Retreat Food (Friday)

BREAKFAST:

Burrito (scrambled egg, sausage, home fried potatoes with peppers and onions, shredded Cheddar/Jack cheese, salsa...in a tortilla)

Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake with Walnut Topping

Pears

LUNCH:

Thai Style Chicken with Peanut Sauce

Basmati Rice

Steamed Broccoli

Mandarin Oranges

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, since today was National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

True story: This morning I was flipping through the camp's recipe book trying to decide what kind of cookie to make for dessert. I picked oatmeal raisin because I have not had them in a long time. After they were baked I found out it was "their special day". (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them but they did not all get eaten so if anyone really wants to see them let me know.)

SUPPER:

Cheese Lasagna

Green Beans

Caesar Salad

French Bread (there was none left for me)

(Does anyone know how to officially count the layers of a lasagna? Is it how many layers of noodles, or how many layers of fillings, or how many layers of noodles plus fillings, or something else? Just wondering)

Dessert was

SMOKIN' SMORES

I first saw this idea at the camping conference we went to last month, and have noticed it several times since on catering and specialty food websites. This mens' group seemed to be the perfect time to try it out.

Use melted chocolate (either a good ganache or candy melts - anything that will harden after being melted) to "glue" a marshmallow or 2 to a graham cracker square. Leave 1 corner dry for a clothespin. After the chocolate has set attach a clothespin to each cracker. This will give you something to hold on to as you torch the marshmallow, and a safe way to pass it out.

As with any trend there are fancy and expensive presentation options available for purchase. I just arranged mine on a sheet pan with parchment paper. It's best to have them all set up a good amount of time before you need them.

Then comes the best part....use a butane torch to roast the marshmallow. Go around the edges and as the top part flames up, give it to the guest who will be eating it so they can blow it out.

This one's a bit well done. Do you know how hard it is to hold something and light it on fire and take a picture of it all at the same time? It's hard!

This dessert was a huge success. It is not expensive and makes a memorable experience. One guy ate 6 of them.

Food on a stick = fun

Food on fire = fun

Food on a stick AND on fire = so much fun