Freaky Friday

Welcome back to ou first Teen Cooking Club of the Year!  

Class landed upon a Friday the 13th, so it only felt right to make some Freaky Foods.

Freaky or Not...they ate it ALL!!!

Growing up with the fear of Jason Myers chasing me on any given Friday the 13th (yes-- over-active imagination AND horror-flick-follower) has made me a bit superstitious.  It turns out, Friday the 13th is a lucky day and working with this group of budding teens makes me a lucky paralibrarian.

Our menu was dedicated to the Freaky Look, but Delicious Taste.  Knowing that they ate ALL the food proves the delicious quality, these pictures will prove the Freaky Factor.  Let's start with a beverage the color of ooze or worse.

Worms and all...

Goosebumps Punch is a sweet concoction of soda, sherbet, food coloring and gummy worms.  This was, by far, the easiest of the recipes.  The bowl was stored in the fridge while the rest of the menu was prepared.  Between those colors and lumps, along with the slimy worms, this adult COULD NOT consume this without a squirmy face!

Not-Yet-Cooked Meatball Mummies

Meatball Mummies were less freaky, but actually adorable mini treats.  The recipe was also quite simple.  Black olives made much cuter eyes than ketchup.

"Looks like guts and goo."

Beef and Tomato Macaroni Soup was not the prettiest creation if you're in the Freaky Friday mindset.  "It looks like guts and goo," announced a young chef, and I have to agree!  Imagination makes and breaks a creation, but luckily the olfactory sense pushed aside the visual and this pot got DEMOLISHED.  Having a few vegetarians in the group allowed me to introduce Wegmans' Don't Have a Cow Meatless Beef Style Crumbles.  No one knew the difference.

CHEESY!!! Breadsticks

Cheesy Breadstick Bones were a delight to the whole crowd.  The team that made these had to struggle with fresh dough, which is a learning experience. Leaving teens with as much cheese as I purchased (in preparation of a much larger class) was a personal learning experience.  You can check for yourself, but more than double the amount of cheese required for this recipe was used.  Releasing the breadsticks from the pan lifted all of the breadsticks at once.  These were basically Cheese Bones with some Bread filling.

Enough Cheese for 2 Recipes!

Brain with Blood Clot Cupcakes were the ABSOLUTE MOST FREAKY DISHES POSSIBLE!! We broke the rules and made the cake from a box, but the icing from scratch.

Intestines or Chewed Bubble Gum?

Just seeing these cakes again makes me queasy.  I had a few troubles with this recipe.  For one, I forgot eggs!  I usually forget to bring a cooking element from the Southeast Steuben County Library building, but it's just a few hundred feet from the Union Hall, so no biggie.  Forgetting a cooking ingredient leaves us scrambling for substitutions.  Luckily, we discovered my neglect very quickly, and a mother offered to pick up a dozen.  Disaster averted.  Unfortunately, the grocery store did not have piping tools for icing, so the "brains" really looked like intestines or chewed up bubble gum.  I think this added to the Freaky Friday frenzy and certainly makes me disgusted in a good way!

So good it was gone in minutes!

All the food we made was eaten---quickly!  It's like a mad dash to get everyone to the spot on time, separate into even groups, whip up the recipes, and have enough time to eat and clean up.  When the food vanishes before dishes get prepped for the final stages, I know I compiled a good menu.  With siblings and parents arriving just as we started serving the food, we had plenty to share.  The resounding response to what was the favorite food? "Cheesy Bones" won the prize.

February is Made with Love

That's a wrap for the first Teen Cooking Club of 2017.  A special thanks to Wegmans Food Markets for sponsoring this program.  We had a great time in the kitchen and started the year off right.  Next month, we celebrate Saint Valentine's Day with the theme "Made with Love."  So many yummies for your sweeties.  See you then!