This is our final week of our Genius Hour Project. We have each learned a lot of things and will share our personal experiences down below. Sophia- Through out this project I have learned a lot. Even though it was all about cooking and baking I have taken away skills that I will use for the rest of my life. For example, I was not very good at managing my time, but after a few weeks I was able to realize that this project is something I cannot put off till the last minute. This project was also able to teach me some basic cooking and baking skills. I have never been particularly good at any of this, and doing this project let me know that I need to improve on my basic life skills if I want to be able to succeed on my own. Laney - I have learned a lot from this project. I feel like I have gained a lot of important life skills over the course of the past few weeks. Starting off with this project I didn't think we would be able to make our schedules and cooking times work out, but overall we did it. I have always enjoyed baking and cooking and I feel like this project added to that. One thing that I did learn about myself is that I am not very good at making specific things, such as hamburgers. I have found some great recipes throughout this project as well that I will continue to make after this project is over. Mikaylah: When I first started doing this project I had very high expectations about how I wanted things to turn out. I wanted the scheduling and cooking to be perfect. I later found that my expectations were too high. This project became difficult when it came to being able to meet up when needed and everyone being on the same page about what we should cook and who is going to cook. At the end of this project I had learned that I need to take things as they come and to realize that nothing is perfect. I learned some good cooking skills that I will forever use, along with learning how to better communicate with my group members. Brooklyn- Coming into this project I had one goal in mind, and that was to simply become better at cooking. I wanted to familiarize myself with different techniques and become more confident, and now that we are at the end I felt like I did achieve this goal. With each week I could see my self becoming more confident in what I was doing. I have always loved baking and did it quite frequently. This project let me expand on that by helping me stay organized and have a time frame that I had to get it done by. I hope to keep planning my meals and cooking/baking in the future.
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This week we made chicken noodle soup. To start this recipe we started by heating the butter over medium, in a dutch oven. We then added the onion, celery and carrots, stirring often, until the onions were translucent. We added garlic and then cooked for 1 minute longer. After that we added the chicken stock and bay leaves then brought that to a boil over high heat. We reduced that to a medium heat then cooked the vegetables for another 10 minutes. Finally we added the chicken, noodles, parsley, salt and pepper. Brought that to a heavy simmer then placed the lid on top. Sophia- This recipe is good for the winter and is very filling. My whole family enjoyed it and we will probably add it into our dinner rotation. This recipe was the first that I have completely followed because I have never made soup. Although I have never made soup it actually came out very successful. Next time I wish that I would add some more seasoning, but that would definitely be the only adjustment I would make. Mikaylah- This week we made chicken noodle soup. This soup is a family favorite and I have eaten this since I was a kid. My mom would make it for me whenever I am sick and I love. However, this recipe is a little different than the one we normally make; so it wasn't my favorite, but my family and I still enjoyed eating this. Laney - This recipe was very good. Chicken noodle soup is one of my favorite foods so I knew this would be a fun one to make. One issue I ran into with making this recipe was making the noodles. It was very complicated to get the noodles to the right consistency. In the end, my family and I enjoyed the soup and I would make this recipe again. Brooklyn- This week we made chicken noodle soup. This is one of my favorite meals ever. It’s great to eat on a cold day. I think this was relatively easy and tasted great. The only problem I had was knowing when the noodles were ready. I ended up cooking them a little longer then I was probably supposed to but they still were good. I served this to my family for dinner one night and everyone loved it! Laney's Chicken Noodle Soup Brooklyn's Chicken Noodle soup
This week we decided to choose our own Thanksgiving dish to cook. We will share all of our experiences down below. Sophia- To start the sweet potato casserole recipe you roast six whole sweet potatoes for one hour. Then for the last 15 minutes you add two bananas to the roasting pan. After you roast the bananas let them cool then squish the sweet potatoes and bananas together in a large bowl. After that add 1 cup maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of cinnamon, and 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt. For the topping combine 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 2 cups of chopped pecans. Then you add one stick of butter and mix thoroughly. Finally you spread the sweet potato mixture into a greased baking pan and then sprinkle the topping across the top and bake at 3:50 for 30 minutes. Mikaylah- For this week I made a yummy dessert for Thanksgiving. I made Chocolate Delight. For this there are three layers. The first layer is the crust; for this you will need 1 cup of self rising flour, 1 cup of chopped nuts, 1/2 cup of melted margerine. Next, you will bake that on 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After that is done baking you will let it cook and start to make the second layer. In this layer you mix together 8o.z of cream cheese, 1 cup or powdered sugar, and 1 cup of cool whip; You mix all of that up and paste it onto the crust. Then, you create the third layer. This layer is simple and consists of 1 small box of chocolate pudding and 1 small box of vanilla pudding; you mix that up and spread it over the cream cheese icing layer. Lastly, you will top everything off with some cool whip. This is a simple but very yummy family favorite dessert for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed making this for my family and I hope you make it and enjoy it. Brooklyn: For my thanksgiving recipe me and my mom made a hot pineapple casserole. The recipe calls for two cans of pineapple chunks, 1 & 1/3 cups of sugar, 5 tablespoons of flour, 1 cup of cheese, 1/4 cup of butter, and 1 sleeve of crackers. The first step is to heat the oven to 350. While you are waiting for it to heat up you are going to combine the pineapple, flour, and sugar in a bowl and mix it up. Next you put that mixture into a pan and sprinkle shredded cheese on top. After that you combine crushed crackers and melted butter and spread it evenly across the pineapple. You bake it for about 30 minutes and then you are ready to serve it. We took this dish to my great grandmas house and everyone loved it! Laney- For Thanksgiving I made stuffing. I did not use exact measurements for the stuffing but the ingredients you need are: 2 onions, celery, butter, poultry seasoning, pepper, bread cubes, chicken broth and fresh herb (optional). First, you need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and melt butter in a skillet. Add in your onions, celery, and poultry seasoning to the skilled. Cook for about 10 minutes. Next, place bread cubes in a bowl and add the mixture from the skillet into the bowl. Then, pour broth over the cubes until moist (not soggy though) and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the mixture into a dish and add butter if needed. Bake for 35 minutes (covered) and bake an additional 10 minutes (uncovered). This recipe made a pretty large amount, and I took it to my grandmas house for all of my family to try it! Brooklyns Pineapple casserole Laney's Stuffing
This week we made a Mediterranean salad, which was a great side and something new for all of us. We started off by cutting a cucumber, a bell pepper, parsley, a onion, and cherry tomatoes. We then added a vinaigrette made of, lemon just and zest, olive oil, and cracked pepper. Sophia- I loved this salad, it was great with dinner and it got my family out of our comfort zone. I really liked how refreshing it was and definitely think that it would be good for summer. Although if I were to do it differently I would cut my vegetables a bit smaller and would not add in the red onion because it over powers the flavor. Mikaylah- This week we made this chick pea salad. I love chick peas, so I quite enjoyed making this. The meal was very easy to make and only took about 15 minutes to assemble. However, I did not include one ingredient, which was onions because I am not a fan of onions by any means. Other than that I really loved this dish and the flavors of the sauce and the fresh veggies; made this a very good and fresh meal. I would suggest to make this because it was very fun and yummy! Brooklyn- This week we made mediterranean chickpea salad. This recipe was really good. It was very refreshing and all the flavors blended well together. I paired this salad with sandwiches and served them to my family for lunch one day and we ended up having a good amount of leftovers. I would of probably added less red onions, but over all it was really good! Laney- This week we made chickpea salad, which ended up being very good! I actually have never had chickpeas, so this was my first time trying them. In my opinion, they did not have a lot of flavor, but with the lemon on top it tasted pretty good! The vegetables that we used added a lot of extra flavor as well. Overall, I really liked the chickpea salad, and I would make it again. Brooklyn's Salad Laney's Salad
This week we made Za’atar chicken which was definitely something different but we all seemed to enjoy it. Za’atar is a middle eastern spice blend made of oregano, thyme, marjoram, and toasted sesame seeds. None of us were able to get marjoram but we made it work by substituting it with mint. To start this recipe you coat the chicken thighs with Za’atar, salt, and olive oil. After that you place shallots around the chicken then bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. This was very simple and great for the whole family. Sophia- I really enjoyed this recipe and would definitely try it again. Overall it was really easy and pushed my family and I to try out something new for dinner. When making this I decided to add capers to the under the chicken skin to add an extra kick of flavor, which I think complemented the dish very well. Although next time I need to keep the chicken in a little longer to crisp the skin. Mikaylah: This meal was for the most part simple to make. However, I do not care to cook chicken because I am not a big fan of chicken (especially raw chicken). This made it hard for me to prepare and end up eating it. The overall ending result turned out not very well. I let my family try it and they did not care for it either. This was really disappointing because I was excited to make something different and try to overcome my "fear" of chicken. I would however suggest that you should still make this because it could end up being a very delicious meal according to you. Brooklyn: This week we made Za'atar chicken. This was probably my least favorite thing we’ve made so far. When I went to the store to get the ingredients I couldn’t find Zaatar spice so I had to make my own, but I couldn’t find two of the spices. I just made it with the stuff I could find and I used chicken legs instead. The recipe calls for you to cook them for 30-45 minutes but I ended up leaving them in there for over an hour because they wouldn’t cook. They ended up looking really gross and the taste was pretty bland. Laney: This meal was probably my least favorite recipe so far. I am not a big fan of chicken in general so that may have contributed to that. This recipe overall was very simple to make, but it did not taste the greatest. I struggled with trying to figure out if the chicken was done or not, and when I should take it out of the oven. I would not make this again. Brooklyn's Chicken Laney's Chicken
This week we made a creamy tomato rigatoni pasta, which was a fun recipe to make that everyone will enjoy. We started off by searing onions in a pan, then adding tomato paste and stirring till the sauce thickened. While we were making the sauce we boiled the rigatoni and kept a half cup of pasta water to use for the sauce. When then stirred the heavy cream, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper into the tomato sauce. After everything was incorporated we added the cooked pasta to the pan and stirred it until everything was coated, we then slowly added the pasta water until the sauce was the consistency we wanted. Finally, we plated our pasta and added parsley and Parmesan. Sophia: This was one of my favorite meals so far. I love eating pasta for dinner and this was perfect for everyone in my family. While making this I ran into a bit of trouble when I realized that I had been simmering my tomato sauce too high and things were starting to stick to the bottom of my pan. But I quickly added some pasta water and I managed to save most of the sauce. Laney: This meal was delicious! Pasta is one of my favorite foods and my family loved this recipe. When making this meal I almost boiled the noodles for too long, which I accidentally do a lot when making pasta. Overall this was a very good meal and I enjoyed making it. Mikaylah: When I made this. I decided that I wanted a more cream base sauce because I am not a huge fan of tomato sauces; so I added heavy whipping cream into the sauce and blended it to make it creamy. Once The noodles were finished I poured the noodles into the pot with the sauce and added some of the pasta water to make sure the sauce didn't dry up. I then dipped some of the noodles into a bowl and topped it with Parmesan and crushed parsley. I then plated some and gave it to my family. They loved this meal and we will be making this dish again. I also thought it was delightful and full of flavor. I cannot wait to make this dish again. Brooklyn: I absolutely love pasta, it's one of my favorite foods but we don’t get to eat it that much so i'm glad I got to make it this week. This recipe was fun to make and I think the sauce was really good. I added some more spices than the original recipe called for, which added a nice flavor. I accidentally added too many red pepper flakes so it was pretty spicy, but overall it was really good! Brooklyn's Pasta
Brooklyn's Street Tacos Laney's Taco
This week we made chicken stir fry. It called for 1 pound of chicken thighs, 1/2 of a zucchini, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of butter, 1 cup of broccoli, 1 small carrot, 8 oz of mushrooms, 1/2 of a red pepper, 4 garlic cloves, 1 tsp of ginger, 1/2 of a onion, and a 1/2 cup of cashews. You first cook the chicken and then you add all your vegetables. You let them both cook for a little bit and then you add your sauce. This week it was really difficult trying to find time to make this recipe because everyone seemed to be busy, but it ended up being a great meal! Brooklyn: This week it was fairly easy. I’m not a big fan of thighs because they taste really fatty and chewy, but they ended up being pretty good. An adjustment I made to my recipe was instead of using regular soy sauce I used this substitute that was made out of coconut. It has a much sweeter taste but went great with this recipe! I ended up serving my family this for dinner one right and paired with jasmine rice. Mikaylah: This week we made stir fry. It was pretty easy to make because I have made something very similar to this before. The ending result was really good and I would definitely make it again. My family also seemed to enjoy it and liked the chicken and vegetables together. They also really loved the sauce. Sophia: I have eaten stir fry my whole life and I really enjoy it. It is a well balanced meal and is perfect for after practice. Sophia: I really enjoyed the stir fry it is a classic recipe that is very great for an after practice meal. We typically use pork tenderloin as well as bell peppers, mushrooms, and rice. I sear the vegetables adding different seasonings, while this is cooking a steam the rice. Finally I grill the pork and once that is done I slice it up put the vegetables and pork over rice and add soy sauce. Laney: This recipe was a great meal to share with my whole family. Even the smallest amount of ingredients in this recipe can go a long way. I used stir fry sauce when cooking the vegetables and chicken and it gave the vegetables a good flavor. It seemed like with the chicken it didn't make much of a difference so I used soy sauce as well. Laney's Stir Fry Brooklyn's Stir Fry
This week we made crepes, for our individual cooking week. This was one of our most difficult recipes so far as it was very hard not having the proper appliances we needed. Even though our crepes may not look the best they still tasted great!
For this recipe you need 1 cup of flour, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp. sugar, ¼ tsp. salt, 1 ½ cups of milk and 1 tbsp butter. You can also use Nutella if you want! First you add in all the dry ingredients, and then add the rest of the ingredients into a separate bowl and the combine. Then you use a small skillet over medium heat to cook the batter, and flip as needed. This was the most complicated part. When making the crepes you have to put the batter in very thinly, so it was quite a challenge to flip. Individual Experiences Laney - Making crepes this week was quite a challenge. For me flipping the crepes, with the batter being so thin, can cause quite an issue. It took me a few tries but I was finally able to flip it without the crepe falling apart. I decided to use a technique of flipping the crepe onto a plate, and then back onto the pan which was a lot easier to control. Overall my crepe may not look the best but I think it still tasted great! Sophia- This week making crepes was definitely the most difficult recipe for me so far. Trying to get the batter spread out over a skillet was hard especially since I did not have the proper cookware. This taught me a lot because I went into it blindly thinking that I could just do it once and be done, but as it posed more of a challenge than expected I had to retry the process about four different times just to get it looking somewhat correct. When I finally got the best looking crepe, I filled it with Nutella and strawberries and even though it did not look good, it tasted like the real thing. Mikaylah- This week we made crepes on our own time. I have made crepes before, but with the help of my mom who made them look very simple to make. However, when I tried cooking my crepes they were a little difficult and when I would pour the batter in the pan I would either pour too much or not enough. Therefore, my crepes would either be burnt or be too thick. It look me about three try’s to get it somewhat decent. I then took the crepe out of the pan and spread Nutella on the inside. I think it tasted pretty good, but definitely not as good as the way my mom cooks them. Brooklyn-This week was definitely the most difficult so far. I’ve never had a crepe before so i wasn’t really sure what they were supposed to taste or look like, but in my opinion mine tasted pretty good! The difficult part of making these was flipping the actual crepe over. To ake the crepes you have to spread a very thin layer of the batter on the pan and then some how flip it over. The first thing I tried was to just put it in a regular frying pan. This worked out pretty well but when ever I flipped it the side that was not done kept getting stuck on either the side of the pan or it’s self. The next thing I tried was putting them on a griddle, like a pancake. This worked worse then the pan because there was no sides to help you flip them. After that Laney showed me her idea of putting it in the pan and then flipping it over to another pan, and then flipping it back. This worked out pretty well but i still kept burning the crepes because I couldn’t get my over the right temperature. Over all I think this was a great learning experience and in the end they tasted pretty good! This week we all had a hard time getting our schedules to line up so that we can make the banana bread. Although all of us were able to get it done, it was probably our most rushed recipe. As a whole we enjoyed making banana bread and getting our family to taste it, because it is rewarding to see people enjoy what you made.
When making this recipe it was really easy, all you had to do was preheat the oven to 350, then mash a ripe banana. After that you incorporate the baking soda, flour, egg, sugar, and vanilla extract into the mashed banana. Finally you pour the batter into a pan and bake for 50 minutes. As a group we are really enjoying this project because it gets us out of our comfort zones, and makes us cook or bake something that we probably would not have tried otherwise. In general coming up with a plan is very hard for us but once we can get around our schedule it is really great for us to come together and create something that is very memorable and fun so far. Our Individual Experiences: Laney - This recipe was very easy to make and I would definitely make it again. I am not a big banana fan but I think that with all of the spices in this recipe, you could barely even taste the banana which is what made me decide to make 4 loaves. I made the 4 loaves of the banana bread to share with my grandparents and neighbors. Sophia - I made the banana bread when my family was over for dinner one night and served it to them as a dessert to their meal. They all really enjoyed it and even though it did not rise like I wanted it to, it turned out really good. Brooklyn - I gave it to my family after dinner one night. A twist that I made was a gluten free recipe. My mom is gluten free so I made a regular batch and then a second one but replaced the flour with almond flour. Mikaylah - This week we made banana bread and this was pretty simple to make because I have made banana bread that had a very similar direction process and ingredients. Making this was not too hard and they came out pretty well. However, I did not care of the the flavor that much because I do not like bananas. If the recipe would have called for chocolate chips I would have liked it a little better. |
AuthorsSophia Brady, Laney Jaycocks, Mikaylah Hutton, and Brooklyn Lakey Archives |