A Five-Course Dinner for 16 for Less than $5 Per Person: Paving the Way Ambassador Dinner

Happy National Cherries Jubilee Day! And happy second day of the fall season! Unfortunately, I don't have a cherries jubilee recipe for you today (though that would be an appropriate dessert for this cooler fall weather today), but I do have a meal you can prepare for less than $5 per person (given a sizable group). This past Tuesday, I cooked a five-course dinner for our office's pre-orientation program staff, the dinner of which was gastronomically themed "fall flavours and the last bit of summer." On the menu: TAB (turkey, apple, and brie) tartlet, Italian-marinated chicken with bow tie pasta, roasted vegetable salad, s'more brownies, and lemon-nectarine granita with lemon and berry garnish.

Leftover Blueberries and Bread = Blueberry Bread Pudding

Happy midnight munchies, y'all!

Well, after a day off and much cooking on Tuesday, I found myself not at work again Wednesday. Throughout the day, temps continued to drop and the wind was certainly on a roll as the tall trees outside of my window shook; it seemed that even those were freezing. I tried my best to not cook, but after all my work from home was as done as it could be, I ended up rearranging my kitchen a bit to create a bit of a cooking island so I could cook more efficiently while watching the Food Network. (I rather like this new set-up; what do you think?) Anyway, with leftovers being the theme these past few days, I used up the rest of my blueberries and mini Italian bread to experiment and create my own version of blueberry bread pudding.

Béchamel, Attempt 2 (Successful); Meringue, Attempt 1 (Not so much)

It's a bit difficult to spend time plating and taking photos while having hungry guests, so this was all tastier than this photo leads you to believe...

This evening, I set out to master my béchamel/Mornay sauce and came across an astounding revelation. Okay, it wasn't exactly astounding, but I was certainly geeked about it: the proportional ratio for this sauce is 1:1, 1:1, 1:1. For the roux, for every tablespoon of butter you melt, incorporate a tablespoon of flour. And for every tablespoon, you need an equivalent cup. For every cup of milk you mix into the roux, add a cup of cheese off the heat. Also add a pinch of sea salt and a pinch of ground black pepper, to taste, off the heat as well. You can finish the sauce off with a touch of nutmeg or for the recipe below, paprika. So, all of that said, two of the guys in the res hall I live in joined me for tonight's culinary tasting lab, or rather "dinner." Tonight's menu included empanadas, mac 'n cheese (with béchamel and bacon, and a side of broccoli), and nectarine blueberry meringue pie. In addition to my overjoy when it came to this whole ratio deal, I should also note that the majority of this meal was Food Network chef guided and inspired.