Session 1 Theme at Camp Natoma: All American
Campers: 50
Staff: 25
We kookies (the CN name for cooks) gave our 4th of July breakfast some patriotic flair by making batches of red, white, and blue homemade buttermilk pancakes. Sophie, our pastry chef, took on the pancake challenge with gusto and made 3 different colored batters the night before with strawberries and raspberries in one, blueberries in another, and nothing in the 3rd. The frozen berries bled overnight, helping to give the batters a tinge of color. The next morning, she and Danie manned the flattop and flipped 150 pancakes!
Dinner ended in red, white, and blue cupcakes. The week before I found two recipes for red velvet cupcakes dyed with beet purée, to do a comparison. One batter had the traditional cocoa powder, but no eggs, while the other batter had eggs but no cocoa powder. I've always wondered if the minuscule amount of cocoa powder in red velvet makes a difference and it does! The texture of the beet red velvet was a little denser than traditional red velvet, but no one seemed to be bothered by that. Props to Sophie for baking and frosting 90 cupcakes!
On one of our breaks, we made a trip to the drama station to get some patriotic body art, then helped Sophie ladle the beautiful beet dyed batter into cupcake liners.
This was the truckload of free goodies from the food bank. We got lots of purple kale, celery, oranges, broccoli, some sliced mushrooms, organic spring mix, strawberries, some red cabbage, quality sourdough, and a few special cheeses (Triple Crème Brie, Maytag Bleu, and Wisconsin Monterey Jack) for our special gourmet kitchen staff snacks.
I was quite excited about the purple kale, though not everyone shared the same level of enthusiasm for this beautiful vegetable. At the end of the week, one of the campers heard me talking about kale and said half joking-half seriously, "Not more kale!"
I made small batches of kale centered items that accompanied larger batches of more familiar food so that the campers could just try it. The first day, I made a Japanese style kale salad and mixed the leftovers the next day with steamed broccoli. My Indian purple kale dip was more popular than I thought it'd be with the quesadillas. Many of the kids were very hesitant to try it because of it's unusually vibrant color, but were willing to try a small dollop. I really liked the caprese kale salad I created with marinated balsamic tomatoes, the last of the fresh mozzarella, and julienned purple kale tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette.
QUINOA ANECDOTE
We served quinoa in quite a few ways this week, and one of the little campers told me he never used to like quinoa. However after having it with kidney beans and cinnamon, he decided quinoa was alright. He said he loves kidney beans and that's what won him over.
ZUCCHINI ANECDOTE
Sophie made a delicious chocolate-orange zest-zucchini cake that everyone loved. A counselor told us that her campers were shocked the cake had zucchini and one of her campers declared that she'd eat zucchini every day from now on!
Beet Red Velvet Cupcakes without Cocoa Powder
Featured in above photo and slightly modified from a Sunset magazine recipe. These had a lighter color than batch #2 and a cakier texture.
1 lb. beets, roasted (need 1 1/4 c purée, canned works well)
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 c sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2/3 c oil
3/4 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350º. Roast beets or use canned and purée in food processor. Line a muffin pan with liners.
Combine wet ingredients in food processor.
Combine dry ingredients.
With a spatula, stir dry mixture into wet 1/3 at a time until just smooth.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top. Bake until cupcakes spring back when gently pressed, or a toothpick comes out clean, 25-30 min. Let cool in pan 10 min. Makes ~15.
Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
4 oz butter, room temp
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Place all ingredients in mixer and beat on medium-high until fluffy. Makes 2 c.
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Beet Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cocoa Powder
These were quite dark from the cocoa powder and had a fudgier, brownie-like texture than batch #1. Adapted from Je Suis Alimentageuse blog.
3/4 c puréed beets (we used canned)
1/3 c canola oil
1 c sugar
1/2 T vanilla extract
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c white flour
2 T cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 T baking powder
1 c buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350º. Purée fresh roasted or canned beets in food processor, measure what you need, then mix the beets, oil, sugar, milk and vanilla in the food processor.
Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Add the wet to the dry and mix with as little stirring as possible.
Divide batter amongst cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full and bake 20-25 min. or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. When cool, frost with cream cheese frosting. Makes ~12.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
4 oz butter, room temp
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Place all ingredients in mixer and beat on medium-high until fluffy. Makes 2 c.
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