Summer Fete Fruit Kebab Stall

The summer fete was held on Friday 9th July and our Let's Get Cooking Club had their own stall there selling "make your own" fruit kebabs. For £1 per stick the customer could choose 8 things to thread onto their wooden kebab sticks. Eight members of the cooking club took turns to help to chop up the ingredients and to serve customers during the course of the afternoon.

We were fortunate to receive a donation of 2 crates of fruit from Riverford Organic Fruit & Veg, as well as a fresh pineapple from Simon, and with a few extra bits and pieces bought from the shops we had plenty to keep us going. People could choose from strawberries, bananas, apple, clementines, cherries, pineapple, grapes and kiwi as well as marshmallows and pieces of Mars bar.

It was a popular stall and definitely one that will we run again at the next summer fete, and the money taken contributed to the staggering £2500 that was raised on that day.

Now... what shall we do at the Christmas fair...?

Scone based pizza

For the final session of this block of cooking club the children invited along an adult so they could show off the skills they had been learning in the previous sessions. In session 3 we had made scones and that was going to come in handy for this session because the children were going to make a pizza with a scone base. In addition, they got a chance to show off their knife skills by cutting up some toppings and making carrot and cucumber sticks. And to finish, we retrieved the smoothie lollies from the freezer.

Our celebrity chef this week was Tiffany and here she shows us how to make an easy, inexpensive pizza from scratch.

Scone-based Pizza

(per person)

100g self-raising flour

25g butter

60ml milk

2 tablespoons passata

A pinch of mixed dried herbs

50g strong Cheddar cheese

A selection of topping ingredients such as ham, mushroom, pineapple, red pepper, sweetcorn.

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (gas mark 7) and grease a baking tray.

2. Sieve the flour into a bowl.

3. Weigh out the butter and add it to the flour.

4. Using clean fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Gradually add the milk to make a soft dough.

6. Sprinkle the rolling pin and a suitable board with a little flour then roll out the dough until it is less than 1 cm thick.

7. Spread the passata onto the base with a spoon.

8. Sprinkle on the herbs.

9. Grate the cheese and add this to the pizza.

10. Now add a selection of suitable toppings.

11. Carefully slide the pizza from the board onto the baking tray then bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbling.

The children had fun deciding what toppings to put on their pizzas and a couple of the boys decided to continue with our football theme and decorated their pizzas to look like the England flag. Whilst the pizzas were in the oven the children chopped carrots and cucumber into sticks and helped tidy away.

And then it was time to eat. Everyone loved their pizzas and even had enough to let their adults have a taste and to take some home with them.

After that, there was just enough time to have a smoothie lolly each before home. These tasted just as nice frozen as they had tasted fresh as drinks last week.

So next time you fancy a pizza and don't have one in your freezer, give this recipe a go. It dead easy and tastes great!

Fruit Smoothies

This week's cooking club we had a go at making some delicious fruit smoothies. Although England are now out of the World Cup, the football theme continued as smoothies are a great way to boost your energy just before playing a match or for refreshment after a match.

Our celebrity chef this week was Alina and here she shows us how to make a Totally Tropical fruit smoothie.

Totally Tropical Fruit Smoothie

2 very ripe bananas
500 ml pineapple juice
400 ml tin coconut milk

1. Peel the bananas and break or cut them into pieces.
2. Measure out the pineapple juice.
3. Open the tin of coconut milk and pour it into a jug.
4. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth
5. Pour into small tasting cups to serve.


In the meantime, Morgan and Tiffany were busy making Justy Peachy Fruit Smoothie.

Just Peachy Fruit Smoothie

1 small can of peaches
150g pot peach yoghurt
200 ml milk

1. Open the tin of peaches and drain away the syrup.

2. Measure out the yoghurt and milk.

3. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

4. Pour into small tasting cups to serve.

At the same time Sam and Corey were making the smoothie that had been invented by the cooking club from last half term.

Strawberries and Cream Fruit Smoothie

1 very ripe banana
150g pot strawberry yoghurt
100ml milk
2 scoops vanilla ice-cream

1. Peel the banana and cut or break into pieces.

2. Measure out the yoghurt and milk.

3. Add the ice-cream.

4. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

5. Pour into small tasting cups to serve.

Once all the smoothies had been made we swapped them around so that everyone had a chance to taste all three. The clear favourite was the strawberries and cream smoothie, followed by totally tropical but they were all very nice and a great way to get a serving of fruit into you.

Having tasted the smoothies, we then had a go at inventing our own smoothies with the ingredients that were left over and with what we had in the cupboard.

Our first smoothie had one banana, a strawberry yoghurt, 200ml milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 3 teaspoons of strawberry jam and it tasted like strawberry milk shake!

The second one had 150ml mango yogurt, half a tin of peaches, 200ml milk and 3 teaspoons of honey and that was yummy too.

It just goes to show how easy it is to get creative in the kitchen and to make a tasty smoothie. And nothing went to waste as the left overs were poured into lolly moulds ready to have as dessert at our final session next week.

Half Time Tea Break Scones

On a hot Wednesday afternoon as England played their crucial match against Solvenia in the World Cup we gathered once more for cooking club. And what better way to show our support than a classically English dish of cream scones. By using red strawberry jam and white cream this tea-time treat was even in England's colours... Come on England!

Today our celebrity chef was Corey and here he shows us how to make them.

Half Time Tea Break Scones

200g self raising flour

50g butter

25g caster sugar

125ml milk

1 jar strawberry jam

Whipped cream

1. Turn on the oven to 220°C or gas mark 7. Phew! That's a hot one on a hot day!

2. Brush the baking sheet with a little oil or butter.

3. Weigh out the caster sugar.

4. Weigh out the butter.

5. Sift the flour into the mixing bowl.

6. Using clean, cool finger tips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. If your hands are hot and sticky, run them under a cold tap and dry well before trying to do this.

7. Add the caster sugar and stir in.

8. Measure out the milk.

9. Gradually add the milk.

10. Form the mixture into a soft ball of dough.

11. Sprinkle the rolling pin and a clean, dry flat surface with flour and roll out the dough until it is around 2cm thick. Then cut the dough into rounds with a 4cm pastry cutter, brush with milk and place on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used.

12. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the scones have risen and turned golden. In the meantime, whisk the whipping cream until thick.

12. Allow to cool on a wire rack then slice each scone open and spread with jam and cream to serve.

So with England 1-nil up at half-time it was time to relax a little and to tuck into our yummy half-time tea break treat.

And the result... some lovely cream scones to take home... oh yeah, and England won too!

World Cup Sub Sandwiches

This week we continued our World Cup theme with a handy, filling meal that can be conveniently eaten whilst watching the footie - Sub sandwiches. So whilst England are making their subs, why not make yours!

Our celebrity chef this week was Sam and, with Logan's help, he was making an egg and bacon sandwich filling based on the full English breakfast. Here he shows us how.

Egg and Bacon Sub Sandwich

2 eggs

2 rashers of bacon

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon ketchup

Black pepper

2 large hot dog rolls

1. Place the eggs whole in a pan of water and boil for 5 minutes until hard.

2. Carefully remove the eggs from the pan and run under a cold tap until cool.

3. Fry or grill the bacon until cooked then set aside to cool.

4. Tap the eggs to break the shells then remove all the shell from the eggs.

5. Chop the eggs into very small pieces with a knife.

6. Snip the bacon into small pieces with a pair of scissors.

7. Put the bacon and egg into a bowl and spoon in the mayonnaise and ketchup. Grind in a little black pepper.

8. Mix well.

9. Carefully cut the bread rolls open lengthwise and spoon in the filling.

In the meantime, Corey and Alina were making Coronation Chicken sub sandwiches, a sandwich filling first invented in 1953 for a banquet to celebrate the Queen's coronation.

Coronation Chicken Sub Sandwiches

250g cooked chicken

1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

20g mango chutney

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Pinch of salt

2 large hot dog rolls

1. Cut the cooked chicken into small chunks.

2. Use a grater to carefully grate the zest off the lime.

3. Cut the lime in half and squeeze out the juice.

4. Put the mayonnaise, mango chutney, lime zest, lime juice, curry powder and salt into a bowl.

5. Mix thoroughly.

6. Add the chicken to the sauce and stir well.

7. Cut the bread rolls length ways and spoon in the filling.

At the same time, Morgan and Madison were making Tuna Crunch Sub sandwiches.

Tuna Crunch Sub Sandwich

2 x 185g cans tuna in brine

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

8 lettuce leaves

1 small cucumber

2 tomatoes

2 large hot dog rolls

1. Drain the tuna, place in a mixing bowl and mash with a fork.

2. Add the mayonnaise to the tuna and stir until mixed.

3. Wash the lettuce and cut into thin strips.

4. Wash the cucumber and cut into slices.

5. Wash the tomato and cut into slices

6. Cut each bread roll in half lengthwise then arrange the salad along the base of the rolls. Then spoon the tuna on top.

Once everyone had finished making their sandwiches, each roll was cut into three pieces and shared out so that everyone could taste each of the three sandwich fillings.

It was pleasing that everyone was willing to try something new and a few of the children surprised themselves by liking the fillings. Well, you never know unless you try!