Cooking Kids

A fun way to gather more recipes and try different foods is to start a recipe club. There are variations on this type of club, with some being done through e-mail or snail mail. But the best way to start a recipe club is in person. Here’s a step-by-step guide to starting a recipe club.

Get together 4 to 6 friends who like cooking and eating.

Explain that once a month you’ll get together for a recipe tasting and swap. Pick the first host and have her come up with a theme. Some theme choices are: kid friendly meals, holiday dishes, salads, chocolate, fruit, brunch etc…

Pick a date and time for the recipe club to meet. You can choose the time based on the food theme or pick a standard time you’ll always meet.

Think up a name for your club. You can pick, Recipe Divas, Gourmet Gals, Cooking Cowgirls or anything that fits the personalities of your club members.

On the day of the club, cook up your recipe and print out 4 to 6 copies of it. Bring it to the host’s house to meet your friends.

Once everyone has arrived, start eating and sharing ideas about the foods. Pick next month’s host and theme. Do it all over again!

For the Host:

When a person decides to host there are a few things he/she must do.

Provide utensils, plates and drinks.

Figure out a serving arrangement for the food. Will you have  a special table set up for the food? Where will the printed out recipes go? Do you want written name cards next to each food dish? Do you have extra serving utensils and tin foil for leftovers?

 Entertainment:

Some recipe clubs like to do more than just cook and eat. Some enjoy playing a little game or two for added fun. Here are a couple ideas, if playing games is your sort of thing.

1. Don’t label the food dishes. Instead give each guest a piece of paper with the names of the dishes written down. Each guest must try to guess who made which dish. The winner gets a small prize.

2. Random prize drawing. This works best if the first host is the first person to buy a gift. Basically the host buys a small surprise, keep it under 10.00 for the first one, and wraps it or puts it in a bag. During the recipe club everyone puts their name in a bowl. The host picks a name and that person wins the surprise. Then you pass around the bowl and everyone donates however much money they can. The winner collects the money and buys the next surprise, not going over the dollar amount gathered at the recipe club. You can name this game, if you like. Our recipe club calls ours “Sweet Surprise.”

Well, I hope this gives you some ideas on how to start a cooking club for you and your friends. Our kids’ cooking club starts up in just a few weeks, so watch here for some recipe ideas.

One thing about frozen vegetables is that they just can’t compare to fresh vegetables. However, there is a way to cook frozen green beans so that they taste almost fresh. Green beans are a staple in our home, mostly because my 3 year old loves them. But she won’t eat them if they’re soggy, which means no boiled or canned green beans. We don’t eat canned vegetables anyway, but I would buy them for her if she liked them.

The best way to cook frozen green beans so that they’re crisp and tender is to buy a bag of whole green beans, not the chopped green beans. Then thaw the beans out for about 10 minutes. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and add the green beans. Toss to coat them with oil and let them cook 3-4 minutes on med-high heat. Once they’re pretty much warmed through, add some sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder and seasoned salt. Just enough of these seasonings to add flavor. I also toss in onion when I have it because it gives the green beans a fresher flavor, and I can just pick them out before serving them to her. Cook the beans another 3-4 minutes are until nice and crispy. Serve.

Here’s a recipe for simple apple dippers you can make at home as an after school snack.

2 to 3 medium apples

chopped nuts

sprinkles

mini marshmallows

caramel

hot fudge

yogurt-any flavor

crushed pretzels

crushed cheerios

granola

marshmallow creme

whipped cream

Slice the apples into bite-sized wedges. Put the toppings and sauces into individual bowls and place them on the table. Let the kids dip the apple wedges into one of the sauces and then into a dry ingredient. Give each child 4 to 6 apple wedges. Have them wait a minute or two for the toppings to set on the apple wedge. Eat and dip again!

COCOA PUFFS NO-BAKE COOKIE!!!!

Congratulations to Debbie B. for winning the no-bake cookie contest. After much deliberation, tasting, talking and tasting again, we all decided that these cookies were the winner. The combination of peanut butter and chocolate puffs was absolutely delicious. While I thought these were going to be super sweet due to the honey, corn syrup and sugar, they weren’t. These no bake cookies come off almost like a candy. The recipe with a picture follows, along with a few thoughts on the other tasty no-bakes we made this past week.

Cocoa Puff No Bake Cookies- by Debbie B.

1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. white Karo
1 c. Sugar
1 (12 oz) jar peanut butter (1 1/2 C.)
4 c. Cocoa Puffs

Combine first 3 ingredients and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Take off heat and add peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Add Cocoa Puffs. Mix and drop by spoonfulls on wax paper. Let air dry.

Congratulations Debbie!

Although Debbie is the winner, the rest of the no-bake entries were all really good. The Ritz cracker cookie is one we’re going to be making for people this Christmas, and was the one cookie we had to make again when choosing a winner because it was such a close contender for 1st place.

The Oreo cookie balls were gobbled up in two days, and they were probably the prettiest cookie we made. They’re definitely a no-bake cookie you could add to a party cookie tray. The peanut butter balls lasted maybe 10 minutes in the fridge. I only got to eat one, and when I went back the next day for another, they were gone! If you love Reeses, then these cookie balls are a definite must-try. The coconut peanut butter balls were my favorite when it came to texture. The granola just makes this cookie ball, and they’re so healthy they work well for a breakfast treat or after school snack.

Thanks to everyone who entered! We look forward to our next cooking contest with you guys.

Well, we did it. We made all the cookies entered in the no bake cookie contest, tasted them, discussed them and are currently deciding on a winner. We had a lot of fun with this contest, and hope you had fun following along. There are two main contenders right now that we’re deciding on, but each cookie was really good. This contest has definitely convinced me that good no-bake cookies do exist, as long as you have the right recipe. The winner of the contest should be posted on here no later than Monday, along with a copy of the winning recipe.

And the final contestant is:

Well, we stayed up last night and made the fourth cookie. I must say, if you’re looking for a cookie you can give the kids with their breakfast, this is the one. It’s a much different type of cookie than the sweet ones we’ve been trying this week. We have one cookie left to try, and we’ll get to work on that one later this afternoon. If you’ve been looking at the pictures and wanting to try a cookie, I’ve been making them in the order I received them in the comments section on the contest page.

And the fourth contestant is:

Well the third no-bake cookie has been made and tested. Everyone is starting to pick and choose what they like, even though I told the kids there are still two more cookies to go before they can make a decision. We are having a lot of fun doing this contest. Tonight after dinner, we gathered all the cookies we’ve made so far and had a little no-bake cookie dessert buffet. I must say that these recipes make a lot of no-bake cookies. If we used all the batter, we’d be eating these through Christmas. We’re going to try to make and test the other two cookies tomorrow. Then hopefully over the weekend we can discuss, eat and pick a winner.

And the third contestant is:

Here’s a picture of the second cookie we made this afternoon. This cookie my daughter helped with. We actually used a blender to ground the cookies, and she enjoyed pushing the buttons. The original entry said they do it over a 3 day period, but we did these in a 1-hour period. This is one of those sink your hands in and create a great big mess type recipes, but that’s what makes it so much fun to make. We’re still waiting for them to set up in the fridge, so technically these take about 1 1/2 hours total, if you want them nice and hard.

The second contestant is:

Well the contest is underway. There are a total of five contestants, each offering a different take on a no-bake cookie. The first cookie the kids and I tried today is pictured below. This cookie is absolutely easy to make. My son melted the chocolate while I spread the peanut butter. We put them in the fridge to harden and will enjoy them after dinner. Check back here throughout the week as we show pictures of all the no-bake cookies. We’re not giving our opinion on the cookies because we don’t want any false impressions as far as the winner goes. But at the end of the contest, I’ll post comments and opinions that the kids and I had about the no-bake cookies.

And the first contestant is:

Today is the last day to enter the no-bake cookie contest. There are some good cookie contenders lined up, but there’s room for plenty more.

Here’s a little history for you about no bake cookies:

No bakes mean more than just not being baked. There should be no eggs or flour in a no-bake; they’re not intended to rise.

The first no-bake cookie recipes started appearing in the 1950’s.

The original no-bake confections were created by ancient middle eastern cooks and contained nuts, dried fruits and natural sweeteners.

No-bake cookies that resemble candies are still called no-bake ‘cookies’ because they descend from the traditional no bake confections of the anicent middle easterners.