Scrumptious Springtime Recipes!

Ah, the season of flowers, fresh greens, baby bunnies, and bright colors! Most teenagers (including me) typically think of spring as the season of allergies and the time of year right before summer (huzzah!)

Spring welcomes in many great vegetables and fruits that anyone can use in their dishes. Even teens! Lemon, parsley, spinach, and strawberries are extraordinary at this time of year. With these fresh ingredients and a few others, any teenager can make a delicious light pasta dish and yummy springtime smoothie.

I was inspired to create this dish and dessert after reading  The Pasta Bible by Jeni Wright. I recommend this cookbook to any pasta aficionado out there!

Iron Chef Challenge – Part 2

Here is another winning entry from the East Regional Library’s Iron Chef Challenge event. Try this amazing recipe for a special summer dessert. It’s sure to impress!

Best Presentation: Coconut Custard with Toasted Pineapple

Prepared by Catherine C., 17

Coconut Custard

Ingredients: 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil; 6 tbs sweetened coconut flakes, plus 1/4 c for garnish, lightly toasted; 2 c heavy cream; 1/2 c milk; 1/2 c canned cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez); 6 tbs sugar; 1/2 vanilla bean, split in 1/2 lengthwise; 3 egg yolks; 2 eggs; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 2 tsp confectioners’ sugar

Directions: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Using your fingers, very lightly grease 6 (4-ounce) custard cups or ramekins with vegetable oil. Place 1 tbs of the toasted coconut in each ramekin. Place the ramekins inside a roasting pan and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the cream, the milk, cream of coconut, sugar, and vanilla bean halves and their seeds. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Iron Chef Challenge

Teens cooled off this week at the East Regional Library with delicious treats created for this summer’s Iron Chef Challenge. Over ten teens made a dish or drink using pineapple, the secret ingredient! Three awards and prizes were given for the Best Tasting, Most Creative and Best Presentation. All teens in attendance earned tickets for the Teen Summer Reading Contest!

Best Tasting: Tropical Slushy

Created by Daniel M. , 16

Ingredients:

1 cup Sunny D, 1 can crushed pineapple, 1 banana, 1 cup strawberries, 1 can mandarin oranges, 1 Hawaiian Punch Sugar Free Lemon Berry Squeeze Singles, Splenda, and ice.

Prepare: Pour ingredients into a blender. Add Splenda, Sunny D and ice to adjust to your taste and desired consistency. Serve immediately!

What kind of things have you been cooking up this summer to stay cool?

Teen Iron Chef @ East Regional

Teens had a great time sharing their favorite cooked up creations on Tuesday afternoon at East Regional Library. Similar to Iron Chef on TV, the teens were challenged to submit their food with the main ingredient starting with the letter “C” – think cranberries, corn, cream, etc.  It was so much fun tasting everything! I totally got a sugar high! But with the healthier selections, I hope I balanced it all out – right? Here are some of the winning recipes

Taylor’s AMAZING Chicken & Stars Soup

Ingredients: chicken breasts, chicken bouillon, celery, carrots, water, onion flakes, parsley, pepper, star noodles, garlic, vegetable oil

Cut up chicken into cubes. Cook thoroughly in pan with garlic and oil. Boil water and bouillon. Add noodles and boil til tender. Set to simmer. Slice carrots and celery. Add to broth. Add chicken to broth. Ad sprink of onion flakes, pepper and parsley.

(Very aromatic! It’s her family’s favorite, now mine too)

Agar Agar Dessert

Ingredients: agar agar powder & water, coconut milk (or coffee or fruit juice)

Put agar agar into pan with hot water. Bring to boil and simmer for three minutes, stirring constantly. Pour agar agar into fruit juice and mix. Pour over cubed fruit in moulds and refrigerate until set.

(This came out beautifully. Vivienne made a colorful tulip mold overlaid on a round of coconut agar. Not sure what agar is, think J-ello.)

Ants on a Log

An old favorite with a twist! Celery, raisins and peanut butter. Cut celery, put peanut butter in sandwich bag. Snip end and pipe into celery stalk like icing, add raisins.  (Healthy and fun to make!)

Gajar ka Halwa, a traditional Pakistani dessert (Golden Carrot Pudding)

Ingredients: carrots, milk, almonds, butter and sugar

Grate carrots and add to a pot with milk. Bring mixture to a boil until milk becomes dried up. Add butter and fry at medium heat – keep stirring. Add sugar once mixture is well cooked. Stir and remove from heat. Add almonds. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.

(yum! and I don’t even like cooked carrots!)

Iron Chef Challenge takes a Bite out of Teen Read Week

Amazing Muffins

The second Iron Chef Challenge took place at the East Regional Library on Tuesday! The secret ingredient was PUMPKIN! Every from pumpkin goo to pumpkin flan was entered into the contest. The 5 judges voted and the winners were Katie F., Grace T., Amanda W. and Daniel M.      Congratulations!

Here’s a link to a tasty pumpkin muffin recipe.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes Recipe

Cake: Cake mix, 1 egg, 8 tbl melted butter

Filling: 8oz. softened cream cheese, 1 can pumpkin, 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 8 tbl melted butter, 1 box powered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, egg and butter and mix well. Pat mixture into bottom of a slightly greased 13×9 baking pan.  To make filling: Beat cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients. Spread mixture over batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Center will be gooey and yummy too!