Cookie project

While they didn't have to do the science fair this year, Eva still had to do a project for class if she wanted to try for an "A" in the science section for her class. Eva chose a cooking project since we had all the supplies. (The shortening and margarine were from pie making during the holidays.) (The apple butter was bought for a recipe and we've been slowly consuming it on sandwiches and toast. We prefer the traditional spreads like raspberry and strawberry jam so the apple butter has lasted for some time.)Ingredients: brown sugar, white sugar, flour, salt, egg, baking soda, vanilla, fat & chocolate chips
(recipe courtesy of Small-Batch Baking by Debbie Maugans Nakos)

Fats used: Butter (B), Margarine (M), Apple Butter (AB), Shortening (S) and Oil (O)

We didn't sign up to do taste testing [that required a separate form (government bureaucracy-even at the elementary level)]. I'm sure there's many legal and logical reasons behind the extra form but we chose to just go by appearance for this test.

The oil cookies looked the prettiest but smelled and tasted the worst. The apple butter came out soft and chewy but really sweet and the apple tones were....unusual. The margarine actually tasted the best in this particular recipe but normally we use a combination of butter for taste and shortening for texture and softness.

Since the tri-fold boards were only a dollar, we went ahead and bought one from the school. The final score came in around a B+ to A- so that was pretty good. If Eva had to do it again she'd add taste and overall appeal-not just appearance.

Caramel Pecan Rolls

Caramel Pecan Rolls made from scratch. That's right, folks! No canned biscuits here! No frozen bread dough! No pre-made caramel topping in a little tin! Jessica made these little morsels this last week and they were scrumptious! Of the original 24 there were only four left by the time evening fell and she had made them in the afternoon.

Egg Drop Soup

I'm trying something new- posting pictures from a cell phone. So Jessica made egg drop soup and it turned out well. She substituted chives for the green onion which didn't hurt the soup one bit. It was still wonderful. Egg drop soup is fairly simple-at least her recipe seemed to be. It consisted of chicken broth (from bouillon), cornstarch, water, egg and green onion (or chives).

Berry Smoothie

For the latest cooking assignment, Jessica whipped up a batch of triple-berry smoothies with soy milk and tofu. They were yummy and I loved the added protein from soy. She just used a frozen berry blend of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries for the fruit. I think it also has a beautiful color.

Ham steak with 2 ingredient glaze

Jessica made a pan fried ham steak for dinner with a glaze of lime juice and brown sugar. Make a paste glaze of sugar and juice. Spread glaze on ham steak and marinate in fridge for a few hours. Then saute marinated steak with glaze in butter until browned and glaze has caramelized. It was quite yummy.

The ham came from a food co-op order awhile ago and we had just frozen it for later use.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

For another cooking assignment Jessica made twice-baked potatoes using a recipe from www.recipezaar.com. She chose Best Twice-Baked Potatoes from Loren Lou (thank you!) and you can find the recipe by clicking on this sentence.

We like our potatoes baked in the oven. Above Jessica slices off a thin piece from the top which we just discarded.

Next she uses a spoon to carefully scoop out the inside, starting in the middle and working out to the edges, being careful to try and leave the shell intact with some potato still giving the skin support. Click on a picture to see more detail on the shelled out potatoes in the pan.

Moving on, she beat together the ingredients for the filling and the above picture shows the addition of some of the cheese.

Once the filling is fairly smooth she put a generous dollop in each potato before filling them up completely. This helps to ensure equal amounts in each potato without overfilling some and underfilling others. (At least this is how we fill the potatoes at our house.)

And here we have the stuffed to overflowing potatoes topped with more cheese since we didn't have the cooked and crumbled bacon suggested by the recipe.

The finished potatoes-golden and delicious from the oven. The filling puffed and settled some during the baking so I am glad that she used all the filling even though it looked like it would be too much. These were really yummy and we enjoyed them.


Trivia question: What potato dishes do you make at your house? Mashed? Scalloped? Potato salad? Fries? Hash Browns? Funeral Potatoes? Soup? etc.....

April Food Co-op and Unbaked Oatmeal Fudge

Unbaked Oatmeal Fudge is what Jessica made for a recent cooking assignment. The recipe is cocoa, sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and quick oats. There are variations with peanut butter or coconut but this variation is the one that we like the best.

Info on the food co-op can be found at www.foodco-op.net. Here's the Standard Food Co-op order for April at a cost of $23 : 1 4-lb. whole roasting chicken, 1 pkg. lean ground beef, 1 pkg. lean pork cubes, 1 pkg. lean Salisbury steaks, 1 1-lb. box strawberries, 7 bananas, 5 oranges, 1 5-lb bag red potatoes, 1 loaf Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf, 1 16-oz pkg. rice, 1 head broccoli, 3 cucumbers, 1 head of red leaf lettuce and 4 tomatoes. They ran out of tomatoes since we barely squeaked in to get our order this month-I was moving books and got distracted. (Those of you who like reading will relate and know what I mean as one just starts thumbing through the books. I can't just replace them on the new shelf-I feel like I must get reacquainted with each book first before it can go in the new spot. )

Here's the tamales we bought for $5.

The half share was $14 and consisted of: 1 pkg. lean Salisbury steaks, 1 pkg. lean pork cubes, 1 5-lb. bag red potatoes, 4 oranges, 1 head broccoli, 1 head red leaf lettuce, 6 bananas, 4 tomatoes, 1 l-lb box strawberries, 1 loaf Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf, and 1 pkg. 16-oz rice.

The harvest share was $14 and consisted of: 1 5-lb. bag red potatoes, 8 oranges, 1 head of broccoli, 4 cucumbers, 1 head red leaf lettuce, 1 head cauliflower, 10 bananas, 6 tomatoes, 2 l-lb boxes strawberries, 1 loaf Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf and 1 16-oz bag rice.

Sweet Potato Bread

The latest cooking assignment has involved Vitamin C. Jessica was assigned this nutrient and has already presented her report. The only thing left was to prepare a recipe that contained a fair amount of Vitamin C. Most people are aware that sweet potatoes contain lots of vitamin A. What people might not be aware of is the high vitamin C content. A 2/3 cup serving of canned yams contains 30% of the daily requirement of vitamin C. These yams (sweet potatoes) contain fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, some iron and some calcium. (At least according to the nutrient list on the can.)

So this last week she made these beautiful loaves of Sweet Potato Bread. The batter was really thick and I wasn't too sure about how much the bread would rise but they turned out beautifully and tasted like moist pumpkin bread even though it was canned sweet potatoes in place of the pumpkin. The pecans added a nice bit of crunch as well as a visually attractive addition.

On a side note, Jessica made this cute little turtle with green sugar on a cake for Sarah to share with her friends when they came over to play. They all made the cake together and Jessica did the turtle design on a whim.

Just Simple Cornbread

Jessica made cornbread for her cooking assignment. It turned out good but this particular recipe wasn't as sweet as some variations. It rose nicely and the taste was fine.

St.Patrick's Day Shakes

Jessica combined milk, ice cream, oreos, green food coloring and creme de menthe flavoring oil to make shakes for St. Patrick's day. They were cool and refreshing with a light green color to maintain the color coordination for the holiday.



On a side note, I buy most my flavoring oils from Bakers C & C.

Old Faithful with 3 Ingredients

Jessica has been pressed for time with all of her practicing and various musical practice sessions so she kept the recipe for this week simple and sweet. Just butter, marshmallows and crisp rice cereal to make traditional Rice Krispy Treats.

Jessica starting doing free-form treats on a cookie sheet a couple of years ago since she found that it kept the treats airy and easier to consume. With this shape, one just pulls off the desired amount of treat instead of cutting the treats which inevitably crushed them and left a fair amount of crumb residue. So one gets more choices in size and shape and with less mess using the free-form method. Although it can play havoc with trying to figure out portion size..... how much of a handful is one serving?

Fried Mushrooms and a joke

One day it started raining. And a squirrel found a mushroom to sit under. Then a frog hops along and asks, "Is there any more room under the mushroom?" And the squirrel says, "There's Mush Room!".


(Sarah came up with this joke on the way home one day.)

I thought it was clever and cute.


Jessica made fried mushrooms for her home cooking assignment this week. (Sorry for the blurry pictures-I was trying to get the pictures before the food was consumed.)


First you start with some Tempura batter mix that you just mix with water. We used Krusteaz brand since that's what we had in the cupboard. For more info, visit their website at: www.krusteaz.com

Wash and thoroughly dry some fresh mushrooms. Coat mushrooms and cook in hot corn oil until golden brown.


The first batch came out lightly golden brown and didn't get eaten quite as quickly. But then the second batch came out more golden and were all gone within a few minutes of frying them. I was lucky to get a picture of a few of the golden mushrooms.

It was also reassuring that Jessica was so careful around the hot oil.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jessica's latest creation for her home cooking assignment: soft and moist chocolate chip pumpkin cookies - what a wonderful way to get some additional Vitamin A!

Thank you also to "Roxygirl in Colorado" for her Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe on www.recipezaar.com

Pudding Cups

Vanilla pudding, frozen berries and whipping cream. Mmmmmm........ thank you, Jessica!

Baked Chicken Breasts

Jessica cooked chicken for dinner last week.

First the boneless, skinless chicken breasts get a mayonnaise sauce topping.

Next they are coated with an Italian bread crumb/Parmesan cheese coating.

And here's the beautifully browned chicken breasts fresh from the oven. Jessica even checked the temperature to ensure that the chicken was cooked to at least 165 degrees F and it actually checked in at 167 degrees F and yes, the juices ran clear. The chicken was moist and tender with a mild flavor enhanced by the Parmesan cheese.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Blueberry Pound Cake-reminds me of something you'd find at a favorite friends home. Jessica made the pound cake and sauce for her cooking at home assignment last week.

Blueberry sauce to go with the pound cake.

Dark blue and purple delight.

The cake was soft and moist with a slightly crispy crust and the blueberries were evenly distributed through the cake. The sauce was thick and loaded with blueberries that were plump and not mushy.

Divine Dumplings

Dumplings in chicken soup-an example of great winter comfort food:

The five ingredients needed: flour, milk, oil, baking powder and salt.

The sticky biscuit dough.

Spooning the dumplings onto the boiling soup.

Mmmmm, puffy, fluffy dumplings that almost triple in size as they cook.

DUMPLINGS

1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP vegetable oil
scant 1/2 cup milk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, oil and milk in a medium bowl. Add more milk (up to 2 TBSP) if needed to make a slightly sticky biscuit-type dough like for drop biscuits. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the pot of boiling chicken soup, spacing evenly. Cover and cook for 15 minutes with no peeking. Dumplings should plump up and rise to the top. Use a fork to gently pry up the top of a dumpling-it should not be doughy underneath. Cook uncovered a few more minutes if needed. Serve immediately. Makes 4-6 dumplings depending on size.