Funny Memes for your classroom

I am due to head back to work in 11 days after 32 weeks study leave to write my Masters Thesis. I saw on another site that a teacher had used memes to teach students her classroom rules and routines so I decided to try making my own. I used memegenerator.net and  mememaker.net. I've used some ideas I've found on the net but also made a few original ones too which suit a Food Technology classroom.

 1.  This is what I reply to students when they ask me if they can go to the toilet instead of asking, May I go to the toilet?  My rule is that students need to ask me before leaving the room and take an out of class pass with them.  If it's 5 minutes before the end of the session, I will sometimes ask kids if they can hold it until class is over, but after having a student pee on the floor in front of everyone I almost always say yes.



2.  No talking when I'm talking - This is a pet hate of mine so I try to teach students that it is respectful to be quiet and listen to me (and to anyone else) who is speaking.

3.  I like clean and shiny sinks so I teach my students to clean, rinse and dry the sink at the end of every lesson. It means the next class coming in gets a nice clean work area and also helps to keep away ants and other pests in the kitchen.

4.  It drives me crazy when students don't write their name on their work.  I teach students to write their full names so their work doesn't get mixed up with another student's.

Here are a few other funnies I found when I was searching for ideas.  Have a great day!

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Damper Scrolls

I originally found this recipe from http://www.taste.com.au and made a few adjustments to it.  To make it suitable for students with nut allergies I replaced pinenuts with sunflower seeds. I also reduced the amount of feta and replaced semi-dried tomatoes with sun-dried tomatoes to make the recipe more budget friendly.  I also halved the damper ingredients to suit a group of two to three students (and again to keep the recipe budget friendly)

To cut down on preparation time, you could also use ready-made pesto instead of making it from scratch, although the kids love using the blender to make the pesto.

Despite being a little apprehensive about some of the ingredients, my students (and their parents) loved this recipe and I have had many requests for it.

It's great as a lunch box filler or an afternoon tea snack.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Damper Scrolls

 (Makes 8)

225g (1.5 cups) self-raising flour 40 g butter, chopped 1 T finely shredded fresh basil Salt & freshly ground black pepper

¾ c milk 50 g feta, crumbled Milk, extra, to brush

 

Sun-dried tomato pesto ·         80 g (1/3 cup) sun-dried tomatoes ·         2 T sunflower seeds ·         15 g (1 T) finely shredded parmesan

·         1 t crushed garlic ·         30 ml (2 T) vegetable oil ·         Salt & freshly ground black pepper

 

1.      Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

 

2.      To make the sun-dried tomato pesto, place the sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds, parmesan and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually add the oil in a thin steady stream until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and set aside until required.

 

3.      Sift the flour into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the basil and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

 

4.      Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk. Use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until evenly incorporated and the mixture begins to hold together. (Do not over mix. The dough should be soft but not sticky.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until just smooth.

 

5.      Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to a 15 x 20 cm rectangle, about 1cm-thick.

 

6.      Spread the sun-dried tomato pesto evenly over the dough and sprinkle with feta.

 

7.      Starting from a long side, roll up firmly to form a log. Brush the edge with a little extra milk and press down firmly to seal.

 

8.      Cut log crossways into 8 equal portions, about 2cm thick. Place the scrolls on prepared tray.

 

9.      Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and just cooked through.

 

10.  Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Note:   If you are short of time, you can use ready-made basil pesto for this recipe.

 

 

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3268/semi+dried+tomato+pesto+damper+scrolls

A Batman Cake for my 5 year old

This is from last year but didn't get around to posting the pictures.

A Minion Cake (from Despicable Me) for my big 6 year old!

Assemble the Minions!

I made this cake for my son's 6th birthday party, which was on the weekend.  It was a big challenge but he and his friends loved it.

I used this recipe for the cakes (yes, it was about 5 cakes) which a friend gave me.  I made two batches of the mix and had enough for a dozen cupcakes too

Cupcakes - from The Magnolia's Bakery version, makes 48 regular cupcakes;

250g butter unsalted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ICING
4 cups icing sugar
125g butter unsalted
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR CAKES: using an electric mixer, cream butter in a large bowl until smooth, add sugar gradually and beat until mixture is light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sifts flours and combine. Add flours in four parts, alternating with milk and vanilla; beat well after each addition. Put mixture into 48 regular paper cupcake cases set in a muffin trays. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, or until golden.

FOR ICING: sift icing sugar. Place butter, milk, vanilla and half the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Add remaining sugar until icing is a good consistency. To make different colours, place icing into separate bowls and gradually add food colouring.

Note: have all ingredients at room temperature.

Tips

• Use top quality fondant - I would recommend Satin Ice over Pettinice as it tears less.  I used Pettinice for the yellow parts of the cake and it was a struggle to wrap it around the body without it stretching and tearing.
• To get a smooth finish with the fondant, take the time to ganache the cake, hot knife it to get it super smooth and then let it set before covering with fondant.
• I used half of the Wilton Ball tin to get the head shape.  The rest of the cake was made with 6 inch Wilton cake tins
• I iced the top of the cake separately to the body.  The goggle strap covered the join.  I am not sure I would do it this way again as rolling the icing around the body was quite tricky. Fortunately, I was able to cover mistakes by putting a high back on the overalls and by adding a buckle to the back of the goggles :)
• Make the goggle and the eye in advance so they have time to dry properly
• I put thin cake boards under the head top and between every two layers. I punched holes in the body cake cards so I could put wooden dowels through both the cakes and the boards.
• I used four cake dowels through all the layers except the rounded head part.

Lighting the candles

The cake along with a few cupcakes

The first slices being taken out

Cupcakes I've been making

I really enjoy making cakes cupcakes and have been to a few course at Milly's Kitchen in Parnell.

Here are a few pics of recent projects:

Ladybird cupcakes

It was "shared lunch" day at daycare and the theme was bugs and insects.  So I made these little cuties for the boy to take along.



Ladybird cupcakes

Very easy :)

Creme Brulee

I received a blow torch last Christmas but it's taken me nearly a whole year to use it to make creme brulee.  It was the yummiest thing ever and everyone in my little family enjoyed eating it.  Using a blow torch is so much fun too :).

I got the recipe from http://www.taste.com.au/ and adapted it slightly.  I think caster sugar worked much better than brown sugar (which was suggested).

Christmas cupcakes and cookies

I've been doing a bit of fancy baking lately but I keep forgetting to take pictures before I send the goodies off  or before they get eaten!  I finally remembered to take some pics of this lot as I was walking out the door.

These are mini jam-filled vanilla cupcakes decorated with red fondant icing bases and white fondant icing snowflakes.

The sugar cookie snowflakes are decorated with royal icing and white cachous. 

They were delicious!

Double Chocolate Biscotti - super yummy

This is a great biscotti recipe and my students love it.  It tastes a lot like a brownie and retains a bit of chewy-ness in the middle.   Biscotti fits in well with International Food units.  If you are short on time, you can get away with not cooling it in between the first and second cooking.  Just cut it up, spread it out on the tray and get it back in the oven.

Double-Chocolate Biscotti

Ingredients

1 ½ c plain flour 1 c sugar ½ c unsweetened cocoa ½ c chocolate chips ½t baking powder ½ t baking soda ½ t salt

1 t vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 large egg white

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

2. Measure flour, sugar, cocoa, chocolate chips, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

3. Combine vanilla, eggs, and egg white in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

4. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; stir until well blended.

5. Divide dough in half.

6. Turn dough out onto an oven tray line with baking paper.

7. With floured hands, shape the dough halves into logs.

8. Bake at 180ºC for 22 minutes.

9. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.

10. Cut each roll diagonally into 18 (1.5 cm) slices. Carefully stand slices upright on baking sheet.

11. Bake biscotti an additional 15 minutes or until almost firm (biscotti will be slightly soft in centre but will harden as they cool).

12. Remove biscotti from baking sheet and cool completely on wire rack.

Sushi - easy and yummy

My Year 7 students are always asking if they can make sushi. I tell them it's a Year 8 recipe.  So the first thing they ask me when they become Year 8's is "Are we making sushi?"

I'm not that keen on it - the messy rice pots take a bit of cleaning and there is always sticky rice everywhere, but the students enjoy it so much I keep making it with them!

If they get the rice right and you demonstrate how to roll it, then they are fine. Lots of fussy eaters will eat sushi when they make it themselves :)

Here's the recipe I follow:


Sushi

3 sheets nori paper

1 c sushi rice
1 ½ c water
2 T Sushi vinegar
Soy sauce and wasabi (optional) to serve


• Place the rice in a sieve and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear.


• Transfer the rice to a saucepan and add the water.


• Cover, bring to the boil and cook for 12 minutes.


• Remove from the heat, cover, and stand for 10 minutes.


Spread the cooked rice over the base of a large flat shallow non-metallic dish and sprinkle with the sushi vinegar


• Stir with a spatula for 5 minutes or until cool to touch.



To make the sushi

 1. Make two different fillings by mixing together your chosen ingredients in a bowl.


2. Place a sheet of nori on a bamboo mat.


3. Spread rice over the nori, leaving a 2 cm border at the top. Add your chosen filling(s)


4. Brush the 2 cm border with water (to make your sushi roll stick when you roll it.


5. Carefully roll up the sushi.


6. Cut into slices.


7. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi!




Filling options – Make two different fillings for your sushi from a combination of these ingredients.

90 g canned tuna, drained

3 T mayonnaise

1 soft boiled egg, peeled and chopped

2 t chopped chives

3 T mayonnaise

½ c shredded cooked chicken

2 t hoi sin sauce

2 t honey

2 t soy sauce

¼ c grated carrot

¼ c finely cut strips of cucumber

Afghan biscuits and Golden Cinnamon biscuits - quick and easy baking

Afghan Biscuits & Golden Cinnamon Biscuits

It's overcast and cloudy here today so I thought it would be a good day to do some baking.  I had a little helper too!

I used the Afghan recipe from the Edmonds Cook book.  The Golden Cinnamon recipe is from the Australian Womens Weekly "Biscuits, Brownies and Biscotti" book.

I hadn't made the Golden Cinnamon Biscuits before but it is a great little recipe and makes 30 cookies.  It's one of those recipes for which you would probably have all the ingredients in the cupboard already.

I made afghans to use up some cornflakes.  My daughter always has great intentions when she chooses a new cereal, but the shine goes off it pretty quickly and she always goes back to cheerios.  So I was glad to use up 2 cups of the cornflakes and put them into something everyone would want to eat.

Here are the recipes:

Golden Cinnamon Biscuits

60 g butter
1/3 c (115 g) golden syrup
2 T brown sugar
2 T caster sugar
1 1/4 c self raising flour
3 t ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Combine butter, golden syrup and sugars in a saucepan.  Stir over a low heat until butter is melted.   Cool for 5 minutes.

Stir in flour and cinnamon.  Roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls and place about 2 cm apart on baking tray lined with baking paper.  Flatten with a floured fork until 1 cm thick.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until brown.  Stand biscuits 5 minsutes before lifting onto wire racks to cool.

Makes 30 cookies.


Afghans

200 g butter
1/2 c sugar
1 1/4 c plain flour
1/4 c cocoa
2 c cornflakes.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Sift flour and cocoa.  Stir into creamed mixture.  Fold in cornflakes.  Spoon mounds of mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, gently pressing together.  Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 15 minutes or until set.  When cold, ice with chocolate icing and decorate with a walnut if desired.


Cookies in a jar - a yummy and thoughtful gift

I love making gifts in a jar, so for my afterschool class, I decided the students would make 'cookies in a jar' to give to someone as a Christmas present.  It's a lot of fun layering all the ingredients in the jar and then decorating the jar to make it look Christmassy.

I got this recipe from http://www.taste.com.au/ and it was a bit more interesting than the standard chocolate chip cookies in a jar recipes.  Enjoy!

 Abby's Cookies in a Jar
 
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Makes 24 cookies

Equipment

You'll need a 1L glass jar with a lid

Ingredients

Jar ingredients

½ c plus ¼ c (110g) plain flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/4 t salt
1/3 c (75g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 c (75g) caster sugar
3/4 c (65g) rolled oats
½ c craisins (dried cranberries)
½ c white chocolate chips Extra ingredients for making cookies


125g butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 t vanilla essence


Method

1. Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl. Whisk to mix.

2. Spoon the flour mixture into a 1L (4-cup) capacity glass jar.

3. Top with brown sugar, then caster sugar.

4. Add oats, then craisins, then chocolate chips. Seal jar. Give as gift.


To make cookies:

 Preheat oven to 190ºC.

 Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

 Empty jar into a large bowl.

 Add butter, egg and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

 Shape tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on baking trays approximately 5cm apart.

 Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until edges are lightly browned.

 Turn biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

 Serve.

A place for teachers blogs

I was just checking out my blog traffic and found a link to Interface Magazine.

If you are a teacher with a blog, check out http://www.interfacemagazine.co.nz/teacherblogs/ and add your blog. 

It's a great way to increase your traffic and get your blog seen by other teachers :)

Christmas Gifts for teachers - Chocolate Christmas cupcakes

 I'm a bit late posting this since it is now late January, but here are the gifts I made for my son's teachers at childcare this Christmas (2010).

I used a Donna Hay cupcake recipe (http://www.donnahay.com.au/) and decorated themwith green and red 'ready to roll' icing from Gilmours and silver cachous.  I love the really bright red and green colour.

I bought Christmassy plates from Farmers (http://www.farmers.co.nz/) to put the cupcakes on, so the teachers had a lasting gift as well as an edible one.

The cellophane and silver string was from the $2 shop.  Gift tags were from Whitcoulls (http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/).

Christmas Cooking - Ginger Christmas Cookies

My new afterschool class, "Christmas Cooking" started last week.  I have a whole range of different Christmas goodies to make in the coming weeks.

We started with Ginger Christmas Cookies - they smell wonderful baking in the oven and the uncooked dough is delicious to eat too!

Ginger Christmas Biscuits

Ingredients

• 70 g butter

• ½ cup (80g) brown sugar
• ¼ c cup (87g) treacle
• ½ t ground cinnamon
• ½ t ground ginger
• ¼ t ground cloves
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 2 c (300g) plain flour
• 1 t baking powder


• Icing, to decorate

• Thin ribbon, to hang


Method


1. Measure the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

2. Place the butter, brown sugar, treacle, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat. Set aside.

3. Stir in the egg and vanilla essence.

4. Stir in the flour and baking powder until a smooth dough forms.

5. Divide the dough into 2 portions. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until firm.

6. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

7. Roll out 1 portion of the dough to 4mm thick between 2 sheets of baking paper.

8. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut out biscuit shapes. Place on the trays.

9. Use the end of a piping nozzle to make a hole in the top of each biscuit (if you want to hang them on the Christmas tree)

10. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden and firm. Repeat with the remaining dough.

11. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

12. Decorate biscuits with icing. Thread with ribbon to hang on the Christmas tree.

Tips

• Make sure the treacle mixture has cooled before you add the egg, otherwise the eggs start to cook in the hot mixture and you will end up with scrambled egg through your cookie dough.
• Double the recipe to make more cookies.
• You can use golden syrup in place of treacle, even though treacle works really well.
• Place cookies about the same size on a tray together.  A small star will burn before a large angel is ready if they are on the same tray.

Jackson turns three!

My little boy turned three last week so I made him some special cupcakes to take to day care.

He was very pleased with them.  I did a mixture of chocolate and vanilla cakes with ready made white icing.  I made the colours by adding drops of liquid food colouring until the colour was right.

I would like to say I made the little figures on the top of each cake, but they were from the supermarket!

We had a little party at home and I made a rainbow jelly ring. I got the idea from Liss at http://www.frillsinthehills.com/.

I couldn't get all the same colours and flavours as they have in Australia so I had to improvise a little with what we have available here in NZ.  It was delicious and everyone loved it.

I used my tupperware jelly mould. I sprayed it with canola oil spray first but it came out so easily that I am not sure if I really needed to.

I served it with rainbow icecream cake :)



Slow Cookers - Love 'em or loathe 'em?

My niece said to her mother once, "Nothing but evil comes out of that thing" when referring to a slow cooker and I am starting to wonder if she is right!

I'd heard such great things about slow cookers that I decided to buy one.  I bought a great big 5 litre type that would be big enough to fit lamb shanks in and to serve a big crowd of people.

First attempt:
Grey meat and blood stains on the potatoes.  I cooked it over night and Mr Foodie Teacher said he woke up at 3.00 am and the smell of a casserole cooking at that hour made him want to be sick and he couldn't get back to sleep.  It tasted OK but there is no way I could serve up grey meat to anyone so into the bin it went :(.

Second attempt:  Family all afraid of what colour the meat was going to be this time.  I cooked it during the day this time to avoid making Mr Foodie Teacher sick again.  The colour looked much better this time around - added more beef stock and gravy type ingredients and left out the potatoes.  Taste was OK but to be honest, it's not the falling apart, beautifully tender meat I get when I use my cast iron casserole dish (and that cooks quicker too).

Third attempt:  Any suggestions???

Thanks to Foodie BlogRoll

I just wanted to say a thanks to Foodie BlogRoll for allowing my blog to be on your site.  My traffic has increased heaps since I was added.  It's really nice to have some interest on my site.

If you have a food-related blog then head over to Foodie Blogroll at  http://www.foodieblogroll.com/ and add your blog!

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days

The Mission: Complete 101 food-related pre-set tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

I started this in August and was not going to publish until I had the full list ready, but decided I would never get it done unless I posted my list unfinished.  I will attempt to finish compiling my list ASAP!

Start date: 15 August 2010
End date: 12 May 2013

Key

Completed
In progress
Not yet started

***************************************************************

1. Write my 101 things in 1001 days list.
2.  Buy a slow cooker.
3.  Make a pavlova.
4.  Do a Wilton cake decorating class.
5.  Make a Christmas cake and decorate it using the Wilton method.
6.  Do a cupcake making course.
7.  Make fancy cupcakes for staff morning tea.
8.  Eat dinner at the French Cafe (Auckland).
9.  Eat a meal at a Cuisine Magazines top restaurant finalist or winner.
10.  Take a group of students to the Student-run restaurant at AUT.
11. Try a new dish in my slow cooker.
12.  Make 12 new untried family meals (3/12)
13.  Develop gluten free recipes for the Year 7 Present in a Package unit.
14.  Try the Degustation menu at Dine (Auckland)
15.  Run an afterschool cooking class.
16. Make pasta from scratch.
17. Send a recipe into a magazine.
18. Visit and leave a comment at 50 other food blogs
19. Bake bread
20. Make hot cross buns
21. Go on a food safari somewhere...
22. Write at least one blog post a week for a year (2/52)
23. Start a herb garden
24. Plant a fruit tree
25. Make jam
26. Make marmalade
27. Plant a vegetable garden
28. Buy a kitchen blow torch and make creme brulee
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.

Cinnamon Pinwheel Scones - take a walk down memory lane!

I think most people my age who have lived in New Zealand have made these scones at some point in their Food Tech (or Home Economics) past.


They are very easy and super yummy.  Even if they go a bit wonky while they are cooking, they will still be delicious.

These are also a low-cost treat to make on the weekends.  If there are any left the next day (highly unlikely), warm them in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Cinnamon Pinwheel Scones

Ingredients


3 c plain flour
6 t baking powder
¼ t salt
50 g butter
1 ¼ c milk

Topping


¼ c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
50 g soft butter or margarine


1. Collect all equipment and ingredients before starting to cook.

2. Preheat oven to 220°C.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.


4. Cut or rub in butter into flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.


5. Add milk and mix quickly to a soft dough with a knife.


6. Lightly knead the dough.


7. Roll out dough into a rectangle 1 cm thick.

8. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter/margarine together.
9. Spread butter mix over the surface of the dough.

10. Starting from the long edge, roll the dough into a log.
11. Cut the log into 2 cm pieces

12. Place each scone, cut side up on the baking tray.  Place the scones close together, nearly touching

13. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the scones are cooked and golden brown.