Summer BBQ

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?

See you in August.  Thanks for visiting.

Mm-mmm-Mother's Day

The SSC Library Teen Cooking Club celebrated MOM in May.  Mother's Day was on Sunday, so we needed to refine our culinary skills and impress the woman who raised us.  Not all of us are lucky to have been raised by our mother, but there is usually a special someone who deserves recognition at least once a year.

We struggled at first...

While we hit several road blocks in making a simple recipe, we persevered.  Never cry over spilled spaghetti!  The main dish, Pasta Cacio e Pepe, was an easy pasta meal that anyone can make in a pinch.   Pinch is a VERY important word to consider.  When we read through the ingredients, black pepper is a major player in this dish.  I pointed out that cacio means cheese and pepe means pepper, so those ingredients mixed with some oil made the sauce.  Kids weren't thinking how much a 1/4 cup of pepper really is, but I knew that would be too spicy for most taste palates, so we cut it to 1/8 cup.  Guiding the students to prep the pasta water and saute the pepper, we learned how fast pepper can smoke up a kitchen and hurt our lungs!  What a tough lesson.  We cleared the kitchen, aired out the room and saved our respiratory systems.

Success after struggle

While learning Italian recipe translation and moving past the pepper spray smell we created, success was achieved and this dish was DELISH!  One student said, "I never heard of it, thought I'd hate it, but it's AWESOME! Can I have some more?"  But, there was nothing left.

Homemade Caramel...mmmm!

For a sweet treat, we tested Triple Layer Toffee Bars.  The students (and I) had never made caramel from scratch, so this was a great experiment.  Just 4 ingredients whip up a yummy sauce. 

Layering crackers and caramel

This was another simple recipe for students, but it takes over an hour to cool in the refrigerator.  Because of that time delay, this food was taken home in small packages.

Toffee Bars and Strawberries to Go

Another sweet treat also saw some defeat.  Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs seemed like a perfect Mother's Day snack and it could be, if the cake is cooked a day ahead of time.

Warm Cake Crumbles!

Some recipes are splendid, but this one took some time to consider.  Cooking the cake ahead of time, like a day before, would have given the cake a density needed to cut it into cubes.  Our cake was still too warm to do anything but crumble.  It seemed like a disaster!

Some Kabobs Lived...

Despite the pending disaster, this team kept their cool and sense of humor in the situation.

Humor through mild torture

We have some jokesters in this group.  "Why can't I eat all the chocolate sauce?  The recipe is a disaster!" captures the situation in this picture.

Flowers for Mom

Gifts for mom wrapped up the program.  This table was IRRESISTIBLE to most who only saw the basket of Dove chocolates calling to them.  Delicious Dark Chocolate Mother's Day Bouquets were a fun way to wind down our culinary excursion.  Dove chocolates are more than plain, so we had a few filling options, including peanut butter, almonds, and caramel.  Each flavor had a different colored wrapper, producing a colorful petals.

Scrumptious Flowers

I took a moment with this crafty project to talk about our library's maker space, the Creation Station.  There are tons of making opportunities including 3-D printing, sewing, knitting and crochet, scrapbooking and the Cricut Cutting machines.  The blooms of these flowers were cut on the Cricut machine, which saved time and rescued my hands from the scissors.  An assortment of flowers, drinking straws as stems and some hot glue created a lovely gift for anyone to receive.  Mine went to my dear artist friend who had her first solo art show opening that evening.

June's cooking club is canceled so the library staff can have an educational event.  

Our apologies to Father's Day.  We don't mean to skip you!

Teen Cooking Club will resume in July with our annual Barbecue.  You don't want to miss it!

Thanks for visiting.  Let me know if you have any Mother's Day favorites.

See you in July,

~erica

Eggstatic Entrees

Eggstatic Entrees

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.

Thanks for visiting!

  

Irish for Today

Preparing to be Irish for Today

The SSC Library Teen Cooking Club went Irish for Today in preparation for St. Patrick's Day.  Green was mandatory, which included candy AND vegetables.  Balancing savory and sweet dishes was also required.  That balance makes the afternoon go very smooth.

Lucky Charms Treats

The lucky rainbow struck the Lucky Charms Treats team.  Everyone wants to be part of a sweet recipe team, but there are not enough for everyone to join.  Remember that note about balance?  We must have both sweet and savory to keep our brains and bodies in check.  I was tricky with this recipe.  Anyone who chose this recipe, also had to do dishes--the DREADED CHORE!

They're Magically Delicious!

Another team made the main course, Irish Potato Soup.  We tweaked this recipe slightly.  To keep it vegetarian, we used vegetable stock and let individuals decide to use the bacon bit toppings.

I've never eaten a Leek...

As this team gathered their ingredients, there were questions about the leeks.  We've never cooked them in this program, or if we have, it's been a very rare opportunity.  Even adults in the program were excited to see them prepared.

"They truly give the Irish Green for this class!"

Another sweet recipe was nearly requisite for the theme.  I took two shake recipes and "blended" them to one.  The Grasshopper Shamrock Shake was a fantastic hit.  Students who participated in "Made with Love" had high expectations for this beverage, and those hopes were met!

Minty to the Third Degree

Using this Shamrock Shake recipe as a guide, we then used inspiration from this Thin Mint Shake recipe.  Combining the two created the Grasshopper Shamrock Shake.  AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! (Grasshopper cookies are an alternative to Thin Mints.)

CHOCOLATEY Grasshopper Shamrock Shakes

Irish Soda Bread was the last recipe, multiplied by 3 teams.  This was the questionable recipe, in my opinion.  Knowing from experience, it would easily be a flop or favorite.  This was a truly "From Scratch" option.

Dough is gross!

Anyone who has made dough by hand knows the stages the ingredients take from simple and separate to sticky and gross to nearly total crumble that has no hope, to suddenly perfect and ready to bake.  I have upgraded my kitchen with a KitchenAid Stand Mixer and will NEVER go back!  I lived the rough life that my students are facing and it's important to get your hands dirty as a chef, learn the process, then upgrade as time passes and income allows.

Progress is key

For all who struggled with this recipe, I promised that progress is key to success.  Stopping where the ingredients were still lumpy, sticky and gross would leave the project in a terrible position.  Pushing the ingredients to combine into a beautiful dough would be totally worthwhile.  They completely agreed with me once the food was in their tummies!

Plain on top, Raisins on the bottom, AKA Spotted Dog

These breads cooked to a gorgeous brown within 50 minutes.  We omitted caraway seeds to avoid unusual flavors.  Keeping 2 breads plain and including raisins in one allowed a little bit of variety, but plenty of quantity for a hungry brood.  We must not forget that all Irish Soda Bread needs a cross cut on the top before baking.

Cut the Cross

Eat Out Eat Well tells us the scientific reason for cutting the cross.  "Slashing the dough lets heat penetrate into the thickest part of the bread and allows the bread to stretch and expand as it rises."  If my grandmother taught this class, she would say "Now you cut the cross to keep the devil away!"  I just love those superstitions.  Regardless of myth or science, we Cut the Cross.

I'm S T U F F E D ! ! !

The meal was delicious!  Having a good balance of sweet and savory saved the afternoon from chaos. I asked what everyone's favorite dish was and I got a widely varied response.  Surprisingly, the soup won overall!  Where I feared the veggies and greens would frighten, this crew proved they accepted the challenge and gobbled it down.

The Champion- Irish Potato Soup!

Thanks to Wegmans Food Markets for partnering with the SSC Library on this program series.  We appreciate all the variety of good and new ingredients to try each month!  Extra special thanks goes to the Local Steeleworkers Union Hall for letting us take over their kitchen every second Friday afternoon of each month.

Eggs on the Agenda

Check back in April to see what Egg-citing Edibles we create for Eggstatic Entrées.

Thanks for visiting!

xo,

erica

Made with Love

The presence of Saint Valentine graced the Teen Cooking Club this February.  Using the spirit of the season, our food theme was Made with Love.  The power of the full moon (and perhaps higher quantities of sugar) added a bit of loony to the mix.

Made with Love

First on the menu was Cherry Cream Cheese Hand Pies.  These little bitties were easy to make and disappeared quickly.  To provide variety, we used blueberry and cherry filling.

Heart Shaped Treats

Fresh from the Oven

I seem to gravitate towards Hungry Happenings food blog.  Their Chocolate Cherry Bombs recipe seemed like a perfect match for this lovely occasion.  These cake balls were more time consuming than originally thought.  In hindsight, pre-baking a cake would have saved time and kept that team of teens busy the entire program.  A warmer cake batter caused troubles for the rest of the process.

Bombed Chocolate Cherry Bombs

Valentine's Bark was another fun and easy recipe that the teens loved!  Melting chocolate and pouring it onto the pan was barely messy (ha!) and decorating the concoction with tons of pink candies and sprinkles made the young chefs giggle with joy.

Valentine's Bark

For a savory plate, we created Pineapple Fried Rice.  Cooking anything with vegetables can be iffy with teens and tweens.  Luckily we had culinary masters on this recipe.  Onion chopping was a breeze.

No cryin' over onions!

Having vegetarians in the class gave us the creative license to omit meat from this recipe.  It was not needed.  Even with specks of yellow and lots of dots of green, this plate vanished!

Pineapple Fried Rice

To wash down all the goodness, we made a juice punch with Lemon flavored Seltzer water mixed with equal parts cherry juice.  Our chefs took the time to perfect the serving counter for a perfect photo opp.

Cooking to our Heart's Delight

There was hustle and bustle along with learning curves and lessons for me to take into account. With this in mind, we will work with less recipes next month and work more closely together to maintain food safety rules and keep everyone on par with the tasks at hand.  This club is fun to lead, but some days provide clarity to the needs of the group more than others.  I look forward to slowing our roll in March and taking things a little slower.  

Irish for Today

Even with struggles like messes that no one claims and even fewer wish to clean, this program is my favorite of the month.  We make a mess, work together (mostly) and have a fun time making the magic.  So many of these students return each month to get a taste of their own efforts and that form of community makes my heart burst with pride.

Be sure to visit in March to see what the leprechauns have up their sleeves.

Thanks for visiting!

~erica