Assassin Force Academy: Lightsaber Power Cell

[Anim07734]

Lightsaber Components:

Power Cell

Power cells are common throughout the galaxy, finding use in everything from weapons to appliances and droids to starships.  While power cells can be charged quickly with a wall charger, a more personal connection is achieved if the Padawan or Acolyte carries it on their person and allows it to charge from the latent power of the Force around them.

Each Padawan or Acolyte who wishes to charge their own power cell may perform the task below:

To properly charge your power cell, you must properly fuel your body.  This requires forethought and planning prior to the meal and analysis and reflection following it.  To fully charge your power cell, you must post four separate recipes and a review for each.

HOW TO PLAY:

 

• If you have not already Chosen Your Allegiance, please use the link to do so.  A Guild Leader will assign you a faction at their earliest opportunity (allow at least 24 hours). Check the sheets (Jedi Padawan and Sith Acolytes) to see where you have been assigned.

• If you have not completed your Initiation, please do so before starting this component.

• A datasheet for this component can be found here. Find your name (under your faction).

  • Submissions should consist of a recipe and a review and be posted in this thread (or elsewhere and a link provided in this thread).

  • Each recipe must contain at least one vegetable, of the submitter’s choice.

  • The submitter is not required to be the taste tester for a submission, so long as the complete recipe is included, an honest assessment is provided, and the post is the submitter’s own work.

  • Partial submissions are NOT permitted.  However, if you run into time constraints, you may post the recipe and review in separate posts; do not score the submission until both parts have been posted.

  • All submissions must be performed during this mini-challenge period (cooked and tasted).  Submissions from previous posts may not be counted UNLESS the recipe is repeated and the review updated during this mini-challenge.

  • Submissions used for this component may not be counted towards progress in any other portion of this mini-challenge (such as bonus challenges).

  • Each Padawan or Acolyte will be awarded their power cell once they reach their individual goal, and earn their faction 1 point.  An individual’s percent completion may go past 100%, for purposes of earning the weekly bonus (see below).

• BONUS:  At a random time each week (5 times throughout the challenge), the individual with the highest PERCENT complete FOR THE WEEK (most progress) will be awarded an overcharged power cell.  This award may only be earned once, and will pass to the second highest, and so on, if necessary in later weeks.

This mini-challenge lasts until March 11th!

 

>>Charge Your Power Cell<<

 

Normal Mini-Challenge Rules:

 

- Mini-challenges are not mandatory, feel free to ignore this one if you don't want to participate. Don't let mini-challenges hinder your own goals.

 

- If you're not sure how to register something, post it here.

 

- Keep it simple!

 

- Don't hurt yourself!

 

Assassins, remember to be safe and have fun!

[Darth Yoga]

Ooh! Perfect timing! Here is my first one.

 

Recipe: Beet Smoothie

I just made it, and it is awesome. I made half this recipe, because I've got a tiny 2-cup blender. So I'd call this two servings. In a blender, combine:

• a can of unsalted beets, with their liquid (all together, a little under 2 cups)
• a big scoop of unflavored whey powder (about 1/3 cup - around 30g protein) 
• 1/2 cup quick-cook rolled oats
• 1.5 cups whole milk (approximately... I just put as much as fit in the blender)

For a smoother consistency, leave it in the fridge overnight (after blending) so the oats can soften, and give it a quick shake or blend before drinking.

 

I just had a taste tonight, but I'll already give it a gold star. I had thought the liquid from the beets would give it too much of an earthy beety taste, but actually I like it. I love beets.

 

I had tried it yesterday making a single serving with a full can of beets (drained) and enough milk to bring it up to a little over 2c. It was too thick to just drink. Even without the oats, it needed a spoon. I like this new recipe better, even if making a single serving leaves me with a half-can of beets.

 

[Maeghaan]

Cheesy chicken pepper no-pasta

 

Ingredients:

About 1.5 lbs chicken (breast or boneless skinless thighs, your pick)

2T olive oil

2 large bell peppers

1 small or 1/2 large white onion

6 cloves of garlic (be warned, I am a garlic fiend :D )

Salt and pepper to taste

(Optional) Crushed red pepper to taste

(Optional) Sriracha to taste

(Optional) Alfredo sauce

 

Heat your olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Slice your chicken into more or less bite sized chunks (I like for my chicken to be softly frozen when cutting, thawed in the fridge for a while before use). Salt and pepper the chicken to your taste and cook it in the pan until no pink is visible. While the chicken is cooking, chop your cloves of garlic. As mentioned, I like garlic, so I use a lot and it's a pretty rough mince as I don't mind chunks. Add garlic to the pan, and crushed red pepper if using, and stir a bit. Chop your onion - I like half-rings, but chunks are also fine. I add this and let it cook a while, as onion that isn't cooked thoroughly gives me heartburn from hell, but if you like your onion a bit more crisp feel free to not wait as long. Slice your bell peppers (again, I like half-rings. I don't do pasta, but I kind of like to simulate eating pasta with lots of long slices of veggies). Once veggies have hit level of desired cook, remove from heat and add either sriracha or Alfredo sauce (Sriracha is delicious, but I do keto instead of paleo so the more cheesy goodness I can get in my food the better ). I had it with Alfredo tonight, and it really hit my pasta craving I was suffering tonight just right. Delicious for the garlic and/or cheese addicts. Since I'm both, it worked out really well

[SnowOwl]

Do we need to cook the recipe ourselves or can any family member do the cooking?

[Rhyme]

Hang on, I have a gardening goal! Check back with me in a couple months.

[Trewest]

You guys are going to love this recipe experience, trust me.

 

--> I saw the link floating around for spicy peanut butter and thought 'hey, my currently dreadfully sick husband would LOVE that, and it might help perk up his appetite'. (yes, I honestly thought this was a good idea, please stop laughing at me).

 

--> I am too impatient to order the professionally made and recipe tested version, but I have organic peanut butter at home and a plethora of hot sauces, as well as crushed habanero flakes, jalapeno, these strange little black/red peppers that are death etc... (whatever could go wrong with this approach right???)

 

--> I was smart enough to try a small batch first because I was trying to figure out what would be the best flavour combination. So I did a row of 6 types to try : A- habanero flake peanut butter B- cayenne powder peanut butter C- ghost pepper hot sauce peanut butter D- Jalapeno/tequila hot sauce peanut butter E- jerk spice hot sause peanut butter F- frank's red hot sriracha hot sause peanut butter 

 

--> I am an idiot

 

--> I am an idiot who should not be trusted around food without ACTUAL recipes guiding me.

 

--> I am an idiot who tried the habanero flake peanut butter first.

 

--> do you know the only thing worse about eating food that's too spicy for you? Eating food that's too spicy for you and IS STUCK TO THE ROOF OF YOUR MOUTH

 

--> By the time I scraped the napalm out of my mouth, my husband was wheezing from coughing and laughing at me. He had walked in to just see the set up and my tears and somehow figured out what I had done to myself.

 

-->I am an idiot for trying it, the recipe (if you can call it that) was a fail, but at least I made my very sick husband feel better by making him laugh at me. True love.

 

Recipe of DO NOT MAKE THIS IF YOU TREASURE YOUR MOUTH

 

2 tbsp organic, creamy peanut butter

1 tsp ground, home grown habanero pepper flakes, including seeds

Blend until it looks disgustinly combined

EAT AND SOB.

[Darth Yoga]

-->I am an idiot for trying it, the recipe (if you can call it that) was a fail, but at least I made my very sick husband feel better by making him laugh at me. True love.

 

<3    <3

[Plitog]

 

--> do you know the only thing worse about eating food that's too spicy for you? Eating food that's too spicy for you and IS STUCK TO THE ROOF OF YOUR MOUTH

 

 

Hmmm... you are an assassin... do you have any enemies (or unloved in-laws) coming over for dinner in the near future?

[Spear Warrior]

Thyme is on my side - Meat soup recipe

 

Ingredients:

Meat - half as much as the other ingredients? I almost never measure exact amounts, and use what seems enough.

2 big potatoes

2-3 carrots

Some leek

1 mushroom

Thyme

Broth or boullion cubes (I use about 1 cube per 2 dl water, but that may differ with cube size). If I have broth I use that, and add water.

8-10 dl water/broth.

 

Dice the vegetables, boil the water with boullion cubes or broth. Cut the meat into smallish pieces, dice it if it is boneless.

Put everything into the water. Season with thyme to taste. Let it simmer.

 

Do a full body workout. The longer the better. When you are done your soup is ready. Eat.

 

Review:

It's awesome. I always cook enough for at least two days, and think it's going to last three. It never does. It's quite easily reheated too.

The longer it cooks, the more taste gets mixed into the water.

If you need some carbs you can serve some garlic buttered baguettes at the side.

 

I did not get to make this today, but I got to take something even more awesome home from work. Bidos, a (or perhaps the) Sami traditional course. Reindeer stew. Pretty much the same ingredients, with some flour and butter for thickness.

[Spear Warrior]

Unintentional double post...

[Trewest]

Hmmm... you are an assassin... do you have any enemies (or unloved in-laws) coming over for dinner in the near future?

 

April Fool's Day approaches and I am sure I can convert this monstrosity into deadly homemade recess pieces. I am the devil.

[shaar]

YAAAAASS making sesame chicken with soba noodles this weekend for the first time!  Will report back!! ^__________^

[Jonesy]

I'm not great at recipes but here is one of my favorite sides.

 

I'm having this for lunch today. I've frozen this, not for long (Max a few days) but a little butter after it defrosts and gets reheated is not too bad. 

 

Mashed Cauliflower

 

Ingredients

1 Large Head of Cauliflower steamed

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1T Olive Oil

1/2 C Sour Cream*

1 - 2 C Warm Almond Milk - depends on the consistency you want

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional - Chives on top

 

Directions

1. Steam Cauliflower

2. Saute garlic cloves using the olive oil

3. Dry off the cauliflower as best as you can. Put the cauliflower & sour cream in a food processor and process until that sucker is mashed. Add in the warm almond milk as it blends. Depending on how you like your garlic, you can either add in at this step or wait until the end and mix it in without processing it down to mash. Add salt and pepper at this time.

4. Serve topped with chives

I was surprised how much I liked this. Now it doesn’t taste like mashed potatoes exactly, nothing can beat those, but it’s pretty darn close. I've also experimented with adding different spices. I've added in curry and that was amazing! I've also sprinkled chili powder in it for a nice kick.

 

 

 

*I've been told you can add Greek yogurt as a substitute but I've never tried it.

[Anim07734]

Yes, you have to be the cook, or at least assistant cook, for your submissions.  Sorry, but you're not building life skills if someone else does the work for you.

 

You've got ~5weeks to post 4 recipes, though, so there's time to experiment.

[Happienumber]

I'm excited to start this. Feeding myself isn't part of my main challenge this month but it's a major week point, so i'm glad for a mini challenge to work on

[Darth Yoga]

Recipe #2: Overstuffed Eggs (spinach-enhanced deviled eggs)

 

- 4 hardboiled eggs

- 1c frozen chopped spinach, kale, or other greens. (Probably 2c if fresh, 1/2c cooked.) 

- 1-2T mayo or other neutral food-lubricant (greek yogurt would be good)

- salt and seasoning to taste. 

 

1) I "hardboil" eggs in the electric vegetable steamer, a dozen at a time, and leave them in the fridge unpeeled. Since they are older eggs, they peel beautifully, especially after a day or two. (Our chickens give us 2-4 eggs a day in winter, so we buy cases of 5 dozen discount eggs. We eat a lot of eggs. But freshly laid hardboiled eggs are miserable to peel.)

2) Cook/thaw the greens. I put 1c frozen kale in the microwave for 2 minutes. If it is whole fresh greens, cut it small before cooking. (I used frozen pre-chopped kale, and I would have liked mine minced up smaller, but not enough to get out a knife and cutting board. If you have a food processor handy, you could mix all the filling in that.)

2b) Depending on the type of greens, you might need to squeeze out any excess liquid or the filling will be wet and drippy. (Spinach is very wet. Kale not so much.)

3) Peel the eggs, cut in half lengthwise & remove yolks.

4) Mash up the yolks with a fork. Mix in half of the greens, and decide if you want to add the rest. 

5) Add mayo or sour cream or greek yogurt or mashed cottage cheese, or whatever, to bind it and moisten the yolk.

6) Season to taste. Paprika is classic. Garlic would be good. If your binder isn't sour, you might put a touch of lemon juice in it. Maybe something spicy if you are into that. Because it is a topping for the egg whites, it should have a fairly strong flavor.

7) Spoon out roughly even amounts of yolk int the whites. With 1/2 cup cooked greens, they are definitely overstuffed.

 

This was my lunch today, made with kale. They came out pretty awesome. Since I often eat these as a meal, and I'm trying to include substantial veggies in every meal, these are likely going to be my standard deviled eggs. I'll try them with greek yogurt. Someone who was more of a reluctant greens-eater should definitely use less greens, because the ratio of greens to yolk is more than most folks would be okay with.

 

[Lightning]

Quick and Hearty Soup

 

1 Oscar Meyer Selects Italian Sausage (has no nitates or fillers)

2 cups of shredded cabbage

1 small onion 

2 celery stalks

1/2 cup of frozen spinach

6 cups of bone broth (or a combo of bone broth and low sodium chicken stock)

 

Chop the veggies and put them in a stock pot.  Slice the entire sausage/kielbasa into bite size pieces and toss them into the pot too. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the stock or broth & stock combo and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid.  Let it cook for 15 minutes.  That's it!

 

My husband wasn't sure he would like this then said we should have homemade soup every week.     I added a little siracha in mine and was super tasty.

 

[Lightning]

Today was a food prep day so here is what I had for lunch...

 

Bacon makes it Better Coleslaw

 

5 cups of shredded cabbage or a combo of cabbage and carrot

3 Tbsp of light Mayo (I like Smart Balance because No-GMO)

1 Tbsp of cider vinegar

1 Tbsp of honey mustard or spicy chipotle mustard and 1 packet of stevia

3 pieces of crispy bacon (crumbled)

 

 

Toss it all together in a bowl and let it sit for a couple of hours.  The longer you can wait the better the flavors and the cabbage becomes more tender. 

 

I had this with some leftover chicken but think it would taste awesome-r with a (bunless) cheeseburger sitting on top of a pile of the slaw.  I used chipotle mustard and a little stevia because I'm trying to avoid sugar/honey.  The combo of bacon and chipotle is kind of fantastic so I recommend trying it this way if you can find the mustard.

 

[Trewest]

Recipe 2 of the Trewest household:

1 cup black beans (canned)

1 cup chopped green peppers

1 cup red peppers

1 cup diced onions

1.5 lbs ground beef.

Put beans in frying pan start cooking.

Put veggies in pan add beans start to soften, cook.

Add meat when veggies start sweating.

Grill all together until meat is cooked.

I like to toss that into s tortilla with avocado and eat add a burrito.

I lie it but I like pretty much anything in a tortilla. Husband calls it 'protein paste in wrap'

Not sure if that means he likes it or not.

[dancezwithkittehz]

Dancezwithkittehz Recipe #1 --  Baked Eggs

 

I recently discovered baked eggs as an awesome protein and veggies option to take for lunches. You can really vary this a lot with what veggies/mixers you throw in.

 

You need:

 

Ramekins (I think my ones I've been using are 10oz & they fit 2 eggs each.)

Eggs (depending on size of ramekins you'll need 1-2 per ramekin)

Veggies to mix in, last round I used spinach and some TJs broccoli slaw stuff

 

Optional add in bonuses:

Meat -  I like protein to go with my protein. I used chopped roasted pork loin this time

cheese

half n half or cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 300F or 350F. I find the 350 one to cook too fast and make it hard to get really liquidy yolks

 

2. Grease/oil your ramekins to keep your eggs etc from sticking. Put all of your ramekins onto a rimmed baking sheet for ease of getting them in & out of the oven. I usually cook up 4 ramekins at once and you could make more or less per your needs/size of your oven!

 

3. Add eggs and mixings in whatever combination you like for prettyness & or whatever way you think would be tastiest. I like to put a little meat and veggie on the bottom, throw in the eggs (carefully to not break the yolks), then put in a splash of half n half and salt and pepper, then add another sprinkling of meat and veggies on top and then top with shredded cheese or sliced cheese etc.

 

4. Put in oven. Bake until desired doneness.  15 minutes at 350 resulted in mostly hard cooked yolks and I was le sad. Last time before that when I cooked them at 300 they took longer but I was able to cook until delightlful degree of squidgy oozy yolk nomness. (I like liquidy egg yolk. SO MUCH.) I sadly don't remember exactly how much time that took. I like to check them every 10 min or so, and give the pan a wiggle and see how done they are. My preferred degree of done is when the whites aren't too jiggly but I can still see that the yolk is nice and soft and jiggly.

 

My last go of these for 15 minuts at 350 was good, but not ideal yolks were too hard and made the dish too dry for my tastes. I also used spinach which is a pretty "dry" topping and didn't help with liquidyness. I think it was also a mistake that I scrambled one egg and then added in one egg with unbroken yolk. I was hoping this would create some magical soft center of yolk to go all over everything when it was done...and it may have had I not cooked it as long? But the scrambled part ALSO poofed up like a souffle and just was not the texture I was looking for in this. Sads.  Still good, but not AMAZING and I am a foody dork soo...yeah.

[Starstuff]

Starstuff recipe #1 - Easy, Cheesy, and Gooey Chicken & Broccoli

 

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. cooked chicken thigh meat, chopped or shredded
• 1 1/2 cups steamed or reheated frozen broccoli
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese (the recipe I based this on calls for nonfat, but I used the full fat kind)
• Hot sauce to taste
• 2 oz. guacamole or mashed avocado

Mix the chicken, broccoli, cottage cheese, and hot sauce together in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, then mix in the avocado/guacamole.

 

This is a variation on a cold chicken and cottage cheese recipe I saw on reddit, and I wasn't sure how it would work hot, but I wanted to try anyway, since I'm always looking for healthier ways to get my gooey cheese fix. When I first took it out of the microwave, I thought I'd made a huge mistake, because it seemed pretty watery, but adding the mashed avocado and letting it sit a minute thickened it right up. It's still very gooey (spoon absolutely required, here), but the broccoli adds just the right amount of texture.

[Toxophilite]

It's still very gooey

You say that like it's a bad thing

[Starstuff]

You say that like it's a bad thing

 

Oh, definitely not. Gooey is excellent, just messy!

[Lightning]

Starstuff recipe #1 - Easy, Cheesy, and Gooey Chicken & Broccoli

 

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. cooked chicken thigh meat, chopped or shredded
• 1 1/2 cups steamed or reheated frozen broccoli
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese (the recipe I based this on calls for nonfat, but I used the full fat kind)
• Hot sauce to taste
• 2 oz. guacamole or mashed avocado

Mix the chicken, broccoli, cottage cheese, and hot sauce together in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, then mix in the avocado/guacamole.

 

This is a variation on a cold chicken and cottage cheese recipe I saw on reddit, and I wasn't sure how it would work hot, but I wanted to try anyway, since I'm always looking for healthier ways to get my gooey cheese fix. When I first took it out of the microwave, I thought I'd made a huge mistake, because it seemed pretty watery, but adding the mashed avocado and letting it sit a minute thickened it right up. It's still very gooey (spoon absolutely required, here), but the broccoli adds just the right amount of texture.

Totally making this! Anything with cheese and avocado AND hot sauce has to be amazing. Plus I bet it pairs well with rice and I have a house full of grain-eaters.

[Grayspeed]

Epic green smoothie

Vague measurements because I'm a crazy rebel who doesn't follow the rules.

• 1 banana (frozen)
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon plain cashew nuts (ish, I just grabbed a few)
• 2(ish) handfuls of spinach - as much as I can fit in really.
• 1.5 (ish) cups plain soya milk
• 2 tablespoons(ish) pre-chopped frozen ginger (I like a lot of ginger)

Terrible lighting...

Taste test - pretty damn good. Wish I had some coconut milk in it though..