Cooking for the Ronald McDonald House

The Aspie Insiders met up once again to put their cooking skills to the test.  However, unlike before, it wasn't them who enjoyed the meal afterwards.  In an effort to give to the community and make good use of what they've learned over the past couple of months, they warmed up the stove and made a generous contribution to the Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC).  If you're not familiar with the Ronald McDonald House, you can visit their website here.  The food donation the Insiders made will go to feed people in need.

Our dish for the day was decided following some of the guidelines provided by the RMHC.  We settled on making Polish chicken and pasta with a side of peas and brownies.  Of course, we made the food with a large serving size in mind.  Making food for a large number of people is a little different than making it for oneself, but the basic idea is still there.  As the Insiders cooked, they were careful to keep the food measurements in mind.  Overlooking one simple detail (such as adding only 2 eggs to a bowl of brownie mix when it should have been 6) can cause the food to not cook properly.

The Insiders had a few more tips for when cooking for large numbers of people:

• Attention to detail is VERY important.  Make sure that you have the correct ingredients and the correct amount of ingredients.  It's okay to double-check on measurements, especially since one slip-up can ruin a large dish.
• Keep yourself busy!  If something's cooking in the oven, you can start on the next item or wash some of the dishes.  If you're cooking correctly, you will rarely find yourself with nothing to do.  This is especially true when cooking for many!
•  It might help to keep your ingredients separated according to what's needed for each item.  Visually, it's much easier to have things sorted this way, so that when you're ready to cook something, you have everything you need in one location.
• Sometimes, things don't go according to plan.  When this happens, it's much better to be flexible than give up.  During our cooking we noticed one of our dishes was too soupy.  Using a measuring spoon and cup, we simply removed some of the liquid and the dish was fine.

After preparing and cooking our dish, we stored the food in aluminum pans and delivered them to the Ronald McDonald House.  Dropping the food off was an easy process, and the people who worked at the RMHC seemed to appreciate our hard work and effort.  Overall, the experience was fulfilling and fun!

Below you will find the recipes we used to cook this dish.  If you would like to make a similar contribution to the RMHC, you can follow the link above to their website and find all the information you need to make it happen.  The Insiders are planning on another cooking contribution next month, so be on the lookout for how that goes!