4th Work Food Swap

Last week, a co-worker asked if I could organize a food swap.  I said sure.  We choose to do the swap today.  

1st Work Food Swap

2nd Work Food Swap

3rd Work Food Swap

Last night, I made my homemade mac n' cheese.  It's so yummy and a crowd favorite.

I purchased some containers the other day from the dollar tree to use for my swap items.

We had 8 participants today.  One lady was unable to attend, due to an emergency.  

We like to do an even trade so everyone gets to take home each item.  It spares hurt feelings and makes everyone happy to get one of everything.

Here's the table full of goodies.  Before we dug in we each took a turn explaining what we made and why.  :)

Here's my mac n' cheese.  :)

Sam, made 'Chicken and Quinoa soup. 

Recipe:

Chicken and Quinoa Soup

Ingredients

·         1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, all visible fat discarded, cut into 1-inch cubes

·         4 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth

·         1 large onion, chopped

·         3/4 cup water

·         1 medium carrot, sliced

·         3 large garlic cloves, minced

·         1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

·         1 medium dried bay leaf

·         1/4 teaspoon pepper

·         1/3 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed well under cold running water and drained

·         2 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and sliced diagonally

Preparation

1.      In a large saucepan, stir together the chicken, broth, onion, water, carrot, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 5 minutes.

2.      Stir in the quinoa. Cook for 5 minutes.

3.      Stir in the peas. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and the chicken is no longer pink in the center. Discard the bay leaf before serving the soup.

4.      Cook’s Tip: Look for quinoa near the rice and other grains in the supermarket. Unless you buy prewashed quinoa, rinse it in a fine strainer under cold running water until the water runs clear. This is done to remove the bitter coating called saponin.

Sharon, made to die for.....chocolate chip cookie dough.  OMG......this stuff is addicting.

Yeah...we scraped the bottom of the bowl.  haha  :)  I think this would be awesome with using M&M's or even crushed up Oreo's.  Mix it up and make it your own.

Sue, made her Grandma's chow chow.  So yummy.  I liked it on a triscuit.

Deirdre, made deviled eggs with her Mom's recipe.  (I didn't get a picture of the eggs uncovered).  These were very good.  Deirdre, said the secret to them is "celery salt".  She used a little mayo, sugar, paprika and celery salt.

The eggs didn't last long.....haha

Gayle, made a Southwest Chicken Chili.  It's a family favorite.  It was really good.  She served it with little buttermilk cornbread muffins.

Stacy, is doing '100 days of real food' with her family.  She has this book, and she's made some of the recipes.  She made popcorn using organic popcorn kernels in a brown paper bag.  It was awesome!!!  Who knew you could do this in a brown paper bag?  It's so much healthier than those microwavable popcorn packages.

Stacy, gave each of us a Mint plant from her garden.

Stacy, also gave me 2 plants as a hostess gift for organizing the swap.  The one on the left is my mint.  The middle is a brown-eyed susan and the one on the right is lambs ear.  They are perennials so they will come back every year.  :)

We had fun and we can't wait to do another food swap.