Cooking for the Ronald McDonald House Again!

The Aspie Insiders had a great time cooking for the Ronald McDonald House the first time around, so they decided to do it again!  We met up at a local church and decided to make baked ziti, steamed broccoli, and chocolate chip cookies.  Considering some of the experience we gained from our previous cooking contribution, we made sure to have detailed, step-by step recipes.  We also separated our ingredients to make it easier to see how each item would be prepared.  Not only did we make another cooking contribution to the Ronald McDonald House, we also took a tour of it at a later date.  It gave us a chance to learn about what they do for the community, and it also let us explain to some members of the staff what the Aspie Insiders group is all about!

There were a few things we noticed about our dish.  First of all, the baked ziti was fairly easy to make.  It did require some basic cooking steps (such as boiling water, preparing the oven, etc.), but outside of that it really was just a matter of throwing the ingredients together, mixing it up, and adding a bunch of cheese.  Our Insiders seemed to like the relative ease of this recipe.

Steamer Basket

Another thing we learned was how to steam something.  There are lots of different ways to cook food, and this is one of them.  One of the benefits to steaming food is that the food doesn't lose its nutrients; other cooking methods like frying have the tendency to burn away a lot of the good nutrients in food.  To steam our broccoli, we used a steamer basket.  Once we had water boiling underneath the basket, we poured in the broccoli and covered it up.  After a number of minutes, the broccoli turns dark green and softens.  We added butter, salt, and pepper to the broccoli after it was all sufficiently prepared.  Our Insiders felt that this too was a relatively easy dish to cook.  The only thing that makes it difficult is that it might require some cutting and working with a knife depending on whether you buy the broccoli on the stalk or pre-cut.  Also, just a reminder to our cooks out there: remember to always rinse your vegetables or fruit before you start cooking with it!

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Recipe Baked ZitiRecipe: Steamed Broccoli

We used large aluminum pans to store and transport our food.  This in itself was a little tricky since the heavy food had a tendency to stretch the pans.  We gave the food ample support by placing everything in cardboard boxes.  When we picked the food up and moved it, we were careful to keep a hand in the center of the bottom of the pan — otherwise, there's a chance the food will burst through.  We placed all of our food in a single car and drove it that day to the Ronald McDonald House for them to use that night.

Ronald McDonald House

INSIDER THOUGHTS:

•  Overall, this dish was easier to prepare than the one before.  It required some basic cooking know-how such as heating the oven, boiling water, and cutting with a knife, but outside of that the recipes were simple and didn't take a great deal of time.
• There are many different ways to cook and prepare food!  This time we added steaming to our list of food preparation skills, but food can be fried, baked, boiled, grilled, and so on.  It always helps to have the materials needed to prepare the food in different ways.
• Separating our ingredients seemed to make the cooking process a bit easier.  Rather than having everything on the table at one time, we moved some of our cooking materials and ingredients to a different table.  Not only does it look less messy this way, it's easier to get hold of what you need when you need it.
• Cooking for many people doesn't have to be tough, but it definitely pays to be prepared.  For this cooking experience, we had large pans to hold the food and plenty of ingredients — it kept us from having any complications throughout the cooking process.

With our second contribution to the Ronald McDonald House done, we're still looking for more material for our "Aspie Friendly" recipes — simple, comfortable foods that don't require too much work. If you would like to contribute to this project, please email Allie Lindborg at allison@icanhouse.com or Erik Nance at erik@icanhouse.com and let us know!