After a very long and wonderful two-week break, Monday morning meant I was back to my 5am wake-ups and long days in the kitchen.  I tossed and turned all night with little sleep, completely paranoid that I would oversleep and miss my alarm!  Needless to say I was very tired heading back into New World Cuisine this week.

Tired or not though, there was food to produce!  This class has a great menu – lots of Latin-American and Caribbean inspired dishes, which also means lots of VEGETABLES!  Here’s what we made so far this week…

My group was in charge of two dishes on Monday, the first being Grilled Shrimp, Corn, and Black Bean Tortilla Salad – yum!  We started by preparing the base of the salad – a mix of black beans, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and green onions. 

This mixture was good enough to be eaten by itself!  This class focuses on 3 techniques: grilling, roasting, and deep-frying.  Monday was a grill day for my group, so next we grilled our corn and shrimp.

We also diced bell pepper confetti, and deep fried some tortilla strips for garnish. 

My teammate Marie tossed it all together with a chiffonade of romaine lettuce…

We added the shrimp and tossed, and garnished the top with the peppers and tortilla strips.  Voila – the final product!

This was so delicious that I made the rare decision to eat in class, and just picked the shrimp out! 

Besides the salad, my group was also responsible for the Grilled Asparagus with Tomato Vinaigrette…

Meanwhile, my classmates were making all sorts of other delicious roasted and deep-fried items.  One group made Potato Croquetas, which were basically fried mashed potato balls!

Plus Roasted Carrots with Herbs and Fried Chicken with Shiitake Pan Gravy…

A Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Salad with Feta, and Flank Steak Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Tomatillo Sauce…

Green Beans with Garlic Lemon and Parsley and Balsamic Cabbage…

And some Roasted Chicken with Garlic Pan Jus…

After class, I headed home to deal with my very excited doggies who had been locked up for almost 11 hours while I was in classes – poor things!  I wanted to work out , but didn’t want to abandon them any longer, so I took the new treadmill for a spin.  I seriously love this thing!  I ran in the privacy of my own house in just a sports bra and running shorts, and watched Say Yes to the Dress while my treadmill fan spun and kept me cool!  Definitely one investment I am very glad we made.

After I finished running, it was time for dinner, but I was worn out from being back in the kitchen all day for classes.  I made myself a quick and easy dinner of my favorite version of low-calorie Chinese food…

Soooo good!  Now I’m off to watch the newest season of The Biggest Loser – favorite show ever!!