All Categories - Cape Cod Home Learners

Do you want to cook?

8/21/2015

Cooking Class Information for 2015-16

Come join us for some cooking fun! This year we will continue to cook using our geography study locations for our recipe selections!

Cooking class will meet once or twice a month. Usually on Monday's.

We are limited to 10 children due to our kitchen size. Classes meet in Sagamore Beach, start at 9:30am, and run 2 hours. Students will cook a complete meal that will be served at the end of class.

The cost per class instruction is $10 per child. Each week we will will have an additional food cost.

Please contact us if you have an interest to cook this year!

Nigerian Food with Rooibos Tea

3/30/2015

Continuing on the theme of Africa, today's scrumptious feast consisted of Nigerian recipes:

1. Suya (Nigerian Chicken Skewers)

2. Nigerian Groundnut Soup (Creamy and comforting, spicy vegan soup with West African origins. Made with a simple combination of peanut butter, tomato paste and collard greens.)

3. Spicy Nigerian Rice

4. Nigerian Fruit Salad

5. Nigerian Coconut Balls

6. Red Latte (made with Rooibos Tea)

We also tried some very strange, interesting, alien-like, mostly tasty fruits that Lauren picked up at Sid Warners in New Bedford Mass.

South African Adventure

3/2/2015

Our menu today consists of foods from South Africa, the country we are studying in geography. What a welcome distraction from record snowfall in New England! The recipes include Mealle Bread, Sweet Potatoe Fritters, Bobotie, and Roly-Poly desert.

Pumpkins and More

10/22/2014

Thank you to Olson's Garden Center at 3177 Cranberry Highway in East Wareham for their generous pumpkin donation! We used some of the sugar pumpkins for making our pumpkin recipes, and the rest will be creatively decorated and proudly displayed at their adopted homes!

"What's Cookin?" Pumpkin Soup, Potato Bread, Fried Dough, Potato dumplings, custard baked in pumpkins, and lots of roasted veggies, to include cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, Kale, and onions.

Julian's Sweet Corn and Black Bean Salsa

10/22/2014

Sweet Corn and Black Bean Salsa Serves w/ chips, serves 6-8

Recipe by Julian Freed September 26, 2014

Simple to prepare, colorful and flavorful, this salad combines fresh sweet corn, tender black beans, crisp red peppers, hot peppers and zesty cilantro in a flavorful rice vinegar dressing.

Ingredients:

4 ears fresh corn kernels 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 cups no-salt-added cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper – not a spicy one! – Chopped small
1 small cherry bomb pepper – chopped small
2/3 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Cholula Sauce to taste

Method:

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add corn and cook for 1 minute, then drain well, rinse in cold water and drain again.

Meanwhile, rinse onions in cold water to remove some of their sharp, acidic flavor; drain well and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper to make a dressing. Add beans, corn, onion and peppers and toss until just incorporated. Cover and chill for about 2 hours. Add cilantro and toss again before serving. Add Cholula Sauce to taste.

Serve with chips!

Mangia...Mangia

10/6/2014

Last week's cooking class was fantastico!! Homemade sauce, homemade pasta, homemade garlic bread, and homemade cannoli! Can you smell the goodness?

Cutting Skills and Pizza Making

9/16/2014

The students learned that vegetable cuts influence the appearance and the cooking of foods. Different cuts are needed for different recipes/presentations. Some of the cuts they learned were Julienne, Rondelle, Brunoise, and Batonnet. What to do with all the cuttings? Put them on pizza, of course!

Food Focus 2014/2015

8/5/2014

Cooking 2014-15 will incorporate recipes from the 4 regions studied in Geography 2: Eastern Europe & Northern Asia, Southern Asia, Australia & Pacific, and Africa.

Our class will also study basic nutrition concepts in the fall to engage students to become more aware of the foods we eats and what impact those food choices have on our bodies and the environment. Nutrition topics covered will include: Whole foods vs. processed foods, acute disease vs. chronic disease, the digestive system, nutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, sugar, and acid/alkaline balance.

In the winter/spring students will study food labeling and the differences between organic and non-organic. We will do experiments on the effects of food and mood along with experiments on food and marketing. Students will read selected literature on food along with watching movies that highlight important current issues within our nations food system. Field trips will be incorporated into our study.

End of Year Feast

5/30/2014

Although this is the first post about cooking, it surely isn't our first cooking class. In fact, today was our last official coop day for the 2013-2014 school year. This was a special event and the chefs began cooking at 9:30 a.m. for a meal to be served to a crowd three hours later. The menu consisted of favorites previously prepared over the school year.

Some words that the students used to explain the prepping and cooking time were "difficult", "fun", and "frantic". Here are some photos to give you a little taste of how it looked:

All the hard work paid off!

Wow, look at the spread!

And it all tasted fantastic! Friends and family feasting:

To our amazing cooking instructor, Elise Palmer, a big round of applause and much appreciation!