Colorado Cooking Club

[Minchi]

So a lot of people on the Colorado thread have talked about getting together to learn this and that about cooking and preserving food. I looked in to it and was thinking because we are all over the state I might select a neutral location in the center that we could meet up. I live in Highlands Ranch and the rec centers here have rooms for rent with kitchens. Now a room rental for 4 hours is $100 with a $10 clean up fee. I was thinking if enough of us are interested we could talk about doing this some time. If there is just 5 of us it is $22 if there is 10 then it is $11. We could do this at someones home but I was thinking about all the work to get it clean before and after, the stress of hosting, and lets face it we are all strangers on the Internet. This is a nice neutral location, with a large kitchen in a public place that is completely sterile and they will clean up after us!

What are your thoughts? Does anyone like the idea? If anyone has any better ideas let me know.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

I like this idea! I think it's a bit expensive if we only had a few people, but not so bad if we have 10+. If only a few people are interested I could always host as I'm pretty centrally located in the springs and have a pretty big kitchen/dining area. Plus all the canning fixin's are at my house already

A couple weeks ago I made apple butter and it turned out delicious. My boyfriend is in awe of the fact that canned goods, that we made at home, can stay unrefrigerated! He thinks it's magic

 

[Minchi]

I like this idea! I think it's a bit expensive if we only had a few people, but not so bad if we have 10+. If only a few people are interested I could always host as I'm pretty centrally located in the springs and have a pretty big kitchen/dining area. Plus all the canning fixin's are at my house already

A couple weeks ago I made apple butter and it turned out delicious. My boyfriend is in awe of the fact that canned goods, that we made at home, can stay unrefrigerated! He thinks it's magic

I want to make peach butter soon, I tried to make strawberry jam but I don't like things that are that sweet so I put about even sugar to fruit ratio and got syrup. Someone told me that peach butter would be better and less sweet. I also have a new all American pressure cannier so if we need it I can always bring it with me. I need to find a way to buy my jars in bulk for cheep at the rate that I am using them, I just learned that you can, can cakes!

My husband is pushing for bacon to be next but I am waiting to buy it in bulk.

 

[mickey328]

I have found that I prefer freezer jam (strawberry) to the cooked version. The berries, IMO, lose a lot of flavor in the cooking process. I think you use less sugar for the freezer recipe, too. Generally, I can so I can use less freezer space, but these little half pints fit nicely on the doors and tend not to last long in our house, LOL

If we could find a suitable time and central location, I'd be up for a get together. I have plenty of equipment as well..the only thing would be that at someone's home, we wouldn't have enough burners, LOL I'm having to swap stuff out today and it's just me and the apples...thank goodness the butters go in the crockpots!

We could possibly consider breaking into smaller groups per area...and team some of the more experienced folk up with the less experienced ones...it'd be a good thing for everyone, I think. I often find I learn a lot by teaching as well as by being a "student"

 

[Mommato5]

I don't know the first thing about canning but I desperately want to learn! I'm north of Denver but I would drive to the springs to learn this stuff!

 

[Minchi]

You what would be neat to learn, making jerky. Outside of canning I want to learn to do that as well.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

Okay ladies (I think it's all been ladies so far?) I have an announcement:

We made homemade ravioli last weekend! My boyfriend and I have been wanting to try homemade pasta for a while so he made the filling and I made the dough and it was DELICIOUS! Ravioli is kind of a pain but regular noodles would have been pretty easy to make. In fact now I'm considering a pasta roller attachment for the Kitchenaid to start making it on a consistent basis. Having baking experience definitely helped me know when the dough was 'ready' and not too dry or wet. We also made anise bread which is a tradition in my (Swedish) family.

We've got plans for the next couple weekends but would anyone want to get together on a Saturday later on this month or early next to make pasta? It was a lot of fun and I'd like to try drying it too instead of just immediately tossing it all into the pot to cook for my hungry mouth. Even buying the semolina flour from Whole Foods (first place we looked) was cheaper than buying pasta from the store, and it helped that the girls produced a nice egg to add! Really the only unusual ingredient was the semolina flour and everything else was already on hand - half of that, half regular flour, salt, a little olive oil, and an egg.

 

[Minchi]

sounds fun, I need to find out when I have a Saturday off unless you like Sunday.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

I actually can't do Sundays anymore - to build up experience for vet school applications I'm volunteering at the zoo every Sunday all day. I'm learning a lot but I'm still sore from cleaning the wallaby enclosure this past weekend!

That caramel apple pie jam sounds awesome btw. The recipe Sharon posted looked pretty easy to follow - is that similar to the one you used? I would love to make that sometime this fall. My boyfriend's new job gives him every other Friday off so he's looking for a hobby to fill the time - and he bought a homebrew kit last night! So we may soon have some competition for kitchen space

 

[Minchi]

So I posted my recipe on the Colorado site, sorry it took so long I have been working a lot and getting so wiped out by it lately. The one attempt I made at brewing that I had a lot of fun with was I made Hard Cider. It ended a little tart but it was fun to make and I think it came out okay.

I am always in competition for space in my kitchen, I wish I had a larger one but I am sure it would not matter if I did. (knowing me)