Month: November 2019

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Thanksgiving Dinner Recipe

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

Serves 6 

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1-whole bone-in turkey breast, 3 pounds

1 small onion (diced)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

1 ½ teaspoon of dry mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chicken stock

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the turkey breast on a cutting board and cut it in half. Place both halves in a roasting pan.
  2. In a small bowl combine, garlic, onion, mustard, herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. Smear the paste onto the turkey evenly. Pour chicken stock into the bottom of the roasting pan.
  3. Roast the turkey for 1 hour, until the thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest part of the breast. 
  4. When the turkey is done allow to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  5. Slice and serve!

Turkey Gravy

Serves 8

Ingredients

Turkey drippings from the pan or chicken stock (2 cups)

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

½ tablespoon thyme

½ tablespoon white pepper

½ tablespoon salt (feel free to add more salt if needed)

Directions:

  1. Add butter into a pan and make a roux- sprinkle flour into the pan and cook while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the flour browns slightly, about 4 minutes. 
  2. Gradually add the drippings or chicken stock to the roux while constantly whisking to prevent lumps.
  3. Add the spices/herbs
  4. Let it simmer, whisking occasionally until the gravy thickens.

Lemon Butter Green Beans

Serves 4

Time: 17 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. green beans 
  • 1 Tbsp butter 
  • 1 lemon
  • Salt and Pepper to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Use a zester or small-holed cheese grater to remove the thin layer of yellow zest from the lemon. Set the zest aside. Remove the stems from the green beans and, if you prefer shorter pieces, snap them in half. Place green beans in a colander and rinse well with cool water.
  2. Transfer the rinsed green beans to a deep skillet. Add about one inch of fresh water (the water will not cover the beans). Place a lid on the skillet and turn the flame on to medium-high. Allow the water to come up to a boil. Let the beans simmer and steam for 3-5 minutes, or just until the beans are bright green and just slightly tender. Test the texture with a fork.
  3. Once the green beans are bright green and slightly tender, turn off the heat and drain them in a colander. Return the drained green beans to the still-warm skillet with the heat turned off.
  4. Add the butter, about 1/2 tsp of lemon zest, a quick squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tsp), a pinch of salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Toss the green beans to distribute the seasonings and allow the residual heat to melt the butter 
  5. When the butter has melted fully, taste the green beans and add more salt, pepper, lemon juice, or lemon zest to your liking. Serve immediately.

Cranberry sauce

Total time: 37 minutes

1. Empty a 12-ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries into a saucepan and transfer 1/2 cup to a small bowl. 

2. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 strip orange or lemon zest and 2 tablespoons water to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries are soft, about 10 minutes.

3. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the cranberries burst, about 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the reserved cranberries.

4. Add sugar, salt, and pepper to taste and cool to room temperature before serving.

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Vegetable Prep Basics Cooking Class

Recipe: Salad Rolls with Peanut Sauce (Chicken and Tofu)

RECIPEDownload

The vegetable Prep Basics class was our first class Fall term. Our goal for this class was to learn some knife skills that are essential for vegetable and ingredient prepping. When cooking, you’ll often end up prepping the same ingredients/ vegetables repeatedly, for example, onions, garlic, bell peppers. Learning the best, fastest and safest technique could make your cooking more enjoyable and save you lots of time in the kitchen.

Holding a Knife

The way you hold a knife can make a huge difference in the amount of control and force you have. Your other hand should be used to safely hold the ingredient/ vegetable you are cutting securely in place.

Protecting your fingertips

“Bear-claw” grip

In order to protect your fingers on your other hand, it is important to use this technique to tuck your fingers away from the knife and let your knuckles rest against the side of the blade.

Types of knife cuts

There are several kinds of knife cuts, and depending on what you are preparing each cut could be useful.

Common types of knife cuts

For our cooking class, we mostly used the Julienne method. Julienne/French cut is cut into long, uniform strips like matchsticks. Julienne cut is often used for salad ingredients and green veggies, like cucumbers, bell peppers or zucchini.
In order to achieve this safely, it is important to ensure if the vegetable is round, cut a thin slice off one side to make a stable base.

Julienne cut carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers

Dorm hacks 101

We also wanted to highlight cooking techniques for students living in the dorms. Students who live on campus may not have access to a lot of kitchen equipment and therefore this can make cooking more challenging. Here at OSU pots, pans and other kitchen supplies are available to be checked out at the dorms. We wanted to take on the challenge to prepare the proteins required for this recipe in the microwave. We used canned chicken( cooked) and Tofu with soy dressing.

Assembling the Salad rolls

To assemble the wraps, you will need rice paper wraps. These are available at most Asian stores. Soak rice paper wrap in warm tap water for 10 seconds, or until pliable; carefully transfer to a slightly damp kitchen towel. Arrange your choice of vegetables and protein on the wrap and fold it over and its a WRAP! Serve with peanut sauce and enjoy!

We’re grateful to everyone that showed up to the cooking class!

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Emily Faltesek: Food Security Programs Coordinator

“Eating is so intimate. It’s very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table and you want to cook for them, you’re inviting a person into your life.”

Maya Angelou

Food is more than sustenance, more than nutrition. Food provides an invitation to hear stories. It is an intersecting point for cultural debates about values and class identity. Food influences how we show up in the world and how we are seen. This multi-faceted understanding of food—one that embraces both the everyday and the profound—informs the way I see my work and fuels my excitement to join the Student Life team at OSU in the Human Services Resource Center as Food Security Programs Coordinator.

mugshot of emily
Emily Faltesek, Food Security Programs Coordinator

My professional background is in food service management as a registered dietitian nutritionist. I attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and completed a dietetic internship there with a college support services/food service emphasis. Next, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, I managed the main kitchen, from assembling ingredients through all phases of food preparation. We mashed potatoes in an eighty quart mixer, pumped seventy gallon batches of soup in the cook-chill unit, and dry-rubbed pork butts ready for the smoker. This last task was a big deal to the pulled pork lovers in Hawkeye country! Through these experiences at a hospital serving a diverse population, I developed a passion for making quantity food and for assuring access to healthy and culturally appropriate food choices. When I arrived in Corvallis, having followed my spouse for his faculty position, I found both community and a use for my skills at Stone Soup, the local soup kitchen. There I worked in different roles including meal planning, volunteer coordinating, and as a member of the board. Stone Soup’s philosophy resonated with me: A meal for anyone in need. 

My workdays here at the HSRC are varied and changing—the only constant is the great team of student staff and professional co-workers. I’m involved in meetings to build and maintain partnerships connecting the pantry to sources of food on and off campus. I receive deliveries from the Food Bank and Linn Benton Food Share and drive a van to pick up donations from community gardens. I serve as preceptor to interns and practicum students from dietetics and public health and coordinate shopping and storage at the food pantry. I help students sign up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (what used to be known as food stamps).

At the HSRC I aim to bring my expertise in food logistics and my commitment to food justice together to support the work of colleagues in creating and sustaining student-centered community. I hope to contribute to providing an affirming space for student voices to seek out needed resources in a manner that busts stigma and makes the request feel as natural as a haircut. In our work, we try to make receiving food assistance comfortable, and part of this role involves responding to the systems and structures that contribute to food insecurity and amplifying the voices of students saying food insecurity is a problem. In short, we need to do better.  We need to emphasize the message of the buttons we hand out: “College hunger isn’t a rite of passage.”