Tag: Cooking Challenges

Snack Boards with Dips Dilemma

Have you heard about the latest TikTok butter board craze? People spread butter all over a board and then decorate it with dippers such as meats, breads, fruits,
vegetables, flowers, herbs and spices. Conceptually, this is cool, but butter is not only expensive, it’s not very healthy! With this in mind, I created Snack Boards with Dips Dilemma as a twist on that trend. So, pull out those charcuterie boards and challenge your students to create their own unique snack board with cold dips that are visually appealing and a little healthier and perfect for the upcoming Super Bowl!

Canned Soup Challenge

Canned soup may be viewed as a quick and easy meal, albeit boring, generic, and bland. However, who says that canned soup has to be eaten as is? With a bit of creativity and a few extra ingredients, possibilities are endless when it comes to kicking up a little ‘ole can of soup. Why not show your students how to do this by assigning them the Canned Soup Challenge and then let them loose in the kitchen? To round it out, bring in judges to taste and evaluate their final products.

MRE Kits: Chopped Challenge

During an inservice, our local National Guard did a presentation for us on how they could be a post-secondary option for students upon graduation. They also shared some opportunities they could offer the school such as knocker balls, rock climbing walls and my favorite…the MRE Kits: Chopped Challenge. Keep reading to learn more about this fun event!

Gardenscape Bread Art

With more time on my hands due to COVID-19, I find myself in the kitchen more frequently, experimenting with new recipes. Inspired by something a friend sent me, I decided to give gardenscape bread art a try. Whoever said bread has to be boring never tried this form of art! If you like your students to be creative and engaged, I’ve got just the lesson, activity and recipe for you! I am assigning this to my students as an enrichment E-Learning activity, but when I’m back in the classroom, you can bet gardenscape bread art will be part of my foods class as a creative lab!

Cooking Challenges

Inspired by Leslie Williams Grantham’s Ramen Noodle Challenge (THANK YOU), I created several more Cooking Challenges for my students to experiment with at home for an E-Learning assignment. Additional cooking challenges all follow the same format as Leslie’s, but use different foods. Check out the challenges below…I can’t wait to see what my students create!

Convenience Foods & A Can Do Struggle Meal Challenge

“Convenience Foods & A Can Do Struggle Meal Challenge” was another lesson I shared with Missouri FACS teachers during their July conference. This challenge was a big hit with my students! As a teacher, I love to see my students in full collaboration mode as they create, plan and execute their ideas!

Let’s Get Stacked: Pancake Wars

In July I had the privilege of presenting at Missouri’s State FACS Conference! For one of the presentations, I shared a series of lessons created around themes found in the Struggle Meal video series hosted by Frankie Celenza. “Let’s Get Stacked: Pancake Wars” is just one of the interactive lessons and lab that I created using this free, short, upbeat video series. Periodically, I will be sharing more lessons based on this series, but for now, check out how to teach and prepare savory pancakes in a very unique way!

Chicken Tender “Chopped” Challenge

What is it about cooking challenges that gets students so excited?  In my Career & Consumer Sciences class, my students always want to know if we are going to cook!  In order to prepare them for adulthood and living on their own, I do incorporate some survival cooking!  I try to teach them basic skills, preparing foods or meals that have a lot of versatility or options!  My students love chicken tenders and so this challenge was well received and gave them some different ways of preparing chicken tenders using the same four ingredients. Of course, you don’t have to limit this challenge to one specific class or age group as it would work well with junior high level students too because of it’s simplicity!