Stuffed Tomatoes at The Blossom Cafe

At The Blossom Café located at the Redies Center for Rehabilitation and Healthy Living, we had a special featuring stuffed tomatoes that had were filled with Cannellini beans, Kalamata Olives, and Capers.  July’s superfood of the month is tomato and so we decided to feature stuffed tomatoes and as a bonus we sold them with potato and cheese pierogis.  We plan on featuring another special next Wednesday featuring tomatoes as well!

Serves 30

15 pounds Tomatoes, fresh

1 1/2 tsp Salt, kosher

1 1/2 quart Onions, yellow, fresh, diced

6 tbsp Garlic, peeled, fresh, minced

12 tbsp Olives, Kalamata, pitted, chopped

3 ounces Olives, green, pitted, chopped

12 tbsp Capers, drained

6 tbsp Parsley, fresh, chopped

9 tbsp Oregano, fresh, chopped

9 tbsp Mint, fresh, chopped

2 1/4 quart Beans, cannellini, canned, drained, rinsed

1 1/8 quart Breadcrumbs, panko, Japanese

12 tbsp Oil, Olive/Canola Oil 25/75 blend

Use at least 8 oz tomatoes for each piece. Cut off the top 1/2' of the tomato and using a melon baller or spoon, remove the inside of the tomato. Sprinkle insides with salt and leave upside down while preparing remaining ingredients.

Heat oil in a hot pan and saute onions and garlic for 1 minute. Add the chopped olives and capers, toss. Remove from heat and combine with remaining ingredients. Gently stuff each tomato (about 1/2 cup of filling into each tomato) and roast in a preheated 325F oven for 30 - 45 minutes until inside is hot to 165F.

    Angela Ilievski

Assistant Director D.S.

             

Jerry Carpenter

          Chef

Diverse Thought of the Week: Morrison

Each week the RDACs create a post for the blog that shares a diverse thought. For the month of March, we are going to showcase other companies that have embraced diversity as a part of their culture. In searching for companies that include diversity in their vision, one company was part of the top 10 search results: MORRISON.

Diverse Thought of the Week: Smith Crossing Thankful Tree

The thankful tree was a employee recognition and sharing of thoughts that they were thankful for during the holiday and all year round. Many interesting thoughts and conversations came from this tree and it brought the team together in sharing and delight for the season.

Diversity Activity Winner for November: Central Baptist Village

Episcopal Church Home Helps the Girl Scouts

Picture used with permission from Troop 1530 and Troop 601

Chef Darin at Episcopal Church Home hosted two girl scout groups for a night of fun and education. The girls made their own pizzas, played with fruit sushi and learned a little bit about healthy eating.

Culinary Diversity: Ethiopian Raw Cuisine

Photo by Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times

The link below describes the use of raw meats in Ethiopian Cuisine and contains many authentic recipe links down the left hand side of the article.
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-raw-meat-20110714,0,1810781.story

Diversity Activity: Episcopal Church Home

Our diversity activity for July was to identify and understand the level of diversity of our staff. There are two maps. One map in the wait station for employees to look at, compare and converse about our nine countries of origin. There is another map in the director's office that the residents look at and discuss our staff's diversity and world experiences that they bring to our team. So fun!

Diversity in the Workplace: Easier Said Than Done

http://articles.sfgate.com/2001-02-09/business/17584931_1_managing-diversity-rotary-club-rotary-international

Happy Memorial Day

Check out our Military Chefs...it's not just S.O.S. they're cookin'!

Cinco de Mayo

Since Cinco de Mayo was celebrated yesterday, many accounts have pictures of there dressed up staff and Mexican fare to be posted. At the Dominican Sisters of Peace/Mohun Health Care, the holiday was brought about in a unique way. Some of the staff members at this Columbus, Ohio account are native to Mexico: Carlos, Marina, Antonio and Jose. Director of Dining Services, Paul Burckard allowed these staff members to use their heritage and creativity to create the menu for the residents. They cooked authentic food from their own recipes and helped to write the menu in Spanish. Below is the menu and a few pictures of the festive celebration!

Chicken Fajitas

(Fajitas de Pollo)

Shrimp Fajitas

(Fajitas de Camaron)

Barbacoa Stew

(Barbacoa de Res)

Pinto Bean

(Frijoles)

Mexican Rice

(Arroz)

Chocolate Flan and Horchata

Fresh Salsas include Pico de Gallo, Salsa Roja, Salsa de Tomatillo, Ensalada de Fruta and Guacamole

Palm Sunday Celebration!

Submitted by Richard Lozada, Westminster Place, Evanston IL

PALM SUNDAY is not any given Sunday. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Passion week, when Christians look beyond Jesus's  victorious entry into Jerusalem, beyond the crowds and hosannas, to loneliness and isolation. In celebration of this event, a fruit palm tree was built and displayed for all to enjoy!

Chef in the Classroom

 Earlier this year , Michelle Obama called upon Chefs across the country to use their expertise to assist schools in promoting healthy eating. Chicago Chefs answered her call by participating in the Chef in the Classroom Day. This day is designed to help schools share lessons about healthy eating. 

 On April 5th, Richard Lozada visited Gale Math and Science Academy, a Chicago public school to discuss the benefits of fruits and vegetables with the students and did a cooking demonstration for the kids.

Villa Iron Chef Competition

Villa Iron Chef Competition

The Iron Chef competition is a contest in which the cooks and Sous-Chefs at Villa St Benedict compete to see who can be the most creative with the ingredients and time given. They have the contest to ignite culinary passion within this talented team of cooks and it provides them an opportunity to be creative and to showcase their individual talents. The contest is held every six months and the overall criteria and themes change for each competition. This contest was the Far East Edition because of the ingredients that were required, which made the contest even more interesting. They will hold another contest in the summer, so if you want to put together a similiar event at your community, contact our team at Villa St Benedict for details.

The Far East Edition

Ingredients
Shrimp, Chicken Breast, Pickled Ginger,
Wasabi, Beef Stock, Sesame Oil, Miso,
Coconut Milk, Wonton Dough,
and the Famous Asian Fish Sauce

Rules
~ Two hours to complete a three course meal consisting of
a soup, entrée, and dessert

~ All ingredients must be used, any other ingredient
in house can be used to complete your menu

~ Menus must be typed and presented professionally, the dish must match the menu description

Lent Promotion - Blackened Fish

Lent will soon be here. Don't get stuck in the trap of just serving a boring baked fish recipe every Friday. Instead, do something much more interesting. Here is the third fish recipe that we've posted for you to incorporate into your Friday menus during Lent.

Blackened Fish Recipe

1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 cup butter, melted
6 - 6oz trout fillets

Combine the spices and rub each side of the fish fillets. Heat the butter in a skillet, place fillets in the pan of hot butter. Cook for 2 minutes per side.

This recipe is great for restaurant menus and cook to order menus!

Ideas are Free at Villa St Benedict

The regional initiative from Ideas Are Free, which focuses on creating a high level of engagement with our staff, continues to be very successful at Villa St Benedict. The hourly team members have really enjoyed seeing their ideas and suggestions utlized. According to FSD Lisa Reid, the team has been very responsive when soliciting their help in solving day-to-day challenges, as well as offering up ideas on how we can provide a high level of hospitality to the residents. The staff also realizes that our utilization of their ideas have helped them to efficiently execute their roles.

Lisa stated, "This initiative has been extremely enriching for our whole team. Between the way our staff deploys their own suggestions and our management team's quick response to their ideas, our entire department has become much more engaged with each other as well. This has been great and we will continue to empower the staff to make the positive changes to improve resident satisfaction".

Lastly, they have also a created a Bright Ideas Board where each person's ideas are highlighted and recognized with a certificate from our recognition program. The staff loves to see their names in print in a positive light.

Our Transformation Journey

To achieve our bold mission to Be The Benchmark, you have heard a lot about the need for us to transform ourselves through "Innovation".

So, what does that mean? Well, I can tell you this much for sure. We have been moving quickly, so our vision for transformation requires that we all ensure the basics are in place and that everyone is completely aligned with the expectation that we are continuously moving forward. Our battle cry is that we “Get the institution out of our institutions!”

Over the past couple of years we have been working under the assumption that if we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got. I think that this much is clear and that we have been doing things differently. We are simply not going to let our systems strangle our service.

We value the need to fully engage our associates in the process of identifying solutions. Leveraging the value found in appreciating the diverse views of our employees and managing inclusive practices is a powerful approach. Implementing "Ideas Are Free" will revolutionize your teams. This approach is a key element in our ability to find new and better ways of doing things. Knowing how to solicit this insight from your associates will greatly separate the very best managers from all the rest.

As we continue to think more strategically, we will need to act with a high sense of urgency. We will further embrace the development of our culture of accountability and focus on elevating our hospitality mindset. We will be successful and our solutions will come by us all Soaring Higher Together in order to transform our operations by being innovative.

Lent Promotions - Smoked Salmon

Cedar Village's Smoked Salmon
This is a resident and community favorite. You can serve it on a display table in the dining room, on toast points or crackers as a canapé or flake into pasta with a lemon infused olive oil and capers. The possibilities are endless!

2 sides of fresh salmon, trimmed and pin bones out
1 C kosher salt
½ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
1 T black pepper
1 C Wood Chips (Cedar Village prefers the flavor profile from Alder Wood) these and other flavors are available at most sporting good stores.
2 C apple juice
Directions
Prep: In a bowl, mix together salt, sugar, brown sugar and peppercorns. Spread extra-wide aluminum foil a little longer than the length of the fish and top with an equally long layer of plastic wrap. Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the plastic. Lay 1 side of the fish skin down onto the rub. Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the flesh of the salmon. Place second side of salmon, flesh down onto the first side. Use the remaining rub to cover the skin on the top piece. Fold plastic over to cover then close edges of foil together and crimp tightly around the fish.

Place wrapped fish onto a plank or sheet pan and top with another plank or pan. Weigh with a heavy phone book or a brick or two and refrigerate for 12 hours. Flip the fish over and refrigerate another 12 hours. Some juice will leak out during the process so make sure there's a place for the runoff to gather. Unwrap fish and rinse off the cure with cold water. Pat salmon with paper towels then place in a cool, dry place (not the refrigerator) until the surface of the fish is dry and matte-like, 1 to 3 hours depending on humidity. A fan may be used to speed the process.

To Smoke: Soak the wood chips of your choice in the apple juice for 1 hour. Place salmon sides in a 2” perforated hotel pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray. Place 6” hotel pan on range top. Drain wood chips and place them on one end of the 6” pan directly over the burner. Turn burner on low heat. As the chips begin to smolder, place pan with the salmon over the chips and wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Poke a vent hole in the foil at the end opposite the chips. Smoke the fish for ½ hour to 45 minutes until the internal temperature in the thickest part is 145-150 degrees. Remove from smoke and serve immediately or cool to room temp.

What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

During our recent Jam Sessions we reviewed several key principles and insights from the book, First, Break All The Rules. Our discussion centered on what the world’s greatest managers do differently. I have received a lot of positive feedback about that session. Here is a quick review of some key points that we discussed:

Great managers have very little in common with each other. They are of different sexes, races and ages. They use vastly different styles and they focus on different goals. The world’s greatest managers do not believe that people can overcome their weaknesses or accomplish anything they set their minds to. They consistently break the Golden Rule, and yes, in the right context, great managers do play favorites. They are Revolutionaries!!

As different and diverse as they are, there is one particularly important insight that all great managers share:

“People don’t change that much. Don’t waste so much of your time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That will be hard enough.”

Great managers know that each person is true to their unique nature. They are motivated differently; they have their own way of thinking and their own way of relating to others. They are very diverse and you should capitalize on these differences to help your team members become more of who they are.

Great managers see themselves in the “Catalyst” role. They know that talented employees need great managers. They know that employees may join a company for benefit plans or the company's reputation, but they only stay because of their relationship with their manager. Talented employees need great managers. The relationship with their manager trumps the company they work for.

So, as you work to apply the principles learned from the world’s greatest managers, the most important thing you can do is to focus on identifying the right fit for each individual’s talent and develop the person in that role. Appreciate the diversity of each of your team members and make every role, performed at excellence, a respected position.

Are We Jumping on the Diversity Bandwagon? No, We Are the Wagon!

As we have been developing our region's Diversity Action Committee, I've received a number of questions about why we are focusing on Diversity and Inclusion. I know that this question isn't proposed to imply that it doesn't make sense or that it's not important. Instead, the question is being asked because many people do not understand how it will help us achieve our goals.

Here's my take on how it links to our goals and on what we will gain by focusing on Diversity and Inclusion:

* Leveraging diversity of thought is a catalyst to innovation and creativity

* Recognizing diverse opinions encourages all to help with problem solving
* Appreciating diversity helps us attract and retain the best talent
* Inclusive practices promote our Soaring Higher Together initiative
* Engaging our staff and listening to them will support Ideas Are Free
* Creates an environment that encourages team to reach their full potential

As we have discussed at our various Jam Sessions, our transformation is contingent upon our ability to innovate and execute change. Our RDAC will emphasize the link between their work and the goals we have already defined within our regional strategic plan. This focus on awareness and on leveraging diversity and inclusion will ensure that we nail our key measures on the Balanced Scorecard. We aren't just going to jump on some bandwagon, "We Are The Wagon!" This is the only way we'll achieve our region's bold mission to Be The Benchmark.

We are currently seeking more volunteers to participate as Account Ambassadors on our Regional Diversity Action Council (RDAC). This is a great opportunity to become involved in regional initiatives and to support your unit team by sharing the information and educational resources the RDAC will be developing.
Contact your RDO to volunteer today!!

A Universal View

Check out this awesome video.

The pictures are incredible as you are taken on a tour that begins

with a view of the universe and ends by depicting the power of unity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8VR8kTOdzU