Freaky Eats

This October appropriately became a spooky month with life and family circumstances shaking up plans and postponing the Freaky Eats theme from Friday the 13th to October 30.

Mind Control:  Fact or Fiction

A spine tingling program was in full swing in the adjacent community room as I prepared my ghoulish program.  While Chris Johnson's traveling library show, Mind Control: Fact or Fiction was toying with the powers of the brain and freaking out the audience, I was preparing to freak out the senses of some hungry teens.

Monstrous Meal

The Freaky plan started simply with Monster Donuts.  I purchased a glazed dozen donuts, a package of multi-colored vampire teeth, and a bunch of bloodshot sugar eyes. A Time for Seasons summed up this project quite simply.  Shove the teeth into the donut hole, push the eyes into the dough and Voila!  Adding more than 2 eyes makes them freakier.

Three Eyed Purple People Eater

We needed something to wash down the monsters and found Zombie Juice might do the trick.  This recipe comes from Ebay, which is weird!  Teens wondered if we could auction off the concoction for profit after we made it.  Turns out it was too toxic for their tastes!

"Like Toxic Root Beer Floats!"

This recipe included three main ingredients, orange sherbet, vanilla ice cream and orange soda.  I made the mistake of buying DIET SODA and everyone lost interest!  I admit I can't get behind diet soda and actually detest most soda, but teens usually don't care.  This was a shock to find they hated this recipe.  "It looks like toxic root beer floats" exclaimed a freaked out chef who seriously tried to appreciate this drink.

Too toxic to taste

It turns out this drink was way too sweet for teen taste buds.  They appreciated the gummies, but disliked the sugary eye balls.  

Overall, this was a flop recipe destined for the graveyard.

How do you boil water?

The last recipe in this Tate of Teen Cooking Club experience was Toxic Waste Mac and Cheese.  We began the program attempting to boil water and get this recipe done first, but the electric coil burner we used was slower than molasses.  As we waited for the water to boil, I asked what seemed like a simple question--How do you boil water?  I recently borrowed The Useful Book:  201 Life Skills They Used to Teach in Home Ec and Shop, which covers all of these simple life tricks that we take for granted.  The answers flew fast, but it was funny to hear how many steps were missing from this process when each student tried to relay the order to me.  

Add the Mac

Luckily we had other projects to keep us busy and not watch a pot boil water.  Once the bubbles were rolling, we added a box of small shell pasta.  Then we set the timer for 10 minutes to cook the pasta al dente.

Minty Toxicity

When the pasta was done, we drained the water and started the roux sauce.  I talked about the base of most sauces starting with a roux, which uses an oil mixed with flour to a paste or play dough consistency, depending upon preference. Milk is then added to the roux slowly to make a white sauce or bechamel.  Bechamel is the mother many sauces in culinary arts.

After making the white sauce, we added a package of shredded cheese, Italian herbs and several drops of green food coloring.  The spinach was forgotten in the aisles of Wegmans, but no one missed that scary vegetable anyway!

Speaking of vegetables.....stop by in November to see what we make for Vegan Ventures, the cooking class where we skip all of the animal products!

Thanks for visiting this Freaky Eats Teen Cooking Club.

Happy Halloween!
xo,
The Jersey Devil

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!

 

Creepy Creations

Kitty Litter Cake

Creepy Creations were on plate for October, in recognition of a very creepy month.  We resurrected the Kitty Litter Cake, a ghastly concoction, that this new cat owner wretches over!  I warned the kids that no one ate this cake a few years ago, because it just looked too Grrrrroossssss!!!--this certainly made it the most favored creation of our event.  I believe the double chocolaty goodness aided in the success of this mess.  If you want to attempt this nasty treat at home, try this recipe.  We replaced the German Chocolate cake with Devil's Food Cake, which made it super delicious.

"Looks like intestines!"

Threaded Spaghetti Hot Dog Bites were the main course in our creations.  Slice hot dogs into bite size pieces, thread several strands of raw spaghetti through the hot dog pieces, then cook them in boiling water as you would cook spaghetti.  We added marinara sauce for a bloody look.  Mangia!

"Brrrainnnnssssss"

The next recipe was a sticky situation.  Bloody Popcorn Brains are popcorn balls with a twist.  The colorful marshmallows we used turned the mixture a beige-brown shade and the "blood" was used in making alien faces, so these are Bloodless Popcorn Brains.

Aliens Attack

Pretzels, icing, candies and creativity gave us this alien arrangement.  Alien Pretzels are really easy to create.  The makers of this recipe refused to stick to the "alien" color pallette and opted for the full spectrum.  As one chef in training said, "I mean, who says aliens are only green?"  This recipe is perfectly paranormal.

Green Goo

Last on the menu was this Green Goo Smoothie.  I like to test new ingredients with my group.  This recipe called for almond milk, carob chips--really hard to find in this area, chia seeds and spinach!  Yes, we drank spinach!!!  The recipe we used is M.I.A., but this recipe is very similar.

Yuck!

Gross on a Plate, but it's quite tasty!

Just can't get enough...Nom, Nom, Nom.

Stayed tuned, November is our Birthday Bash.  We celebrate our birthdays for the whole year in one big bash.  More cake, please.