4-H Project Day

Today, several Teton County 4-H members did arts, crafts, baking and cooking.  We learned science snippets with each of the four crafts -- glass etching, tile stenciling, chalkboard coaster painting and decoupage.  We also learned about acid-base reactions and leavening.  Some of our older 4-H members helped plan the lessons and teach.

We also listened to Logan Ley, 4-H alum, talk about careers in photography and photo styling.  He shared some of the details of the work he does preparing advertising photo shoots.  Unfortunately, he didn't stay to help me get any good photos of the cookies.  I sure could have used a food stylist!

I told the 4-H members, that I'd post the recipes they made on my blog, so now they are here for you to enjoy, too!

Melting Moments

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes

Cookies:

2/3 c. cornstarch

1 c. flour unsifted

1/3 c. powdered sugar

1 c. real butter

Sift flour and cornstarch together, set aside.  Cream butter and sugar together.  Once creamed add dry ingredients.  Drop by teaspoonful (very small) or roll into teaspoon-size balls.  Put on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting:

2 c. powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. butter (soft, but not melted)

Dash of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. almond extract

Whipping cream or milk

Cream together sugar, butter, salt and extracts.  Slowly add enough cream to make a spreadable frosting.  When cookies have cooled, frost.

Chocolate Snowballs

¾ c. butter, softened

½ c. sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

1 c. chocolate chips

Powdered sugar

In large bowl cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla, mix well.  Combine the flour and salt.  Stir into cream mixture.  Fold in the chips and nuts.  Roll into 1 inch balls.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes. Put on cooling racks.  Cool cookies slightly and then roll in powdered sugar. 

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

1 c. sugar

2 Tbsp. baking cocoa

¼ c. butter

¼ c. milk

1 c. quick cook oats

¼ c. flaked coconut

2 Tbsp. peanut butter

½ tsp vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine sugar and cocoa, add butter and milk.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.  Add oats, coconut, peanut butter and vanilla.  Let stand until it can hold shape on a spoon.  Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper.  Let set.

Branch chalkboard coasters

The Teton County 4-H Fair July 24-28

4-H – A Class Act is the theme of the Teton County Fair that will be held at the Choteau Pavilion and Weatherbeater Arena June 24-28, 2014. The event is filled with activities that showcase the talents of Teton County youth.

The fair starts on Tuesday with a horse show where members demonstrate their showmanship skills, riding and horse knowledge. The horse show is held at the Bouma Arena. On Wednesday, 4-H members from across the county will interview with judges about projects they have made and skills they have learned throughout the 4-H year. Projects over the past years have been amazing, ranging from spectacular photographs to quilts to woodworking, welding, cake decorating and everything in between. Following the judging, the projects will be displayed at the Choteau Pavilion for the public’s viewing enjoyment Thursday through Saturday.

On Thursday, the 4-H and Montana State University Teton County Extension Office will host guest presenters Bob McNamee, or “Baker Bob,” and his lovely wife, Jona McNamee, also an MSU Cascade County Extension Agent.  The two will be on hand Thursday evening teaching a variety of baking skills, including making homemade pasta; demonstrating two bread recipes -- a no-knead sourdough and no-knead brioche,  and to finish the evening, they will be showing how to make a variety of confections include fudge, divinity and brittle.  The demonstration-style classes will start at 5:30 and run consecutively through the evening.  Classes are free and open to the public.  You will be treated to taste-testing, as well as learn tried and true baking tips and tricks.  

New to the fair this year is a silent auction, being organized by the Prairie Stars 4-H Club.   As a tribute to the "great generation" and a memorial for Maxine and Doug Whinnery, a WWII Navy Veteran, the silent auction will be held to raise funds as part of Prairies Stars 4-H club efforts to sponsor local veterans on The Big Sky Honor Flight.  Items to be auctioned include art items by local artists, a professional blind hemmer sewing machine, and a charming collection of gently used Teddy Bears.  Items also include Shirley Sand's painting, Paige Watson Briscoe's custom copper jewelry, Bob and Leslie Burrows' metal sculpture, Andy Watson's pottery, Kirtland Briscoe's leathercraft mini-bag and Brad Ophiem’s woodworking.  Items will be displayed in the Pavilion and the silent auction will run from Thursday through the Chuckwagon Dinner on Saturday evening.

Swine, sheep, goats and small animal (cats, rabbits, dogs and poultry) shows will be held Friday. Friday evening, 4-H members offer a textile show, modeling outfits they have constructed and showcasing quilts they have made. The 4-H program is sponsoring a western dance class with Daniel Bitz on Friday evening.  Daniel has taught dance classes in Teton County two other times.  His classes are fun-filled and will leave you with plenty of new moves on the dance floor. 

Saturday, along with viewing projects at the Pavilion, people can enjoy the beef show at the Weatherbeater. As the fair concludes on Saturday, 4-H members sell their market animal projects at the 4-H Livestock Sale. 4-Hers in the market project learn a variety of aspects of animal husbandry and meat production. Anyone interested in purchasing 4-H-raised meat is invited to the sale and the Chuckwagon Dinner held from 4:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, before the sale.

The Teton County 4-H program and the MSU Teton County Extension Office plan the county fair. To obtain more information, view the Web site at www.msuextension.org/teton. The county fair provides a great opportunity to see what a class act the 4-H youth in Teton County are

The Easy Choice ...

I’m currently teaching a class called Small Steps to Health and Wealth.  There are many health and wealth connections, but one I recently noted is that America Saves Week ends and National Nutrition Month begins.  Which makes a nice segue way for me, because this morning I was thinking about nutrition.  Not because I have it all figured out, mind you, but, I do try, to make reasonably healthy food choices, until a piece of chocolate gets in the way.

Really, that’s the problem, isn’t it?  What gets in the way of making good choices?  When a plate of brownies is sitting on the counter, it is hard to think about eating anything else, much less the cauliflower that is still wrapped and in the fridge.  The book, The Tipping Point, talks about the “stickiness factor.” The basic premise is about what makes a change or behavior stick.  Since January, I’ve made a concentrated effort to make the good choices stick.  For instance, once a week, I’m peeling a bag of carrots and cutting them with a crinkle cutter and putting them in a clear container in the front of the refrigerator.  Guess what?  We are eating more carrots.  I’ve also been making a batch of steel cut oats on Sunday evenings and portioning them out for weekday breakfasts, along with diced apples.  Having the food already prepared makes the healthy choices easier.

After my sugar spiral during the holiday season, I made a goal to eat more vegetables this year.  A friend sentme a link to a website with “Salad in a Jar” ideas.  It seemed to fit my style, so I’ve been preparing salads on Sunday evenings, too.  I put a bit of dressing in the bottom of a wide-mouth quart jar.  The next layer has to
be something that is pretty sturdy and won’t wilt while sitting in the dressing.  I’ve found that broccoli slaw (which can be bought prepped and bagged at the grocery store) and cherry tomatoes hold up nicely for this first layer in the dressing.  I’ve added a variety of other items to my salads, from corn, black beans and dice jalapenos with a homemade chipotle dressing to sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and crumbled bacon with a creamy parmesan dressing.  I top the jars off with cut lettuce that has been rinsed and spun.  Since the salads are made in a quart jar, I know I’m getting close to four cups of vegetables daily.  I make five salads on Sunday and the one on Friday still has crisp lettuce.  I’ve also tried a quinoa salad, which I portion into a pint jar that provides whole grain goodness and protein.  Besides the fact that lunch is already made, it is extremely efficient.  I think the fact that all the products are in clear containers makes them a colorful and attractive option.

 

How attractive and ready to eat our food is really makes a difference.  When teaching nutrition, I often talk about making the healthy choice the easy choice. You might look at the places in your home where food is stored and see which foods are most accessible and noticeable.  Open cupboards, refrigerators, freezers and see what you find.  Are the nutrient rich foods in the front, at eye level, in clear containers and easy to choose?  Are the chips in a brown paper bag on a high shelf and in the back?  If not, can you rearrange your food environment?   

In order to make the healthy choice visible at home, I have even changed to clear glass fruit bowls and I moved them to a location that makes them easy to grab.  I’ve also been working on serving colorful fruits and vegetables in glass containers at meetings.  At one recent meeting, I served mandarins, bananas and apples.  It took considerably less time than making cookies!  At another meeting, I served carrots, celery sticks and apple slices.  I did have a little dip for the apples, because I am reasonable (no matter what my family says). 

I’ve been able to keep up with the plan to make the healthy choice the easy choice for a few months.  I challenge you, during National Nutrition Month, to pick one new healthy habit to develop.  It doesn’t matter if the chocolate attacks you occasionally, leaping into your mouth and melting there.  What matters is the success you have today toward a healthy goal.  One of the inspiring quotes from the Small Steps to Health and Wealth class was from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. who said, “The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in which direction we are moving.”  

Resources:

The resources below are for your consideration.  No endorsement of products, ideas, etc. is intended by including links. 

www.eatright.org
Spend Smart. Eat Smart.
Video on Salads in Jar
Small Steps to Health and Wealth