Cooking for the Ronald McDonald House in 2013!

Cooking the pasta

Last year, our Aspie Insiders cooked for the Ronald McDonald House twice, providing meals to people who greatly needed them. Not only did it offer us a great opportunity to help out in the community, it also helped us hone our cooking skills (specifically when cooking for a large number of people).

Recently, one of our members suggested we do another cooking donation, and so we let the idea roll around in our heads for awhile. Then, armed with some ingredients and recipes, we got to cooking! 

There is a subtle trick to cooking for large groups of people, a trick that is equally important for practically cooking of any kind. That trick is time management, a crucial skill for just about anything a person does in life. Being in a relationship requires time management, being a productive employee requires it... in fact, we use time management from the very moment we get out of bed!

When it comes to cooking, managing time is extremely important, as it keeps us from burning dishes (or serving them under-cooked). Equally important, though, is that time management can help us get the food cooked quickly. With our Ronald McDonald House cooking, we served up some chili mac and cheese, green beans, and cookies. In order to do that in enough time, we started right away. Here are some tips for getting food cooked in a reasonable amount of time:

• Use kitchen timers. If you have a timer, use it! If you don't have a timer, get one! While many cooks know exactly how long it will take for certain foods to be prepared, most people don't. Timers help keep a person on track and will provide you with a reminder when food is almost done.
• Separate your ingredients based on what you're cooking. Before you start, you might want to place your ingredients in different piles based on what you're cooking. For the cooking we did, we placed all the ingredients used for making the chili mac and cheese in one place, then placed green bean materials in another, and so on. This helps if you favor organization in the kitchen.
• Choose recipes with fewer ingredients. The green beans we cooked included garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, and a few other ingredients, all of which had to be prepared properly. If you know that more ingredients will slow you down, seek a recipe on the simpler side, at least until you've mastered the basics.
• Find the time to do something. If you could look inside a successful restaurant's kitchen, you would find a cooking team that doesn't stop. While one thing's cooking, they're preparing something else. Finding "pockets" of time like this will help you make better use of your time. If you're cooking and you find yourself standing around without anything to do, you might be using your time poorly!
• Avoid overdoing it! If you're not an expert at using a cutting knife, take it slow. It's better for you to start out with the basics and move forward from there than it is to force yourself and create a mediocre dish, or even hurt yourself!

Our final product: Chili Mac and Cheese

And... Green Beans!

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 the next day.

Everyone together now!

AS ALWAYS, THE ASPIE INSIDERS WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT ANY RECIPES YOU HAVE! LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!

Aspie Insiders Cooking: Homemade Pizza and a Basic Tossed Salad

 
Our Insiders have been cooking for quite some time, building upon their skills and seeing real-world results. Many of them use the recipes we provide and experiment a little, finding simpler ways to get a finished product or adding to the original recipe with a signature touch that is all their own.

Today gave the Insiders another opportunity to cook, and so we decided to do homemade pizza and a basic tossed salad. The interesting thing about this dish is that it is largely what you make it. If you want your pizza to be really cheesy, for instance, feel free to throw on the cheese! If you like pizza sauce, don't hold back. And in terms of toppings, the sky is the limit! Black olives, green peppers, pineapple chunks, avocado slices, hot sauce, pepperoni, ham, coconut... there are toppings aplenty! For salads, it's much the same: it's all about the toppings. For today's salad, we chose romaine lettuce, carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. One of our Insiders threw some grapes into his salad as well to sweeten it up a bit.

In making homemade pizza, one of the most challenging things to do is something that we simplified. Preparing the crust — perhaps the most important part of making a pizza — can be either a lengthy process requiring many ingredients, or it can be as simple as pulling the crust out of a bag and tossing on the toppings. Many recipes call for making dough from scratch. For our pizza, we simply bought some frozen dough balls instead. And for the simplest crust of all, simply buy a premade one from the frozen section of the grocer.

In making our pizza and salad, the Insiders noted a few particulars they thought would help anyone else trying to do the same thing:

Non-stick, non-worry!

• The non-stick aluminum was helpful when preparing the dough. After the pizzas were cooked, they also didn't stick to the foil at all, which was nice. Of course, adding flour to the dough keeps it from sticking and gives it shape, so between the two we had no problems with sticky dough (or crust).
• Make sure to use flour when forming the dough. Otherwise, it can be a pretty sticky situation (pun intended).
• We used frozen dough for today's pizza. Given the time we had, we opted to microwave the dough a little to thaw it out. Our suggestion? Don't do this. Give it time to thaw instead. When cooking in the oven, our pizza crusts took much longer to cook thoroughly, and we think this is why.
• All ovens are different. Even if your instructions say to cook for 25 minutes, start checking on it minutes before. You know that your pizza is ready when 1. the crust appears golden-brown, and 2. the cheese is melted throughout (including the middle).

Below, you can see our finished product. According to the Insiders, the pizza was delicious. Not only that, it was simple to make. With a 10-minute preparation time and 20 minutes of cooking, this makes an easy 30-minute meal for two:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not quite a perfect shape, but definitely a perfect taste!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ASPIE INSIDERS COOKING PROJECT, CHECK OUT OUR OTHER BLOG POSTS HERE, HERE, AND HERE! THE FIRST ONE FEATURES A MEXICAN DISH THE INSIDERS DID, WHILE THE OTHER TWO ARE ABOUT OUR COOKING EFFORTS FOR THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE. IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW, SHARE YOUR OWN RECIPES FOR OUR INSIDERS — WE MIGHT JUST USE ONE NEXT TIME WE COOK!

Insiders Cooking: Preview + Recipes!

 The Aspie Insiders are continuing to discuss the things that matter most to them and apply some useful independent skills to their own day-to-day living. One of these skills — cooking at home or for friends — has been a favorite for some time. In the words of one member, "I want to learn how to cook so that when I'm on my own I don't resort to eating fast food all the time." This same person pointed out that not only can cooking for oneself keep the fast food habit out of the picture, it can also be a way to socialize. Inviting friends over and cooking for them is a perfect way to spend time together and have fun, and it provides a much-needed throwback to a time when eating dinner meant that individuals would come together as a group to tell stories and socialize.

With this in mind, the Insiders have set a menu for the cooking they plan to do this month. Provided here are the recipes for chicken gumbo and a basic tossed salad. Thanks to our last cooking venture, the Insiders learned how to properly use cutting knives. I mention this because both recipes call for dicing and chopping skills. If you're not too savvy with a knife, you can check out the video here that goes over some of the basics (remember to be careful and take necessary precautions!)

 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE ANY RECIPES, WE'RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THEM! POST YOUR IDEAS BELOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.

Cooking With The Insiders: A Mexican Dish

Are you a fan of Mexican food?  Perhaps a cheesy quesadilla filled with fresh veggies or ground beef?  Or maybe fresh guacamole with a hint of lime?  Maybe you like to keep things simple and instead go with a basic dish of beans and rice — just don't forget the hot sauce!  If so, then you would have fit right in with our Insiders as they got together once more to cook!  This time they decided to make quesadillas, rice, beans, and fresh guacamole.

Our dish this time proved to be both simple and relatively cheap!  In the past, we've cooked larger meals for the Ronald McDonald House as a contribution.  While we learned a lot by cooking for a large number of people, it's always nice to cook something that can easily be repeated for just one or two people.  In this case, quesadillas truly fit the bill!

We started off by preparing the ground beef.  We spread it out on a frying pan and heated it up, watching for it to turn brown.  While a couple of us kept our eye on the beef, a few others worked on the guacamole.  Guacamole, it turns out, is very easy to make!  Our step-by-step recipe can be found below.  Essentially, it's a mash-up of avocados, lime juice, salsa, and salt/pepper.

For a side item, we decided to cook some rice and beans, a relatively simple task that requires nothing more than heating things up on the stove and adding some seasoning here and there (and if you're the author of this post, add in some hot sauce as well!).  Another thing to consider when it comes to cooking quesadillas is that they can be altered to fit any person's taste, which is great for when you have many people over.  Having the ingredients out on the counter for everyone to pick and choose lets a person create a quesadilla the way they want it.

All in all, this was a quick and simple dish that everyone seemed to enjoy.  Recipes for our quesadilaa and guacamole can be found below through scribd.com. 

CHECK OUT OUR SPECIALLY CRAFTED STEP-BY-STEP RECIPE GUIDE

  CLICK ON EACH PAGE THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE

Recipe: Quesadilla

Recipe: Guacamole

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!

CHECK OUT OUR SPECIALLY CRAFTED STEP-BY-STEP RECIPE GUIDE

  CLICK ON EACH PAGE THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE

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!

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!

The Insiders Are HUNGRY!

Yep... HUNGRY!

However, the Aspie Insider team is not yet comfortable in the kitchen... making their hunger a bit of a challenge to satiate. That's why this ambitious team has agreed to try their hand at cooking class!

We have recently stuck our noses in a few cookbooks... and it seems that there is a lot that they would LIKE to know, but just don't know how to go about whipping up tasty homemade meals.

In addition to our upcoming adventure in the kitchen, we also plan to compile a hearty stack of "Aspie Friendly" recipes... simple, comfortable foods that don't require a lot of work. Eventually, we would love to share these discoveries with the rest of the world in the form of a cookbook with clear step-by-step directions and lots and lots of pictures!

We are still in the planning stages of our cooking class and cookbook, but if you would like to help out our cause... we would love your help! 

You can aid the cause by:

• Donating recipes that you think that we might like
• Donating pots, pans, and kitchen utensils that are in good condition
• Donating funds that we can use to purchase ingredients

If you would like to help the aspiring chefs with this project in one of the ways listed above or some other creative way, please email Allie Lindborg at allison@icanhouse.com and let's talk more about it!

Bon appetite!