Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Brazil Nut Pesto

from (my new favorite cookbook) Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking

and Roasted Beet Salad

with a wink and a smile

Well Menu Development class was a bit hectic, kinda stressful at first, then kinda fun. I thought we'd get some kind of lecture, but instead we pulled a number out of a hat, and were assigned a tray of raw ingredients, with which we had to make a 3 course meal. yikes! I got 2 beets, 2 tangerines, 4 red potatoes, asparagus, watercress, and a chicken breast on the bone. We were able to use a lot of pantry items like garlic, oil, some nuts, flour, sugar, some spices, etc. Anyway- I made the best of it! I might actually want to try and make all of it again. This was jumping into the deep end of cooking, and hoping for the best. Remember that post about failing harder? Well, it wasn't so bad..

Roasted Beet, Tangerine and Walnut Salad over watercress in a citrus vinaigrette 

Roasted Chicken with a Tarragon Herb Compound Butter and roasted potatoes and asparagus

Tangerine Pavlova with Fresh Fruit Supréme and whipped cream