With the month of May upon us, I felt the need to mix things up and get funky. Mother's Day is in may, but spring is finally sprung, bugs are emerging and mud is getting mixed up during the downpours of the season.
Oven Baked "Fried" Pickles
Since we were aiming for weird and different, I chose this Oven Baked "Fried" Pickles recipe. Fried pickles are my restaurant addiction, but many of my students had never tried them. This was teen approved and easy-peasy!
Peanut Butter Muddy Buddy Cookies
We hit the garden with cucumbers, so we continued looking for mud. Here you see Peanut Butter Muddy Buddy Cookies before they were baked. Simple to execute, easy to eat.
Yikes!.... Snakes!
Under mud, or somewhere in the garden, you're likely to discover some snakes. We made these Spicy, Sesame Snake Breadsticks just a bit less spicy (or not at all!) compared to what was called for in the recipe. I like to stress to students their creative license is often welcome to edit the spices of a recipe. Cut spice to your preference or omit ingredients which revolt against your palate.
Crunchy, not slimy
These little snakes were so adorable! Students liked them, too. "Simple and satisfying, crunchy, but not slimy like a snake in the grass."
M i s s i s s i p p i
Mississippi Mud Pie was a great effort of a recipe, but totally worthless regarding the portion size versus the quantity of students in the class. This was certainly my oversight, so something to pay closer attention to. I noticed the pan was not full when these marshmallows were added and I thought the group missed a ton of ingredients. It was a keen-eyed regular who discovered this recipe had a yield of 2 giant, decadent bars! We were all shocked. Who offers a recipe so decadent for only 2 servings!?! We just could not fathom the time wasted. These teens like to eat! And we all agree that a recipe should have enough servings to feed your party or have left-overs.
Herb Marinated Cheese
Moms and loved ones alike in each students life got a jar of special olive oil from this class. Herb Marinated Cheese. Each jar had bits of feta and goat cheeses, which were infused in olive oil with fresh and dried herbs. Such a sweet gift for anyone who is lactose tolerant ;)
The weirdest part of this class was the encore. Considering we worked with mud pies, I wanted to challenge students to eat bugs, but not necessarily may flies. We've read that protein from bugs can be more sustainable than livestock farming, but I wanted to know who would be willing to try.
NOT May Flies
I could not find edible flies, or perhaps I didn't want to find edible flies. I felt most comfortable to eat a grasshopper. So, these packages had 3 boxes of flavored grasshoppers distributed for a random student to receive. The rest of these envelopes had icy pops as a cool treat to end the class. The 3 (un)lucky students to get these grasshoppers were shocked/excited/grossed/pleased to get such an unusual treat. [They also got icy pops to be fair.]
Wanna Try?
Since I challenged each recipient to taste these bugs, the challenge was returned. This box of Sour Cream and Onion Crickettes was the test package. Our senior student was willing to be the guinea pig test subject and we have video proof.
After seeing these brave students, I HAD to try.
Well, I lived to tell this tale and I quite enjoyed that little bug.
(but ask me how I felt about this purchase the day before class)
That's a wrap for Teen Cooking Club this May. We skip June and celebrate the end of this school year in July. We'll discover how ice cream is made at our favorite local shop, Dippity Do Dahs. It's certain to be a really cool, rockin' good time.
SSC Library's Teen Cooking Club returned in July for the Summer BBQ. When you think BBQ, warm weather, outdoor games, and good times with friends may come to mind. We had most of that...minus the weather! For a second year, our summer barbecue was destined for indoor fun.
Fire Success, not so much with weather
We struggled with the weather forecast, which has a fickle personality in general. I got the fire stoked on the grill and the coals were just ready for our first sandwiches when the skies opened up and FORCED US INSIDE! Some folks were given unexpected showers while playing bag-toss.
Note those WET BRICKS!
Grilled Cheese with(out!!) Bacon was the first and ONLY recipe we had a chance to actually grill. To accommodate for quantity, an electric skillet was used indoors. That appliance saved our BBQ!!!
Displaced BBQ'ers Seek Refuge from the Storm
Luckily we had refreshments and games to keep the fun going inside. A patriotic punch using the principles of science took center stage and maintained a high energy of excitement. The layers of this Patriotic Punch work because of the sugar density. The highest sugar content drink is poured into the pitcher first, followed by a drink with less sugar. The top layer has little to no sugar. This variety used cherry juice, light Gatorade, and seltzer water. This was a WINNER!
Layered Punch for the Win
Another winner at any barbecue is the S'more. Since we lacked a real fire, some kids claimed we could use the microwave. The fire-lover in me died a bit. I can't cook with a microwave, actually detest that device! Our Union Hall has a wonderful 400 burner (ok, I'm exaggerating) gas stove top. What do you do when your fire has been washed out? Turn on the burners to roast those marshmallows!!!
Direct Supervision REQUIRED
Cooking sugar over an open flame as pictured is not ideal for most home settings, but providing a barbecue feel on a rainy afternoon proved this technique effective.
Deluxe S'mores
Using Keebler Deluxe Grahams, which are covered in chocolate made this snack a cinch. After roasting the marshmallow, use two cookies to peel the goo off of your roasting stick. Repeat as necessary until you've achieved sugar overload.
Wegmans O's Cookie-wich
Wegmans O's cookies give the same result with less of a chocolaty mess. We pulled apart the cookie sandwich and applied the roasted marshmallow goo. No one admitted which snack was their favorite, they just wanted S'more!
Musical-Must-Have
To finish off our festivities, we pulled out the old boom box and played Musical Chairs. It's refreshing to watch a mixture of ages play this timeless game.
This wraps another Teen Cooking Club. Special thanks to Wegmans Food Markets for providing the food funding for this program. Join us in August for Cake Boss, a cooking competition. The summer reading theme is Build a Better World, so I ask who can Build a Better Cake?
