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!

 

World Cuisine with Nithya Krishnan

We "traveled the world" in the kitchen with guest instructor, Nithya Krishnan for Teen Cooking Club this November.  Despite having a day off of school, students arrived with an eagerness to learn and play with their food.  We dubbed the class World Cuisine, but there was certainly more of an Asian/ Indian flair to the flavors.

The start of Mango Coconut Cake

Mango Coconut Cake was the major interest to this group.  Desserts and sweets always entice these teens.  Luckily this treat is not the type to rot your teeth.  This crew put this recipe together quickly, BUT there was a very important ingredient missing---the BAKING POWDER! Luckily this error was discovered before the food went to the oven.  We had enough time to scrape the tins and return the mixture to the mixing bowl, add the missing ingredient and move on with success.  Phew...disaster averted!!

Mango Coconut Cakes..with baking powder!

To top the cakes, a Cardamom Cream was created..so tasty...I'm drooling over the memory..

I would eat ALL THE CARDAMOM CREAM!

Another recipe the group tackled was bigger than I've ever been willing to try--Potstickers!  The dough was made from scratch, the filling had LOTS OF VEGETABLES and there was flour flying in many directions, but the final product was beautiful and scrumptious!

  

Chicken Tikka Bites were another group favorite.  Simple ingredients and quick cooking times make this a terrific recipe for a week night dinner.  A mint yogurt sauce was made for dipping the tenders, which truly complimented the flavors of the chicken.

Mint Yogurt Sauce for Dipping

Chicken Tikka Bites are better than chicken nuggets

Beyond these recipes, there was Basmati Rice steamed in a rice cooker, which paired with Vegetable Ishtew.  Nithya was kind enough to share her recipes and those of fellow food bloggers. The find more delicious recipes, read Nithya's food blog.  She is a terrific teacher and seasoned cuisinista!

The food line always gains unexpected visitors, siblings and parents just need a taste.

This wraps up another year of Teen Cooking Club.  We have one more event to bake treats for the holiday season called Make and Bake Gifts.  Sign up to join the fun!

Thanks for visiting; we'll see you again in 2017!

xoxo,

erica

   

Fall Feast

The Southeast Steuben County Library Teen 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 Beer is 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!

BBQ 2016

Barbecues are the best thing about summer cooking.  

Stoking the grill and prepping food, while enjoying the great outdoors brings our appreciation for food and fire another level higher.

Grilled Pinapple

We started our event by moving indoors!  A tremendous thunderstorm rushed through the valley at the precise moment our BBQ began.  With the Local 1000 Union Hall as an inclement weather standby, we had the comfort of cool air and dry hair, while our food cooked on the grill outside in the rain.  

Grilled Pineapple was a fun and easy recipe to start the event.  It cooked quickly and excited the crew.  "Ooh! I've never tried grilling fruit before," said several participants. The recipe is vegan and very yummy, but we skipped the coconut milk and went right for the whipped cream from the can.  Sometimes shortcuts are necessary.

"Baked" Potato Bar

Speaking of shortcuts...

We had a "Baked" Potato Bar, but they were really boiled salt potatoes, following the bag instructions and provided a row of yummy toppings to smother the tubers.

Vegan Satay Skewers

There were a few vegetarians who signed up for this program, so I decided to attempt some unusual BBQ fair for all to try. The recipe I sourced needed translation, but was easy to accomplish.  Vegan Satay Skewers are delicious, especially when you follow the dip recipe precisely. Along with vegetarian needs, I also balance nut allergies, so the peanut butter required for the skewer sauce was replaced with sunflower butter.  

That sauce was an EPIC FAIL!

Blueberry Chia Pudding

Sticking to the vegan fare, I sourced a recipe for Blueberry Chia Pudding.  I mentioned how chia seeds are a super food and the hot food item at the moment.  Seeing a bag of black seeds did not impress my group.  When I teased that chia seeds are the same product used on Chia Pets, the group was less enthused to taste test this recipe.  "So, you're basically giving us grass seed to eat," was the resounding sentiment.  Despite hesitation, the team that made this pudding took it seriously and several students truly enjoyed the unusual texture.  No left overs always proves a recipe's success.

Mexican Street Corn

The last menu item was Mexican Street Corn.  This was a top favorite along with the potatoes. Spicy tang and creamy spread made these cobs major menu competitors.  

Corn cooks quickly and the topping was a simple addition to move this grain from 

corny to crazy cool!

Despite rain, we had fun in our indoor picnic/ barbecue.  We were busy as usual, but left with a little more cooking knowledge than when we started.  That is the goal.

Extra special THANKS goes to Wegmans Food Market in Corning for their generous gift card donation, which helped purchase all of the food used in this program.

Teen Cooking Club will be on hiatus until October.  This seems like forever away, but the cool weather creeps in quickly in Upstate New York, school starts soon and foliage will be falling before you can say Autumn.

Thanks for visiting!

~erica

Iced Teas and Black Cows

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.

Lawn games and silliness will ensue.

Happy Summer Solstice!

-erica

Cake Day

If March has a Pie Day, I needed to follow in April with a Cake Day.  While National Cake Day is really November 26, the Southeast Steuben County Teen Cooking Club Cake Day was April 8.  And What A Cake Day It Was!  This class had the most students than ever before.  Luckily, I had more volunteers than ever before!

There were five stations for the 29 students to work.  Each person was designated a table and team and work was underway.  Cake Pops were the HIT of the event.  Above, you see the beginning of chocolate and vanilla cake pop creation.  I really thought the vanilla cake looked like wet sand.

Crumbs to Pops

Making these cake pops required baking cake, then demolishing it into crumbs, adding frosting, then rolling that concoction into bite sized balls.  It seems like more work than necessary, but the results are AMAZING!  I had this recipe on my mind since the summer.  If you are even slightly inclined to try, please check out this book, aptly titled Cake Pops.  The projects listed in the book are so impressive, as are these made by the students.

Cake Pops

The next recipe is one of my favorites for left over mashed potatoes, Potato Cakes.  In order to keep these recipes dairy free, we used instant mashed potatoes, almond milk and dairy-free cheddar cheese, but they still smelled like melted butter...YUM!

Potato Cakes

Impossibly Easy Hamburger Pie Cakes were created by another team.  This recipe was vegetarian, because we used soy based "beef" crumbles, almond milk, and dairy-free cheese.  They were magic and disappeared as fast as they exited the oven.

Cheeseburger Cakes

Chicken Enchilada Cups were another vegetarian option that surprised the meat lovers.  Rather than use real chicken, we substituted smoked tofu to provide the meaty texture, but maintain a vegetarian meal.  There were mixed responses to this "new-to-the-students" ingredient.

Tofu based "Chicken" Enchilada Cups

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes were the last on the menu and this recipe certainly requires some tweaking.  Rather than baking the cake in cupcake liners and topping them with the cones, we would opt to bake the batter directly into the cones.  There are several recipe variations of this method, so this would take a little trial and error.  The things we did not like about the method provided in this recipe were the difficulty icing the cakes.  The icing kept ripping the cake, which was the bottom of the cake, rather than the top.  These treats were also very top heavy, so not easy to transport from table to counter, let alone make ahead and take to a party.

Ice Cream Cone Cakes

Icing included

Even with some trials, these recipes came out perfect.  I love watching the process.  While clean up is often daunting, it was a delight to have so many helping hands.  We even celebrated with a Spring Breaker from Atlanta, Georgia.  This program is going nationwide!

Before

and

After

Another successful Teen Cooking Club is in the books.  Check back in June for a review of Iced Teas and Black Cows.  Rather than read about these programs, contact me to sign up for the an event!