Classic Creations Cooks: Neighborhood Catering Fundraiser

In my last post I wrote about my dream of starting an at-home catering business.  To do this, I need to raise some funds.  What better way to raise money for my catering business than to do just that:  Cook.  I passed out a flyer to all of my neighbors, with a set menu of Homemade Sweet and Dill Pickles, Watermelon Tomato Basil Salad, Potato Salad, Honey-Mustard Chicken, Frozen Smores, and Banana Pudding.  All...From...Scratch.  I invited everyone to dine in or carry out and donate what they thought was fair for the meal.

Two families took me up on the deal.  Then right before the meal, our amazing neighbors from across the street brought me an encouragement card and donation.   One sweet older gentleman came and ate in house.  We had a great time talking and had good food.   It was great to get the experience and to make a little cash for the business too. 

A Table Set for Our Dinner

Watermelon Tomato Basil Salad

Side-ways Banana Pudding completely from scratch

The one thing that needed a bit longer were the Bread and Butter Pickles, the dills were perfect, but these needed a bit longer.  This was also the only thing I had never made before.

Frozen S'more Goodness :)

Awesome Card from my neighbor

Classic Creations Cooks: Dreaming Big

It is no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am a dreamer. I'm talking Anne of Green Gables, pie in the sky, out of this world dreams. One of those dreams I have had is to find a way to work, stay home with Olivia, be flexible, and creative all at the same time. Classic Creations has been allowing me to do some of that on a small scale with lessons and crafting, but, like I said, I'm a dreamer.

Experimental Classic Creations Logo - What do you think?

 Enter the idea of catering or as I call it "cooking for folks". I did a few jobs cooking in Camden right after Olivia was born for our church family, and I LOVED it. It pleased me so to create fresh, from scratch food for folks with Livi in tow. And the money was really good. Conviction got the best of me though - I wasn't licensed and did't want to break the law.

Practicing my catering skills for my class reunion in June 2012

 To be a legal at-home caterer in most states a person needs a seperate kitchen for their business. Not an option in our Camden home, however, when we moved here back in December I got a crazy idea. Our basement could be a perfect solution. In that one large finished room I now have a lounge/library/consultation area, music lesson area, craft area, and even a spot for a KITCHEN!!! The wet bar could be convert to a dream catering kitchen. So here we go in the process. I got an oven at the nearby auction house for in the single digits and a countertop free from Craig's list. Both need some cleaning and work. I need a 220 outlet put in, plumbing tweaked, a double sink, and a fridge, and I will be in business. Right now I am working on raising money on my own to finance the changes (don't want to take money from our family budget). I look forward to sharing the process as it develops :)

What do you think?  What is your big dream?

Cooking Creations: Winner Winner Irish Dinner!

Tonight my in-laws came down for dinner. It being St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make a traditional Irish meal. My first thought was corned beef, cabbage, and carrots. Brad, who has been to Ireland, said that the folks he talked to said corned beef is to Ireland as turkey and dressing is to America. I decided I needed to do more research. I found a howcast on YouTube entitled "How to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day Like an Irishman" (I really like howcasts, don't know how seriously to take them though). Wikihow also has some tasty sounding options.



 I decided to start with a lamb stew and soda bread. I called around to local grocery stores to find lamb, specifically shoulder stew meat. After finding out the average price was - brace yourself - $17.99 a pound!!!! - I decided that this cheap American would have to substitute with beef shoulder. I browned the beef, cooked the onions with the brown bits, added dark ale and thyme, and let it all simmer together. Carrots, potatoes, and a fresh parsley garnish completed this heartly stew recipe.



                                                                              


I have always wondered when perusing Irish soda bread in the store: Is that a cake? The raisin studded loaves always look like soft and sweet coffee cakes. Searching online I found a site dedicated to pure soda bread. No raisins, no yeast, no butter, no sugar. I used their whole wheat recipe with one slight modification. I added 1/2 tablespoon of caraway seeds. If they said on the site that caraway is a no-no please don't tell me. The bread was dense and delicious and so very easy to make.





 Now with two traditional foods down, I needed a salad. Something more modern too. Ireland's pubs have been having a food revolution to entice taste buds. Many great recipes flowed across my screen and then I saw the words Bacon Apple Salad. Oh yes and I dare say yes again. I fried the bacon,and cooked the apple in the drippings. The dressing was a combination of sour cream, farmhouse cheese, cider, and cider vinegar. All that warm goodness atop cold, crisp romaine was almost to much.




 The complete meal was perfect. Simple ingredients treated in just the right way. Irish eyes definitely smiled today.. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Cooking Creations: Potato and Chicken Pockets

Potato and Chicken Pockets for the Potluck

I love any and all gatherings that involve food.  One of my favorites though is the church potluck.  Members of the congregation bring forth a bounty of their best dishes.  They include chocolate pies, cheesy macaroni, and my my all of those salads.  Tried and true recipes prepared by folks who have often times been cooking for longer than I have been alive.  My stomach is growling just thinking about it.

My first adult contribution to a potluck was at the annual Pisgah Baptist Church picnic.  I decided to make a dessert, and I had all of the ingredients to make banana bread.  It came out looking exactly like I imagined and I left it to cool.  It wasn’t until minutes before we had to leave that I discovered I had mixed up the baking powder and baking soda.  Too prideful to show up empty handed, I sliced the bread up and covered it with a blizzard of powdered sugar.  Thankfully no one asked me what I had prepared for the meal.  Sorry to anyone who is just finding out who made that awful stuff that you had the misfortune to meet back in ’07. 

I have since been a bit uneasy about cooking for a potluck.  Granted I am a much more attentive and talented cook now, but my banana bread blunder still looms large in my memory.  Often I have taken the no-cook approach and arrived with a veggie tray or fruit salad.  That sounds pretty silly considering the more challenging menus I prepare for us at home, parties and catering jobs.  Now with Classic Creations Cooks starting to take off, it is time I face my potluck food fears. 

Today we had our first church potluck since moving here to Fulton.  This, in my skewed view, was my chance to make up for past food transgressions.  I made a recipe of my own invention:  Potato and Chicken Pockets.  These half moon pouches of creamy mashed potatoes, shredded chicken, and mild scallions would please even the pickiest palette.  As I prepared each little pocket, I prayed that my dish would be well receive because I was bringing my best. An empty plate and a few questions about the tender crust after the meal helped solidify this recipe’s place in my repertoire and a hopeful future for potluck contributions. 

Potato and Chicken Pockets  makes 38 pockets

1 cup shredded white meat chicken

2 cups mashed potatoes

¼ cup finely chopped scallions

Homemade pie crust, enough for 3 bottom crusts (I use a part wheat recipe)

Flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

Tools

medium bowl

large spatula

rolling pin

2 inch round cookie cutter

teaspoon

small bowl of water

pastry brush

greased baking sheets

1.   Preheat oven to 375. 

2.  In a bowl, mix the first three ingredients for filling.  Set aside. 

3.  Flour work surface and roll out the crust to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out as many circles as possible. Remove and combine crust scraps to make more pockets.

4.  Place a rounded teaspoon of filling onto each circle, slightly off center.  Dampen fingers with water and fold each circle completely enclosing filling.

5.  Place pockets onto baking sheets.  Coat each pocket with an egg wash using pastry brush.

6.  Bake for 18 minutes or until golden on top.  Plate and serve

Note:  Pockets are best served warm, but are ok room temp.  They can be prepared in advance, frozen, and reheated in the oven.

Learning Everything Tip:

Pastry dough tends to dry if left out for long periods of time.  If your crust seems to be drying, place a lightly dampened paper towel over it.

An Introduction of Sorts

Since I started my company last year, I have dreamed of starting a blog.  In all truth I dream of having a multi-faceted company with a blog,website, products, services, fan club, magazine.... but, in snapping back to reality, I realized a blog would be a good start.  One step at a time.

It started out great.   I went to a class on blogging and learned all kinds of marketing and writing tips.  The instructor even encouraged us to set up our blogger account right then, and I did.  I was on a learning high after that class, so excited about all of the possibilities and what could come.  Then, I realized I had to write my first post.

Now, make no mistake, I have hundreds and hundreds of ideas for blog posts from recycling old picture frames to a delicious new appetizer (more on that to come).  It was only this post that was intimidating.  The FIRST post.   The introduction to it all.  Not something one can skip according to my English teachers (though I am sure this post alone has hundreds of grammatical errors; sorry to those educators for my mistakes). This would be THE POST that inspires people to read the blog.  It had to be witty, informative, inspirational, and give a very clear direction of where this blog will take its readers.  I started typing on six different occasions.  Each time I felt like I was being too straight laced, professional, sicky sweet with my personal stories, and not at all writing what I wanted to say.  Then I read this:

"Having bought the colours, an easel, and a canvas, the next step was to begin. But what a step to take! The palette gleamed with beads of colour; fair and white rose the canvas; the empty brush hung poised, heavy with destiny, irresolute in the air. My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto. But after all the sky on this occasion was unquestionably blue, and a pale blue at that. There could be no doubt that blue paint mixed with white should be put on the top part of the canvas. One really does not need to have had an artist’s training to see that. It is a starting-point open to all. So very gingerly I mixed a little blue paint on the palette with a very small brush, and then with infinite precaution made a mark about as big as a bean upon the affronted snow-white shield. It was a challenge, a deliberate challenge; but so subdued, so halting, indeed so cataleptic, that it deserved no response. 

At that moment the loud approaching sound of a motor-car was heard in the drive. From this chariot there stepped swiftly and lightly none other than the gifted wife of Sir John Lavery. ‘Painting! But what are you hesitating about? Let me have a brush—the big one.’ Splash into the turpentine, wallop into the blue and the white, frantic flourish on the palette—clean no longer—and then several large, fierce strokes and slashes of blue on the absolutely cowering canvas. Anyone could see that it could not hit back. No evil fate avenged the jaunty violence. The canvas grinned in helplessness before me. The spell was broken. The sickly inhibitions rolled away. I seized the largest brush and fell upon my victim with Berserk fury. I have never felt any awe of a canvas since."

                                                                                            -"Painting as a Pastime"
                                                                                              Thoughts and Adventures, 1932
                                                                                               Winston Churchill




Churchill needed some coaxing to conquer the canvas, but once he made that first messy start, nothing was stopping him.   So here I go.

My reasons for creating my company and blog are two fold.  I want an outlet that allows me to be creative and holds me accountable to learn new things.  Secondly, I want to be able to generate income for my family, and stay home with my daughter.  Like I said in the first paragraph,  I have big dreams for this, both creatively and fiscally.  I have such big goals that I don't want to narrow it down to doing just one thing, so I choose to write about, and build my business around everything.  I may be a jack of all trades type of gal, but I know I am the master of some.  Why not translate that mindset into my business and blog?




This blog will rotate around eight main headings:


Everyday is Special   -  Parties, Dinners, Outings, and Impromptu Gatherings


Creating the Ultimate Pro/Con List   - Testing Products, Services, and Crack-pot Ideas


Cooking Creations- Recipes, Techniques, and Adventures in the Food Business


Home Creations - Decorating, Home Maintenance, Gardening, Family Life


Music Creations - Performances, Studio, Compositions


The Classic Creations - Crafts and Products


Classic Critique - Reviews of Books, Movies, Music, Restaurants etc


Classic Learner - New things that I am learning about and find interesting



Now that I have "conquered this canvas"  I hope to never be intimidated again either.

Churchill in 1932
Photo credit: http://rolandanderson.se/Winston_Churchill_Predictions.php