Today in class we made spring rolls, which we’re very easy to make. We started by thinly cutting up all our veggies including cucumber, cabbage, carrots, avocado and peppers. We then took spring roll paper and dipped it in warm water before rolling the spring rolls together. We placed the lettuce, white noodles, and the rest of the cut up veggies and then rolled it all together. These rolls tasted so fresh and they looked very bright and colourful. I would give these rolls a 7/10 for nutrition because these are full of veggies, so they are good for you. I would make these again because they tasted a lot better than I expected!

Today in foods class we made gyoza. We started by cutting the cabbage up finely and soaking it in water and salt. We then combined the spices, green onion and meat with the cabbage, and mixed it together well with our hands. Next we took dumpling wrappers and wrapped the meat mixture into the wrappers. Once of pans had heated up we cooked the gyoza for about 3 minutes before adding water and sesame oil into the pan. We let the gyoza cook for about 4 more minutes while we washed and dried the dishes. Once the gyoza was slightly brown and crispy we drizzled the gyoza sauce overtop and ate them. These tasted amazing and very fresh, I liked them a lot better then frozen ones you buy from the grocery store. I would give them a 6/10 for nutrition because they contain a lot of veggies and protein but they also have a lot of oil in them. I would definitely make these and eat them again because they tasted great!

Yesterday we each made pineapple dessert bars which tasted sweet and fruity and were easy to make. I started but melting butter and then combining it with graham cracker crumbs. After that I pressed it into a small pan lined with parchment paper and baked it in the oven for about 10 minutes. While the crust was baking I made the icing with butter, icing sugar, vanilla, and an egg. I mixed it all with an electric mixer and set it aside. Once the crust was cold enough I put the icing overtop of the crust and then made the pineapple whipped cream for the top. All I did was whip whipping cream and then stirred in crushed pineapples before spreading it overtop. This dessert was so fruity and sweet which made it taste tropical and amazing. I would give this a 5/10 fro nutrition because it has a lot of sugar in it. I would defiantly make and eat these again, I think it would also taste great if we had done strawberries or raspberries instead.

Today I made a simple apple pie. I started by making the crust… I combined flour water and butter together and made a well in the centre. I then baked the crust in a round pie pan. While it was baking I made the apple filling out of red apples, sugar, brown sugar, flour, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter. I whisked the dry ingredients together and then added the sliced apples into them. I then poured the milk and melted butter into the apple mixture and combined everything together before pouring the entire mixture overtop of the baked crust. I then put the pie back in the oven for about 35 minutes at 400 degrees. When it came out of the oven it smelled warm and sweet, like a fall day. The pie tasted amazing, it was the perfect balance of all the fall spices with the warm apples. I would give this recipe a 6/10 for nutrition because of the amount of flour, butter and sugar. But I would defiantly make this again because it was one of the best apple pies I have ever had and it was really easy to make!

I made gingerbread cookies today, which was slightly harder than I anticipated. I started by sifting together all my dry ingredients into a small bowl. I then creamed together the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until it was fluffy. I then added in the egg and vanilla into the creamed mixture before adding in the molasses. I then mixed all the wet ingredients together until it was quite pale and then added the dry into the wet. I mixed all the ingredients together and then proceeded to lightly spread flour on my counter. I rolled the dough out with a rolling pin, which was quite challenging because the dough kept sticking to the rolling pin. Since I didn’t have cookie cutters I made regular cookies instead at baked them in the oven for about 16 minutes at 350 degrees. When they came out of the oven I let them cool for about 20 minutes and I then iced them. I made buttercream, icing out of butter, icing sugar and vanilla, I also put red food clouting in the icing so that they would look more like Christmas cookies. I spread the icing over each cookie and then poured some Christmas sprinkles on as well. These cookies were amazing, they were soft and chewy and had a perfect balance of cinnamon and gingerbread flavour. The icing was a bit too sweet so next time I won’t make as sweet icing. Overall I would give these cookies a 6/10 for nutrition because of the sugar and the butter in the cookies and the sugar and the butter in the icing. They were some of the best gingerbread cookies I have ever made though, so I will be making these again!

Today in foods class we made Apple Gallant. This was relatively easy to make, I started by peeling and then thinly slicing three apples. Next I put them in a small bowl with flour, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and then mixed everything together. In a separate bowl I made the dough using butter, flour, sugar and salt and blended it together with a pastry blender. I rolled the ball into a disk shape and put it in the freezer while I then washed and dried the dishes. Once I took the dough out of the freezer I rolled it our with a rolling pin. I ran into a problem because my dough was too sticky, so I added more flour. I put the apple mixture in the centre of the dough and then folded in the edges before baking it for around 45 minutes. When it came out of the oven it was golden brown and tasted sweet and fruity. I would give this a 7/10 for nutrition because it has less sugar. This dessert would also have tasted great with pears or some sort of berries.

On Nov. 16 we made handmade pasta in foods class. We mixed water, oil, an egg, salt and flour together in a kitchen aid mixer. Once the dough had all mixed together we needed it with our hands until it was smooth and not sticky. We tightly wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge over night.

The next day we used the handmade pasta dough to make carbonara. We used a pasta maker to stretch the pasta out so that it was in a thin long rectangle shape, and then we began to cut the pasta into thin spaghetti noodles. In order to make sure that the noodles didn’t stick together we continuously dusted them with flour. During this we also cooked bacon and garlic over medium heat and scrambled an egg and egg yolk together with grated parmesan cheese. Once the water was boiling rapidly we cooked the spaghetti noodles for about 2 minutes and then drained the pasta water into a liquid measure. Next we added the pasta into the bacon and then poured the egg mixture slowly overtop. We had to stir the pasta all together at a fast pace to make sure that the eggs didn’t scramble, we added some of the pasta water to make sure that the egg mixture still stayed as a sauce.Finally we topped it with parsley and extra grated parmesan. We had to take extra caution with using a pasta maker and using so many pots and pans on the hot stove. Overall this pasta was amazing, rich and creamy so I would definitely eat it again. I would give it a 5/10 for nutrition because it is not a very healthy pasta because of the cream mixture and parmesan but since it is homemade pasta it is healthier then at a restaurant.