2nd week Cooking Class menu

2 nd Week cooking class menu:

June 24 Review how to set a place setting

Review what they learned from each day.

Monday – B’fast

Toast Toppers/Orange Julius

Tuesday dessert

Dirt Cake, prepare frozen fruit pops

Wednesday snack

Mango Quesadillas/ eat frozen pops – SCHOOL CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING

Thursday Salad, sort of-

MANGO QUESADILLAS

Friday- Purple Cow Jumped Over the Moon

Recipe for Frozen Fruit Cups

1 cup diced watermelon

1cup diced strawberries

1cup diced pineapple

1 cup diced kiwi

Combine all fruit. Put into a 5 oz. paper cup. Add orange juice to the cup. Put a craft stick in the center. The fruit is so thick, it will stand up on it's own. Place in freezer for about 2 hours. Enjoy!

The recipe for the Purple Cow Jumped Over the Moon:

3 cups vanilla ice cream

1 cup milk

1/2 cup thawed frozen grape juice concentrate

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice.

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend to desired consistency.

Cooking Class

I started a fun, new adventure last week: I'm teaching cooking classes to young students between the grades of 2 and 6. It happened quickly. As I was leaving the city for the weekend, I received the call and the classes were beginning on Monday. Well, trailmix was a shoe in for the first day. The second day, I pulled out my very first cookbook to make a salad! Naturally the children were like, yuck!
And when I told them they were going to make Raggedy Ann salads, I first had to explain who/what is Raggedy Ann. Of course the boys wanted to make Raggedy Andy but I didn't have the materials for making the boy. But what they made, are very cute. Take a look~ And there is a boy or two in the group!

I had the source, my cookbook out to show the children the picture. It came from a very old Betty Crocker cookbook called: Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls. It's pretty easy to see what ingredients were used. I also posted the recipe for Pigs in Ponchos.

My menu for the first week follows:

Summer  June 17, 2013

Monday morning snack

Nuts and Bolt ( similar to a trail mix)

Tuesday dessert

Strawberry puffs

Wednesday lunch time

Pigs in Ponchos

Thursday salad time

Raggedy Ann Salad

Friday beverage

Blushing Pink Sodas

PIGS IN PONCHOS

8 SERVINGS

Ingredients

8 good-quality hot dogs

1 can  (16 oz.)  refried beans

16 flour tortillas (8-inch), heated to soften slightly

1 1/2 cups homemade or store-bought salsa verde

Yellow mustard, jalapeno mustard or honey mustard

2 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Cooking spray

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350. Parboil the hot dogs for a few minutes to heat through and extract some of the salt. In a medium saucepan, heat the beans over medium heat (or cover and heat in the microwave on high for 3 minutes), adding a little water to thin slightly.

Make the ponchos: Top each of 4 tortillas with a thin layer of salsa verde, a swirl of mustard,  and lots of cheese,  some beans and set a dog at one end. Wrap and roll up the tortilla stack around the dog; repeat with the remaining ingredients. Spray the ponchos with cooking spray and grill for a few minutes to brown and crisp the tortillas.    

The best part about being a teacher for this class is to encourage the children to try something different. The summer program is called Adventures in Learning so I enjoy encouraging them to be adventurous. I really can't wait till the next day.

Sugar Plum

Sugar Plum

Chicago Donuts

I was reading a blog on someone who lives in Chicago. One of her stories was all about Chicago donuts. I thought I would share some of the pictures here.

from Sugarplum blog-I’m going to tell you about a few doughnut shops I visited, all of which are located downtown Chicago in River North and the Loop.  The first place I went to is a new shop called Firecakes.  I love that name!  It’s a really cute, small shop that sells a variety of yeast and cake doughnuts, and coffee.  The shop is so small that there’s nowhere to sit, so I guess when you buy your doughnuts you’ll have to take them elsewhere to enjoy them.  

her next stop: Glazed and Infused

There are several locations in Chicago; I went to the one in Streeterville, inside the Raffaello Hotel.  It wasn’t much of a store… just a little breakfast nook in the corner of the hotel lobby.  The variety of doughnuts was picked over when I arrived, so I missed out on their most popular flavors: Maple Bacon Long John  and Crème Brûlée.  

This is another shop where there’s nowhere to sit.  There’s a little booth where you order your doughnuts, and that’s it.  And you better have brought cash to pay for them because that’s all they accept.

I went on cold, windy Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM.  I had missed the crowds, so I didn’t have to wait in line.  Score.  Disadvantage: they only had one type of doughnut left.  It was an apricot jelly filled doughnut with vanilla bean glaze.  It was pretty good, but not as good as Firecakes and Glazed & Infused.  There was too much sugary sweet filling, and the glaze was a little sweet.

I have to go back to try other flavors, though.  I can’t make up my mind about Doughnut Vault without trying more of their doughnuts… preferably a simple, glazed yeast doughnut.  I think that’s the best way to determine whether a shop makes good doughnuts or not.  

The last place I visited was Do-Rite Donuts.I guess they opened up about a year ago.

Acids and Sweetness

When you are trying to find a good balance between a sauce that has acid and sweetness combination try one of these preparations ~

Preparation #1

Approximate amounts

• 1 tsp finely diced scotch bonnet chili
• 3/4 tsp. Shredded chopped ginger
• 1 Tbsp Soy
• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 2-3 Tbsp Avocado
• 2-3? Tbsp Tangerine gastrique taste
• Add squeeze of fresh tangerine

Preparation #2

• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp lime
• 1 1/2 tsp sweet chili sauce
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 3 Tbsp Coconut Fat

Preparation #3

• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Gastrique
• 1/2 tsp Horseradish
• 1 tsp Mustard Oil
• 1 tbsp diced apples
• 1/2 Tbsp Olive oil

Preparation #4

• 3 Tbsp Almond Oil
• 1 tsp Harissa
• 2 Tbsp Harissa Aïoli
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Gastrique

Pineberry

What do you get when you cross a strawberry and a pineapple? A pineberry, of course.
This designer fruit -- a hybrid that looks like a white strawberry with red seeds, but which allegedly smells and tastes like a pineapple -- will be sold in 45 Waitrose supermarkets across the U.K. for the next five weeks while they're in season, ABC News reported.

About seven years ago the pineberry was taken from its native South America and grown commercially in glasshouses by the dutch, ABC reported. Like strawberries, they're green until they ripen, but instead of turning a deep, juicy red, these fruits turn white, like they've been attacked.

Slashfood Tweets

Slashfood Tweets