Do you love food? Just eating it, or preparing it too? If you've wandered this far onto my site, why not share your favorite recipes with me and anyone else interested enough to come this far as well? What is your favorite food to eat? To make? Is there a special holiday or family celebration that makes this food special for you? Funny how things change...when I was a kid I use to ask for Chef Boyardee Ravioli for my special birthday dinner! For those of you unfamiliar, it's basically Spaghettios shaped like ravioli. Yes, you too can change!
Hey all students now moving on to your last rotation! It was a real pleasure having you in class, and I hope you enjoyed learning some new cooking skills. You're probably going to need to eat for the rest of your life, so it's pretty important to practice what you've learned, and apply your skills to as many recipes as you can! Stay safe, eat fresh, real foods whenever possible, and clean up your mess! Many people associate a day at the ball park with hot dogs and a soda, and possibly an ice cream bar or cotton candy. Of course, as once-in-a-while treats, we shouldn't feel that it would ruin us to enjoy these "foods?" on rare occasions. But more and more, I am hearing from teenagers and adults that they want healthier choices when they eat out, whether that's at school, work, or anywhere they travel or go for entertainment. Mr. Cousens shared this article with me about changes we will see at our nation's greatest ballpark. Check out the offerings, and tell me if you would try any of these if you went to Fenway. Do you have other suggestions that would also be nutritious and delicious? Thanks, Mr. Cousens!
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blog/nutrition/2014/04/a_healthier_line_up_at_the_fen.mobile.html Since a few of my classes will get an extra meeting this rotation, and the 8th graders don't need to "Make Your Own Smoothie" three years in a row, I decided to create a new recipe for several of my classes. Over the weekend, I tried four different Macaroni and Cheese recipes, which my husband and son quite enjoyed! I figured, this can really be both nutritious and delicious, and it requires students to demonstrate a number of important skills. Nearly all recipes required baking for 30 minutes after blending the homemade cheese sauce with the macaroni. Since classes are not long enough for all the preparation and baking, I decided to just leave out the baking step and serve it right from the saucepan. Fail. Bad idea. I had actually tried this as option #4 at home, to which my family said, "Umm, not as good as the others." I should have paid closer attention to their feedback!
I tried it first with today's 8th graders, because I felt they were best able to manage all the steps without burning the milk. They succeeded beautifully, which made me feel even worse that the taste was not that great. If I were 14, I would have preferred processed cheese food. My fix for this will be to pre-cook the macaroni for the next class (6th graders on Thursday) so that they will just prepare the cheese sauce and can bake the mac and cheese in the oven as it should be. I should have known better than to try to short-cut a great thing! Many great successes began first as failures, which forced someone to come up with a better way. I am confident I will find the perfect mac and cheese for consumer science class! If you have prepared no-bake mac and cheese and found it amazing, please share your recipe here! |
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