Juicing, Canyons, and Lots of Talking - Texas Tech

Texas Tech University

Carolyn Greene

Hello again!  This post is coming a little late due to a busy, eventful week, which has left us all rather tired over the weekend.  So much has happened, that I can't believe it hasn't even been an entire month since we got here!  At the same time, I'm realizing that we're creeping up on the half way mark of this internship, and I already know the next few weeks will pass in the blink of an eye,  I really look forward to everything I'll experience before the end!

Delicious Sidenote: Chef Dewey
made us lunch one afternoon!

Let me back track a little bit before I go on - I realized I never explained our capstone project for the internship, which is a major part of what we are doing as interns.  Our goal for our time at Texas Tech is actually to help convert one of the existing dining locations, Hulen-Clement, into a gluten-free facility, to accommodate the rather large population of individuals with Celiac's Disease or gluten intolerance.  We have been asked to develop eight recipes that could be used in the dining hall, calculate the food cost of the recipes, and scale it to 60 servings.  Another component of the task is to develop an in-service to properly train the employees working at Hulen-Clement, and to organize a special event for the grand re-opening of the facility.  So much is going into this project, and it's amazing how much I have learned in just a short week about large scale food service!

Last week was an interesting week in the office.  We spent most of the time working with the resident dietitian, Mindy, but had a few afternoons working with Chef Dewey in the test kitchen.  

First course of action: we all finished and turned in our Wellness Wednesday blog write ups.  This morning, I found out my write up was posted on the blog!  Go HERE to read about Summer Fitness Fuel!

Most of the office work was actually recipe development and learning how to navigate and use the US Foods ordering guides.  One of the major challenges of purchasing for gluten-free diets is just being able to find the ingredients necessary for our recipes.  If we were lucky enough to find the ingredient, the product on US Foods would be cost-prohibitive, and would not be a sustainable addition to the Hulen-Clement menu.  I can fully appreciate the work foodservice managers do when working on the collegiate and university level!  It's such hard work!

We were fortunate enough to get some time in the test kitchen last week, which was a dream come true for all of us future registered dietitians.  In addition to our capstone project recipes, Chef Dewey and Mindy gave us the task of coming up with a few recipes for fresh pressed juices to be sold on campus.  We had free reign of the test kitchen on Tuesday afternoon, and we concocted four delicious juices, most of which had leafy greens and other nutrient rich fruits and vegetables.  I really hope a few of the recipes goes into production in the fall!

We also tested some gluten-free cookie recipes.
Let's just say we nixed the ideas and they will not
be going into production.

On Wednesday, we filmed a Smart Choices video about Sugar Sweetened Beverages.  I already have the WORST stage fright, but apparently I'm worse in front of a camera - I was so nervous, hands shaking, heart racing, probably red in the face too.  I'm so glad it's over and while I'm terrified to see the final product, I'm also so glad I can say I have this experience in my arsenal now.  

To break the monotony of the classic 9-4 that we've been used to, Mindy asked us to help with various events outside the office.  Last week was Red Raider Orientation (RRO).  Clubs and organizations tabled at the rec center, so Hospitality of course had a nutrition table, which we all got to work at on either Tuesday or Thursday.  Emma and I got to table on Thursday, and we basically talked to incoming freshman about nutrition and making healthy choices on campus for two hours.  On Friday, we tabled at a Health and Safety fair for the Physical Plant, and gave our schpeils about healthier snack options and portion control, and handed out fliers to the men and women who came by our table.  I'm starting to realize that my favorite activities are face-to-face encounters with people who are interested to hear about their health.  It's such a rewarding experience!

On Sunday, we kicked off the new week with a bang at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park!  I'm so used to mountains and valleys, since Virginia Tech is located in a small valley in Southwest Virginia, so the rough, arid beauty of the canyons was just incredible to see.  We drove up to the park, and went about halfway into one of the more difficult hikes, and I got so many beautiful photos of the scenery and wildlife.  When I get the chance, I would love to make another trip out there and hike some more before I head back to Virginia!

We made a little lizard friend!

I didn't notice the cricket till I had the photo opened on my computer!

Alright ya'll - it's time to bring this to a close.  A few things have already happened this week, but I'll save it for the next post!  Stay tuned!