Double Fail? Not Exactly.

Today is National Onion Ring Day!
Today is National Chocolate Eclair Day!

My work day was pretty much non-stop busy (for 13 hours) so even though I had great recipes and good intentions I just did not have any extra time to make these treats.

On the plus side I did make a yummy birthday cake for one of our kids and his chubby cheeked little face lit up with a huge smile when everyone sang to him. Good times.

A happy camper is WAY more important than a food challenge. I'm learning to not "beat myself up" over things that I don't do and things that don't meet my high standards.


Camp Menu

B) Coffee Cake
Oatmeal with Toppings
Oranges

L) Pizza: Cheese and Pepperoni (and the kitchen staff special: chicken, bacon, ranch with sundried tomatoes)
Caesar Salad
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (for the campers)
Cranberry Almond White Chocolate Cookie Bars (for the staff)

D) Baked Chicken Tenders
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Apple Wedges with Caramel Sauce

Just Peachy

Today is National Peaches and Cream Day!


Since both fresh peaches and cream are both kind of expensive, I chose to make my "famous" upside-down peachy pudding pie cups. Basically it is vanilla instant pudding with chopped up peaches mixed in and some graham cracker crumbs on top. Easy and tasty!


There were only 8 leftover cups so I gave seconds to the kids on KP (kitchen posse) and to some of the senior staff. It's nice to have so many people willing to finish things off for me.

Today is the First Day of Summer!
Not really a food thing, but worth celebrating anyway. And what better way to celebrate than with ice pops. There were lots of brightly colored tongues after eating these. FUN!

Camp Menu

B) Bagels with butter, cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly

Oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar, walnuts

Oranges

L) Chicken Fajita

Rice and Refried Beans

Pudding Cups

D) Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Ham and Broccoli

French Bread

Celery Sticks and Baby Carrots

PB&J (for seconds...and thirds)

Ice Pops

Shake It Up

Today is National Vanilla Milkshake Day!

Whenever I think "How hard could that be?" I find out how hard it can be!

First off I forgot to buy the ice cream. Now, I have already committed to myself to not waste time making ANY extra trips to the grocery store this week. Good thing I remembered that we have some little cups of vanilla ice cream down in the camp store. They have been there for a while but are still good. Plus I am getting ready to order some new product for there and could use the room. So I "bought" those to use in the kitchen.

I loaded up the blender with milk, ice cream and some malt powder. I needed enought for 60 people. First batch came out fine. Second batch came out fine. With the third batch I started to smell smoke. That's never a good sign. Sure enough the blender stopped working. It still powers but the blades are not spinning. I'll have one of the men check it tomorrow.

So only halfway into my project I needed a plan B. How about the food processor? That seemed like a good idea. My processor looks a lot like this one, with a little chute thing on the front of it.

I dumped everything into the bowl and set it to pulse. Well it mixed fine but proceeded to spew milk out of the chute all.over.the.counter.and.onto.my.shoes. *sigh*.

I salvaged what I could from that batch and started the 4th batch. Only smaller. It worked fine, as did the 5th and 6th batches. By then I was out of ice cream (and patience). Thankfully I ended up with the exact amount of cups I needed. I love when that happens!

In summary: they were messy and not too thick but it's all good as long as it tastes good! And taste good they did. That's what I heard anyway since I did not actually get one. Which is fine. Plain vanilla is not my favorite and ice cream gives me the hiccups. When I got home I found some mini peanut butter cups in my freezer. YUM!

Camp Menu

B) Scrambled Eggs

Sausage Links

Waffles

Yogurt and Granola

Fruit

Cereal

L) Sloppy Joe

Tater Tots

Baby Carrots and Celery Sticks

Crispy Rice Bars

D) Chicken and Biscuits

Caesar Salad

Vanilla Milkshakes

Cheers!

Today is National Dry Martini Day.
I did not think this would be "camp appropriate" so I skipped it.

Camp Menu
B) Same as yesterday's help yourself stuff
L) Gyros: beef slices on a pita with lettuce, tomato, onion, feta, and tzatziki sauce
Lemon Pepper Rice
Baklava
Dried Apricots
D) Baked Ham
Mashed Sweet Potato
Peas
French Bread
Chocolate Cookies and Cream Cake

I took the easy way out..

Today is National Cherry Tart Day!
It's also International Picnic Day!

It was also my day off and since I think an International holiday outranks a National holiday, I went with the Picnic Day celebration. Actually, our assistant director was already planning to take the staff to a park for some play time and an authentic smoked bbq dinner. A bbq is like a hot picnic so that counts. Right?

Plus we're having a Greek style lunch tomorrow and I wanted to start the baklava tonight since it takes so long to assemble and bake and cool and soak and cool again. Let me tell you that right now my kitchen smells AMAZING!

I did purchase all the cherry tart ingredients so I will (hopefully) be making some soon.

We have overnight camp for 3rd and 4th graders starting tomorrow and day camp for 1st through 5th graders starting on Monday so it will be crazy busy FUN around here.
Please pray for our campers and staff - for health and safety and clear gospel presentations and good relationships.


Camp Menu
(I can only base this on what I left them to eat)

B) Bagels and English Muffins with spreads
Nutri Grain Bars
Special K Bars
Leftover Egg Pizza
Fruit

L)Sandwich Fixins (ham, turkey, salami, American, Swiss, Provolone)
Leftover Burgers
Sun Chips
Baby Carrots and Celery Sticks
Leftover Desserts (chocolate cake, fudge, gelatin)

D) Pork Chops
Green Beans
Corn on the Cob

...one of my favorite things...

Today is National Apple Strudel Day!

Today is also National Eat All Your Veggies Day, and in today's mail there was a free sample issue of Vegetarian Times.

One of the staff kids played a VonTrapp daughter in her school's Sound of Music play this Spring and I was humming the My Favorite Things song while I baked.

The strudel almost didn't get made because I was very busy (since I'm off all day tomorrow and Sunday morning I had to have everything available and arranged for people to be able to feed themselves). As supper was being served I finally got around to starting and it went in the oven at 7:30pm. The bake time was 45 minutes and it took just about that long for me to finish cleaning the kitchen and getting things organized.





The recipe is from the Taste of Home website (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple-Strudel-2) and came together relatively quickly. One of our guys on staff was very impressed with my apple peeler/corer/slicer and ended up doing all the apples for me. Two others had a contest to see who could finish eating an entire length of peel first without using their hands. One of the little staff kids brushed the butter on some of the phyllo dough sheets for me. We had conversations about the differences between streussel and strudel, and about baklava. Good times in the kitchen tonight!
We ended up eating it as a special snack after our evening fireside time. It was tasty but I could tell that I rushed making it. It's all good as long as it tastes good!

Camp Menu
B) Sausage, Egg, and Cheese on English Muffin
Strawberry-Banana Smoothies
Cereal

L) BBQ (It's a YAA tradition that on the last day of each camp session we invite the campers' families to come for an awards ceremony and stay for a bbq. This has been a great way for counselors to interact with the parents and share stories of the week.)
Burgers, Polish Sausage, Chips, Watermelon, Brownies, Lemonade

D) Soupy Casserole Stuff (aka...upscaled leftovers)
Ham, Broccoli, Potato in Cheese Soup
Fajita Chicken, Peppers and Onions, Rice, Black Beans in Tomato Soup
Rolls and Crackers

Oh, Fudge! (And Another Food First)

Today is National Fudge Day!


I started this project with a slight feeling of trepidation. You see, I have tried at least 4 times previously with different recipes to make fudge and they were all came out horrible. Even the ones called "no-fail" fudge were no match for me. I failed. So sad.

Today I was determined to be successful. Not just because of the food challenge, or the blog post, but because I had 40+ friends counting on me and looking forward to homemade fudge. No pressure, right?

First I had to find a recipe that I had all the ingredients for and that did not sound terribly difficult. I thought I kept a very well stocked camp kitchen but lately there always seems to be something that I don't have. I ended up on the cooking for engineers website(http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/98/Condensed-Milk-Fudge).
3 ingredients, 4 steps. Sounded simple enough. And simple it was. Finally, success!
The only change I had to make was to form them in 8" round pans instead of square since that is all we had.

The flavors (from left to right) are cookies and cream, butterscotch, peanut butter, and original.

This recipe is definately a keeper. I want to experiment with more flavors and mix-ins.

If you remember from last night's post I accidentally sent a bag of croutons to a bbq instead of chips. So for fun tonight at supper I put chips on the salad instead of croutons. Everyone who knew the story thought it was very funny.

It's all good as long as it tastes good!

Camp Menu

• B) Breakfast Pizzas - sausage, eggs, cheese



• Yogurt with Granola



• Fruit



• Cereal

• L) Chicken Patty Sandwich



• Tortilla Chips with Salsa



• Celery Sticks, Baby Carrots, Cucumber Sticks



• Soccer Practice Bars (oatmeal, peanut butter chocolate chip)

• D) Chili Pie (chili con carne with cornbread topping)



• Caesar Salad



• Fudge and Ice Cream

Two Food Firsts For Me Today

Today is National Lobster Day!

My First 1st was cooking a lobster.
My Second 1st was making popcorn on the stove without burning myself or making a huge mess.

I have never cooked a lobster before, and they're not really one of my favorite things to eat either. Plus they are expensive. But the food fest must go on! I wanted a recipe where lobster was just an ingredient. My first thought was bisque, but after some research into that I changed my mind. My second thought was to do a lobster risotto.



I purchased some frozen lobster tails and gave them a quick boil. I used my basic risotto recipe and while there was still some liquid left I divided the risotto into two serving dishes. I added chicken to one pan and lobster to the other. This way people had a choice. I felt bad having to "ration" the lobster one but there wasn't much and I needed to be certain that everyone who wanted a taste got some.








The men had decided halfway through the day that they were going on a hike to cookout and do Braveheart type stuff in the woods in honor of "Man Day" but they begged me to save them some. For second servings the ladies only got to have the chicken risotto. There was plenty and everyone seemed to enjoy it.


Tomorrow's food holiday will be a huge challenge for me!


Camp Menu

B)Apple Wraps
Coffee Cake
Grapefruit
Yogurt with Granola
Cereal

L)Sloppy Joes
leftover chicken wings, corn dogs, and broccoli salad
Ranch Macaroni Salad
Underwater Salad (berry blue gelatin with Swedish Fish and whipped topping)

D)girls
Risotto: plain, chicken, lobster
Caesar Salad
Cream Puffs
leftover German chocolate cake


D) guys
Sirloin Burgers
Hot Dogs
Croutons (I thought it was a bag of chips I packed. HA! My bad, but the guys loved them)
Root Beer
S'mores: with Hershey's Chocolate or Reeses Peanut Butter Cup

Strawberry Shortcake

Today is National Strawberry Shortcake Day!

Yesterday I got a great deal on berries at our local grocery store. Their produce department keeps a pretty well stocked discount area. They occasionally have boxes containing 8 1 pound packs of strawberries for $4.99, because there are a couple of moldy ones. I buy those boxes when I see them, discard the few bad berries (only 4 this time) and give the rest a very good washing. Once sliced they are great for smoothies or fruit syrup or on yogurt.


It was hard to find a recipe that did not suggest using a store bought pound cake or angel food cake and prepared whipped topping. I wanted something more authentic so I went with this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/strawberry-shortcake-a-la-treebeards-41156. It used homemade shortcakes layered with homemade strawberry sauce, sliced strawberries, and freshly whipped cream. Delish!


They were not all "structurally sound" and some toppled over in their bowls, but it's all good as long as it tastes good. I think that will be one of my mottos this Summer. The leftovers will be made into a trifle or something later this week. Or maybe just put on the up for grabs shelf.

Camp Menu

B) Blueberry Pancakes

Oatmeal with Toppings

Cottage Cheese

Pineapple Chunks

L) Corn Dogs - plain and jalapeno cheddar

Tater Tots

Broccoli Salad (that counts as a veggie, right?)

Crispy Rice Treats

D) Rice Bowls (Mexican chicken over cilantro rice with black beans)

Toppings (shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, jalapenos)

Tortilla Chips

Baby Carrots

Strawberry Shortcake

bork bork bork

Today is Kitchen Klutzes of America Day!

My 1st thought was "WAHOO...nothing special to cook".
My 2nd thought was "Oh Crap...it might be one of those days".

Breakfast went off without a hitch.

Then came lunch. I was planning to make macaroni and cheese. While assembling the ingredients to bake, I got caught up in several different conversations. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure not all the quantities were added correctly. Into the oven the pans went anyway. As a side note, our oven has been a bit wonky lately and not holding steady temps. Well about 2/3 through the bake time the oven had a hot flash or something causing the milk in the pans to boil over. Now the pans were tightly covered with foil so how it got out of there is beyond me. The boiled over milk ened up all.over.the.oven.floor and quickly burned to a crisp filling the kitchen with smoke. Yea, that's always fun. So, I took the pans out and deemed them "done enough". Despite the overflows they were still soupy but the noodles were fully cooked. I don't normally like to serve less than perfect but there was no time left to do anything about it.

We served it with a slotted spoon and everybody loved it. A few even compliment the smoky smell (saying it made the bbq chicken more authentic). Go figure! I really do work in the best place ever. My dilemma now is how to duplicate this "disaster" to make it that good again.

I did save all the extra sauce thinking that I can mix it with yesterday's leftover ham and a starch to make a nice casserole.

One of my high school staffers came into the kitchen just before supper saying that he was bored and wanted to help out. So he cleaned out the oven for me. We really do have the best staff ever.

The only dinner problems were some raw spaghetti noodles dropped on the floor (since I did not realize the bag was already open on the opposite side of the one I was trying to open), and some salad ingredients that slid off the cutting board or came short of the trash can. I gave the floor a good sweeping after all that.

Here's a fun video of one of my all time favorite kitchen klutzes. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OfsABOGw3c

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day : )


Camp Menu

B) Scrambled Eggs
Leftover French Toast with Leftover Sausage Gravy
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Cereal

L) Baked Chicken Drumsticks - plain or with bbq sauce
Macaroni and Cheese
Celery Sticks and Baby Carrots
Leftover Peanut Butter Cookies

D) Spaghetti and Meatballs
House Salad

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!

That was an easy one for me. I used a recipe from the camp's own cook book. They turned out with a perfect texture, although I might prefer one with a stronger peanut butter taste.

Here's a bit of interesting information about the peanut butter cookie:
According to www.gone-ta-pott.com,
History
"George Washington Carver (1864-1943), an African-American agricultural extension educator, from Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, was the most well known promoter of the peanut as a replacement for the cotton crop, which had been heavily damaged by the boll weevil. He compiled 105 peanut recipes from various cookbooks, agricultural bulletins and other sources. In his 1916 Research Bulletin called How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, he included three recipes for peanut cookies calling for crushed/chopped peanuts as an ingredient. It was not until the early 1920s that peanut butter was listed as an ingredient in the cookies."
Baking Patterns
"The Peanut Butter Balls recipe in the 1923 edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes contains the first known written instance of instructing the cook to press the cookies using fork tines. The recipe does not explain why this advice is given, though: peanut butter cookie dough is dense, and without being pressed, it will not cook evenly. Using a fork to press the dough is a convenience; bakers can also use a cookie shovel."

I'm not sure what a cookie shovel is, but now I want one!

Camp Menu
Brunch)
Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
Waffles with Triple Berry Syrup
Oatmeal with Toppings
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cantaloupe
Strawberry Yogurt with Granola
Cottage Cheese with Pineapple Chunks

Afternoon Snack)
chips, popcorn, leftover salad and sandwich fixins

Supper)
Glazed Spiral Baked Ham
Rice
Green Bean Casserole
French Bread
Peanut Butter Cookies

Evening Snack)
Ice Cream Social
Make-Your-Own Sundaes

National German Chocolate Cake Day

Today is National German Chocolate Cake Day!

A big goal of my project is education. I want to learn more about what I am making and pass along that knowledge. Fact: German Chocolate Cake is actually nicht deutsch (not German).

According to http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/, German Chocolate Cake is an American creation that contains the key ingredients of sweet baking chocolate, coconut, and pecans. This cake was not brought to the American Midwest by German immigrants. The cake took its name from an American with the last name of "German" In most recipes and products today, the apostrophe and the "s" have been dropped, thus giving the false hint as for the chocolate's origin.
1852 - Sam German created the mild dark baking chocolate bar for Baker's Chocolate Company in 1852. The company name the chocolate in his honor - "Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate."

1957 -The first published recipe for German's chocolate cake showed up in a Dallas newspaper in 1957 and came from a Texas homemaker. The cake quickly gained popularity and its recipe together with the mouth-watering photos were spread all over the country. America fell in love with German Chocolate cake.

So, now we know!

I used the recipe found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/german-chocolate-cake-3169, and it worked very well. I left each of the 3 layers as a single layer cake and just frosted the tops. The cake had a nice, light, spongy texture and the frosting was super rich with a hint of caramel flavor.

Today was a laid-back kind of day around here, as most Saturdays are since there are no campers here. The entire staff ate breakfast together, then some of the college staff took all of the high school staff out for a long hike. We had a late supper when they returned, and then enjoyed some s'mores around the campfire.

Camp Menu

B) Fritatta (potatoes, peppers, and onions baked in an egg mix)

Sausage Links

Bagels with Spreads

Fruit and Cereal

L) Sack lunches for the hikers: sandwiches, trail mix, apple or orange, celery sticks / baby carrots, sweet treat (candy bar, fruit snack, granola bar), sport drink

Help yourself for those who stayed at camp: leftovers or sandwiches

Really, I'm not even sure what exactly they ate because they did such a great job of cleaning up after themselves!

D) I cheated a little and used "prepared" foods since I had a very busy afternoon running errands all over town. But nobody minded and they all really enjoyed the comfort foods - perfect after their long, active day. There were no leftovers! Maybe I should keep it simple more often.

Baked Chicken Tenders

Mashed Potatoes with Gravy

Peas

German Chocolate Cake

American Food Holidays: Triple Play

Today is National Herb and Spice Day!
I always cook with herbs and spices so that was an easy one to accomplish.

Today is National Iced Tea Day!
For lunch I brewed up a few gallons of hot tea and made some sweet iced tea.
It even got the "approval" of our staff from the South.

Today is National Black Cow Day!
After supper we had black cows for dessert. It was a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a layer of chocolate syrup all swimming in root beer. The milk plus carbonation combination created a foamy head. Tasty fun : )

Camp Menu
*The camp staff called today "a most excellent food day".
Not sure how I'm going to top that!

B) French Toast

Bacon
Applesauce

L) Philly Cheesesteak on Sourdough Hoagie
Tater Tots
Broccoli Soup
Celery Sticks and Baby Carrots
Torched S'mores

D) Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups
Green Beans

Caesar Salad
Caramelized Onion Focaccia
Black Cows

National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day

Today is National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day!

I have never made a strawberry rhubarb pie (since it's not my favorite) or even cooked with rhubarb. At all. Ever. Bring on the challenge!

For help, I went to Andrea. She is our camp director's wife, a good friend, and amazing cook/baker. She has made this kind of pie before and I have enjoyed eating hers.

A friend of the camp grows rhubarb and was generous to offer us as much as we needed so we went to her house and picked us some fresh rhubarb. Yup, I got the full experience. The plants grow really big. It just so happens that this friend also owns/lives on a dairy farm. Andrea gave me a little tour of that and taught me some things about the cows and the milking process. Very interesting! Too bad I did not have my camera with me.

After lunch and a short break for me we met up to make the pies. She has a great crust recipe (butter, crisco, flour, salt, vinegar, egg, and ???) that rolled out very well and was flaky. For the filling, she combined several recipes with her general know-how. First we mixed the dry ingredients (minute tapioca, sugar, salt, and ???). Then we chopped the rhubarb and poured boiling water over it. Once it was very dry we tossed it in the sugar mixture with the strawberries until everything was well coated. Then we beated an egg with some water and added that. The filling went into the crust and we dotted it with some cut up butter. Then the top crust went on. We each did a different decorative edging and steam vent. Some foil around the edges helped prevent burning. The pies baked until the crust was golden brown and the filling was bubbly.


About an hour later VOILA: beautiful pies and memories of a fun day.

Camp Menu

B) baked eggs

home fries

sausage links

bananas

cereal

L) stewardship smorgasbord

aka...leftovers

D) chicken with peanut sauce

basmati rice

steamed sugar snap peas

mandarin oranges

pie (and leftover desserts)

National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day

Today is National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day!


I used a recipe that I had cut out of the 12/3/02 issue ofWoman's World magazine but never tried before. The doughnuts were easy to make and turned out great. The filling was Smucker's seedless blackberry jam. They were a yummy after-lunch dessert.




Some powdered sugar fun was inevitable. Silly boss!






Camp Menu

B) Bagels and English Muffins with spreads
fruit, cereal, muffins

L) BBQ pulled pork sliders
pepper parmesan potato wedges
fresh cole slaw
donuts

D) cheese and pepperoni pizzas on herb crust
caesar salad
cut peaches and pears
OREO dirt cups with a sour gummy worm

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day!

Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day!

To celebrate I got a box of Healthy Choice fudge bars to serve as dessert after supper. It's kind of cheating on my project but I don't have an ice cream maker (yet?) and all my free time today between lunch and dinner was spent at Costco anyway.


Camp Menu:
B) bagels, english muffins, fruit, cereal, fresh baked muffins (blueberry, maple bacon, lemon poppy), yogurt and granola

L) cream of broccoli soup, chicken fajita bar, rice, black beans, beef nachos with cheese sauce, baby carrots, celery sticks

D) make-your-own sandwich bar (wheat bread, hoagie roll, toasted burger bun, croissant, turkey, ham, salami, swiss, provolone, american, lettuce, tomato, red onion, banana pepper, jalapeno, mayo, mustard, honey mustard, ranch, zesty fry sauce), pesto pasta salad with fresh mozz and sundried tomatoes, chips, baby carrots, celery sticks and fudge bars

National Applesauce Cake Day (and a new camp favorite)

Today is National Applesauce Cake Day!

I found a recipe in the Food For Fifty cookbook that we have. The cake was full of raisins and walnuts and had a cream cheese frosting. It was good, but not exciting enough for me to want to put it on my make-often list.

Lunch today was a baked chili and cornbread dish. Very easy and tasty.

Supper today was "YAA-FIL-A" sandwiches. Soooo yummy!

We have some people on staff from the South and they are huge Chick-Fil-A fans. Unfortunately there are no Chick-Fil-A restaurants anywhere near here. Being the wonderful person that I am, I located a copycat recipe for their sandwiches. The ingredients were surprising but it worked. Let me tell you, it got rave reviews. I served the fresh fried chicken on a buttery grilled bun with toppings (lettuce, onion, pickles, mayo, mustard, honey mustard, ranch, spicy fry sauce) on the side so each person could customize their own. Baked crinkle cut fries and a leftover dessert bar completed the meal. This one is definately a keeper!

The only hard part was that I did my frying in a 12" electric skillet which made the cooking process take a long time (since only 4 or 5 pieces fit at a time). Maybe it's time for the camp to buy a fryer. Maybe...

National Gingerbread Day

Before I get into today's holiday, let me say that the blueberry frozen yogurt (that I wrote about yesterday) was delicious. Today was a warm and sunny day and this was the perfect cool treat for our outside lunch. I will definately be trying some other flavors soon.

Today is National Gingerbread Day!

I don't know about everyone else but I usually only think of gingerbread at Christmas time. Here's a picture of some gingerbread cookies I made this past December.

They were decorated to look like all of our full-time staff members and their families. Each person got to take their cookies home with them. I'm "the one" in the purple dress.

With today being too busy (and too nice out) for me to roll and cut and decorate enough cookies for our Summer staff, I decided to do gingerbread bars instead. The Land O Lakes website had a simple recipe (http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1068/easy-gingerbread-bars) that was delicious. Best part is that it called for sprinkles. A little friend once told me that sprinkles are candy confetti and they make everything better. I agree! Red and green sugars seemed appropriate for a Christmasy cookie. There were requests for me to make them again soon. I guess gingerbread is not just for the holidays anymore!

There's 3 American Food Holidays today!

Today is National Cheese Day!

Cheese is one of the best foods ever. Really! So many great flavors and ways to enjoy them. But since I got a late start on this food-day adventure I chose to keep it simple and make a grilled cheese sandwich. Not just any grilled cheese, an EPIC grilled cheese. Yes, I know epic is a grossly overused and already outdated word but it seemed appropriate.

What makes this sandwich special is an extra slice of toast in the middle. This is a classic American on White bread. Can you see how it is just oozing with cheeseyliciousness?

Today is National Frozen Yogurt Day!

I have never made frozen yogurt before and I don't have a machine that makes it. Thankfully I found an easy recipe using ingredients that I already had that could be made in a saucepan.(http://www.ehow.com/way_5313162_frozen-yogurt-recipe.html)

Blueberries in the blender

Cooking with sugar and lemon juice - great swirls of color

Cooled with milk and yogurt added


It needs to be in the freezer overnight. I'll post the results tomorrow.

I'm hoping it's better than the spinach ice cream!

Today is National Cognac Day!

I didn't make anything special for this, so here's a website with some info for anyone who might be interested. (http://www.cognac-world.com/)

American Food Holidays...Let's Celebrate : )

June 3rd was National Donut Day. It was also the 1st full day for our Joshua Project (staff of college students) so I wanted to celebrate both of these great things. We don't have any good donut shops here in Bozeman so I made my own.





The top ones had chocolate powdered sugar - which later turned into a decliciously fudgy mess - and the bottom ones had cinnamon sugar. This was only my 2nd attempt at making donuts (the 1st try was an epic fail) and they came out pretty good. Next time I will make dough the night before so they have more time to rise, and perhaps frost them and add sprinkles. Because really, sprinkles make everything better!

The idea of "National (some kind of food) Day" intrigued me so I did some research to find the origin. Along the way I got distracted - as always - but did end up finding a great list of American Food Drink Days at http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm. That inspired another great idea. I have challenged myself to make something each day that co-ordinates with the food being honored. The people around camp are pretty excited about this and many have volunteered to be taste-testers.