Greece!

I'm a little late updating, but we visited Greece for our last cooking club.  On the menu:


Easy Greek Salad
Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes
Spanakopita
Baklava

Everything was very tasty.  We found that phyllo dough is rather tricky to use, but yummy when it bakes and puffs up.

Only a few kids actually tried the Spanakopitas (spinach-feta cheese puffs) - but those who did thought they were pretty yummy (for spinach).

Overall, I'd consider our Greek cooking successful.

Up next is Japan!

On the menu for Japan :

Chicken Teriyaki
Rice
Stir-Fried Veggies
Tea
and Homemade Ice Cream (just for fun -- not really for Japan!)

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes

I loved the lemony, Mediterranean flavors.  The kids voted that these were very good, they would definitely eat them again. 

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes

Ingredients:
8 baking potatoes
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced (we pressed ours - I love my garlic press)
juice of half a lemon (this was fun, because the kids loved the citrus juicer)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Scrub and peel potatoes then cut into quarters.  Boil potatoes in water for about 7 minutes, then drain.  Mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic.  Place cooked potatoes in a large baking dish.  Pour oil mixture over the potatoes, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with lemon juice.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Stir potatoes.  Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are soft inside and crispy on the outside.  Enjoy!

Yummy.

Easy Greek Salad

We loved this salad - Easy Greek Salad (and it really is easy!)

Ingredients:
4 Tomatoes (chopped)
3 Cucumbers (unpeeled and sliced in quarters)
Purple Onion (sliced or chopped - you choose)
Greek Kalamata Olives (we used a whole jar, you could use less or none if you don't love olives)
Feta Cheese (about 4 oz - we may have used more, the kids just dumped it in!)

Dressing:
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (you could substitute white wine or balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp oregano
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix ingredients together in a large salad bowl.  Mix together dressing ingredients in a small bowl or cup.  Shake or stir well, then pour over salad and gently toss.  Enjoy!

This is quickly becoming one of our family favorites!

We went to France - via desserts, ooh la la

We'll be experiencing France at our next club get-together.  We will be mainly working on desserts (yummy).  (You might want to have your kiddos eat a healthy breakfast). 

On the menu:
Chocolate Mousse
Cream Puffs (featuring homemade cream puffs)
Strawberry Crepes (featuring homemade crepes)
and Ham and Cheese en Croute

We met yesterday - the food was great, the company was wonderful, and overall France was a fun time had by all.

Up next month is Greece.  We are still working on our menu, but it will be coming soon. 

Interested in our recipes for France?

Stay tuned, they will be posted soon.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 c basmati rice
• 3 c chicken broth
• 3 cloves garlic (could use more if desired)
• 1/3 c lime juice (we used a combination of fresh-squeezed and bottled)
• zest from one lime
• 1 c. cilantro, FINELY chopped ( ours wasn't super finely chopped and the kids complained about the leaves...)
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:
Add the oil to a saucepan and heat on low.  Add the garlic and the rice to the oil and saute for 2 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently.

Add in the chicken broth, lime juice and salt and bring to a boil.  Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes.

When the rice is finished cooking, add lime zest and finely chopped cilantro.  Stir to mix in items.  Serve immediately.

Today we traveled to Mexico

well via our kitchen anyway.  It was the very first day of our Cooking Club, we had 9 children here, representing a total of 4 families.

It was really fun.  The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves, and were willing to try the different items we prepared.


Our next cooking trip will be to France.  It looks like a lot of French desserts are in our future.

Yummy Cinnamon Tortilla Treats

These will fly off the plate, you might want to make a double -- or triple -- batch.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbs sugar
• butter
• small flour tortillas 8 in or smaller would work, too

In a small bowl, or small shaker, mix cinnamon and sugar together.  Melt butter (we used the microwave) and brush the melted butter on each tortilla.  Sprinkle with sugar mixture over the buttered area and roll the tortilla up.  As you roll it up, spread some butter on the other side.  Once rolled up, sprinkle with a little more cinnamon/sugar mixture.  (We missed this step - so note, they were still delicious without the cinnamon sugar on the outside - although now I can imagine how tasty it would have been!!!)

Place rolled up tortillas on a cookie sheet.

Cook in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

Enjoy.

Seasoned Ground Beef for Tacos

Ingredients:

• 3 - 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 lb. ground beef
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Place a frying pan on stove over medium heat.  Press or mince the garlic into the pan.  Add the beef, salt and chili powder to the pan.  Cook and stir until the meat is brown.  Make sure there is no pink left in the meat.  Drain any liquid from the meat.  Serve with taco shells and fixings (cheese, lettuce, salsa, etc).

Enjoy!

We're heading to Mexico

So, we aren't really going to Mexico, but for our first cooking club meeting (next week - so excited), we are virtually traveling to Mexico.

On the menu, we have the following items:


Appetizer:  Tortilla Chips & Salsa
Main Dish:  Taco Bar - seasoned ground beef, seasoned black beans (do we have any vegetarians coming?) + taco extras (cheese, lettuce, etc)
Side Dish:  Rice and Cilantro Lime Rice
Dessert:  Cinnamon Tortilla Treat Roll-ups

Interested in the recipes?  I'll post them later this week. 

The kids will decide where we will travel to next - stay tuned for our yummy adventures.

We are starting an Around the World Cooking Club

for our local homeschooling group and friends.  My kids LOVE to cook - so this will be a great way to practice and refine our cooking skills, have a chance to socialize and travel the world via our kitchen.  Win, win, win!

Here is the preliminary vision for our club (subject to change once we get going):

The premise:  Meet once a month to cook a meal from a pre-determined country - a different country would be featured each month.  As a group we will make an appetizer, a main dish, a side dish and a dessert each month.  The kids who participate will be divided into "cooking teams" and each team will prepare one of the items listed above.  The teams will alternate, so each group will make at least two main dishes, two appetizers (etc.) over the course of the year. 

How do we decide what countries?  We'll put this up for vote at our first meeting.  For the first meeting, we will visit Mexico.  As we're cooking, the kids can work together and come up with a list of countries that they would like to visit...  My thoughts are China, Italy, Japan, India, Thailand, and Greece.  There are many other possibilities, of course.

 

Cost:  Each family will be expected to provide an ingredient or two each month.    I'll send a list prior to each meeting (at least a week ahead of time.)

So, if you'd like to see how our club develops, feel free to drop by the blog anytime.  I will keep our recipes, our successes and our challenges recorded here on the blog.