Also, a great dessert can make a boring meal memorable. All can be forgiven if the dessert is wonderful. :)

Now that the girls are gone and I have time off, I am definitely turning my thinking to new ideas for next semester. For the past two years upon returning from break I have been informed its diet time. You know, the need to look good in a bikini for spring break take precedence. However, when I have tried to get real diet conscious about my menus, someone has come up and told me "Feed me, I'm hungry and not on a diet". So blintzes and fritters sound good to me.

I've got a great new food chair who is real interested in being active in her role. My previous food chair was great, but not as active as she could have been. We are excited about having a planning meeting to put together a calendar of special meals for the spring.

And Barino, if you are looking for a great dessert, look back through this thread for the Peanut Butter Bars. OMG!

Last week was the neighborhood Progressive Dinner. I had the dessert round. Would you believe I had PB Bars left over (to the jubilation of my co-workers)?

The first to go was the cheesecake, which I do make a no fail, everyone loves version. Mine has a topping of whipped cream and sour cream. Guaranteed to clog the arterties. The next item to go was the Rich Pecan Coffee Cake (I can't show up for Christmas without it). Also gone were the Majoul Dates and Turkish Apricots.

It was a lot of fun, and this weekend, I can sleep! Chef, let me know if you need any more help. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.

Chef - It can be difficult to juggle the girls who are concerned with calorie and fat content with those who are more concerned with taste and don't want a diet menu.

I would recommend considering both points of view. Maybe you could serve lighter lunches and full-flavor dinner. Or, the main dish could generally be healthier, but your sides could be varied. If you make grilled chicken breasts, you could have one side of steamed carrots and the other of creamed spinach.

Thai Basil Chicken is relatively easy to make and is a nice variation and adds a touch of exotic to the menu
I also had a really nice recipe for Thai Peanut Chicken Curry (though I'm sure tofu would work nicely as well) that I can get for you if you want, it's from a cookbook.

My mom does a really nice, simple pasta with semi-cooked chopped tomatoes over angelhair pasta - basically you only partially cook the tomatoes, then put them over the pasta IMMEDIATELY after draining so that the heat cooks them the rest of the way. Pour olive oil on top, add a little salt and pepper, and voila.

What about shish kebabs done with tofu/meat?

There's also kao suey, a Thai/Burmese soup that's done at 'stations,' if that makes sense. It's a coconut-based soup to which you add noodles, garlic, cilantro, basil, chilli, meat, etc. The girls can start off with the basic broth and then add what they like. It's tasty and filling. I'm explaining this badly, but you can get a better idea here: http://rasbhara.blogspot.com/2005/12...khao-suey.html.

The soup you are talking about sounds alot to me like pho, the vietnamese soup filled with noodles and different meats which you garnish with lime, chilis, sprouts, and sauces. I do a take off on pho for lunch making the soup stock from chicken instead of beef. I provide bowls filled with either rice or wheat noodles that the girls can garnish as they choose using chicken, tofu, basil, mint, cilantro, carrot, mushroom, lime, sprouts before covering with the fragrant stock. It goes over very well.

I have also done a Vietnamese Table Salad. Butter lettuce leaves are the wrapper and I provide Lemongrass grilled chicken, rice vermicelli, cucumber, carrots, fresh pineapple, mint, cilantro, basil and a fish sauce based dipping sauce. They load the ingredients of their choice into the lettuce and roll it up to eat. I serve it with fried rice.

I also tried a new recipe this past week, a Tomato-Coconut Chicken. It was simply sauteed chicken breast with peppers and scallions sauteed along. Coconut Milk, chicken stock, and diced tomatoes were added and simmered down with red pepper flakes. The resulting dish was served with rice and was delicious. For the vegetarians I fried Panko breaded tofu and made a companion sauce following the same recipe but without the chicken stock. Also a hit.

I wish our cook was so accomodating! The ladies you cook for are so lucky!

Chef, it's similar to pho but more like a tom yum soup meets pho, if that makes any sense. I looooove pho, good call! If your girls are a fan of Asian-fusion cuisine, Nina Simmonds does great cookbooks with very easy, unfussy recipes that are Asian in origin that can be put into wraps, salads, etc. Her stuff is great, my mom has adapted many of her recipes to the home with great success (i.e. healthy beef stir fry with carrots and broccoli stems, etc).

Bumping!
 

In the DG @ Bama thread, someone posted something about wanting to be the housemother in that beautiful house. For whatever reason, that comment reminded me of greekchef and this thread.

So, I'm bumping because I always liked this thread, and hope it was helpful to greekchef. You still around, chef?

I miss greekchef. I actually was telling live-in about greekchef last night when we were talking about his friend's wife's facebook group called "Soup's On, What's for Dinner?"

I miss him too, but then I'm open to talk to anyone about menus and recipes.

My favourite recipe is actually from daycare and it's delicious - my parents had to get the recipe and down size it from daycare amounts to regular family amounts.

I assume scaling it back up would be pretty easy too

CORN CHOWDER

Ingredients:

1 can Sweet corn

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 rashers of bacon, finely chopped (easiest to do all three together in the food processor)

2 medium potatoes diced
500ml water
2 cups of milk
a bay leaf
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

Method:
1. Sweat (low heat, lid on for a couple of minutes - don't brown them) the onion, celery and bacon in a saucepan.
2. Add water, water from the can of sweet corn, and the bay leaf and simmer for 10 mins.
3. Add the potatoes and cook until they are soft.
4. Add the milk and corn and cook for 5 mins.
5. Add the chopped parsley.
6. Serve

I wonder if we IM'd Greek Chef, if he would "start cooking" again. Looking for a dressing recipe for my Beet, Goat Cheese and Pecan salad for Easter.

I'm going to go start a recipe thread over in CC.

I think there is one already.

Darn, was so hoping that greekchef was posting again. His (her?) posts were always so interesting.

Hi all....I haven't been around for awhile...busy time. My daughter is a senior in high school this year and with my son getting up to the teenage years now I have to compete with them and my wife for some computer time. I find it sweet that anyone would miss my few contributions. I am moving toward beginning my 7th year at the "house" in the fall, I am on my 3rd house mother and soon my 5th assistant. Doesn't sound like I get along well with other, eh?

The highlights of this past year include a Harry Potter themed dinner, a day at the beach seafood feast, and a Lady Gaga dinner. Currently the chapter is tilting a bit more healthy in their preferences than before. Really the biggest issues that has some stirred up are "green" issues.

As before, I am all about some ideas for the ladies. (Hi Mandy Pepperidge)

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY greekchef's back!

Hi greekchef. I am a private chef wondering about making a move into sorority cooking. As you have been in it for a while, would you please fill me in with the reality of how I could expect the position to play out....salary, benefits etc.
Thanks, chefsooz.

this post interested me because my chapter is getting a new cook this coming school year. Our last cook was pretty good and here are some of my chapters favorites...

artichoke dip with pita points
turkey and provolone paninis on cranberry wild rice bread
carrot curry soup (personal fav)
bbq meatballs with mashed baby reds
tacos
smoked chicken nacho's with fruit salsa
pasta night- some combo of pesto gnocchi, baked ziti, manicotti, or fettucini.
french dip

I hope I can show this thread to our new cook and she'll get inspired!

I'm having a friend over for a formal dinner. How does this menu sound...

Appetizer:
Homemade guacamole & home baked tostitos

Salad:
Field greens
Goat cheese
Toasted pine nuts
Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, green grapes, mandarin oranges
Raspberry Vinegarette

Main Course:
Flank steak with chimichurri sauce
Brown rice pilaf
Corn/black bean/tomato/green onion/lime/cilanto salsa(served as a cold side dish)

Dessert:
Irish Cream cheesecake drizzled with chocolate
Texas turtle decaf coffee

Cocktail:
Champagne & watermelon granita