AY Honors/Cooking/Answer Key

1. Demonstrate your ability to properly prepare two different kinds of hot cereal, a healthful hot drink, and cook eggs in two different ways other than frying.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Recipes/Hominy Grits

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Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Recipes/Hot Apple Cider

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2. Prepare potatoes healthfully by two different methods.

Mashed Potatoes

The first step in making mashed potatoes is to boil them. Old potatoes normally need to be peeled before boiling. Many new potatoes are better when boiled in their skins, but you should of course wash them first. Small potatoes can be cooked whole. Larger potatoes will cook more evenly and quickly if you cut them into roughly egg-sized pieces. Put the potatoes in a large enough pan and add enough water to cover them easily. Add a little salt if you like. Bring to the boil. Potatoes will take around 25 minutes to cook through. To test whether they are done, press the tip of a cook's knife into one. It should be able to slip in and out easily. Drain the cooking water and attack the potatoes with a knife so that they are cut into small pieces. (This is very therapeutic.) You then need to add some milk and butter (according to taste and waistline) and puree all ingredients. Use a potato-ricer or a mixer for best results or a hand held masher for possibly lumpy mash. You can add salt and pepper or other herbs and spices as you wish.

Baked Potatoes

On a cold day, few things are nicer than a baked potato. Use a large potato, with its skin on. Preheat the oven to very hot (gas mark 7) and put in the potatoes for about an hour. Especially when using an electric oven, it is important to protect the potatoes from drying by covering them with foil or coating them in oil. A lid over the whole batch will do, saving on foil and oil. You may put a metal skewer through the potato to help distribute heat evenly. Trial and error are, as usual, your friends. Serve the potato as hot as you can stand it. Fillings can include butter, grated cheese (something strong like cheddar), baked beans, pesto - you name it. And eat the skin - it really is good for you, like your mum said.

3. Cook three other vegetables in the most healthful way.

The most healthful way to prepare vegetables is to wash them and serve them raw (possibly slicing them first), but the requirement does say to cook them, so we'll have to go that route. Most vegetables can be steamed for a short amount of time - the shorter the better, as that's the closest to raw you're going to get and still cook them.

Spinach

Plain cooked spinach is best served steamed or boiled in a minimum amount of water for no more than five minutes. The bulk of the leaves reduces enormously in cooking. Allow about 4 ounces per serving and use the biggest pan you have. Serve with lemon juice, or perhaps with salt.

Spinach is a common ingredient in Indian cuisine, where it is known as saag. Try sprinkling the raw leaves with garam masala before cooking for a slightly different and low sodium alternative to salt.

Green Beans

Wash beans thoroughly in clear, cool water. Beans can be cooked whole, cut crosswise or diagonally, or French-cut (i.e., cut along the length of the bean). If you want sweet tasting, crisp fresh beans, cut them as little as possible. Cut older, more mature beans in the French style (i.e., lengthwise).

Stir-frying is one of the easiest ways to prepare green beans. This method maintains more nutrients than other cooking methods, although it also adds a little fat to them. Whatever cooking method you choose, remember to cook beans as little as possible, using the least amount of water possible.

Boiling, steaming, and microwaving are other common methods for preparing green beans. When boiling, beans may release some nutrients into the water, so try to re-use the bean water to regain some of the nutrients lost. For example, you can use the water to boil rice.

Winter Squash

To cook a decent-sized winter squash in the traditional way, first slice it in half from stem end to blossom end. If the squash is very large, cut it a few more times. Place the pieces into a baking dish. Cover the dish with foil to keep the squash from getting terribly dry. Cook the squash for a fairly long time, not at a very high temperature, so that it gets soft all the way to the inside. The squash is done when you can easily shove a spoon into it. Serve the squash as it is. Add butter and maple syrup at the table.

4. Prepare a simple salad. Why do we need fresh salads in our diet?

Green salads are an excellent source of vitamins and dietary fiber. Furthermore, salads are generally low in calories, and if served at the beginning of a meal, tend to satisfy the appetite before high-calorie items are introduced. A simple salad may start out with one or more types of lettuce (iceberg, romaine, etc), and to that other vegetables are added, such as tomatoes, olives, cucumber slices, green peppers, mushrooms, radishes, or onions. This combination is then "tossed" to mix the ingredients together before serving. Salad dressing may be selected and added by the person eating the salad.

5. Know the food pyramid guide. Why is it important that we follow the food pyramid guide in our diet every day? Make a chart for one week of the foods you eat to see if you are following the food pyramid guide.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Food pyramid

6. Set the table properly for your family for an evening meal. Serve a balanced meal that you have planned and prepared as much as possible by yourself. Include main dish, vegetable, and salad.

Properly setting a table means not putting out utensils and dishes that will not be used in the meal. A casual table setting will do for the family evening meal, and since this one requires a salad, vegetable, and main dish, we can dispense with many of the formalities.

Dinner Plate

Start by setting the dinner plate on the center of the placemat (if a placemat is not used, set the plate on the table centered in front of the chair), about two inches from the edge of the table.

Forks

You will need two forks - one for the salad (usually a smaller fork) and one for the main entree and vegetables. Both forks should be placed to the left of the plate, with the dinner fork closest to the plate.

Napkin

Put a napkin to the left of the salad fork.

Knife and Spoon

The knife and spoon go to the right of the dinner plate, with the knife set closer to the plate. The knife's edge should face the plate, and the spoon should be placed right-side up (such that the bowl of the spoon would hold a liquid).

Glasses

The drinking glass should be placed above the knife.

Salad Bowl

The salad bowl should be placed above the forks.

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11. Start a recipe file of your own. Put into it 10 recipes of dishes you have personally prepared from entrees, vegetables, salads, and beverages.

This answer book already has eight recipes in it, so the Pathfinder should find two (or more!) recipes on his or her own. Also note that the recipes listed here are only suggestions. Individual taste may dictate that other recipes be used instead, and not only is that fine, it is highly encouraged. Bon Appetite!

References

Some recipes for this chapter were taken, or adapted from Wikibook's Cookbook.