Budding Chefs inspires children by providing fun, interactive, hands-on cooking experiences

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Pickett Family Fun

I had a great time the last couple of weeks with this awesome family. This is an extremely busy household, with very well-behaved, polite children (loved being called "ma'am!)  Grandma and Grandpa were visiting and got to see our first class.  The Organic Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Yogurt dressing was a hit.  We talked about how honey is made and why raw, local honey is great for your health.  Everyone had fun juicing the lime, peeling and slicing apples and pears.

We also made cookies for the holiday--Gluten-free Molasses Ginger cookies.  So much fun making the dough using the mixer.  It was hard work, very sticky!  Rolling balls of dough and bouncing them in the sanding sugar is always fun.  I wasn't sure if they would turn out if we used our gingerbread cookie mold, so we tried just one.  Now I know that next time we can make a lot of them...it just takes a little longer to bake, and you have to make sure to not overfill the mold.  We read three stories while they were baking: "Christmas Cookies:  Bite Size Holiday Lessons"; "The Gingerbread Girl"; and "Gingerbread Friends".  Great books!  We all laughed at the sassy gingerbread girl and were happy to hear that she did NOT get eaten like her brother; she's too smart for that.


Gluten-Free Ginger Molasses cookies

½ cup butter
¼ cup molasses (not blackstrap)
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 cup sorghum flour
½ cup garbanzo (chickpea) flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice or sanding sugar, for rolling

1. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 9x13-inch metal baking sheet (not nonstick) with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, molasses, brown sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Add the sorghum flour, garbanzo flour, ginger, cinnamon, xanthan gum, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, salt and beat until well blended.
3. With a 1 Tablespoon size metal scoop, shape 9 balls. Roll each into a smooth ball with your hands and then roll each in the evaporated cane juice. Place them at least two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Place cookies in preheated oven and bake until they look firm and began to show little cracks on top, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do not over-bake.
5. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then transfer to the wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.















Monday, November 21, 2011

Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Sauce from Festival Foods class

Sauce:
1/2 cup plain yogurt or fat-free sour cream ( I use plain Greek yogurt)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup honey or pure maple syrup (I use some of each)
1 tsp. grated lime peel


Salad:
1 medium organic apple, cored and diced
1 medium naval orange, peeled and sectioned (or 1 can mandarin oranges, drained)
1 cup strawberries, halved
1 banana, sliced


1/2 cup seedless red or green grapes
1/2 cup diced pineapple
1/2 cup diced peaches
(or 1 15 oz can fruit cocktail in light/sugar free syrup, drained in place of these 3 ingredients)


Whisk first 4 ingredients in small bowl to blend; set bowl aside.  Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl.  Cover bowls and chill until ready to serve, up to 6 hours.  When ready to serve, add bananas.  Either mix dressing into fruit, or serve separately.  If mixing, you can let sit for 15 minutes for flavors to blend.

Adapted from Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing....http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fruit-Salad-with-Honey-Lime-Dressing-106941

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Festival Foods 11/17/11 Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Sauce

We had so much fun tonight at Festival Foods in DePere!  Leah Anderson, a Registered Dietician at Festival, helped us shop for healthy ingredients for our Fruit Salad by explaining NuVal scores.  All of our fruits were very high...91 or above.  We chose to use some whole fruits--apple, banana, orange, lime; and one can of fruit, in the interest of saving time.  We chose the canned fruit cocktail with the highest score.  We also went down the Fruit Snack aisle to look at the score for those.  Hmmm, can you believe "fruit" snacks only have a score of 1??  Veda did find one with a score of 4, though.

We then picked Chobani Greek plain yogurt for our sauce, and for our sweetener, we used pure maple syrup which I brought from home, from a local producer in Holcombe, Wisconsin where my in-laws live.  We use it for everything at our house; pancakes, waffles, ice cream, fruit.... We also used raw honey, another great sweetener.

Everyone enjoyed dicing the apple with the chopper that acts like a lawn mower!  Juicing the lime was fun, and we all got sprayed by the orange.  We talked about how many quarters are in a dollar, similar to how many 1/4 cups are in one cup.  We sliced bananas and whisked our sauce.

This fruit salad was a hit!  I have a recipe I have always used, but wanted something a little bit healthier, and Leah recommended this one.  I changed it up a bit from the original.  I will try to post it tomorrow.

We ended the night by eating and reading a great book, Oliver's Fruit Salad.  We talked of shopping trolleys and tinned pears... (the only book I could find for purchase was published in the UK.  I used to borrow the library copy; they only had one, and someone lost it.) It's so frustrating when a book is out of print!  But it makes for a funny read.














Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Budding Chefs on WFRV "Terrific Teachers"

It was an honor to have Millaine Wells from the local CBS Affiliate, WFRV Channel 5, at our Budding Chefs class to create a story for the "Terrific Teachers" segment.   Thank you for the kind words. See us in action here:
http://wearegreenbay.com/fulltext?nxd_id=91407

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Channel 5 Sunday Morning "Lunches"

I had 3 pages of notes prepared, fully organized, for my spot this morning with Millaine Wells for the Channel 5 Morning Show.  Four minutes goes by so fast!!  She focused more on my business than I thought, which was great, of course.  I suppose everyone would want to know who I was!  I thought I would just jot down some of my notes here.


Lunch:
We tend to think of packed lunches as "sandwich, chips, fruit, dessert".  We think of the sandwich as the "main course" and work around it.  Try to think of the sandwich in a different way.  Changing up the bread makes a big difference.  Use:  whole grain buns, wraps (the wraps I use have between 8-12 grams of fiber. Tanner loves them warm with pizza sauce and cheese in them), toasted English Muffins, Bagels or crepes.  
What's inside?  Use roasted chicken or turkey breast, low-sodium, nitrate free deli meat.  Or use your sliced meat for the outside, with cream cheese spread, relish, pickles, hummus or cheese.  Use a toothpick to secure, the kids love the pretty cocktail ones....then they for sure notice it's there and  won't bite in by mistake!  If they love PB&J like my son does, make sure to use whole grain bread, natural peanut butter or almond butter, and all-fruit spread.  


Try other things besides a sandwich as the "main course".  Deviled or hard-boiled eggs, cold pasta salad, fritatta, or leftovers of last night's casserole. Kids might actually like the taste of them cold better than hot.  Of course soup is always great, too, in a thermos.


Sides:


Whole fruit is great; apples, pears, grapes.  Be careful with peaches and bananas.  you may want to wrap them in a small tea towel  to protect them.  
Veggies:  Small, thin slices, or crinkle cut them to make more appealing.  My kids like carrots dipped in peanut butter.  You don't see that often!


Popcorn:  put a little less than a 1/4 cup of popcorn in a paper lunch bag, lay it flat with kernels in single layer, fold over the top and tape closed.  Microwave for a minute, thirty, depending on your microwave.  Add some melted butter and salt if desired.  A cup or so in a container makes a great lunch surprise.


Yogurt:  Cheaper to buy in a large container and put in individual servings.  Unflavored Greek yogurt is best, but it's a bit tangy for kids' taste.  Sweeten with raw honey or pure maple syrup and add sliced bananas, chopped strawberries, blueberries, or whatever fruit the kids like.  Make sure whatever yogurt you choose has active, live cultures.  Pair with a container of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, or a healthy granola.


Cheese cut into shapes; whole grain pita or veggie chips.  
My friend Bridgett's company, 416 Cuisine, makes authentic Grissini (Italian breadsticks).  My kids love these dipped in pizza sauce.  


Dessert:
We didn't even discuss dessert on the show!  Natural applesauce with a sprinkle of cinnamon (note-this is dessert, not the fruit serving!)
Dark chocolate - a little dark chocolate every day is good for you! Pair with a few roasted almonds.
Cold, whole grain cereal (Kellogg's Frosted Bite Size Mini Wheats or Kashi cereals)
Homemade pudding - has more calcium than pre-packaged.


Visuals:
Make lunch visually appealing.  Let the kiddos choose their lunch box.  Make sure it's big enough to hold all the containers you need and a cold pack, but not too big.  Kids have enough to carry.


Try to use individual containers rather than baggies.  They are easy to wash out and reuse and it helps the landfills.  There are all kinds of eco friendly reusable sandwich and snack bags.


Cold packs are a must.  There are many great containers out there that have the cold pack built right into the lids.  I purchased mine at Shopko.  


Uncrustables:  kids love these.  Use your own bread and fillings and cut shapes.  
Lunchables:  My kids like the pizza ones.  Make your own pizza crust or buy one pre-baked and cut out circles with a biscuit cutter, or shaped cookie cutter.  Use any reusable, BPA-free separated container to include the pizza sauce and cheese.  


Have your kids help make their own lunches.  Pull everything you can think of from the pantry and fridge on Sunday night and help them brainstorm ideas.


Foodie Blogs have exploded.  Search the internet for fun lunch ideas.  There are couple of blogs that post a different lunch idea every day.  

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Links from Channel 5 "Sunday Morning" show

Locally made, Italian Grissini (breadsticks)  
Made with all fresh ingredients, no preservatives, yet they will last 3-4 weeks.  (Ok, they COULD last that long...I'll bet they won't!)  My fave:  Italian Herb Trio
www.416cuisine.com

Lunchbox Notes:


Lunchbox Notes:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/   Free Downloads


Fruity Notes:
http://alphamom.com/family-fun/holidays/free-printable-lunchbox-notes-tags-stickers/


Lunchbox Love Notes
www.itswrittenonthewall.com
Lots of cute things!

Cookie Cutter Lunches:
It would take some planning for these kinds of lunches....to have all the matching food, shapes and accessories on hand.  But they are cute and young children would love them.
http://cookiecutterlunch.blogspot.com


40 Fast and Healthy Lunches/Snacks
http://www.buddingchefsinfo.com/Newsletter.html






Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Home Alone class, day 2, August 2011

I have heard reports that these girls are taking over dinner duty once in a while for their family...this is so awesome!  I'm very proud of them.

Using a melon baller to scoop apples for our Mini-Caramel Apples


Putting in the lollipop sticks

The apple when we were finished.  

Turkey Wranch Wraps  (I can't believe we had no ranch!
Thought I had a whole unopened bottle...it was Tartar Sauce!)
Really you can use anything you'd like.  We had honey mustard, Miracle Whip, and Italian Dressing.



Cracking eggs for our Minute Omelettes. What are those bowls called?
Ramekins!

I wish I would have captured the look on Allison's face a little better.
"Why won't this open?!!"  She had it cracked, but just wasn't hitting
it hard enough to crack it open.  Courtney's opened easily...all over!








Tuesday, August 9, 2011

"Home Alone" August 9, 2011

What a great group of girls!  They are definitely all ready to venture into the kitchen on their own.


On the menu today:  Pizza Pockets, Fluffy Peanut Butter Dip with Apples, Yogurt Breakfast Drink, and Popcorn in a bag













Thursday, August 4, 2011

Space available for "Home Alone" Class

 “Home Alone…
What Can I Make?
This popular class is back!  
You’re finally old enough to stay alone for a while… (or you just don’t want to bother your parents when you KNOW you can do it yourself!)
…..what can you make when you’re hungry?
Ages 9-up (younger children may participate with
instructor’s permission)

Tuesdays,

August 9 and 16

10:30 - Noon

$25 for 2-class session or
   $15 per class

Call to register
(920)621-9230



Thursday, July 21, 2011

"Camping Out" Mini-Camp, Day 3

We are so full!!!!  We shouldn't need to eat for hours.  On the menu today:


Hobos in foil
Bannock Bread (wilderness bread)
Quick Camping Pineapple Cakes
Watermelon Strawberry Lemonade


Slicing the potatoes for Hobos in Foil




Scooping the watermelon for the Watermelon Strawberry Lemonade


Making Bannock Bread (flour, salt, baking powder, butter, and milk, made in a skillet)

Strawberries, watermelon, water, fresh lemon juice and sugar
(we substituted Agave Nectar)