Swiss Chard with garlic

Healthy and and full of nutrients, Swiss Chard is delicious sautéed in olive oil and garlic until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

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Upcoming Workshops

Take a look at my newly updated website www.letsallcook.com I've added some more dates to the workshop page for the months of March and April.

If you'd love to learn how to make pizza's from scratch or learn to make Hot Cross Buns or you'd just like to come and have a couple of hours fun, then contact me for details.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Happy 2010, New classes and New location!

I am excited to announce the start of a new year of cooking programs at "Let's All Cook" and invite you all to join me on Saturday mornings for 2 hour workshops.

I have found a wonderful new location for LAC at the Mt Calvary Church, here in Acton. The kitchen is a brand new renovation, with professional appliances and a big center island and is a perfect environment for learning.

My first cooking class is scheduled to be "Valentine's Day Breakfast" on Saturday, February 13 from 10am - 12pm. Recipes will depend upon numbers and ages of participants. Younger kids will learn cookies and cupcakes. Older kids will prepare breakfast treats.

Price is $40 per class and I will give you a $10 discount for each recommendation or family member. This cost includes all material fees and lots of goodies to take home.

* Please let me know if any adults are interested in taking future classes/workshops OR if you have any ideas or comments for future classes. I am open to ALL ideas and suggestions.

N. B. This e-mail is really for me to find out how many of my past students and parents are interested in taking cooking classes again. I will need to book the kitchen by January 18th, so please let me know ASAP and I will send you a registration form and all the details.

Please forward this info. to any friends who you think may be interested.

"Let's All Cook" signs up with the Town of Acton

Great news! I have just signed up with the Town of Acton, Recreation department. So that means that all the classes (and more) I taught with Acton/Boxborough Community Education will be published in the town brochure. Don't call to sign up yet, please wait until the brochure comes out - registration will start sometime in March.

I have arranged to teach the classes at the Church of Good Shepherd in Acton - they have a nice large professional kitchen, so we'll have much more room and MORE OVENS to cook all our new recipes.

So, look out for the Town of Acton recreation brochure, which comes out the end of February. The Spring session will start on April 30 and last for 6 weeks. The kid's classes (Beg 1, Beg 11 and Teen supper club) have stayed basically the same, but I have added 2 morning classes. An Adult class at 9 am - 10.30am will teach budget friendly recipes to feed your family and a Mommy and Me class 11am - 12.30 pm for preschoolers.

I hope you all keeping well and warm during this snowy winter. Keep cooking with your kids, it's a great way to have one to one time with them.

Adult Cooking Classes in Acton

Did you watch Oprah a couple of weeks ago, when Suzie Orman suggested that to save money, we should not eat out in restaurants for one month! I guess it's great way to save money, but as part of the hospitality industry - I was pretty shocked! We should be supporting our restaurant industry, but let's not rely on them so much.

I love to go out to dinner for a special occasion, but why spend $50 - $100 for a mid-week meal? My big problem with restaurant meals is that the portions are getting so huge, we are teaching our kids that these plates are normal! We know that they are usually enough for 2 or 3 people - no wonder our kids are becoming overweight. Let's start a new trend and show our kids that we can produce meals at home, which are just as delicious and nutritious, but for a fraction of the cost.

So, has anyone taken her advice and what are you eating? I'd really like to know if you are saving money by shopping and cooking a hot meal for your family everyday?

My family used to be 5 mouths, but Lucy has sinced moved out and Claire is at college, so it's just the 3 of us now. However, I have always tried to cook a meal for my family, even when I work nights with the catering company. Maybe, living in a small "rural" town in Massachusetts helps, due to lack of fast food restaurants, but with a little planning and good cooking techniques under your belt, it's a good habit to get into.

For the past 4 years, I have taught kids to cook in the Acton area, and now I think it's time to teach their parents. Since Lucy moved into her apartment, I've enjoyed passing on family recipes to her via my blog Recipes4mydaughters, I hope you take a look at them and have fun making them.

If you are interested in taking cooking classes with me, I can schedule "hands-on" workshops at the Church of Good Shepherd in Acton any morning. Gather a group of friends together and I'll teach you how to plan your grocery shopping and cook economical, delicious and healthy meals for your family and freezer. We'll make quick and easy recipes and you'll learn culinary tips and techniques from a professional chef. Contact me at maxinebussell@aol.com if you would like more information. "Let's all Cook" - and save money together!

Mommy and Me Cooking Classes

Is your child a fussy eater? Are you sick and tired of chicken nuggets and french fries? Would you like a start a new and fun class with your preschooler and introduce him/her to new and healthy foods? or Do you love to cook with your child but would like to learn new easy recipes.

If yes, yes, yes is your answer - then why not try my new cooking class. I will bring all the recipes, food and equipment necessary to make fun and delicious meals, which you will prepare with your child. The class is designed for upto 10 Moms (or Grandparent), so you will also get to make new friends and get cooking tips and ideas from a professional Chef and eat lunch!

We will plan to make 3 dishes per week, with lots hands activity for your preschooler, such as pizza bugs, Italian wedding soup, apple and pear sauce, carrot cake cupcakes and much more...

Did you know that, aswell as having lots of fun, cooking teaches kids lots of other things -

Math skills: Counting, Fractions, Sorting, Money, Sequencing- what comes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Weighing, Measuring, Shapes, Colors, Problem solving-what happens if something goes wrong.
Reading skills: Improving their reading skills, Vocabulary through new words.
Chemistry and Science lessons: Discovering food groups, Making predictions, Experimenting, How food grows, How food changes while cooking, Five senses, Sensory exploration, Smelling and feeling the ingredients while cooking.
Geography lessons: Cultural recipes, Where food grows.

Art lessons: Creating, Creativity-make their own unique recipes
History lessons: Recipes through generations, Family recipes/family history.
Health lessons: How to eat healthy, Food safety, Good nutrition.
Social Skills: Responsibility, Safety and Cleanliness, Working together, Sharing, Building self esteem.
Fine motor skills: Chopping, whisking, kneading, pouring, mixing, cutting and rolling.

So, I hope you'll come and join us on Thursday, January 29 at 11 am at the Church of Good Shepherd, 164 Newtown Road, Acton, MA 01720. More class details can be found at http://www.letsallcook.com/

Please e-mail me at maxinebussell@aol.com to register.

Changes for Let's all Cook

If you've been to my website http://www.letsallcook.com/, then you have found out that I have cancelled my cooking classes for kids with Acton Community Education. But do not despair, I am as we speak (or blog) making arranging for classes to be held at a new location in Acton. Nothing has been finalised yet, so I can't give you any details yet, but I'm still planning on classes starting next month.

Please stay tuned to this blog or my website and I will let you know all the new details - location, dates, times etc.

Here is the letter that I posted on my LAC website:

To all my loyal old and new students and parents,

I'm sorry if you have tried to register for my cooking classes today, through Community Education in Acton, and have been told that my classes have been cancelled.

As you may know, I have not been happy with the kitchen facilities at the high school and have been thinking of finding an alternate location. So, last month I made the decision to cancel and look for a better kitchen to continue my teaching.

This new location will bring a new exciting year for "Let's All Cook" with a real industrial kitchen and proper work tables. I also hope to add more one-day workshops for those who cannot commit to a six week session.

Please be patient with me while I work out the details this week. I am still planning on starting classes in February and I will keep you all informed of location, dates and times as soon as possible.

Thanks again and don't hesitate to e-mail me at maxinebussell@aol.com if you have any questions.
Maxine

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Look what we made at our last class! These Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies were actually a special request from one of my regular students and they really came out great. The grated carrot and raisins in the cookie makes them chewy and the baking powder in the recipe gives them a cake-like texture. Sandwiched with a sweet cream cheese frosting, the kids loved them.
I hope you try making them.

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (2 medium) carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup raisins

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spray 2 baking sheets with non-stick spray.
3. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
4. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Mix in carrots, nuts, raisins and flour mixture with a wooden spoon and beat until well combined.
6. Drop 1 heaped tablespoon batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch. Remember to switch position of sheets halfway through baking.
7. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
8. While cookies are baking, prepare frosting: With an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese, butter and confectioners sugar in a small bowl until smooth.
9. Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.
   

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my students and their families who have signed up for my classes this year. I'm continually suprised how interested and enthusiastic the kids are. I love to teach them how much fun cooking is and parents are often suprised that their children are eating different foods, especially fruits and vegetables!

Kid's recipes do not have to be just Mac N'Cheese, chicken nuggets and P and B sandwiches. Take a look at all the recipes I have made with kids, you don't have to make separate meals at dinner time. Teach your kids to eat like grown ups and you'll save yourself a lot of work! Happy Holidays to you all and I hope to see you all again next year!

Cooking parties

November has been a really busy month for cooking parties! Thanks to everyone who booked me, I've loved teaching you all how much fun it is to cook.

Here are some photos for you to look at....



Rolling Crispy Candy Sushi Snacks



Prepping crab and cucumber for California Sushi Rolls



Rolling California Rolls on bamboo mats.



Rolling our homemade pasta dough.

Making Cinnamon Tortilla chips for dessert nachos

Crispy Candy Sushi Snacks ready for packing up as party favors.

Chinese Food Week at LAC

Chicken and Pineapple Stir-fry


Baked Spring Roll and Sticky Maple Chicken Drumstick


Hot from the oven - Baked Spring Rolls!

What a busy day we had on Thursday! Our teens made a delicious meal of Chicken and pineapple stir-fry (see photo above) , fried rice, Baked spring rolls and Mini oreo cheesecakes. Our younger classes learned how to make a finger-licking Sticky Maple chicken drumsticks, fried rice and baked spring rolls. Take a look at the photos to see how much fun we had....

Making baked spring rolls

Soups and Scones

We are in the middle of our fall session and everyone is doing great!
Today in our Beginners I class, we learned how to make Corn and Potato chowder and Maple Scones. You can see from the photo above how well the scones came out, we used maple leaf cutters and brushed them with a delicious maple icing.



We read the recipe carefully and measure all our ingredients beforehand - mise en place.





Our maple scones ready for the oven.



Time to eat! We spread our icing on the scones with paint brushes.







Our teens cutting leeks for Leek and Potato Soup.



Cooking apples for Apple Turnovers.



Delicious apple turnovers fresh from the oven.

Halloween Workshop Photos

We had a really fun time last week teaching a Halloween cooking workshop at Groton library.

Thanks to Deborah for inviting "Let's All Cook"to come and share our recipes with a great group of teens. I'd like to share with you the photos we took of our evening.


Grilling the quesadillas


Cutting the quesadillas


Halloween Quesadillas with Sickly Salsa

Spooky Spider cookies


Graveyard Dirt Puddding


Making Vampire's Blood Punch

Devilled Eye Balls

Serving Ghoulish Gazpacho

Halloween Recipes for Kids

My Halloween workshop is coming up next week and I've come up with some really great recipes for "kid's to make themselves". I'd love to share them with you all, so that you can make treats for your family and friends or plan your holiday party. Have fun!

Halloween Recipes for Kids

Ghoulish Gazpacho or Vampire's Vomit is actually a delicious cold soup full of healthy veggies. It can be served as an appetizer in shot glasses or small cups.

Devilled Egg Eyeballs are hard boiled eggs stuffed with a spicy filling. Red gel is piped on for blood shot veins and then they're topped with olives for spooky eyeballs.

Halloween Quesadillas with Sickly Salsa - These quesadillas are filled with orange cheese and black beans, then served with a really sickly looking salsa!

Witches Fingers. Cookies or rice krispie treats are colored green and shaped like fingers. A red painted almond (fingernail) is then pressed into the tip to make a creepy treat.

Graveyard Dirt Pudding. Serve this ghostly dessert in individual cups and each of your guests can decorate their own with cookie gravestones, spiders and gummy worms.

Spooky Spiders. These haystack cookies are made with chocolate, raisins, nuts and crunchy chowmein noodles which stick out like spider's legs.

Vampire's Blood Punch. This icy blood red beverage is so spooky it has eyeballs floating in it!

Fall is Apple Season

"Let's All Cook" cooking classes are off to great start! Thanks to all the kids and parents for a really successful and "delicious" class today. Our recipes today were based on the new crop of apples now appearing in our New England orchards - Apple galettes ( a free form apple pie made with a cream cheese pie crust) and Homemade Pop Tarts (made with the same pie dough). If you've never made a cream cheese pie crust, please give this a try, especially if you've had problems rolling pie dough. The cream cheese makes the dough really malleable and forgiving and is quite fail safe. Always try to refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes, this gives the butter a chance to harden up and will make the crust more flaky.

If you're cooking with your kids, it's always a good idea to make individual portion recipes if you can. Kids really don't to wait for over one hour for their food to cook, so many of my recipes are for individual servings, such as pies or mini cheesecakes, which take less than one hour to prep and bake.

This recipe for Apple Galettes is great for kids, once the dough is made, each kid gets to roll out their own piece, fill it with apples, form the pie and then glaze it with egg white and sugar. It's their very own pie from start to finish and they are usually more likely to eat it!

Looking for great family day out? Try pick-your-own apple picking in one of our many orchards in Massachusetts. I've only lived here for 6 years and so this activity is still a novelty for my family and me. I have visited several in the Acton area, namely Carlson orchards and Westward orchards in Harvard, and Berlin orchards in Bolton, which even has a hayride and pony rides. For a more comprehensive list of orchards, see pickyourown.org and don't forget to visit the local pumpkin patches and corn mazes later in the month.

My mom Shirley at Carlson orchard.

Healthier Cooking classes this Fall

Summer is already over and the kids are back to school. So that means that my kid's cooking classes will be starting soon. I like to try new recipes as much as I can, so I have been searching around for ones that are quick, fun and tasty. I've heard that the Beginners 2 class is already full, so I'll wait and see how the other classes do.

I like to teach the kids about nutrition and healthy eating, but we still do our fair share of baking. I have, however, been cutting back on the sugar and butter in the recipes - the kids don't seem to notice. (Martha Stewart recipes have way too much sugar). I've also substituted wholewheat flour in some recipes and they still haven't complained. It's our job as parents to enrich our kid's diets - slip in extra veggies when you can, cut up fruit into fruit salad, reduce your trips to the fast food restaurant and cook with your kids instead. Break out of that rut and search for different recipes for your family. All of my kid's recipes can be made in approximately 3o minutes! That's quicker than having pizza delivered!

We will be celebrating 2 holidays this session - Halloween and Thanksgiving. I love Halloween, I get the chance to do really scary recipes (not really), but I do have a great recipe for "witches fingers" and "eyeball punch". That reminds me, I still have to come up with with some vampire themed recipes for Groton library. I'll probably have to do something with tomato sauce and garlic.... Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Here is a recipe I found on a blog recently that I'm thinking will be great for my cooking class. It's called "Zebra cake"



Zebra Cake
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 ½ tbsp. cocoa powder

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan.
• In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar until mixture is light and creamy and the sugar has been mostly dissolved. Stir in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and almond extracts.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour into wet ingredients and whisk to combine.
• Measure out just over two cups of vanilla batter and put it back into the medium bowl. Sift cocoa powder over the bowl and whisk until fully incorporated.
• Put 3 tablespoons of vanilla batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own. Put 3 tablespoons of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all the batter has been used up.
• Bake for 38-42 minutes, until the cake is light gold and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out the cake and remove the parchment paper. Reinvert onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Frost if desired.
  Source: Baking Bites

Cooking tips for Kids

Last year, I had donated a Kid's cooking party to a local school auction. So, this week I got together with 6 teens to teach them how to make themselves dinner. They had chosen 3 recipes from my website and I arrived at the house with all the ingredients and equipment - ready to cook!

The chosen menu was Classic chicken pot pie, Pineapple fried rice and Chocolate lava cakes. They did everything, from poaching the chicken, chopping vegetables, melting chocolate and dinner was on the table in under 2 hours.

Here are some tips to make your next cooking adventure a success.

• Make sure you have the right equipment before you start.
• Print the recipe and place it in a plastic cover, so it doesn't get dirty or wet.
• Read the recipe first to make sure you have all the ingredients necessary, then start prepping the recipe which takes the longest to cook.
• Always, start with your "mise en place" or pre-measuring before you start any recipe. All professional chefs do this and ensures that we don't forget any essential ingredients, e.g., baking powder in a cake?
• Put away all the ingredients after measuring, so excess mess is at a minimum, you will look much more organised and efficient.
• Once, you've checked your list, then you're ready to start cooking!
  

• Don't be in a rush when cooking - follow the directions step by step, reading the recipe carefully.
• Preheat your oven if necessary and grease or prep your pans or cookie sheets ahead of time.
• Ask a grown up to help, especially if you are using sharp knives or using the stovetop or oven.
• Clean your work space as you go - food safety is really important.
• Wash your own dishes - your parents may let you cook again.
• AND most important of all - Have fun and enjoy all your hard work!