Root beer Reindeer

Sometimes after a long, hectic work week we go for a drink of some sort, whether it's wine,
a favorite latte, beer.... or even a root beer!
I love creating things with food but I also love arts and crafts. With Christmas around
the corner and seeing and decorating all things Christmassy....

I took brown pipe cleaners, googly eyes with glue dots and a small red pom pom
and made reindeer with bottles of root beer!
It was certainly a giddy moment. Thanks Pinterest for the idea!
Here are 2 of the root beer bottles BEFORE.

Here are the bottles AFTER.  They really were cool. It totally brought a smile after a long,

tiring work week!  I will certainly be making these for many Christmas/holiday related get togethers!

They are also great to take to someone's house!

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Snow man Fruit Tray

Ah, don't have the same old fruit dessert...
cultivate it and make it fun!

Find  the smallest watermelon, cantaloupe and honey dew you can
during the winter season. Cut them in half, scoop the center and seeds out.
Flip it over so that the flat cut end of the fruit is on your cutting board for easier cutting.
Make some straight slices and then flip it over and place it in the center of your
tray that is lined up with lettuce or some type of veggie so it looks a little prettier.

Once your 3 melons are lined up in the shape of a snow man-
you can cut  your desired fruit and simply place it on the sides of the 3 melons.
Take some grapes (black and red work best) and use them to make eyes, buttons etc..

The snowman's hat can be cut from the rind of the watermelon.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia     Birthday activity cooking class

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Easy fake out strawberry whoopie pies

Another  SUPER easy dessert to make during the winter season is...... whoopie pies.
After hearing Cake Boss say that he uses cake box mixes from time to time...
that's what I will often use.  Especially when there are a lot of things going on...
which is pretty much all the time right!?

I like using Pillsbury cake box mixes the best because someone always seems to
comment and say   "that cake is so moist" when using PIllsbury.

I took some strawberry cake mix (prepared it the way it says on the box.

And I simply laid some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and scooped out
some cake mix about 3 inches apart measuring and using an ice cream scoop.

Once they cook for about 7 or so minutes-- take them out and lay them on a cooling
cookie rack so that they cool top and bottom.

Once they have cooled down to room temperature  (at least 30 minutes)

you can take any kind of icing or cream  (I used Pillsbury cream cheese flavor)

Take a spoon or a spatula and spread some icing on one piece and then make 

a sandwich with a 2nd piece.  Tada!   That's really it.  

A fake out baking dessert can't get much easier than that! Right?

The types of the whoopie pie itself and filling (icing) are endless.

You can even use food coloring to dye it in festive colors as well.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class

Christmas tree your vegetables

Who wants a boring salad!?      .......................  no one answered yes.

Who wants the same old boring veggie and dip? ....................... still. no one answered.

Here is a way you can create a great centerpiece for your table AND it's edible too!

Take a styrofoam cone (you can get one from any craft store) and use that as 

your base and foundation. Take a few layers off of your head of lettuce or cabbage also 

---you will wrap it around the cone and as you stick the veggies with a tooth pick on one end-- 

the other end will go into the lettuce or cabbage then into the styrofoam cone.

The lettuce/cabbage is to prevent your veggies from sticking to styrofoam particles 

and simply to make it look a little nicer than seeing random spaces of green styrofoam.

Oh, you definitely want to purchase a GREEN cone shaped styrofoam piece

rather than a white one. 

A couple of quick tips:

~ having your veggies cut first will save you time 

~ having toothpicks in several cut pieces will help you get a good foundation as well

~ you want mostly broccoli to start with (the tree part)

~ cauliflower will help cover the  "tree" and make it look like snow

~ strips of bell peppers, little salad tomatoes and baby carrots can be used as ornaments

~ make sure you put the veggie pieces close together or you will have a tree that is very

    hollow and empty looking

You also want to have some salad dressing or dip to dip your veggies into.

If you have a smaller number of guests for dinner- you can make little

individual ones per person or have a larger one as a center piece if you have a larger group.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class

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Go Popcorn Company review

This past weekend we had a Bumpball event at 12th Street gym in downtown

Philly-- in the Midtown Village section and as we were driving to the gym

we passed a popcorn shop and said 

"we have to stop there and check it out after the event."

and that's exactly what we did!

The popcorn shop's name is Go Popcorn Company.

It originated in Pittsburgh-- the other great city in Pennsylvania.

This location is their 6th location and first in the Philly area.

The exact address is 112 South 12th Street.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

As you walk inside-- you will not only smell the aroma of fresh popcorn but you will 

see this fun carnival- theater-esque-ness (I know that is not a real word)  

The store size is not huge but there is enough space to handle the lines of the crowds.

The interior design and placement of items of the shop 

is really beautiful and perfect for a popcorn shop.

It really gave that nostalgic feeling of being at a carnival or theater 

while being inside a store front though. Even the light fixtures and ceiling tiles

matched the whole atmosphere of the shop. It gave that warm and cozy feeling.

There is also this little old fashioned popcorn cart to the side that

was very cool to see as well and made me think about how long popcorn

has been around and what it has become today. 

Do you think people thought that a simple kernel of corn

could be popped with heat to be made into a delicious snack and than years

later to fill an entire stores worth of space being the main product?

Corn kernels are able to be popped because they have a hard moisture-sealing hull and

with the combo of the dense starchy interior- pressure is able to be built up inside

the kernel allowing for a small explosion (or pop) to then be made into popcorn.

They say that there is evidence of popcorn dating back to 3600 B.C. in Peru.

WHAT!?!!   I guess popcorn has been around a lot longer than I would of guessed!

It was also a great way for farmers to stay in business during the Great Depression. 

These are some of the machines that make the delicious popcorn. (below)

We even saw Rob that day. (The owner Rob & Genalle Day)

Some of your choices can be...

Oh! and I forgot to mention that the prices have great pricing points as well.

The pricing is a fair enough price that people can come back for more and more

which I'm sure you will when you are in the Market East part of Philly AND

they will give you samples to try as well!  YES! right!? Who doesn't love a free sample!

Peanut Butter Cup

Buttery Movie Style

Thin Mint flavor

Brown Butter Caramel

Real Wisconsin Cheddar

I highly recommend stopping by Go Popcorn.  You won't be disappointed.
The scent of fresh popcorn, the great lights and fun atmosphere really puts you
in a great mood along with having great tasting popcorn!

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class

Christmas Tree Brownies!

Most of us have heard that 'stressed' spelled backwards is 'desserts'...

I've also heard people say that desserts has two 's's simply because

you should never only enjoy one but you should have 2 cookies or 2 scoops of ice cream

or 2 small slices of cake etc...

When it comes to brownies- I don't even cut them into squares anymore  

to count if it's 1, 2 or more little squares of brownies that I'm eating. 

It's just a matter of cutting and braking off pieces!

With these cute Christmas tree brownies... make sure you don't eat them all

but share them with your co-workers, your children's classmates, your nail salon,

your neighbors, etc.

Christmas tree brownies are super easy to make and decorate yourself or with the kids! 

It's not too messy for kids to decorate either!  

Simply bake your brownies and rather than cutting them  into small rectangles 

or squares -  cut them into larger rectangles and then cut them in half 

diagonally to make a longer triangles (pine tree shape)  

The stump of the tree can be a pretzel or a candy cane to make it really festive!

You can use icing, M&M's, skittles, Reese's any kind of candy you favor to decorate.

It's always fun to take common food items and fancy them up. 

I always find that when you see food in a different way-- it tastes better.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza

Pizza... ah, the all American food.... not the 'hot pocket'  right? 

Just an inside joke among the In-Home Class students. 

The number of pizzas eaten just in the United States alone are so high... 

I don't even want to get into the numbers.

Think about it. 

How many pizzas did you eat as a kid, how many birthday pizza parties did you attend?

Pizzas are eaten after many sports games and practices. Remember in high school

eating pizza while working on school projects... and of course the pizzas you ate

with friends in college til the sun came up? 

As adults we still order pizza with co-workers to eat while finishing a project

to make the deadline.

Here is a twist on the average pizza.  

I'd like to share my creation of Buffalo cauliflower pizza with lemon zest.

I know, I know. You're thinking... cauliflower? 

Who eats cauliflower... let alone on a pizza?

You know that saying "don't judge a book by it's cover?"

Well,.............   don't judge a food without tasting it!.    :)

I took 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 packet of yeast.

I mixed in 1/2 coffee mug of hot water. (microwaved it for 1 minute)

I took a spoon and mixed it together and then let the dough sit

for a minimum of 30 minutes.

While the  dough is rising and doing it's  "thang"

Take some water and blanch the cauliflower.

(Don't overcook the cauliflower especially because you want a little bite to it

and it's going to go back into the oven.

After 30 minutes or so- roll out your dough

and drizzle some olive oil, coarse sea salt and squeeze the juice of half a lemon.

Do this to both sides and  cook the dough on an outside grill for the best taste.

If you don't have an outside grill-  the next best option is to 'broil' it in the oven

on the top rack.  Also- if you have a cookie rack- it's best cooked on there as well

so that the bottom of the pizza gets cooked as well.

While your dough is cooking-  take some  "Frank's" hot sauce

and coat a saute pan with the hot sauce and equal parts of butter.

Once the butter melts, take you chopped scallion and add that to the sauce

along with the cauliflower that's already cooked a little.

Once your dough is brown and toasty, take it out and add

another drizzle of olive oil, some shredded cheddar cheese, then the buffalo cauliflower

then some shredded mozzarella cheese followed by zesting one lemon and squeezing

the remaining juice of the other half of your lemon.

Throw it back in the oven for up to 7 minutes (or until the cheese melts)

I will guarantee that this pizza will be a new favorite.

Even if you are a meat loving pizza eater!

I wish I could make this pizza for all of you!

It's really something special.

The lemon really blends everything together so well giving it a fresh delicious taste.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 packet of yeast

1/2 coffee mug of water

1 lemon (for juice and the zest)

1/4 of a cauliflower

2 whole scallions

1/4 cup Frank's Hot sauce

1/2 stick of butter

sprinkle of sea salt

handful of shredded cheddar cheese

handful of shredded mozzarella cheese

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class