healthy cooking – Peaceful Reader

(Two young party-goers)

We had a spur-of-the-moment party two weekends ago now to celebrate Teenage Boy’s graduation. For the last few years he’s attended a laboratory school attached to University of Northern Iowa and the president of UNI decided to close this wonderful school for budget reasons or because they didn’t believe in it anymore.It wasn’t feasible for the school to stay open. It’s all the same end to an awful equation but the outcome is that given a choice to enter the only other local high school or graduate early he chose the later. His school was funky and small and the other high school is big.

These decisions did not come down the hill until February. Teenage Boy started one of two online courses he would need to take to graduate early. I find that fact alone amazing-his school gives them a full load every year so much so that he only needed 2 classes to fulfill state level graduation requirements! Wow. After a very rocky start, he adjusted to this on-line Language Arts class and as he got closer to finishing we decided we needed to plan a party. He only needed to finish one of the two courses to participate in the ceremony. The physics course he will have to finish by June 18th to get his diploma.

After attending many grad parties in the past we had some ideas of what we wanted from ours. We also had a limited budget to work from but didn’t want to skimp. You only get one chance at a true high school graduation. We wanted to offer Teenage Boy’s favorite easy foods in an eco-friendly fashion.

(the food spread-inside away from the bugs)

We celebrated with turkey hot dogs purchased from a local butcher shop (96 dogs total), popcorn freshly popped that morning with chocolate treats sprinkled throughout-very festive-, Bugles (blechh-but he LOVES them),homemade brownies, freshly chopped coleslaw, freshly baked buns and the best part…Root Beet Floats made with a keg of 1919 root beer. We are not big soda drinkers here but we love an occasional glass of good root beer and this is some of the best!

(me enjoying my own float with my friend, Lynne)

The menu was easy and we didn’t need many tools to eat but we wanted them to be green. I searched a few local stores for paper plate and cup options either made out of recycled materials or compost-ready. I couldn’t find anything in town so I turned to my global market-AMAZON-and found just what I wanted and for reasonable prices. I hate not buying things locally and if I’d had more time I might have spent time convincing a local market to order these items for me but I was in a time crunch.

(TB with his Grandma Janice-she and Gpa Dean flew in from Colorado to surprise him)

The Eco-Section…

All the materials we used were either reusable like the spoons, which were local purchases, and the plates, cups, and napkins (made from sugarcane/corn/wheat). After attending other grad parties we just knew we couldn’t have this large trash can overflowing so we found a way around it. We had a small plastic tub under the outdoor table where the root beer floats were served and had explanation cards on the bins; one was for the compost items and a small one was for the spoons. I have all the compostable stuff in the same bin now with water in it to help it break down before I add it to our own compost ball. A few plates and cups made it into our regular garbage bin and that’s okay as I know eventually they will break down as well. The spoons we have set aside for camping and next year’s home-to-school lunches.

I’m so glad our party is done-it was exhilarating and exhausting! Score one for green grad! Now if we could just find a physics professor for free tutoring we’d be in great shape!!

(Future Graduate or two down one to go..no hurry though!.)

This post is loosely linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme.

Click on the link to see many other real food-related posts.

Little Women; The Musical was the play this
weekend but keep reading for what I cooked…

It’s been a busy week with a full rehearsal schedule and opening night was Friday. I went to all three shows as I don’t know when I’ll have the pleasure to watch Teenage Boy on stage; he is an excellent actor but dislikes being in plays.

I cooked this week. I think the zucchini pizza from last Sunday night kick started me off creatively and the rest of the week followed through.

I made this potato soup from Lynn’s Cooking Adventures-I found it using the scientific method of googling “creamy potato soup” and then picking the 1 of 5 recipes that matched what I was dreaming of eating. How many of you use this simple technique to find a recipe?

Someone at school left two Real Simple magazines in the lounge and I paged through one of them while waiting for my lunch to heat in the microwave. I found this Broccoli-Quinoa Pilaf recipe-I did not make the cod but used it two days in a row for my lunch. Heidi at 101 Cookbooks has lots of recipes listed for this power grain. It is one of the grains I purchase from the bulk section of my local organic store, making it always available in my pantry.

I have more chickens and a turkey coming from Tim, my local farmer/meat man so I decided to make one of the last chickens from my freezer. While I made this recipe I pondered just how I came to cook meat in my kitchen, which for years, had been vegetarian-but that’s a whole ‘nother post. I wanted to make a BBQ chicken from homemade sauce someone gave me when I found this recipe instead as I paged through Not Your Mother’s Casseroles by Faith Durand and found Pot Chicken and Potatoes Baked in Cinnamon-Saffron Milk. Her recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe.

To finish the weekend off we had a potluck at church today and I wanted to bring a side dish-this one is from Durand’s casserole book. The pan was cleaned out before I made it through the food line-I was toward the end after cleaning up the nursery-other people told me it was good though. One grandmother even said it was her grandson’s favorite dish. A success at the church potluck does not always happen for me!!

I had to hunt down the chef’s of two dishes that I loved (one of the great things about a potluck-trying new dishes)-one was a heavenly caramel brownie dessert served in a trifle bowl and the other was a 3-squash bake, this one was made by a friend and she shared some of the leftovers with me (hello, Monday lunch!) but the guy who made that amazing caramel dish did not share the leftover layer at the bottom. I’m just sure he took that dish home and licked it clean! I’ve asked for both recipes and will pass them on as I get them.

Luscious Oven Creamed Corn
(110)
casserole dish: 9 x 13-in baking dish
bake time: 45 minutes

2 T. unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced
4 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels (about 26 ozs), thawed
1 tsp salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 T. all-purpose (unbleached) flour
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
1/2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350. (I never do this step at the beginning to save energy unless I’m baking) Lightly grease the baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
2. In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. When it foams, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the corn and cook just until the corn is hot. Stir in the sugar, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir in the milk and cream and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chives and cornmeal. Spread in the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Casserole at this point could be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Click on all the recipe titles to find their links. Happy cooking!
This post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. Click her link to find many delicious food-related posts.

Tag: healthy cooking

Weekend Cooking; Green Grad Party!

Weekend Cooking; Happy the weekend is over (did I say that?!) with recipe