Cooking With Girl Scouts

I have a long history with Girl Scouting.  I first joined when I was in the 4th grade and I continued to be active in scouting right up until I graduated from high school.  I always planned that if I had a daughter, I'd become a Girl Scout Leader.  When it became clear that pregnancy wasn't in the cards for me, my husband and I started looking into Foster care or adoption.  But again, something else was in the works for us and just as we finished our Foster Parent training, my husbands niece asked us if we'd take two of her children for a year.  Of course we were happy to so we moved in the two children - brother and sister during the summer.  When school started in the fall, Arynn (then 5), came home with a flyer for a Girl Scout information night and wanted to go.  I was thrilled, we went and I came home having signed up not only Arynn for Daisy Girl Scouts but, myself as a co-leader to boot!  This was the beginning of my adult journey as an Adult Girl Scout.  I have co-lead and lead troops, I have organized events, I have camped, I have trained other adults as leaders, I have hosted sleepovers...the list is fairly long, but I'm sure you get the picture.  We eventually ended up with all 4 of our niece's children moving in with us (3 girls & a young man, then 5, 8, 9 & 12) and we have had many trials and adventures since but about 2 years ago, all 3 girls decided they were done with scouting.  This left me knowing I wanted to still be involved in scouting but not sure what I wanted that to look like.  This fall I ran into a fellow leader and we chatted about her troop's long-standing interest in cooking and I offered to host a cooking workshop here at the house.  So, this past Monday, I had 6 middle-school-aged girl scouts, 2 leaders and an adult assistant here, cooking together, having fun and enjoying a delicious meal!

One thing that never fails to surprise me when I cook with a group of kids is the length of time each dish actually takes to prepare.  I never seem to plan for quite enough time - although we managed to have dinner by about 6:30 (and they had cleaned up and cleared out by 7:30).  Each dish you make will take a minimum of 3 times longer that it would take you to make it yourself.  So plan carefully.  Luckily, the lasagna was the only dish that was labor intensive, everything else was pretty simple and easy.  The key for us was to get cracking the minute the girls walked in the door. 

Have a menu, recipes and an order pre-set and printed out for the group to consult if they wish.  I printed up the menu and "order of the kitchen" on one page, then printed the recipes on separate pages & sent the recipes home with the leader to copy for any troop members that wanted them. 

We did a great job of following the order - which kept us on track and ensured that the butter was soft when we were ready to make our garlic butter and the puff pastry sheets already thawed when we needed them. 

Again, most of our recipes were pretty simple.  For the garlic bread, we made garlic butter by roasting a head of garlic in the oven (don't you just love that smell) and mixing the roasted garlic with softened butter, then spread it on a couple loaves of french bread which we put into the oven during the last 15 minutes the lasagna baked.  For the Caesar salad, we used bottled dressing & store-bought croutons so all the girls had to do was cut up a few heads of romaine, shred some Parmesan, dress the salad and toss in the croutons.  Sticking to a menu where they only have to prepare and cook a couple items is a great way to go.  I'd love to have them make their own croutons some time, but with something like lasagna to make it's probably not the best time to make your own. 

We had Minute Apple Tart for dessert - a recipe by Linda Larsen that I found a About.com.  The apples for the tart needed to be sliced paper thin, so I did have the adults did do the slicing for that.  I'm sure the girls could have done it, but the whole group was getting pretty hungry (and squirrely) by the time we were preparing them so we had to send them outside for some "wiggle time" and it was the perfect opportunity to have the adults do some power chopping.  For safety, I think that's a good time to step in anyway.

The great thing about working with Girl Scouts is they have a wonderful energy.  It's really very satisfying, on a personally level, to know you're teaching them something they can really use.  For many young people, this is the only time they will be taught to cook.  Also, Girl Scouts always clean up - one of their basic precepts is to "leave it better than when you found it" - so they do a great job and you'll likely not even be able to tell they were there, cooking in your kitchen, except for any yummy leftovers that may have been left behind!

Lasagna

Spaghetti Sauce (make the day before, if you possible):
1 lb Italian sausage, bulk or links (hamburger or ground turkey will work too)
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 20 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 20 oz can tomato sauce
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 palmfuls oregano
2 palmfuls basil
1/2 palmful parsley
salt & pepper to taste

For the layers:
Lasagna Noodles 1 8.8 oz. box, I prefer the oven-ready type
Ricotta Cheese, 16 oz
2 lb. Mozzarella Cheese
8 oz. Grated Parmesan Cheese (or less if you grate it fresh as you go)
Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Distribute a thin, even layer of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.  Cover with a layer of noodles.  Spread noodles with a layer of Ricotta Cheese.  Grate a little nutmeg over the Ricotta.  Layer with mozzarella cheese & sprinkle with Parmesan.  Cover with a layer of sauce.  Repeat.  Finish with one more layer of noodles and top with sauce, then a layer a mozzarella leaving some of the sauce visible.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake 30-45 minutes.  The cheese should be melted and the whole casserole bubbly.  Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes, until cheese on top is golden brown.  Allow Lasagna to sit about 5 minutes prior to cutting, this will help it to hold together for serving.  Mangia!

Note:  It is absolutely unnecessary to pre-cook lasagna noodles.  You can use any variety of lasagna noodles, they do not have to be "oven ready" - they will come out perfectly al-dente if you do not pre-cook them.

Cooking with Fresh Pumpkins

With Halloween on it's way later this month the local stores and produce stands are loading up on pumpkins.  I picked up a couple of sugar pumpkins earlier this week and I'm planning on pureeing them, then freezing them so I can use them for pies & other baked goods later this fall and winter.  If you're not familiar with sugar pumpkins, they are a typically smaller variety of pumpkin with an especially thick flesh that makes them an extremely poor choice for carving but an excellent choice for cooking.  The flesh is also sweeter than that of your typical carving pumpkin.  We used to grow them when we had a garden, but we really haven't been gardening for a few years now (long story perhaps to share another day). 

In the past I've either boiled or baked the pumpkin and I haven't been particularly happy with either choice.  Boiling the pumpkin tends to result in a watery and less tasty puree than baking, but baking seems to result in hard, crusty spots on the surface of the pumpkin flesh that doesn't puree very well.

So today, I'm asking for your help.  What is your favorite method of preparing pumpkin for preserving?  Do you freeze the results, or can them?  I'm looking forward to hearing your comments, thoughts and ideas - and feel free to share your favorite fresh pumpkin recipes too!

Nature's Candy

Several years ago, before Steven & I were married, we would head over to Eastern Washington to visit with my aunt and uncle every fall and visit the local fruit & produce stands.  We would return from these trips with boxes of tomatoes, peaches and apples, bags of onions and smaller quantities of fresh bell peppers, cucumbers or whatever looked good the day we were at the market.  My mother-in-law would can the tomatoes and peaches and we'd split the apples and onions with them and just enjoy fresh apples to munch on and an abundant supply of really good onions for our soups (French Onion is one of our favorites, I'll share the recipe later this fall), stews, sauces and casseroles all winter long. 

At that time, my Aunt Linda & Uncle Len lived on a small farm.  They had chickens & ducks, a large garden and lots of fruit trees.  Amongst their fruit trees were Italian Plum trees and they would dehydrate their harvest, then vacuum pack the dried plums in jars.  They shared some with us on one of our visits and the dried plums became an instant favorite of ours.  The dehydrating process, as many of you are probably aware of, concentrates the natural sugars in the fruit and seals it inside, resulting in something Steven & I like to refer to as Nature's Candy! 

So it's no wonder that once we were ready to plant fruit trees of our own, we agreed we must have at least one Italian Plum tree.  We planted several apple trees, a pear tree, a cherry tree, several hazelnut trees, a couple almond trees and a couple other fruit trees (that never produced  thing).  For years, our apple & hazelnut trees have been our main producers, but the plum tree has been producing more & more plums as it has matured and this year we've hit the proverbial mother lode!  Our youngest niece-daughter, Amanda, started picking the plums last weekend and we have been wasting no time in splitting them open, removing the pits and putting them right into the dehydrator.  As of this morning, we have now filled our dehydrator with plums 3 times - we're talking 6 layers of trays folks - and we still have enough plums to fill it at least once more - probably twice! 

These plums are so small - most are about the size cherry tomatoes - that we've really only eaten them by the handful and/or dried them.  I would like to know if anyone out there has ever canned Italian plums or made preserves from them? 

If you have the opportunity, definitely pick up some Italian Plums and make Nature's Candy, I'm sure you'll fall in love too!

"Snacky" Dinner

As much as I love to cook (and eat!), there are nights when I just don't want to work at making dinner.  Particularly on the warmer summer days when I don't want to heat up the kitchen, or at the end of an especially stressful work week, I just want easy, easy, easy.  Often times, the temperature of the meal is as much a deciding factor as the work involved - for instance if I'm in the mood to fix a meal, but jut want something cool and refreshing, I might throw together a salad for dinner - taco salad and greek salad are always favorites in our house, or we might have deli-style sandwiches on crusty rolls.  Then there is "Snacky Dinner".  Steven & I have always been fans of what I really think of as an indoor picnic - olives, rustic bread, an assortment of cheeses, fresh fruit, wine and some Pacific Northwest alder smoked salmon or a nice hunk of salami. 

Sometimes we enjoy an assortment of finger foods that can be eaten in front of the TV so we can enjoy a movie marathon or at the game table during family game-night (something we are LONG overdue for).  These might include appetizers that I make for parties like tortilla roll-ups, or taco bites (won-ton skins filled with a taco-like filling - I'll post the recipe another time) or other party-type foods like chicken wings, homemade artichoke-jalapeno dip with chips, nachos, sausage rolls or a deli-meats and cheese platter set out with  assorted cocktail breads and condiments like mayo or mustard. 

I remember Steven & I attempting to introduce these as "snack meals", more like something you'd enjoy at a party.  You assemble a little plate of goodies, nibble on them while playing cards ot mingling with guests, then later, you might assemble another plate with a few more items - just nibbling as you go, rather than filling a plate and eating non-stop until you're stuffed. This concept has never really caught on with our children, they enjoy the food (very mucy, in fact), but they just feel compelled eat until they are satisified, all in one go, so in our house if there's something you especially enjoy, you better move quick before the kids finish it off! 

Somewhere along the lines our "picnic" meal of bread, cheese, fruit, etc. was christened "Snacky Dinner".  If our youngest, Amanda, sees a loaf of bread and some cheese out near dinner time, she immediately announces we're having "Snacky Dinner".  It's a meal that is always greeted with much enthusiasm.  There's plenty of room for you to add your own twist and I find it's nice to know that my family is really just as happy with such a simple meal as a more complex one that requires real attention at the stove!

Baked Potato Soup

It's a very rare occasion that Steven, my husband, requests anything specific for dinner.  He's very easy going when it comes to meal time - he can take it or leave it, pbj it or gourmet it.  He always appreciates anything I make - even if it's less than my best effort (there's good reason I fell in love with & married this man!).  So, of course, when he does request something, I'm happy to oblige!

Friday night we attended a high school football game in Tacoma.  It was a fun, in house rivalry for us since our 15 year old's school was playing Steven's alma mater.  It was pretty chilly though and by the time we headed home we were all human popsicles so Steven's suggestion of soup - specifically potato soup - for dinner Saturday night sounded ideal!  We stopped at the store on the way home and I found some lovely, small to medium sized golden potatoes and picked up the rest of the item I would need to complete the meal.

Saturday evening rolled around and I decided to approach the soup a bit differently than I had in the past.  I really like to bake the potatoes, then put them in the soup for that lovely baked potato flavor but I wanted to try roasting the potatoes instead and see how that would turn out.  I was just about to put the potatoes in the oven when Steven announced we was going to play poker with his friends - just as well, I thought - I knew it would hurt the soup any to be made ahead and heated Sunday - in fact, it would probably make it that much better, so I continued on with making the soup.

We had it tonight for dinner & it was the thickest, heartiest potato soup I've made to date!  The potatoes were tender, the soup was thick, rich and ultra-filling - none of us could eat more than one bowl!  We had a simple spinach salad - just spinach and hard-boiled egg with it as well as shredded cheddar cheese, chives and light sour cream to top the soup.

Potato Soup
about 12 small-medium potatoes
4 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
4 cups chicken stock
1 pint half & half
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cut potatoes into 1/2 or 1/4's depending on their size, so they are about 1 inch wedges.  Place in a roasting pan, sprinkle with salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss to coat potatoes thoroughly.  Bake until nicely browned - about 30-40 minutes and set aside to cool.

Place a dutch oven on the stove top at med-med. high heat and allow it to preheat while you chop the bacon.  Cut the strips in 1/2 lengthwise, then slice into pieces.  Cook bacon in dutch oven until browned on one side, add onions and continue cooking until bacon is evenly crisp and onions are translucent, stirring occasionally.  Add about 2 tablespoons of flour stirring well, and let it cook about 2 minutes.  Reserve about 1 cup of the roasted potatoes and mash the rest right in the roasting pan.  (you may need to cut up the skins a bit with a knife)  Add the mashed potatoes to the dutch oven and stir well.  Add chicken stock and half-n-half.  Cube up reserved potatoes and add to soup pot.  Allow it all to come to a boil, stirring occasionally, then turn down to a simmer and allow it all to heat through or you can turn it off at the point and store it in the refrigerator over night.  Salt & pepper to taste.

Serve hot with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped chives (scallions will work too) and sour cream.