Every month I give a recipe that reflects our monthly menu promotion, this month we featured our NEW Summer Tropics Menu. With a very exciting and flavorful menu we thought we would share a great pasta salad that you can make at home perfect for any summer BBQ and party!

Our Penne Pasta with Chicken is surrounded with carrots, cucumbers, celery, and chicken tossed in our refreshing Citrus Vinaigrette accented with subtle flavors of ginger and cilantro. We hope it is a great addition to your main dishes at home!

Penne Pasta w/ Chicken in a Citrus Vinaigrette

(Low-Fat)

CHICKEN PIECES:

½ lb. ½” diced chicken pieces                           Cook chicken in 325 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes.  Cut into ½” pieces.

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COOKING PASTA:

12 cups water                                                            In a pot, bring water and salt to a full boil. Add pasta and

1 tablespoon table salt                                          cook for approximately 10 minutes in boiling water

1 ¼ lbs. penne rigate pasta                                 until al dente (soft, but still firm). Immediately strain pasta

2 tablespoons canola oil                                       and flash cool in cold water. Drain water completely.

Coat pasta with oil to prevent sticking.

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VINAIGRETTE:

6 tablespoons soy sauce                                     Combine ingredients in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar                        combine.

4 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Korean teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 ½ tablespoons orange juice concentrate

1 ½ tablespoons chili garlic sauce

1 tablespoon finely minced ginger

1 tablespoon finely minced orange zest

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ASSEMBLY:

2 cups shredded carrots                                                        Combine ingredients and mix to evenly coat with dressing.

1 cup quartered – ¼” diced cucumbers                          Allow to marinate for 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and

1 cup ¼” diced celery                                                             pepper.

½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Vinaigrette

cooked penne rigate pasta

cooked chicken pieces

Yields approximately 12 cups

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This year we moved Strawberry month from May to June. One of our most popular salads requested is Strawberry Fields Tossed Salad with Caramelized Walnuts. I thought I would share this recipe so that is can be strawberry month every month at your house. Enjoy!!

Strawberry Fields w/ Caramelized Walnuts

Caramelized Walnuts:

2 cups water

½ cup ¼” diced walnut pieces

2 Tablespoons white sugar

Boil water. Add walnuts and cook for 30 seconds. Strain the walnuts. Combine walnuts and sugar in a bowl. Stir to coat. Place sugar covered walnuts on a sheet pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 8 – 10 minutes or until golden brown. Yields ½ cup.

Strawberry Fields w/ Caramelized Walnuts dressing:

1 ½ lbs. sweetened frozen strawberries

2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon Kosher salt

¾ teaspoon black pepper

¾ cup canola oil

Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend. Yields 4 cups.

Strawberry Fields w/ Caramelized Walnuts tossed salad:

4 cups chopped romaine lettuce

4 cups mesculin mixed lettuce

1 cup ¼” sliced strawberries

½ cup caramelized walnuts

½ cup shredded carrots

½ cup ¼” sliced red onions

½ cup black raisins

½ cup Strawberry Fields w/ Caramelized Walnut dressing

Combine ingredients in a bowl and toss until evenly coated with dressing.

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Thanks to everyone that entered our Berry Blog Contest.

Congrats to our two winners Zoe Abrahams and Denese Thomas.

Keep coming back to our blog to see upcoming promotions, recipes, fun stuff and more contests!!

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On March 23 we hosted our Kitchen Cabinet meeting. We were happy to have such a dynamic group that joined us at our corporate office. Below are a few comments from our KC members

“I was honored to be the lone representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Sweet Tomatoes (ST) contingent.  I met some great folks along the way and came back with a refreshing new view of what ST is all about.  Obviously I liked the restaurant before the trip, but being there at corporate headquarters and talking to their wonderful staff, sampling great new dishes, and helping out with their upcoming promotions and concepts made me even more of a fan!  I frequent ST usually after working out and/or running 5k’s.  It’s a great place for healthy eating, so the next time you want to refuel without feeling guilty, go to your local ST!  My site of choice is Pleasanton and they do a great job keeping everything fresh and clean.  Thanks to Tracy, Jill, and Adrienne for making us all feel welcome during our short trip to San Diego!  Keep up the good work and I will continue to be a very active promoter of ST!!”

-          Misa, Danville, CA

One of our Kitchen Cabinet members has her own blog and wrote about us! Connie from Florida writes at http://brainfoggles.com.  Connie’s recent blog was on her visit to our corporate office, here’s what she had to say:

We were on our way to Garden Fresh, all strangers in anticipation of what was to come.  We were met by smiling faces and welcomed into the office, where we learned the test kitchen is located. No wonder everyone is so happy there! After a tour of the office, we introduced ourselves and then played Jenga with questions to get to know each other better. It was a fun ice-breaker game.

Read more at http://brainfoggles.com/2010/03/28/souplantationsweet-tomatoes-treated-me-like-royalty

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Our most popular lemon dish – Summer Lemon with Spiced Pecans Tossed Salad – will disappear at the end of April, but never fear you can enjoy it all year long with this simple recipe.

Dressing- Yields 5 cups

• 3 cups Mayonnaise- whole egg
• 2 cups Lemonade Concentrate
• 2 ½ TBLS Dijon Mustard

Combine ingredients and whisk until smooth. Season to taste with sugar.

Spiced Pecans

• 1 ¼ cups ¼” Diced Pecans
• ¼ lb Butter or margarine
• 2 TBLS White Sugar
• ¾ tsp Ground Cumin
• ½ tsp Table Salt
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Melt butter in pan. Add sugar, cumin, salt, cayenne pepper. Heat until bubbling and sugar dissolves. Immediately add pecans and stir to coat. Spread pecans on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until brown and toasted.

Salad

• 4 cups Chopped Romaine
• 2 cups Spring Mix Lettuce
• ½ cup Spiced Pecans
• ½ cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
• ½ cup Diced Craisins
• ½ cup Lemon Vinaigrette

Combine ingredients and toss and ENJOY!!

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If you’ve been in the restaurant the past two weeks you might have tried our Mandarin Spinach Tossed Salad with Caramelized Walnuts. We change our menu every two weeks to ensure all our guests get a great variety all month long. We now have our very popular Classic Greek Tossed Salad at all the locations. If you love the Mandarin Spinach and want more, try it at home with the recipe below. Enjoy!!

Mandarin Spinach w/ Caramelized Walnut

Caramelized Walnuts:

2 cups water

1cup ¼” diced walnut pieces walnuts

3 Tablespoons white sugar

Boil water. Add walnuts and cook for 40 seconds. Strain the walnuts. Combine walnuts and sugar in a bowl. Stir to coat. Place sugar covered walnuts on a sheet pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 8 – 10 minutes or until golden brown.

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Dressing:

2 cups canola oil                                                              1 ¼ cups fresh orange juice

1 cup white sugar                                                             6 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 Tablespoons white wine vinegar                           1 Tablespoon Spanish paprika

1 Tablespoon table salt

Combine ingredients and whisk to thoroughly dissolve the sugar

Yields approximately 4 ¾ cups.

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Mandarin Spinach w/ Caramelized Walnut tossed salad:

8 cups chopped spinach

1 ½ cups Mandarin oranges

1 cup caramelized walnuts

¼ cup ¼” diced red onions

3/8 cup dressing

Combine ingredients and toss until evenly coated with dressing.

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One of the most exciting aspects of working in a restaurant headquarters are “cuttings.” Cuttings happen in our corporate test kitchen and are held whenever we are trying new conceptual menu items or making a change to a current recipe.

For example, this fall our chicken stock vendor discontinued their product, therefore we needed to source a new product, batch each and every recipe and make sure the taste and quality were consistent with the original. That means for two straight months we had soup for lunch at least twice a week!

This process is fun because it often builds internal excitement for new products, and often gives our local Club Veg guests the chance to come into our office for tasting panel focus groups. It’s interesting to see how such a small difference in an ingredient or spice level can change the taste of a menu item.

Our criteria for any recipe change is to make it as good or better than the original. We have a high bar and let our guests decide if we’ve reached it.

After internal cuttings and guest tasting panels are done, we analyze the data and send the recipe to the restaurant for in-store testing.

Restaurant testing is usually done in three regions across the 15 states we are located in. The guests will be notified via signage (see above) that it is a test recipe and are asked on a comment card if the recipe should stay or go. Guests base their opinions on taste and appearance. If the vast majority of guests agree it’s as good or better than the original, we roll it out to the entire company!

Just a sneak peek, no opinions have been collected yet, but our most recent test is no-sugar-added gingerbread muffins. Keep an eye out for this future menu item if our guests like it.

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I’m Mike, the culinary manager at the corporate office for Souplantation / Sweet Tomatoes. On a daily basis I work on new and returning recipes to find the latest, greatest and tastiest way to serve our guests in the restaurant. Whether is it adding or removing a teaspoon of a certain ingredient, one small change can make all the difference. Each month, I’ll be posting a popular recipe for you to try to make at home.

In celebration of potatoes and our menu in February, this month’s recipe is Golden Yam Bisque. If you don’t feel like making it at home, it will be in the restaurants from February 15 –February 28. Come try it out!

Golden Yam Bisque

2 ¼ cups ¼” diced red onion                                     In a pot, combine ingredients and sauté for 5

2 Tablespoons butter                                                     minutes.

2 Teaspoons minced garlic

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6 cups water                                                                      Add ingredients to pot. Bring to a boil and reduce

12 cups ½” diced peeled yams (3 lbs)                     heat to a simmer. Simmer until yams are tender.

1 ¼ cups frozen corn                                                       Remove bay leaves. With a handheld blender,

3 ½ Tablespoons vegetable base                             blend soup to puree. Leave small pieces of yams.

2 Teaspoons dried thyme leaves

2 Teaspoons Kosher salt

½ Teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves

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¾ cup heavy cream                                                         Add to pot and stir. Season to taste with salt and

2 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley                   pepper.

Yields approximately 10 cups – serves about 8 people!

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Two of the most common questions we hear are:
Can I get the recipe for Joan’s Broccoli Madness? And Is Joan a real person?

The answer to both is YES!

A little background.  My name is Joan Scharff and I am the executive director of brand and menu strategy for GFR. As part of my job (and what we’ve put together in my 19 years with GFR), we love creating new recipes to bring to our Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants.

The recipe for Joan’s Broccoli Madness is one I had from a friend and brought to GFR six years ago.  I played around with the ingredients a bit to incorporate my own style and after adding it to our menu, Joan’s Broccoli Madness quickly became a guest favorite.

We’ve kept it in the restaurant ever since and just recently, we’ve started selling Joan’s Broccoli Madness kits in select warehouse stores on the West Coast (and hopefully soon nationwide).

We rarely make this recipe public, but right before Super Bowl we thought it’d make a great side dish for the big game!

Here’s the recipe…

Serves 6-8.
1 bunch uncooked broccoli*
½ cup crumbled cooked bacon
½ cup cashews
1/3 cup raisins
¼ cup chopped red onions
 
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix the first five ingredients in a large bowl.
In a second bowl, beat dressing ingredients together gently until smooth.
Toss the salad with the dressing approximately 10 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld. Serve on chilled salad dishes.

*The broccoli is a loose guideline: often people have to make it a few times before they get it just the way they like it.

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