The SSC Library Teen Cooking Club made some Eggstatic Entrees for the month of April. We are lucky to have a wonderful partnership with Wegmans Markets to purchse all of the food needed for this ongoing cooking program. With Spring in the air, the egg symbolizes the promise of life. I wanted to breathe life into recipes we've never tried.
Egg Drop Soup
We had several delicious options to test. First on the menu was Egg Drop Soup. I never tried this recipe at home and never eat it in restaurants, so it seemed like a worthwhile adventure. The girls who tested the recipe learned two things. The first attempt was too hot and they stirred in two directions, so the egg wasn't very pretty. The second attempt was cooked at a much lower heat and stirred in one direction. The appearance was better, but the taste to everyone was "waaaaayyyyy too salty!" With new chefs, learning to use discretion with ingredients like sugar, salt or spice is important to grasp. Not everyone likes the amount of salt one chef suggests over another. I stress to start with less, then add more along the way.
Pizza Nests
Next on the menu was Spaghetti Squash Pizza Nests. There was no room to fit eggs in the nests 😊, but plenty of eggs in the recipe. Squash is not a favorite of these teens, so I wanted to show them a new way to work with this terrific source of fiber. It's cheap and lasts forever in the pantry. There were a few muffin spaces left in the pans and I wanted to test out a product that seems to be gaining attention in the culinary world--veggie noodles.
Veggie Noodles--YUM!
The Veggetti is a "Seen on TV" product and the test I tried proved it to be valuable. I picked up slender zucchini and had students make veggie noodles with it. Various veggie noodles are popping up in our markets, but the cost is out of this world! I stress to my students to watch the price per pound of prepared foods versus raw foods. A little elbow grease takes your dollar a lot farther than packaged food.
Veggetti-fied Zucchini
Using this new tool was fun and easy to use. We substituted these noodle in place of the spaghetti squash to make more Pizza Nests and fill the pan, but they were not as favored as the original recipe. Baked Spaghetti squash cooked downs faster than the zucchini noodles, which were too long and threw off the texture. I would try veggie noodles in place of pasta in a different recipe next time.
Uncooked Casserole
An overall favorite recipe was Cheesy Egg Casserole. The recipe source, Crazy for Crust, claims to cook this for Christmas morning and now I know why. The ingredients are simple and quick to whip together into a casserole. I thought cottage cheese would be snubbed as a gross concoction, but the young lady in that team came up to me saying "Do you know how much torture it is to cook with cottage cheese? I LOVE IT and can't resist eating it from the tub!!!" Surprise, surprise!
Beautiful Brown
The recipe browned so beautifully. Everyone wanted a bite once they saw this hue.
Happy Grater
The last recipe made for a very happy grater (: Lemon Thumprint Cookies looked so much like sunny-side up eggs that I couldn't resist choosing this tarty dessert.
Raw Cookie Dough
The cookie dough was something like a sugar cookie. There were really two recipes to complete this task. Lemon Curd tops the cookies once they are baked and cooled to give that lemony-yellow dollop of goodness. You can purchase lemon curd, but I stand by my statement that processed food costs so much more than homemade. A small 8 ounce jar cost nearly $5, but over 16 ounces were made from scratch in less than 5 minutes (for @ $1) and there was more than enough to top several batches of cookies.
Lemony Goodness
The budding chefs enjoyed these recipes and everyone claimed a different one as their favorite. Egg Drop soup was the loser, because it was too salty. We'll call that our Flop of the Month.
Spring Break Socializing
Spring Break for the school district kept several students away in fabulous destinations. Those who enjoyed stay-cations benefited from the delicious treats we made. I look forward to celebrating our moms in May.
Mmm-Mm-Mother's Day
Check back next month to find the amazing recipes we tackle for the Mothers in our lives.
June is National Iced Tea Month and June 10 is National Black Cow Day. In case you were not aware, a Root Beer Float is a Black Cow. And let's not mistake this Black Cow with Drew, the Big Brown Cow Who Goes Moo, Moo, Moo.
This Teen Cooking Club was super packed with 28 of us running wild cooking and cleaning, serving and eating in just 2 hours. We had a slew of recipes to test.
Super Duper Pretzels!
First off was a delicious pretzel concoction called Bavarian Pretzel Grilled Cheese. With meat and cheese between warm, buttery pretzels, these were sure to be a winner! Except...so many picky preferences surfaced. Who didn't want sour kraut, who didn't like mustard, who didn't like turkey (I substitued the pork for turkey in consideration of religious and dietary restrictions). I wish we had just served hot pretzels! The team that made this recipe was very accommodating and made a variety of options for all involved.
One Pan Prep
The next dish was a One Pan Mexican Quinoa. I was branching out to try some new ingredients and flavors...and it was a SUCCESS! The team that made this recipe was salivating over the smells and appearance, even as it was cooking on the stove.
Not quite Smell-O-Vision>>>try this recipe!<<<
Another team hit the dessert portion of our menu with Twix Cookies.
Nom-Nom-Delish!
These sweet treats were a HIT! (go figure) The shortbread dough came together quickly. I cheated on the caramel and purchased a bottle of caramel sauce from the ice cream aisle. This was a quick fix replacement for anyone with a dairy allergy, but the caramel goo, which Twix have, was not there. The cookies absorbed the caramel sauce. Luckily, no one complained.
Just keep swimming!
Finding Dory Treats were also on the menu. This recipe popped up in my search and I absolutely fell in love with the adorable presentation from Hungry Happenings. Unfortunately, I could not find the cereal needed, so I substituted with Lucky Charms. I also could not source blue melting wafers from our grocery store, so I substituted with green and pink wafers. The popcorn took a purplish hue and we called this "Charming Treats." The recipe went so quickly, I asked the team to attempt another batch, which was completely off the cuff with a brighter appearance.
"Charming Treats"
Now for the Iced Teas...
"Flavored teas are so thirst quenching!"
Iced tea has a thirst quenching capability. The team in charge of the teas used this flavored teas listing to inspire their varieties. The issue with this recipe was the time needed for all the flavors to marry, which usually takes 24 hours. Flavor options included apricot ginger tea, pomegranate black tea, apple cider green tea, peach jasmine tea, and honey lemon green tea. I overheard that the apricot ginger tea was the high ranking favorite.
The Black Cow portion of our menu was the tail end of the program.
Root Beer or Cola Float = Black Cow
The irony of my shopping experience was unpacking the groceries to find, "I forgot the root beer!" Serendipity saved the session. There was a case of diet Pepsi leftover from another Union Hall renter and we were allowed to take ownership! Everyone thought this was the ABSOLUTE BEST RECIPE of the afternoon. Sugar, soda, ice cream, chocolate sauce and a cherry to top it all off>>seems like all of the food groups are covered, right?! I am very pleased to tip a hat of gratitude to Wegmans Food Markets who sponsor this fabulous program through their Community Sponsorship efforts. Their financial assistance allows for high quality ingredients to be purchased for large crowds of teens and avails more funding to further teen programming in the SSC Library. Thank you Wegmans!
Stop by in July for a peek at our Teen Cooking Club Annual BBQ.
We will fire up the grill and turn the great outdoors into our kitchen.
We celebrated Valentine's Day a little early with Teen Cooking Club. This event was held in the community rooms of the Southeast Steuben County Library. The local Union Hall, our usual digs for Cooking Club was housing a Local Foods Festival hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension, which proved just how many faces you can pack into a union hall.
Valentine's Day Marshmallows were also tested and tasted:
Put them on a stick and dip!
No recipe was really needed for this idea, just melt chocolate in a crock pot, stick marshmallows on a stick. Dip the mallows in chocolate, drip off the excess, then dip them into festive sprinkles. Let them cool, then enjoy!
Valentine Sweetheart Pretzels
These pretzels were so easy and shared the marshmallow station, because they had the chocolate pot. The recipe can be followed here.
We also made delicious Cupid Floats, which I highly recommend, despite the high amounts of sugar you will likely consume.
Red Vines act as straws for this yummy drink
After all of the recipes were made and most of the cleanup was accomplished...I washed dishes as a Valentine's Day gift to my students, we played a few rounds of Minute to Win It games. These were a FABULOUS HIT!!! There is nothing like the giddiness of sugared-up teens and tweens giggling away the afternoon.
Marshmallow Toss
Conversation hearts were the focus of these games.
You cannot refuse a good use for these.
Highest stack wins!
The winners of these games were surprised to receive a gorgeous 3-D printed treat.
3-D Printed Hearts
There was a flurry of activity and I nearly collapsed at the end of the day, but it was all worth the effort, as usual. The excitement is contagious, but my body cannot handle all of these sweets!
Sweets from the Heart.
Next month we celebrate Pi Day (3/14) with Pies!
If you are free after school on Pi Day, be sure to celebrate with us.
