ANNOUNCEMENT (July 24, 2025):
Cooking with Kids will miss next week (Thursday, July 31) due to limited staffing constraints. We will return in early August, though, so keep your peepers peeled for our next installment coming soon!
REPORT (July 24, 2025)
Our Cooking with Kids crew came back to make a summer classic this session: Strawberry shortcake with fresh cut strawberries and homemade whipped topping. The kids hit this one out of the ball park, with fluffy whipped cream, perfectly proportioned strawberries, and a light and flavorful cake worth its weight in oven-baked gold. This lucky librarian got to sample this seasonal favorite and it hit all the right notes of nostalgia and simple pleasures. Awesome job Cooking Crew! Special thanks to Librarian Deb Haverkamp for making this session possible!
REPORT (May 22, 2025)
Cooking with Kids went back to basics in true Midwest fashion with breaded cube steaks and mashed potatoes and gravy from scratch! The kids got a chance to see the difference between using a non-stick pan vs a seasoned cast-iron skillet. They also learned the importance of keeping your whisk moving while blending to avoid lumpy gravy! Just a few more classic staples added to the Cooking Crew’s repertoire. Great job chefs and a special thanks to Deb Haverkamp for bringing these educational opportunities to our younger patrons!
REPORT (May 15, 2025)
Getting ready for the summer season means planning for picnics, potlucks, and family reunions. It also means meals on the fly, which makes the May 15 Cooking with Kids session a perfect combo. Deb and the Cooking Crew made two variations of tuna salad, which the kids enjoyed well enough once they were done but had some very definite thoughts about when they started opening the tuna cans. They also learned to make traditional potato salad, or as we called it with today’s egg prices, a literal pot of gold. These summer classics were a smashing success! Great job Cooking Crew and a big thanks to Deb Haverkamp for making this session possible!
REPORT (April 24, 2025)
The Easter Bunny was surely impressed with the white cake masterpiece from April 17, but the library was sadly still missed by his basket delivery over the weekend! So Deb and the Cooking with Kids crew took their tactics to the next level and baked a double layer carrot cake this week! That’s right: double layer, from scratch, cream cheese frosting, and yes, kids, there really are carrots in carrot cake. Fortunately the carrots were an easy sell – our cooking kids love cutting up vegetables more than anything! And of course, once they saw what they had created, there wasn’t any hesitation left. Veggies in baked goods may sound weird, but there’s no denying the yummy results! Great job Kids Crew! And a very special thanks to our facilitator, Deb Haverkamp, for making this program such a fun and educational event each session!
