Join the “Dine-In” Dec. 3 for Family Health and Wealth

Whether it’s a simple one-dish meal, casseroles, creative variations or three courses and dessert, carry forward the “dine-in” benefits with over 300,000 others on December 3rd!

Whatever time of day or night you need to make that shared meal happen, nothing benefits relationships, school success, and even your family’s hard-earned savings like eating together at home as a family.

Leading this drive to thrive is the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences along with their professionals and partners. Share what you’ll do, join the list of committed dine-at-home diners or find great resources here.

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Summer Baking Calendar & Ideas

July 9—Can you believe National Sugar Cookie Day is on #SweetTreatSaturday!

Start with the pros! At Land O’Lakes, C&H Sugar, Domino Sugar, and Hecker’s Ceresota.

Why not celebrate Park and Recreation Month with a picnic!? These Lemon Bars from “Jiffy” Mix will surely brighten up your next picnic

July 14, National Summer Learning Day, reminds us to not snooze and lose reading and measurement math skills! Sounds like baking to me! Check out the latest “Book and Bake”

In the Kitchen Blog

Summer has a reputation. Teachers and parents fear students will “snooze and lose” reading and math skills. We’re here to tell you, baking is the answer! Not buying it? Find out more information here

Here are the ABCs to bust the summer snoozers:

A: Baking is “all things wheat harvest”—from Texas to North Dakota! Take a virtual wheat farm and harvest tour with our wheat commission members and the farmers they serve.

Send your “summer school” student to view Sprouting Up: Wheat Foods for Kids  and the Whole Grain Council’s featured whole grain of the Month Wheat 

You can also “meet a wheat farmer” via Find the Farmer at Stone Buhr or Meet our Farmers 

B: Book and bake, Blueberries for Sal to see that “baking works!”  Take it to the next level…enter the county fair!

C: Celebrate National Parks or stay local! It’s Park and Recreation Month!

Prep your dough using Bread in a Bag, pack it on ice and head to your favorite park to grill flat bread or pizza 

or, create your own Jurassic Park!

Who said reading, math and science can’t taste great too?

Steps to Home Baking Food Safety

The recent recall of 10 million pounds of home baking flour products is a wake-up call for us to do our part to “groove” essential home, community and classroom baking practices to insure food safety problems are not us. Food safety should ALWAYS be part of food, nutrition and STEM learning objectives.

Steps to home baking food safety include

FIRST: Review “Core Four” food safety practices and download teaching resources

• Partnership for Food Safety Education

SECOND: Apply and teach home baking core food safety practices

 CLEAN: Replace kitchen cloths and towels daily; change baking mitts or hot pads after use.

BEFORE BAKING: (do in this order)

1. Tie back long hair, remove jewelry
2. Wash hands with warm water and soap
3. Wear a clean apron…clothes carry dirt and germs from where you’ve been
4. Wash counters, assemble ingredients and tools needed for recipe
5. Re-wash hands before beginning to measure, mix or portion products

AFTER BAKING:

1. Wipe flour and batter from stand or hand-held mixers, counters
2. Scrape mixing tools and bowl of excess batter, discard and load dishwasher
3. Wash hands before packaging baked and cooled products in food-safe packaging

 SEPARATE: Follow storage and use rules for fresh eggs or egg substitutes and all perishable ingredients.

• Shell eggs in a separate small bowl to avoid shell in batter
• Separate the bowls and utensils used for eggs or other perishables from dry ingredients and dry measuring tools.
• Cool baked goods on wire racks placed separately from mixing counter and tools

BAKE/COOK: It’s the facts…unbaked ingredients, dough or batter should not be consumed…Salmonella and E.Coli are NOT a treat…no “licking” spoons, beaters or bowl.

• Use a toothpick to check center of pancakes, waffles, quick breads, and cakes for raw batter. Brown crust color does not mean the middle is done.
• For oven-baked products, place food thermometer probe in center of product and pan Internal temperature guide:

Cheesecake – 150°F. (remove from oven—temperature will rise to 160 ° F.)

Meringue pies, quiche and bread pudding – 160 ° F.

Custard pies, flan, crème brulee – 170-175 ° F.

Yeast breads: Soft rolls -190 degrees F.; Crusty bread – 200-210° F.

Cakes, quick breads, scones: 200 to 205 ° F.

(Temps courtesy of Crafty Baking)

• Mix egg wash and apply just before placing product in a heated oven; discard remaining egg wash.

CHILL: Keep refrigerator at 40 degrees F. or below

• Cool products on clean wire cooling racks, not counter tops
• Refrigerate after two hours at room temperature: Unbaked batter or dough,

pies, cheese-filled breads or baked goods with perishable filling ingredients (eggs, custards, cheese, pizza, meats, casseroles, cream pies and puffs)

• More Storage at-a-Glance information

 THIRD: Download the newly revised Home Baking Food Safety 101 Fact Sheet

 

 

 

Educator Award Winner Announced

Delaine Stendahl, a Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher from Whitehall, Wisconsin has won the 2016 Home Baking Association Educator Award contest with her entry The Power of Eggs.

Each year the HBA has recognized outstanding educators with innovative programs for teaching kids of all ages to bake in communities and classrooms throughout the nation.  Family and consumer science educators and youth leaders for 4-H, Boys and Girls Clubs, Camp Fire USA and other after-school or community programs are encouraged to share their successful baking programs.

Charlene Patton, Executive Director Home Baking Association, says the association believes baking plays an important role in the development of healthy children that are socially and academically well-rounded.  Baking provides an opportunity to share family time and a joy of baking for others while learning life skills.

Math, science experiences, comparison shopping, examining the reaction of baking ingredients are all aspects of the baking process.

Week of the Young Child

April delivers a bouquet of “bake-for-good” connections for everybody.  Begin young!  The Week of the Young Child(WOYC). April 10-16, shares the week with National Volunteers Week.  Why not “pay it forward” by sharing your kitchen skills with our youngest citizens? Begin by refreshing your knowledge of what young children can do in the kitchen and plan to post your activity with WOYC onFacebook or Tweet #woyc16.

Three ideas that connect all week with WOYC include:

1. Bake on with young learners on Taco Tuesday, measuring, mixing and baking DIY tortillas.
2. Artsy Thursday, withsimple bread-in-a-bag dough preparation lets you prep, shape and bake
   No oven!?  Go with a Play Clay!
3. Family Friday might be breakfast, lunch or dinner!The Family Dinner Project guides all three.

Families will love making your own Hot Pockets, something to be eaten any time of day

Find much more for young and older to do in HBA’s Baking with Friends

What Are Your “Dine In” Plans?

Have you made plans to “Dine In” on December 3rd, in honor of Family and Consumer Sciences Day and their work to promote and sustain healthy families. Invite someone special to your house for a home cooked meal! Sign up to help meet the official goal of 200,000 home-prepared shared meals.

Here’s a great recipe you can prepare, compliments of Fleischmann’s Yeast! The whole family will enjoy this taco casserole.

Taco Dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 envelope Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter OR margarine
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced green onion
• 3/4 cup crushed tortilla chips
• Salsa, guacamole and/or sour cream for garnish, optional

Directions:

Brown ground beef in a large skillet until cooked through; drain.  Prepare taco meat according to taco seasoning mix directions.  Set aside.

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Heat milk, water and butter to very warm (120° to 130°F).  Pour into flour mixture; add eggs.  Beat for 30 seconds with electric mixer to combine.  Increase speed to high and beat for 3 minutes.

Stir in remaining 3/4 cup flour to make a stiff batter.  Stir in cheese, bell pepper and green onion.  Spoon half the batter into a greased 8 x 8-inch pan; top with taco meat.  Dollop remaining batter over the taco meat.  Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in a warm, draft free place 40 minutes or until doubled.

Top with tortilla chips.  Bake in preheated 375°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve hot and top with salsa, guacamole and/or sour cream, if desired.

Make A Date to “Dine In” December 3rd

Make a date to “Dine In” with a friend, your family or someone who could use a shared meal Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. “Dine In” Day celebrates Family and Consumer Sciences Day and their work to promote and sustain healthy families.

Sign up to help meet the goal of 200,000 home-prepared shared meals. You’ll join with us plus 20,000 FCS professionals, 400,000 secondary and undergraduate students, and 100 colleges/departments at higher education institutions who teach daily the many benefits of home prepared and shared meals.

Research supports spreading the word about home-prepared meals.

“…children who take part in family meals are less likely to be overweight, eat more healthy foods, have less delinquency, greater academic achievement, improved psychological well-being, and positive family interactions.” view source

Join us in preparing a simple, nutritious meal at home by checking out these resources here

Need more resources? Go to The Family Dinner Project resources

or No Kid Hungry.

Tweet your dining fun at #healthyfamselfie or #fcsday.