Kitchen Krafts

By Paula Weed

You can show your love and appreciation to your mother by cooking a meal. With your dad’s help, or another older person’s help, you can prepare these recipes for a lunch or dinner. For a fun family home evening activity, make the “Garden Bouquet Salad” or the “Plum Cake” to eat or to give to a neighbor or grandparent.

Cheesy Broth

6 cups water

6 beef bouillon cubes

1 1/2 cups croutons

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

1. In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Add the beef bouillon cubes and stir until dissolved.

2. Carefully pour the hot broth into four or five bowls and top with croutons and cheese.

Garden Bouquet Salad

1 small head iceberg lettuce, rinsed

1 flower pot (6″/15 cm in diameter), thoroughly washed and lined with plastic wrap or foil

8 green onions

8 toothpicks

1 teaspoon food coloring of your choice

24 long wooden bamboo skewers

ice cubes

1 cucumber, rinsed or peeled

1 carrot, rinsed or peeled

8 radishes, stems and root tips cut off

1. Cut the head of lettuce in half, then fit one half (cut side down) into the flower pot. Shred the other half and set it aside.

2. Cut off the “leaves” (tops) of the onions 2″ (5 cm) from the roots, then slice off the root “strings.” Separate the leaves to use for the flower stems. For each stem, insert a skewer through an onion leaf, into a “blossom” (see steps 3–5) at the top, and into the lettuce head at the bottom.

3. To make each “mum blossom,” cut each onion into several strips, leaving 1/2″ of the root end intact (see illustration). Place a toothpick into the end, twist to open the blossom, then remove the toothpick. Add the food coloring to a small bowl of water and ice cubes. Soak the blossoms in the ice water until curled and colored (about 5 minutes).

4. To make “daisy blossoms,” cut 8 slices 1/4″ (6 mm) thick from the cucumber and from the carrot. Place each carrot slice on top of a cucumber slice. (When you insert the top of the skewer, be sure it enters the carrot slice.)

5. To make “radish-rose blossoms,” cut thin petal shapes, starting at the top of each radish and stopping 1/4″ (6 mm) from the bottom. Repeat, cutting several petals around each radish. Place these blossoms in a bowl of ice water for 15 minutes before inserting the skewers.

6. After inserting all the skewers into the lettuce head, add the shredded lettuce as extra greenery at the base of the flower stems. To keep fresh, spray the arrangement with cold water and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Plum Cake

1 bottle (6 ounces/170 g) plum baby food puree

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 carton (8 ounces/227 g) whipping cream, whipped

1. In a large bowl, beat the puree, sugar, eggs, and oil with an electric or hand beater until smooth. Then beat in the milk.

2. In a small bowl, combine the cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and flour. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat together. Repeat this process with the remaining flour mixture.

3. Stir the chocolate chips into the cake batter.

4. Pour the cake batter into a greased 9″ x 13″ (23 cm x 33 cm) baking pan. Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

5. After the cake has cooled, cut it into twelve pieces; serve each piece with a dollop of whipped cream.

Garden bouquet salad by Paula Weed; photo by Lana Leishman