I finally got a chance to download my pictures from the weekend. I had such a great time at Kendall College for the high school culinary semi-finals, and saw some of the same people from last year which was nice.
The students practiced three separate menus and didn’t know until last Friday morning when they got to the college what menu they would be doing. Vegetarian Indian food for the win! The kids are grouped in threes, but they were grouped with strangers – not who they go to school with. It’s fascinating to see who takes the leader roll, who is just fine taking orders and following. And because someone is a leader doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to lead their team to greatness. One girl who I initially thought was quite a good leader, delegated the tasks, etc. Until I realized she was micromanaging the others dishes so much, she never actually got her dish on the plate. I could just see the tears welling up in her eyes as the director counted down the last ten seconds.
All in all, each team did a great job. But the potato and chick pea dish was really good, and I’ll be making a variation on that dish later this week for one of my dinners. Loved the spice of that dish. If any of you live in the Chicago area, you can eat there – the culinary students cook lunch and dinner at their dining hall. You can check it out here.
I finished around 2:00 p.m. so headed to my sisters office. It’s the longest I’ve walked since I’ve had my cough – it was near 40 and sunny skies.
I walked passed the iconic parking garage made famous by the Blues Brothers movie – it’s half condos/half parking garage.
Here’s a better view – thanks google images 
I surprised my sister. I wasn’t sure I’d have time to meet up with her, but she was able to have coffee with me, and it was close enough to 5 that I stayed for their office happy hour which was fun.
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Since I spent so little at the grocery store over the weekend, that meant I made a lot of stuff from scratch. One of the recipes was waffles. I was going to buy almond milk, but cashew milk was on sale for only $2.49 a container. Score! And only 25 calories per cup. I have a simple Oster waffle maker – I used 2/3 cup of batter per waffle to get 8 waffles out of this recipe. According to the Weight Watcher recipe builder, each waffle comes in at 4 smart points (or 1 point per 1/4!)
For dinner last night I made chicken and waffles. Tyson brand buffalo tenders are 6 smart points for 3 ounces. I baked the tenders for 20 minutes, so this was a super quick weeknight dinner. I cleaned the bathroom (one of my week night chores!) while the chicken cooked. Then toasted the waffles and topped with a bit more buffalo sauce and 1/8 cup of Smucker’s sugar free pancake syrup, so dinner came in at 11 smart points.
This is the best of all worlds – sweet/spicy/crunchy/vinegary. And even though I had half of a Reuben sandwich at lunch when I had lunch out with my friend, I still ended up with 31/30 points for the day. Don’t worry, I do have fruits and veggies planned in my meal plan today. But again, I like that I can incorporate my favorite foods into my healthy guidelines. And I am happy to report that my cough is 90% gone and I hope to get a walk in at lunch – we are supposed to have temps near 50 today and I don’t want to miss out on that.
Make it a great day!
Hum, I thought I left my comment yesterday. Maybe I didn’t hit submit. The chicken and waffles look really good. I have never found a pre-made wing or tender that I have liked. Maybe I’ll try these. Have you ever experienced a weird ” fake” texture or anything.
I loved the photo of you with the coffee. You have that cat who swallowed the canary up to no good look. It suits you. 🙂
So glad you surprised me at work and stayed for happy hour – super fun!
I talked about you on my blog today, you will have to check it out. Talked about Hardcore Black and Red. Gosh that stuff is goooood!!! Oh….those ionic towers in Chicago….that’s where I took my Beautician’s exam…..back in 1967…..WAIT….that’s 50 years ago!!! Wow talk about feeling OLD!!!!!!!! Your waffles and chicken look good!
Ca t wait to see the recipes. Love Indian food!
Funny, here in the Buffalo area we don’t call them buffalo tenders or buffalo wings. We just call them fingers, or wings!
Another funny thing I’ve noticed is the way we order pizza. Here in Western New York when we order pizza we’ll say “I’d like to order a large pizza, with cheese, pepperoni, and mushrooms.” They always come with cheese, but we always have to say it! If we’re traveling somewhere and order pizza, they get all confused. Double cheese? No just regular cheese ?
Glad to hear you are feeling better! I don’t get chicken and waffles. But your plate looks really pretty.
Your 50s today is my 50s tomorrow! I hope we get the sun too because we’ve had way too many grey days for my liking. As in today it’s grey and rainy.
I’m curious about that recipe because I really like Chana Masala, which is basically a chickpea curry. The idea of potatoes is interesting. Looks like they made a samosa too?
That looks SOOOO good. I’ve been eating rice, applesauce, and toast. Because everyone else in my house has been barfing!!
Indian food – yummers! It’s such a great cuisine for all eaters because of so many delicious options.
You make me want to get back to Chicago! 🙂
I’ve LOVED those buffalo tenders since I was old enough to work the stove 🙂 my mom used to buy them in bulk!