Fun with Foods at Summer Day Camp Presented by: Margie Memmott, FCS Agent margie.memmott@usu.edu Judy Jensen, 4-H Assistant judy.jensen@usu.edu Juab County Effectively plan, organize, implement and evaluate a successful 4-H foods day camp where youth learn hands on skills and apply principles of nutrition, food safety, food preparation, and etiquette. Recipes, samples, and camp theme ideas will be shared. Why have a Foods Camp? o The purpose of a foods camp is to teach youth: Food preparation skills Food Safety Nutrition Keys to Having a Successful Foods Camp Needs assessment Planning Themes Menus Best use of time Teaching lessons and skills Needs Assessment o With your 4-H Advisory Board, discuss what skills and lessons you want to teach your youth. o Do you want to incorporate lessons along with the cooking? o Have your advisory council help with the ideas and planning. o Who would be on your advisory board? Planning o When when is the best time for you to hold your camp? o Where - do you have access to facilities with a kitchen, or more preferably, multiple kitchens? o Cost - what will you charge for your camp? It needs to be enough to cover the costs incurred. o Age groups If your groups is large enough to split, it is a good idea to have the younger kids in one group with a simpler menu or more helpers, and the older kids in another group. You can hold two camps if necessary one in the morning and one in the afternoon. o Marketing Utilize your advisory council to help with the marketing. They can help distribute flyers or pass the information by word of mouth. Some ideas to use include: 4-H Newsletter Local Newspaper (before and after articles) Letters to all members signed up for food projects County Website Email/Phone reminders
Themes and Menus o A great way to catch interest is to have themes for your food camp. o You can find recipes based on your theme, or change the names of common recipes to go with your theme. o Some of our past themes: Wild Safari Picnic Fun Western Roundup Making the most of your time o Divide the kids into groups and assign each group a kitchen o Each group will make one of the recipes and then everyone will combine to eat the meal. o Assign one or two volunteers to each kitchen to help supervise. (Volunteers can be sterling scholars, teen council, siblings, parents, or YFP mentors can come with their youth.) Teaching Lessons and Skills o Make your food camp more than just fun in the kitchen. Include one or two activities for participation. o Ideas for lessons include: Portion control Food safety Nutrition Food preparation Reading a recipe The importance of measuring Etiquette o Take some time before you start cooking to cover a cooking skill o Everyone sits down to eat together o While the kids are eating their meal is a good time to teach a lesson. Each group can, in turn, give a little oral presentation about what they cooked and how it went for their group. o Send them home with a handout that includes what they have learned and the recipes for the camp. o Allow the kids to complete an evaluation on the camp. This will give a different perspective on what to change or keep for the next time. Evaluate o Take some time at a staff meeting or an advisory council meeting to evaluate your camp. o What worked, what didn t o Write down suggestions for next year, and keep the file where you will remember to pull it out in time for next year s planning meeting.
Sample Foods Camp Theme and Recipes Wild Safari JUNGLE SALAD 1 (15.25-oz) can fruit cocktail, drained 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows 1/4 cup drained maraschino cherries, halved 2 medium bananas, sliced 1 medium apple, coarsely chopped 1 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed, or sweetened whipped cream Lettuce leaves Prep Time: 15 Minutes 1. In large bowl, combine all ingredients except whipped topping and lettuce; mix lightly. Gently fold in whipped topping. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until serving time. 2. To serve, spoon salad onto lettuce-lined plates. If desired, garnish with additional maraschino cherries. 8 (2/3-cup) servings Hunter s Tater Boats 10 medium baked potatoes ** 2 cup grated cheddar cheese 10 Tbsp. milk 5 Tbsp. butter or margarine Salt and pepper Extra grated cheddar cheese, bacon cut fine, red or yellow pepper ** Microwave instructions for cooking the potatoes: Scrub each potato. Pierce each potato once thru the skin with a fork. Place in the microwave widest portion facing out. First potato is microwaved on high (900 watt) for 4 minutes. For every potato after, add half the time again, so if you re doing 4 potatoes it would be 10 minutes total. Take potatoes out and wrap in foil shiny side in, and let stand for 10-30 minutes. Cut the cooked potato in half lengthwise and scoop the insides into a bowl. Mash with the cheese, milk, butter, salt and pepper, then spoon the mixture back into the potato skin. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or in microwave for 6 minutes rotating at half time. Decorate the halves with an extra sprinkle of cheese. Makes 20 servings.
Crocodile Eye balls and Guts (Spaghetti with Meatballs) **SAUCE 1 pound box spaghetti 1 small onion finely chopped 1 clove garlic finely minced 2 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil 1 28 oz can tomato puree 1 6oz can tomato paste 1/2 cup water 1 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper In a sauce pan sauté onions and garlic Add tomato puree and tomato paste Add remaining ingredients and cook for about a half hour. Boil 6 quarts of water in a large pot with a little salt and oil. Add spaghetti and cook for about 10 minutes until tender. Drain and top with sauce. **MEATBALLS 1 pound ground beef 3 chopped long green onions 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp dried basil 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1 egg Mix all the ingredients together. Form meat into small balls. Bake the meatballs 400 until browned on both sides (approx.15 min) and they reach 160 F (internal temperature). Add to sauce
Sneaky Snake Breadsticks 2 cups warm water 1 Tbsp. rapid rise yeast 2 Tbsp. sugar Dissolve in bowl let stand 10 min Add 2 ½ cups flour Beat with mixer 5 min Add 3 Tbsp. oil 1 Tbsp. salt Mix well Add enough flour to make dough soft Knead until shiny Cover and let rest 10 minutes Roll out dough to ½ inch thickness. Cut into strips. Melt ½ cup margarine, spread out on cookie sheet to cover entire pan. Sprinkle pan with garlic powder and parmesan cheese. Lay strips of dough onto cookie sheet almost touching Brush tops with melted butter and parmesan cheese. Rise until double (Can place in a warm oven to help reduce raising time) Bake at 400 for 20 min Wormy Dirt Cups Yield: 10 servings 2 Cups cold milk 1 pkg (4 serving size) instant chocolate pudding 1 pkg 8 oz whipped topping, thawed 1 pkg Chocolate sandwich cookies 10-7 oz clear plastic cups Gummy worms Gummy frogs (optional) Candy flowers (optional) Chopped peanuts (optional) Crush cookies until they resemble dirt and set aside. Combine pudding mix and milk until well blended. Then fold in the whipped topping. Fill plastic cups with pudding mixture alternating with the cookie crumbs. Top with cookie crumbs. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, and then decorate with gummy worms and other toppings. Swamp Juice Green Gatorade Pop rocks Ice cubes with raisins frozen into them Freeze ice cubes ahead of time. Don t add Pop Rocks until ready to serve.