Kitchen Capers Camp

I am going to say that this was the most challenging camp of the summer for me.  The campers were so patient and so eager to do whatever I tossed at them.  We didn't have an oven so I had to think a little out of the box.  I wanted it to be fun.  I wanted them to be able to go home and make the things for their families.  And I wanted them to learn something.  But I think mostly I wanted them to have fun.

First things first...learning how to set the table.  Personalized place mats helped with that.  As did place cards..

Practicing our knife skills (don't worry they are plastic) cutting fruit for watermelon pizza.

 

Scrambled eggs for breakfast.

 And to go with the cute aprons we made some very interesting chef hats.

 

We learned about composting.

The first egg she ever cracked.  And what a thrill it was.  Only had to dig out a few pieces of egg shell.

French toast in the making.

 

 Team work is the best.

 

Mixing, mixing, and more mixing.

We used real glass plates, glass Mason Jars for drinking and real flatware.  We also know several ways to fold napkins to make the table look the best it can.

Three tables, three cooking teams with a different assignment everyday.  Team One: The Sunflowers.  Team Two: The Kitchen Captains.  Team Three: Master Chefs.

Breakfast...French toast, scrambled eggs and a fruit cup.

 

The top of the pineapple became the table center piece.

Sometimes you just have to figure it out on your own.  Maybe we could invest in a stool for the vertically challenged campers. 

They loved playing games.  Kitchen or cooking games are fun to come up with.

Tomato, tomato soup...put the peperoni on the pizza...blindfold the cook...scavenger hunts...what's missing to mane a few.

How about a rousing game of FOOD-O?

They loved it.

 

Snack Day:  Ants on a log, popcorn made in a brown paper bag in the microwave, apple slices and apple spaghetti made with the apple corer, slicer, peeler.  And the big hit of the day were the fruit smoothies.

They learned to take a no thank you bite. 

 

 Look at that napkin folding skill!

 

Apple spaghetti is the best way to get the campers to eat the apple peel.

  

Dessert Day was the most amazing day.  I decided that we only needed one dessert so I had better make it a good one.  Waffle Cakes.

He says he is a real waiter because this is how they do it.

 They smelled really good cooking.  Our mouths were watering!

 

Headed to the Community Garden

The ladies were so nice.  They walked us around and educated us on the vegetables and flowers.

There was even a fairy garden.

Nothing like cold watermelon chunks under the shade trees by the Community Garden for an appetizer..

Our cakes had cooled...

...ready to eat...

...and they were just a little excited!

 

It even got two thumbs up from our resident food critic.

For Lunch Day we make the best crunchy grilled cheese sandwiches you could ever eat.

Tomato soup in my Vitamix.  We also had a garden salad and oatmeal cookies.

Fresh squeezed lemonade was lots of hard work.

Some weren't really up for the task but understood that we all needed to help.

But we managed to finish.

I made reusable grocery bags for them all to take home and use the next time they went shopping with the family.  They were also a great way to carry everything home.

This week couldn't have happened without the skilled hands and minds of the assistants, Kelly, the seasoned veteran and Lindsay, the key master.  We had a great week full of fun and laughs.