Over the weekend my mom and I decided to make apple pie for my family. We looked up the recipe on line, got all of out ingredients together and then we began to cook. My mom mixed most of the ingredient together while I made the pie crust. After we were done we poured the ingredients into the pie crust and put it in the oven for about an hour. My whole family really loved the pie and I can't wait to make it again! Emily R.

Over the weekend, I decided to make the pop tarts we made in class. I found a recipe and with the amount of people that wanted some I needed to double each ingredient. We made the dough and instead of putting nutella or peanut butter in it I just put cinnamon and sugar to make it more realistic to a cinnamon pop tart and everyone really seemed to like it. -Mikayla

Over break I was in Boston and we wanted to grab a bite to eat. We went to a pizza place and ordered our pre-made pizzas. When one pizza was ordered they said they didn't have any of that topping pre-made but it would only take five minutes. I thought this was odd because I know it takes more then five minutes for pizza dough to bake. But when it came out it was a grilled pizza dough. The first thing I thought of when we got our pizza was that we made grilled pizzas in baking and pastry. It actually much more efficient having the pizza dough grilled because it took less then five minutes to make. Amy M

My favorite snack to have after school is a smoothie. What I like most about smoothies are that they are so refreshing and sweet- and you can always change what type of smoothie you have depending on what type of fruits you put into it. I usually make my smoothies with yogurt that is usually flavored mango or peach, and then I use orange peach mango juice which adds nice flavor to the smoothie. Then, I add frozen or fresh fruit, depending on what I have at my house. Usually I put in frozen strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Smoothies have so few ingredients, they are so easy to make, and they are really healthy too! My favorite smoothie of all time would have to be Carribbean Passion smoothie from Jamba Juice. It has peaches, strawberries, ice, and a passionfruit-mango juice. It has the best flavor- it is tangy and has a tropical taste. None of the smoothies I make can compete with that one! -Caroline C.

Throughout the years of my existence, donuts have been something I have always enjoyed. From my child hood to now I always adore going to Dunkin Donuts and getting the classic Boston creme donut. Oh it is so delicious. One story of mine was a time when I was about the age of 7 or 8, I can’t remember. After a soccer game I played in and scored a goal, my dad decided to celebrate by getting me a donut. Since most of the time I don’t get donuts due to my mom wanting us to eat healthy, this was a treat. So after driving down to our own local DD, and going inside, we are surprised to find out they were out of donuts. That was the biggest disappoint ever. My dad and I weren’t about to give up et though. We knew there was a place called the Donut Hut so we decided to try it out. We got there and went inside to get my Boston crème donut when the owner said they were out as well. I was so angry at this point! All we wanted was a donut and we couldn’t get one. Eventually we went to another DD to get one but to this day we will never be more astonished to see donut stores run out of donuts. That is why I am very excited to learn how to make donuts in class so if my family and I run into this problem again, I can just make the donuts myself. -Ryan K. Class 2

The other day, I got lunch at school from the culinary paladar. My friend ordered the chicken sandwich and I got the Asian sliders. We each had half of the sandwich and one of the sliders. The chicken tender sandwich reminded me a lot of a flagpole sandwich that I can get from Misty Vale or the General Store. The chicken was almost the same, but the thing that really stood out to me was the bread that the sandwich was on. It was a rosemary focaccia, as opposed to the poppy seed roll that I would get at one of the local delis. I thought the rosemary added a very nice complimentary flavor to the sandwich, and I also enjoyed the flatter focaccia style. As much as I liked the chicken sandwich, I think I liked the Asian sliders a little bit more. The meat was cooked to perfection and the wasabi mayo was amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect when I saw that on the menu, but I decided to try it anyway. I always thought of wasabi as a very spicy food, but when it was paired with the mayo and candied bacon, it just left a nice sweet tang in my mouth. I don’t think I’ve had anything quite like that slider before and I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait until the next paladar so I can try out some more new and delicious foods at school. Jake Lambert

Ever since I can remember, I have always hated cheese. I could never eat it without being disgusted by the taste. No matter what kind, cheddar, American, swiss, gouda, Monterey Jack, blue cheese, goat cheese, I hated it. I wouldn’t eat plain slices of cheese, pizza, macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, cheese sticks, lasagna; no matter what kind of food it was, if it had cheese in it, I refused to eat it. It was kind of funny because while I simply hated cheese, my brother loved it. He could never get enough of it and would eat it all the time, even to the point where my parents had to force him to stop eating it. It disgusted me when he would eat cheese in front of me. I never understood how something that tasted so awful to me could taste so good to another person, let alone someone that I was related to. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more open to trying things. I will now eat cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese, although only certain kinds. I will occasionally eat a slice of cheddar cheese but I still refuse to eat cheesecake and my mom will still make me a separate, personal lasagna without the cheese filling for dinner. Ashley H.

The Last Fancy Cake

       Since I’ve told you about my dad, and his experience with baking. (he is better at cooking) I’ll tell you about cakes and my mom’s more interesting and refusal to make fancy cakes. When I turned four, my mom made me a birthday cake in the shape of a castle. It had the walls made of cake, with blue icing. Sugar cones for the towers with candy’s as windows and decoration. It was a big success, but took forever I later learned a few years back before I was born. For Easter, my mother made this giant Peter Rabbit cake. It had frosting grass and everything. After everyone ate it, she was pleased but only after did she make my castle cake before saying. “I’m never making fancy cakes again” Personally I don’t mind, I like to bake, maybe I might try to make a fancy cake. I mean it’s always been fun to make a cake, but in my opinion making a cake that someone will enjoy is much better. That’s what I like to do, is to give someone a cake. Then watch them smile and eat the piece, I see even though that cake may have been the last fancy cake. I mean, cake isn’t meant to be fancy it’s made to be enjoyed. Maybe someday I will make a few fancy cakes, but right now letting the last fancy cake lie, is what I’ll do. Right now, I’m fine with just cakes that are simple, and make people happy. RS~class 2

I was in France over April break and the food in France is to die for! I never ate the same thing twice because there was so much variety. Even the packaged snacks are delicious (and a million times better than the ones here). Also, the main meal in France is lunch, not dinner, like how it is in America. Every family’s meal traditions varied, like here, but most families have a sit-down lunch all together (on the weekends) and then breakfast and dinner are much more casual. For breakfast most days I ate cereal, which was pretty similar to cereals here. It was called Chocopic, and it was small chocolate flakes-nothing special, but delicious nonetheless. My first day in France, our lunch was so large. There were chicken, mashed potatoes, pasta, rice and bread-lots and lots of bread. For the bread, there was this strange pork spread that came in a can, but it tasted good, so I ate it. For dinner, my host brother, some other kids, and I went to a small kebab restaurant. But, the odd thing was, they were sandwiches, not meat on skewers. The next day, lunch was even bigger than the first day. There were 3 different salads, sausage, steak, and more bread. Then we had French cheeses, and finally dessert. For dessert in France, though, they have yogurt. We do eat that here, but not usually as dessert. At school, lunches were also really big. No one brings lunch to school, and there isn’t any variety in the food they get to eat. There’s a main meal, like chicken and vegetables. Then, you can choose one side, like a salad or hard-boiled eggs. Then, there’s fruit and bread. Unfortunately, though, the food is still not very high quality and wasn’t very appetizing! I think I prefer bringing my own food! Cari W.

Snickerdoodle cookies are really the best thing we made in baking and pastry. They were not too hard and tasted so good. This was the recipe my group followed and I have never eaten a better cookie: Ingredients 1/2 cup salted butter, softened 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar 2 medium eggs 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Directions Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar and the eggs and mix thoroughly with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy and well combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and stir into the shortening mixture. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon. Shape the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (1 tablespoon per ball), and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar. Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake two sheets at a time until the edges of the cookies are set but the centers are still soft, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Transfer the cookies to wire racks for cooling. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. Store in an airtight container. Even the dough was amazing. I would have have just eaten the whole bowl of cookie dough if I could. They came out of the oven warm, soft, and perfectly cooked and I want to make this recipe again and again. It was really easy too even a 1st grader could make them. Even the picture makes me hungry just looking at it. They are cited in print from at least 1889 and were very popular in New England at this time. However, it has been said that Snickerdoodles originated from Germany with their name being interpreted from the German word Schneckennudeln, or cinnamon-dusted sweet rolls. Despite the confusion of their origin, Snickerdoodles are the best cookie and can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. -Makenzie C

One of the most delicious things in the world is by far the french fries from McDonalds. You can't go to McDonalds and not order a fry...its impossible! Whether is be a small or large order of fries, you gotta have them. No meal is complete without McDonalds french fries. With all their glory comes a small fee to pay...the nutritional value of them. The ingredients are: Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK. *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients). Who knew that the fries weren't vegetarian!? That's pretty gross.(Good thing I haven't eaten there in a while!) There was a 10 million dollar lawsuit against McDonalds for this reason. Anyway the nutrional value of these scrumptious fries is very low. In an order of SMALL fries there are 230 calories! That's so many! You'd have to eat like 230 apples if you wanted to catch up with the calories in fries. There are 100 calories from fat and there is 160 mg of sodium. That's already past the recommneded amount of sodium per day with just small fries. A large fry contains 500 calories!!!!! That's way too many! So I recommned of you go to McDonalds please order a small fry for a side (if you REALLY have to get a side) and go for a looong jog afterward because McDonalds is so good but so bad for you! -Emma

Crepes: One of my favorite things we did in baking and pastry this year was the crepes. They required such few ingredients and they tasted so good. Although not every one came out perfectly as soon as you put some nutella inside and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top they were really good.My mouth is watering just writing about them. You can pretty much have them for any meal depending on what you put inside. I would love to try a breakfast crepe with some strawberries or some fresh fruit inside. Crepes orginated in France and if you go to France they can be sold on every street corner... like a hotdog in New York. For a dinner or lunch crepe they can be filled with ingredients such as ham, cheese, eggs, ratatouille, or mushrooms. For dessert/ breakfast they are usually filled with maple syrup, lemon juice, whipped cream, fruit spreads, custard, and sliced soft fruits or confiture. -Sam C.

PIE: Simple and easy but it always tastes so good I love to make pie Cookies: Cookies are the best You can not go wrong with them They are so easy. Pizza: Cheesy and crunchy makes a perfect pie to eat No pepperoni Crepes: One of the best things was the crepes we did make they were just perfect Pancakes: Pour some batter on the hot stove and watch them cook they melt in your mouth. Baking and Pastry: It is the best class We get to eat everything nothing is better. Candy: It tastes really good It is so bad for you though It is bittersweet. - Morgan C

What would you eat if you were told you had one last meal? What would you choose? Mine, easy. My plate would contain a little surf and turf (skirt steak and scallops) cooked on the grill, a sweet potato lightly buttered, some broccoli cooked in a pan on the stove with butter and a tossed salad with lots of chick peas in it. My mouth is watering as I write this. YUM. This meal is sweet, and salty. It can't let you down! For dessert I would have a big slice of warm peach pie topped with cookies and cream ice cream and a scoop of whipped cream. I would like to eat this meal outside under an umbrella. Honestly this sounds just so perfect! Someone cook for me, please?!! With love and an empty stomach, MJ Rossi <3

THE CLASSIC BLT

My favorite summer food is a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwich. This is an American classic.

This sandwich can be made with just 5 ingredients:

·      Bread (any kind at all)

·      Mayo (if you don’t like it you don’t need it)

·      Lettuce

·      Tomato

·      Bacon (lots of it)

    Additionally I like to add some salt and pepper    

The BLT didn’t really originate until 1903, when the recipe was in the Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book.

The BLT can now be found at any local deli and most restaurants will offer some sort of BLT or variation of the sandwich.

            So if you are a bacon lover you will definitely love this sandwich!

-Jenna F.

Once in a while I will get it stuck in my mind that I have to find the perfect recipe to make whatever I’m craving. I’ve gone through about 5 different lemon bar recipes and still can’t perfect it. There have been a couple different brownie recipes but finally found one that I was pretty happy with. However, most recently I was trying to find the perfect muffin recipe and while in baking and pastry I finally found it! It’s the perfect muffin recipe, nice and soft and tender and I can add just about anything to it to make amazing muffins. My family even asked me to make some for our Easter Sunday brunch. I made the basic recipe and then added about 1 ½ cups of cranberries and some orange zest and they were fabulous everyone loved them! -Devon C.

Everyone knows that they’re supposed to eat a balanced diet. Roy G Biv, right? It is the key to staying healthy. I personally love it, I’d rather look at a plate full of different colors and textures than a plate full of only brown items any day. My favorite foods are definitely green though Broccoli, asparagus, apples, kiwis, They’re the best if you ask me. Yellow or orange are probably runners up though, I can’t go a single day without my bananas, pineapple or oranges. By now you can probably see I’m a big fruit fan. Some people actually find it really annoying to try to eat a color filled diet , How could you though? All the sweet fruit and different things you can do with vegetables are never ending. Why waste you’re life being boring and bland while you could be changing it up daily. For any cook or chef, appearance is one of the most important parts of presentation because color is appealing, that’s what pulls people in and makes them want to try the food. Imagine life in black and white, it wouldn’t be so interesting, right? So why would you want to do that with your food. Food is supposed to make you not only healthy, but happy. Many people use food for comfort, celebrating, or showing their love or appreciation for others. Let’s show some love and appreciation for our own bodies and keep a balanced diet!  

Kalianna F

Mango The mango isn’t a fruit that you see as often as many other fruits and that is why I chose to write this blog about this particular fruit. Mangos grow on tropical trees in certain regions of India. They grow on a very long stem with usually more than one mango on each stem. When it is not quite ripe yet it is a greenish color but once it ripens it is a golden yellow, bright, yellow or orange-red. The taste of a mango is very rich and has a slight taste of sour or tartness. Mangos are a great source of Vitamin A and flavonoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. It also contains a good amount of Potassium.

Today we had a late lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant. The food was amazing; it started with corn chips and two varieties of salsa all made fresh for us. I got a beef taco, however tongue was offered on the menu, which is something we don’t have in Newtown, so I thought that was really interesting! For dinner we had Chinese food at a place called YetWah, we had a pretty large group, so the food was put on a turn style table so that we could all pass and spin it around. Some of the things we got were pineapple chicken, prawns with vegetables, sea scallops and bok choy. My favorite restaurant out of all is in San Francisco, It’s called the Dragon Well. It is located in an upscale shopping district with history just as rich as the food! You can tell it’s an old building by the way the room is laid out, long and narrow! We ordered all our favorites, starting with chicken in a lettuce wrap, which was my favorite, the flavors are like no other! They also brought out the spicy jalapeños calamari, which was probably the freshest I’ve ever had and a nice alternative to the tradition Italian kind. Next was the very traditional Juke Soup, Something that might not be for everyone but if you have an adventurous pallet you might really enjoy! The base is like a warm soup made of rice, much like an oatmeal consistency, it is then topped with pulled tender white meat chicken, little crispy noodles, and a large handful of cilantro, and what seems like shallots. You then take your bowl and fill it with the rice base and all the toppings and finish it off with the brown sauce, which has soy, fish, and sesame oil, and fresh ginger! Such an amazing combination of flavors! The next thing we got, were the Hong Kong noodles. Topped with shrimp, chicken and beef, and an assortment of fresh veggies, the crispy noodles absorbed the sauce making them into soft tasty noodles! The last thing we got was the beef dish, I’m not a big beef fan but it had a very nice sauce and I was able to pick out the tofu that was perfectly cooked. For dessert they brought us a choice of fresh homemade chocolate or vanilla fortune cookies, which were absolutely delicious!! On St. Patricks day, the adults wanted to have some green beer, and irish coffee, so we ate at Beuna Vista which was packed full of drunk people in green. The bar sells more Irish whiskey than anywhere else. I split a bread bowl made with fresh sour dough bread, filled with incredibly fresh clam chowder with big pieces of carrot, clam, and potato! It was amazing!! And the view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay wasn’t too bad either! Jenna F

            When people think of pie, they generally think of pie you eat for dessert. They think of apple pie with crisp, warm crust and cold vanilla icing on the side. They think of blueberry pie, raspberry, cherry, blackberry, pecan, and my personal favorite, pumpkin pie with a little bit of whip cream. However, unlike most people, when someone mentions pie to me, I picture my mom’s homemade chicken pot pie. Although most people have had chicken pot pie before, I can almost one hundred percent guarantee that it is not as good as my mom’s, at least in my opinion. Most people have only eaten frozen, pre-made chicken pot pie that you find in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. This does not even come close in comparison with my mom’s chicken pot pie. Rotisserie chicken with peas, carrots, and potatoes all combined with a delicious blend of gravy and spices baked in a flaky pie crust. No matter how many different chicken pot pies I have had, my mom’s is still my favorite.

 

Ashley H.