Welcome Back!

Thanks Meredith, for the awesome pic of a past meal from the VCSC.

Thanks for the patience while allowing us some time off. We really appreciate your support. A few quick notes before we talk about the food. This is the last week we are using the crappy to-go containers. We will be switching to a higher grade container that is dishwasher friendly and reusable. If anyone has any suggestions let us know. We hope to someday go to mason jars but currently have storage issues.

LAST WEEK
Annie came by with some parsley from the garden. I made some parsley almond pesto and a chimichurri sauce. It sparked an idea. I use lots of basil, parsley, cilantro, dill and some mint. If anyone’s garden is overflowing with these, I could buy them from you instead of the store. Just an idea, let me know what you think.

Now for the food.
My prep got cut short due to an electrical emergency at work. Some things are still in progress like the salad dressings and carrot cakes.

SNAX
The granola is back this time with blueberries joining the cranberries, almonds, and honey. The tuna fish salad is back as well. I still have not been able to provide Joanna with any because it keeps selling out. I made extra this time and she has her fix. (Joanna smiles at this as she is expecting there won’t be any left.)
The chipotle black bean dip was also requested and is for sale. It came out a little spicier than normal, but very good. Finally, I tried some baba ganouj, hummus’s roasted eggplant cousin. I was disappointed about how expensive the eggplants were and how little they yielded, but it does taste good.

SIDES
These are all new offerings. Hopefully, I will finish the carrot cakes and serve them with thai chile sauce. It was created as an alternative to crab cakes when I was attempting to be a vegetarian. The red curry with lentils and potatoes is very good, but obviously made by a honky. I am not too familiar with Indian cooking, but this is not a shabby start. I will study up on it a bit more and improve my technique. (Joanna says we may have to visit some Indian restaurants for research, can you say tax write-off). Succotash is not just a fun word to say but also a delicious buttery combination of white lima beans, green lima beans, corn, peppers, and onion. I was enchanted by the huge broad beans at Sun Harvest and wanted to use them some how. Just heat this dish up in either butter or oil. It’s a perfect side dish. The three-potato salad has the same color combination as the succotash, but quite a different flavor. It is a combination of gold, white and sweet potatoes bound together with whole grain mustard, olive oil, and mayo. Cilantro, corn, peppers, and onions round out the flavors. This side dish can be served warm or cold. It would be a great friend to some grilled chicken or fish.

SOUPS
I made a summer vegetable soup that came out really nice. It is packed with tomatoes, lima beans, edamame, yellow squash, zucchini, garlic, onions, parsley, and on and on. A vegetarians dream. Good fresh flavors. I also did a cold soup because it was so hot last week. I tried a cucumber dill. It has a good lemony aftertaste that goes well now that it is 90 degrees outside.

SALAD DRESSINGS
I am going to do a white miso vin, a sundried tomato balsamic vin, and a cilantro lime vin if time permits. Like I mentioned earlier, I got the emergency call at 5:30am.
Thanks for everything.

The VCSC welcomes back Luscious, check out the link for what they will be offering this week here at the Supper Club.

JOANNA'S NOTES
FYI, I have been adding comments all along in parenthesis. Guys, the black bean dip is yum and it’s a bit hotter than normal so tie-down those summer straw hats. The potato salad and succotash are ever so tasty. Joel had me taste test them as I was falling asleep with Jake and an hour later I was scrounging in the kitchen for more. We never eat on production night so I’m starving the whole time. The cucumber soup is so light and delish. . .perfect for coming home from a hot afternoon at the park. The tuna fish, well, I think we all know how I feel about that. . scourge all you tuna fish lovers. I will get mine! The red curry will serve wonderfully on a bowl of rice and easily be more than a meal. . . . Joel, you did good! O.K. guys, Friday at Northwest Pool, be there or be square.

The Electric Company

Again, thank you for the great support last week. I hope you guys aren’t burned out on the food. We will be taking next week off so we don’t get burned out. I had an idea that each week we produce food, we could feature a vegetable, a grain, and a bean. Kind of like the Electric Company. This week’s show was brought to you by the vegetable asparagus, the grain quinoa, and great northern white beans. Here is the complete rundown.

SNAX
The white beans show up here in the form of a roasted garlic white bean dip. This was advertised a few weeks ago, but I messed up the dip and it was horrible. I want you guys to think I know how to cook and part of this is hiding my mistakes. I couldn’t even salvage that one. This week should be better.
I made a sun-dried tomato feta dip last Friday on the fly and it was delicious. I am going to try and do it again on purpose. Most dips have a base of mayo and sour cream and are simply not good for you. The base here is pureed garbanzo beans, which is a much better alternative on the health front. I could call this a sun-dried tomato hummus, but that is just so honky. Hummus comes in one flavor. HUMMUS!
We ran out of the honey almond cranberry granola so it has once again made a return to the VCSC. This batch did not get burned. I am finally getting used to having a fancy convection oven.

SIDES
I again apologize for no casseroles. There just has not been time to develop these. But I do have some cool sides this week. The featured Red Quinoa can be served hot or cold as a salad. It is accompanied by grilled peppers, roasted corn, sweet onion, and cilantro. This is some healthy stuff. Quinoa was dubbed the Mother Grain by the Incas for its health properties and it does contain all 9 of the essential amino acids. A STUDLY protein source for a seed that can be cooked like a grain.
Asparagus saute with a lemon-garlic sauce is the second side. I have high hopes for this one. I thought I would gently toast thinly sliced garlic in Olive Oil then add fresh parsley and lemon to create a good friend for the grilled spears.
The Veggie Charros Beans are spiced up with tomatoes, garlic, sweet peppers, onion and cilantro. These are good and also pretty. They would be great topped with cheese or in a quesadilla.

SOUPS
The White Bean with Parmesan is an excellent soup. So rich and creamy it is hard to believe that there is no dairy in it except for the parmesan tossed in at the end for sharpness. (And the cool title of course.) The featured Veg makes an appearance here in the form of Asparagus Soup. I liked the idea of seeing a vibrant green soup next to a white one inside of Flash (the silver fridge, soon to be accompanied by a new silver fridge/freezer combo, name will be assigned upon arrival in the VCSC). Finally, because it was so hot this weekend, I was inspired to make Gazpacho, one of my favorite soups of all time.

SALAD DRESSINGS
There is a great article in this month's Saveur about iceberg lettuce. This week’s dressing was supposed to be a creamy blue cheese but I got inspired by a blue cheese vinaigrette in the article. Let’s see how it goes. The other dressing will be the chipotle vinaigrette I am still trying to develop for work.
I really hope you guys enjoy the food. If you don’t, please let me know and I will try to fix it. I rely on your feed back to help perfect the craft. Thanks for everything.

JOANNA NOTE'S
FYI, the white bean soup is good enough to suck, through a straw, or your nose, whatever, it’s yummalicious. And the granola has hit some new heights in the way of crunchy loveliness. The asparagus soup is otherworldly and I just tasted the lemon-garlic sauce, wwwwwowww!

WE WELCOME LUSCIOUS PASTRIES. . . Jennifer and Anne-Charlotte will be bringing their sweet lovelies to the VCSC so be prepared to have some desert as well. Peace out friends!

The GoGo's Visit the Supper Club. . ..

It's late on a Saturday night and I wanted to let you guys know that Joel is busy building his menu for next week AND he has bought us some new music to listen to while he cooks away and I wash dishes. The key to a compatable work relationship is good tunes and an understanding of what we're both good at doing. You all know that Joel and I work together everyday at our day job, so this lovely side thing we are doing only brings us together on a more intense note. With that said, our love of music just keeps things movin' and groovin'. We've been coveting some GoGo's but haven't had the time to look for a good cd. Joel had some time on his hands tonite and went to Waterloo. He picked up Go-Gos. . "Return To The Valley Of The Go-Go's". I'm smitten and have fallen in love with Joel again like it was the first night. Wow, what a cool guy to groove on some cool chick rock with me. This stuff is better than you can imagine. What we didn't know about the Go-Go's is that they were so punk in the beginning. . I'm dying and as you listen to each track you see them grow.
There are all kinds of rumors going around about another co-op biz joining the supper club to bring sweets to the offerings, Luscious are you out there??? We love the idea of being a part of a food village. . so, anything is possible. Stay tunes for a menu!

Week 3. . . Come on by. . the Fridge is Open!

Thanks to everybody for the support. Last week was a real tough one at work and all my energy was used up at the job. It seems that casseroles are the number one request. I didn’t have anytime to work on anything new, but stuff like that is on it's way. The problem is that most casserole recipes are not that healthy. I would like to try to do a modern look at them. Here is a quick rundown of this week’s offerings. My apologies to the folks who got some things they weren’t happy with last time around. We are still inventing more than perfecting at the moment. You have some freebies coming your way.

SNAX
The chipotle black bean dip is back. I always want to have beans somewhere on the menu for their fiber. As it turns out, the song was right, they are good for your heart.
Joanna had requested the tuna salad this week again. It is one of her favorites and we sold all of it last time we had it.
We had the weber grill going this weekend and it inspired me to grill some tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños for a salsa. It came out very nice.

SIDES
The love veg has been renamed the Violet Crown Veg due to legal threats from Magnolia Café. This week’s veg includes zucchini, squash, red peppers, sweet onion, carrots with the herbed garlic butter. To use: just sauté the veggies in a bit of oil. Once they are cooked to your specifications, add some of the butter and enjoy.
I was chided for not making enough of the sweet potato hash last time by the wifey, so it is back as well. I like this dish a lot and if my theory is correct, it could be very healthy. Sweet potatoes have a lot of vitamins so I am going to leave the skin on this week. What is your preference on that? Skin on or off?
Two new veg sides round out the menu. Joanna was reading an article in some fit magazine about foods that burn fat. The whole wheat penne pasta dish with pine nuts, feta, sundried tomatoes, and basil was one of the offerings. I am not sure how pine nuts and feta fight fat (they must be double agents), but it sounded good. It is designed as a pasta salad, but I think it would be great served hot as a pasta dish. Gently warm it in a sauté pan careful not to burn the cheese. The microwave could actually be your friend here.
The black beans with corn, roasted peppers, and cilantro is a personal favorite. I tried to get it on the menu at Tacodeli but was denied because it was too 1980’s. And it is. If you look at cookbooks from that era, Santa Fe and Dean Fearing were boldly using this color and food scheme. It is delicious. Put it on some brown rice and top it with some cheese, pico, and sour cream and it is Les Amis all over again. Man I miss that place.

SALADS
This is a completely new idea. Joanna didn’t want to pursue this one, but I couldn’t resist. One of the driving forces behind my cooking these days is health. Hard living has left me with a tattered esophagus, a holey colon, and the cholesterol of a walking dead man. I have since changed my ways and lost 30lbs, dropped the cholesterol 100 points, and traded the colon in for a Buick.
Seriously, salads are important for their roughage. While studying up on my various ailments, I was shocked at how bad the typical American diet is, especially regarding fiber. No one bought the salad dressings last week so I am going to try and provide the complete package.
The Green Salad is the basic garden variety with choice of dressing.
The Mediterranean is a tribute to my dads Sunday evening salads. He would dig in the fridge after the Cowboy game, find all sorts of crazy things we didn’t know we had and put it all on chopped romaine with a tart vinaigrette. It tasted great every time. Don’t worry, I am using fresh ingredients and doing a take on the Greek Salad.
The Spinach Salad is a work in progress and will change from week to week. This week we have goat cheese, roasted peppers, grilled corn and toasted pepitas. I guess it is kind of a southwestern take. The default dressing is the balsamic but you can have whichever one you want.
The House Salad is probably my favorite one of all. Mixed greens, blue cheese, toasted nuts, dried cranberries. I admit, dried cherries sound sexier, but the cranberries are much cheaper and contain more anti-oxidants.
The salad dressings are goat cheese with black pepper, balsamic vin, red wine vin, and the Shady Oaks. The last one is from my child hood and is a classic Dijon vinaigrette. Feel free to sub out any dressings on the salads.
Again, thanks for all the support. I love hearing about what you guys are doing with the food. Keep the comments coming, both good and bad. We never want you guys to be dissatisfied with anything and will strive to fix our mistakes. Like I mentioned before, we are inventing, not perfecting at this stage. Any suggestions for next week’s menu?

JOANNA'S NOTE
Joel is bustin' it on these recipes and everything is so awesome. Last week the Sweet Potato Hash was to die for. . .he didn't mention a couple of items he has this week. The SOUPS are Roasted Butternut Squash and Crimini Mushroom with Marsala. . now you all know me and you KNOW I have no idea what this is but I'll be tasting it and I'm sure it will be yummy.

Week 2, Tuesday Night, All Night!

That was one long night, but we were able to produce a decent amount of food and finally fill the second fridge.

SOUPS.
We did a repeat on last week’s soups but made more of each this time. The Carrot Soup came out nice. We made it using a recipe I wrote for my mom. It is nice to know that some of my recipes are accurate. Some did not cooperate. A nice undertone of ginger and orange balances out the carmelized carrot and onion base. The Black Bean Chili came out a bit spicier than last week, but more flavorful. I used primarily ancho chiles this time and more corn. Next week, I promise two new varietals. Any suggestions or requests?

SNAX.
Joanna has been requesting the Tuna Fish Salad. It is my mom’s tried and true recipe, nothing too fancy, but Joanna likes it. We are hoping Jake does too. I would have loved to use fresh dill, but HEB was out and I had to settle for the dried. It is time to get the herb garden going. The hummus came out nice. I have been using roasted garlic instead of fresh to maximize the garlic flavor, but without the bad breath and bitter bite. I also cut down on the amount of olive oil. Please let me know how it tastes.
The salsa is a chipotle with a medium kick. I used the broiler to roast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic. I have never had an oven with a working broiler. I was excited, I like my new stove. I could have charred them a bit longer to get a toastier flavor, but it tastes pretty good. Also, if you want more heat, let me know. I keep it pretty moderate.
The Cranberry Almond Granola was hit or miss. The new oven has a convection function that works pretty good. A little too good because I burned half the batch. The other half was salvageable. I will probably grind up the burned half and use it as a topping for smoothies. It has a nice carmelized flavor to it.

SIDES.
This is a new offering. I wanted to develop side dishes that are pre-cooked and just need to be reheated on the stove. The problem with pre-cooking veggies is that prior to reheating, they are cold, moist, and limp. (Insert bad joke here.) But once they hit the hot pan, things seem to come together well. To serve, heat a bit of oil in a sauté pan. Add the veg side and get hot, stirring frequently. If there is a sauce, add an appropriate amount and mix it in at the very end. Add some salt if necessary. Please let me know if things worked out according to plan.
The Fried Rice is a dish we eat every week at the house. Brown rice is mixed with edamame, red bell pepper, carrots, onion, and a hoisin ginger sauce. You may not need all of the sauce provided and can use the leftover for something else, like a marinade.
The Sweet Potato Hash is one of my favorites. We combined roasted sweet potatoes, corn, red bell, garlic, cilantro, and onion. This would be great underneath a grilled chicken breast or flank steak. It can also stand on its own.
Jo’s Veggies are a nod to the love veg at Magnolia. They came out different, but delicious. I used green zucchini, yellow squash, orange carrots, red bell pepper, corn, edamame, and onion for a vibrant veg mix. The love comes from an herbed roasted garlic butter that is very, very good. Especially on a piece of bread, after midnight, when concerns for the cholesterol have gone to bed.

SAUCES.
Sauces did not get much attention this week. I do have the BBQ sauce that I have visions of baking chicken wings in or glazing grilled pork chops. That’s right, the really skinny cheap ones. I used an ancho chile puree to give it an earthy feel. A bit more tomato than normal, but still pretty tasty.
The Joelula is still under production, but will hopefully be done. It is a vinegar base pepper sauce like tapatio or cholula. Great for eggs, chili, vegetables and the whatnot.

SALADS.
Salad dressings did not get done this week. Simply ran out of time. Which is where I am now. Gotta go to work.
Please let me know how you like what you bought. Honesty is appreciated. .This is a new concept and mistakes are being made. We value your opinions so we can improve on what we’re doing. As always, if you purchase something you don’t like, we will not make you pay for it. We will fix it, just like the first grade cafeteria.