The Southeast Steuben County LibraryTeen Cooking Club sessions returned in October after a two month hiatus. Down time did nothing to the program participation, in fact, the quantity of students surged! Luckily, we have the spacious USW 1000 Union Hall to cook up a storm and contain the 30 teens buzzing with excitement to create the concoctions I collected.
USW 1000 Union Hall houses the SSCL Teen Cooking Club
To start off the event, I set up tables with recipes on each station. Each recipe was labeled with a number. Attendees drew from a bucket to find out which recipe was their's to accomplish. This method has been valuable in breaking up "besties" and siblings, while meeting new friends with similar interests.
Station 1 created a Butternut Squash Broccoli Quinoa Casserole. I just love the way quinao (pronounced "keen-wah") is read by the students. Only the veteran students know the grain and it seems to be overlooked by many households. I wanted veggies to be used and loved in this main dish. CHEESE makes the difference. The dish was warm, colorful, and filling.
So yummy, we doubled the recipe!
Station 2 was assigned Harvest Pumpkin Soup. Pumkins and soup scream fall to my belly and everyone seemed to agree. The recipe claims you should puree the mixture, but I allowed the team to choose to leave it chunky or smooth. The "chunky" vote won. Lots of kids loved this recipe, which was our appetizer as we waited for all recipes to finish in the ovens.
"This is so warm and makes me feel cozy."
Station 3 were given the favorite recipe that disappeared before it hit the counter, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Due to the pumpkin, these sweet treats are high in fiber and very moist. They were the dessert before dinner, since the squash in the casserole took longer to soften than expected, but no one seemed disappointed by this fact.
Cookies before cooking...they vanished right out of the oven.
Station 4 was given a double dose of recipes to allow enough tasks for each student. Old Fashioned Apple Crisp speaks to the season of harvest. The Finger Lakes region is abundant with apple orchards and the cost of apples goes way low in autumn. With a large crowd, we doubled the recipe. This was another sweet treat with a knack for vanishing.
Gone too soon...
For the Harry Potter fans, like myself, who anticipate the upcoming film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," (click here to borrow the book from our library!--books are always better than movies...)I felt it necessary to introduce a beverage from the much-loved book series. Butter Beeris a quick, 5 ingredient recipe that is sure to please, though it would taste much better served at the Three Broomsticks in Hog's Meade.
The bespectacled bud imbibed like he was in Hog's Meade.
So many great recipes and equally fun company. These chefs-in-training worked hard and ate 'til their bellies burst. As families arrived to retrieve their kin, it was irresistible for their noses to guide them to the serving counter. What little food was leftover ended up being tasted by parents and siblings. Everyone wanted recipes, and I promised this recap for the exact purpose of taking the lessons home. Please enjoy!
Go worldwide with us next month with guest chef, Nithya Krishnan. We will be experimenting with new ingredients and recipes foreign to my knowledge--I can't wait!
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.
