Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Lunching with Kindergarteners

Last night I made cupcakes for today's kindergarten orientation luncheon. I got lazy overwhelmed with what I said I would bring and didn't have time to make the caramel frosting, so they got chocolate-frosted minis. Sifting cocoa into buttercream is way
faster than making caramel!




I made molded rice balls which are yummier than they sound, and pretty child-friendly. Just cooked and cooled basmati rice, cream cheese, and fresh steamed white corn. Actually, I just mixed it up, Supergirl molded most of them in the (vaguely) bear-shaped onigiri molds I provided.




I also made a pile of shaped sandwiches this morning - ham, turkey, cheese, and cream cheese + jam.




But my favorite contribution was the platter of jello orange wedges. I was looking for something really fun and child-friendly to make, and came across this idea on the internets. The ones I saw were based more on a jello-shots kind of thing, so of course I omitted the vodka!

They came out so jewel-like and deceptively fun! What is it that I find so entertaining about watching people be fooled by surprising food? Cracks me up.


Jello Filled Orange Wedges

5 thick skinned navel oranges, cut in half, carefully juiced and cleared of all pulp.
(reserve the juice and strain it for the jello)

1 box of orange Jell-O -- (3 oz.)
1 C. boiling water
1 C. freshly squeezed orange juice
2 Envelopes Knox gelatine dissolved in 1 c. cold water
1/2 C. sugar

Mix the above ingredients until the gelatin is dissolved. Scraping the oranges was the hardest part of this (part of the problem may have been that I used valencias instead of the recommended navels. At any rate, set your scraped orange shells in a muffin tin or custard cups to make the next part easier and keep them balanced. Pour the liquid into the shells, filling them as close to the top as you can. Chill overnight. To slice them into wedges, I found the easiest way was to put the orange, cut side down, on a clean cutting board. Hold the shape of the orange as you slice through the skin and jello center. I found that a large, serrated knife was the best for this job. Then go fool someone and laugh!



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. I am so inferior. I mean I suspected before this that I was lacking, but now I know for sure.

The oranges are just so awesome.

gwendomama said...

no chris, you are not inferior. i am a bit whacked, as you can see.

Magpie said...

Those oranges are inspired.

ninjapoodles said...

OMG, you are SUPERMOM. I have to do "special snack" for Bella's class in a couple of weeks, and I'm bookmarking this page. I would love to have the measures for the rice balls!

Denise said...

YOU amaze me with your baking creativity. I hate to bake! They so so good btw.

Radioactive Tori said...

I LOVE this idea and will be copying for my kids classrooms! What an awesome idea.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post, we will post your Cheap hydroponic article. we will post for our customers to see your articles on your blog Cheap hydroponicCheap hydroponic