I'm Certified! Taking the ServSafe Food Safety Course

Credit:  Royalty-Free Cartoons

I said, “I’m certified,” not, “I’m certifiable!”

You’d think that educators would love learning; that they would anticipate and just quiver all over for any chance to get into a classroom and learn.  Such is not the case.  Trust me.  I know from experience that educators make some of the most challenging students on the face of the planet.  Most would rather teach than be taught.

And yet…continuing education is required of all who work in education, (as it should be).  Everyone from superintendents to classroom assistants are responsible for keeping “up” with the latest trends, techniques, and methods.  It’s just that we make horrible students.  As a whole, we’re critical, and we get easily bored.  We’re also absolutely atrocious at following directions.  Sad, but true.

After I earned my Masters degree from West Chester University, I decided to take some time off.  It was short-lived.  For most teachers there are only two ways to earn more money.  One is to gain experience.  The longer you’ve been teaching the higher step you reach on the salary scale.  The other way is to increase your level of education.  After earning a Masters degree, you can continue to advance up to and including 30 additional post-graduate credits.  As I was helping to support a young family, it was back to the classroom for me, (in addition to holding down summer jobs during the years I was in the classroom).

After earning thirty additional credits, I decided to take a break.  It was short-lived.  Many colleagues were encouraging me to become a principal; not something I had any desire to do.  Idealistic as it may sound, I really had to convince myself that I would make more of a positive impact on kids as an administrator than I would if I stayed in the classroom.

It was back to the classroom for me at the University of Pennsylvania to earn my principal’s certification.

One day, shortly after starting as principal at Royersford Elementary, I was receiving an annual performance review from Dr. Edwin Coyle, then superintendent at Spring-Ford.  “I’d like you to go back for your doctorate,” he told me.

“Why should I do that?” I asked.

“In case you ever have the opportunity for a central office position,” was his reasoning.

“Don’t take this personally, Dr. Coyle,” I said, without totally thinking about what I was saying, “but I don’t want to be like you.”

He took it well.  What I meant was that I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  “Progressing” beyond being a principal was not in my plans, and being assigned to the central office certainly wasn’t in my blood.  I would have “died” without daily contact with students, and for twenty-five years proudly served as principal of Royersford Elementary School.  Even though I retired only two years ago, it seems like a lifetime since I “administered.,” but it was my current interests and endeavors that recently took me back to the classroom.

As I write blog posts, I certainly don’t want to mislead or misinform, and now that I’m cooking more frequently for groups at Parker Ford Church, I want to make certain that food safety is a top priority.

Credit:  ServSafe Essentials, National

Restaurant Association © 2008, 2010

There’s no recipe this week, but I would like to tell you about the food safety course that I completed.  It’s called the ServSafe Food Safety Manager’s Certification course and it’s offered at community colleges in the area.  It’s also offered by Paster Training, Inc. which is located in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania.  I registered online and a book for the course was shipped directly to me within two days.  Food safety certification requires sixteen hours of training.  The first eight result from completion of the course manual.  The second eight hours accrue as a result of a day-long classroom experience.  The day in the training course culminates in taking a 90 question multiple choice examination.  75% is the minimum required to earn certification, although someone at the church told me that he didn’t want anyone cooking for him who only earned a 75%!  I earned a 97% missing items under the Foods and the Facilities categories.  The remaining eight question categories were all 100%’s.

I have to tell you that if you’re squeamish, don’t take the course.  The section on food borne pathogens is disconcerting and sobering.  Everyone in the course had second thoughts about where they ate lunch during the class’s midday break.

I do want to pass several areas of importance onto you.  First, get a kitchen thermometer.  They are inexpensive and very necessary if you want the food you prepare to be as safe as possible.  The first use of a thermometer is to determine doneness when cooking meat.  It helps to avoid over-cooking.  More importantly, use the thermometer to keep food safe.  There is a minimum temperature which should be reached when cooking meats.  (See chart at end of post.)  When serving or holding food, cold items should be kept at 41°F or colder.  Hot food should be kept at 135°F or hotter.  If you have to serve food without accommodations to chill cold items or heat hot food choices, you can safely allow cold food to sit for four hours, or six hours for hot food.  Before reaching those time constraints, either reheat (or re-chill) the food or throw it out.  Reheating something?  Heat it to 165°.  In an upcoming post, I’ll tell you about the importance of proper chilling of food after cooking/serving when you’re getting ready to store it.

Credit:  ServSafe Essentials, National Restaurant

Association, © 2008, 2010 

Another emphasis of the course was the importance of hand washing.  Doing so prevents cross-contamination, (raw meat to ready-to-eat food, for example), and also prevents the spread of germs and illness.  It is important to use hot water with soap and scrub your hands for a minimum of 15-20 seconds, drying them with a single-use paper towel.  Get a load of this:  We learned that anti-bacterial washes aren’t that much more effective than good old hand washing.  Most say they kill 99.9% of germs, but there are so many billions of germs that the .1% is still pretty formidable.  (.1% of one billion is a million, for Pete’s sake!)  And with that happy thought, I’ll leave you.  I’ll have a (safe) recipe for you next week!

Enjoy!

Click to enlarge:

Click to enlarge.  Credit:  ServSafe Essentials, National Restaurant Association,  © 2008, 2010

Mom's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

We could count on the homemade peanut butter Easter eggs every year.  Just like clockwork, a one-pound white cardboard box of melt-in-your-mouth goodness appeared for each member of the family.  Everyone got their own, with their name written in the upper right-hand corner.  My mother-in-law, Rosemary Lebegern, made sure that everyone was treated equally, and may God save your soul if you “borrowed” any from someone else’s box.

For the first time since “Mom” passed away in 2007, I got her recipe out and read it.  Not only did she provide the recipe for peanut butter eggs, but also butter cream and peanut butter “krackle” eggs, made with Rice Krispies. 

On the back of the card are directions for making the chocolate coating.  Rosemary indicated that she bought the necessary chocolate wafers at Edwards Freeman Nut Company in Conshohocken, indicating that the chocolate was already tempered and that adding paraffin was also not needed.  In typical “Mom” fashion, she added a note, “Ask them if you have any questions.  They will tell you.”

Edwards-Freeman Nut Company

Edwards Freeman Nut Company is worth the drive.  A visit is like going back in time.  Located at 441 East Hector Street in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the store’s interior is lined with shelves with cubbies that are filled with every type of candy you can imagine.  

A fraction of what you'll find.

The candy you’ll find ranges from old-fashioned favorites right up through the most recent candy fads.  They even have candy-coated insects!  

Candy-coated insects!

The Easter candy was out in full force and I had no trouble finding family favorites as well as some new items to try.  Mercken’s Chocolate Wafers, for melting and dipping the peanut butter eggs, were featured prominently, and I bought 3 lbs.  Until all was said and done, I spent more than $80.  I even bought some bottles of hot sauce.  (As your kids get older, what goes into their Easter baskets gets revised.)

I was glad that I didn’t have to add wax to the chocolate to make the coating.  Something just seems wrong about that.  When I was recently in another store, I overheard two women talking about adding paraffin to chocolate.  I’m guessing it has something to do with making the chocolate less likely to melt in your hands.  The one woman’s son saw the wax going in and he hasn’t eaten a peanut butter egg since.  (If only that would work in my house!)

MOM’S PEANUT BUTTER EASTER EGGS

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1¼ cups peanut butter

1 lb. confectioner’s sugar

For chocolate:

1 lb. tempered chocolate wafers (I used Mercken’s)

Directions:

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat until melted.  Add in the peanut butter.  Make certain that you measure the peanut butter by volume.  It is often sold by weight.  Stir until smooth, then remove from heat.  At this point, I found it helpful to transfer the mixture to a large bowl, but if your saucepan is large enough you can add the sugar without using a bowl.

Add the sugar about one-fourth at a time and incorporate it completely.  Use a wooden spoon at first.  As the mixture cools, you can knead it with your hands.  Cool the mixture for at least one hour in the refrigerator.

To melt the chocolate wafers, place them in a microwaveable glass bowl and heat on high power for one minute.  Stir.  Heat for an additional minute.  If all of the wafers are not fully melted, continue microwaving 20 seconds at a time.

Begin to form “eggs” from the peanut butter mixture.  The size and shape is your choice.  My mother-in-law’s eggs were always uniform in size and shape.  I started with smaller, rounder shapes and they morphed into flattened peanut butter balls.  A little experimenting is probably in order.  Try to form the eggs quickly so that the heat from your hands doesn’t soften the “eggs” too much.  If the eggs are too soft they will change shape.  You also want the surface to be a smooth as possible.

Rather than dip the peanut butter eggs directly into the melted chocolate, coat your fork with chocolate, then place an “egg” on the fork.  Use a spoon to ladle the chocolate over the egg until covered.  Gently tap the fork on the edge of the bowl.  This will speed the dripping of the chocolate and evenly distribute the chocolate coating.

Not exactly "pretty," (I'm learning), but really good!

Scrape the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl and gingerly transfer the coated egg to a tray lined with waxed paper.  The weight of the egg and the “lubrication” from the chocolate should allow the egg to gracefully slide onto the waxed paper.  This takes a little practice and no small amount of finessing.

Candy makers use a special two-tined fork that has wire-like tines.  Another trick is to use a plastic fork with the middle tines removed.  (I didn’t figure this out until after my first batch.)

Allow chocolate to harden and store in covered containers in a cool place.  Finished peanut butter eggs can be refrigerated or frozen, and they keep well.  But if your house is like mine…not for long!

Enjoy, and have a blessed Easter.  He is risen!

Family Recipe Earns Dad in Kitchen a Tidy Sum

Most recipes are faded and some are illegible.

Who doesn’t remember making a salt and flour map when they were in school?  I remember both of mine very well.  One was a map of Iceland and the other was of Italy.  The great thing about a salt and flour map is that they look so realistic.  You can sculpt the coastline and form mountains and river valleys that look just like the real thing.  Forget the fact that your map isn’t accurate.  Most weren’t, but they passed.  Let’s face it, when you’re making the map; a glob here and a plop there; it all looks good, so why move it?

And how about durable?  Almost all salt and flour maps survived the school bus trips to and from the schoolhouse…because they were as hard as rocks.  They were rocks!  Some can still be found in attics, years after their creation.  It was the high concentration of table salt that preserved them, from mold as well as from rodents.  What mouse in his right mind would bite into anything that is two parts flour to one part salt?

When I made my salt and flour maps in fifth and seventh grades, little did I know that my great-grandfather was responsible for innovating the use of German Salt Dough for topographic or relief map construction for school projects.

The cover is encrusted with flour and
many pages have shortening stains.

It started about seven months ago when I found my great-grandfather’s recipe book.  Hosea E. Latshaw was born about the time of the Civil War and had started Latshaw’s Bakery in Spring City, Pennsylvania by 1882.  By the time he was born, at least four generations of Latshaws had resided in the United States.  It’s unclear where Hosea’s recipes came from, but many include German references.

One such recipe is “Salzteig.”  When I first read the ingredients, (2 qt. flour, 1 qt. salt, 2 jiggers weinstein, 1 qt. water), I wondered, “Who in their right mind would want to eat that?  And what in the world is ‘weinstein?’”

I then did a little research.  “Good old” Alta Vista Babelfish translated “Salzteig” as “salt dough.”  More Internet research revealed that salt dough was originally used to make decorative sculptures, as far back as Ancient Egypt.  The high salt content really served as a preservative.  Germans used the mixture to make Christmas ornaments and other holiday decorations.

But what is “weinstein?”  After more Internet research I learned that weinstein is the white residue that forms on the inside of casks of wine when it ages.  It’s actually potassium tartrate and it’s left to dry, scraped off, and used in cooking.  You might know it as cream of tartar.

Someone made a LOT of salt dough ornaments!

All of this would explain the old photo I found of what I surmise are salt dough Christmas decorations.  The larger items in the foreground are wall hangings of some kind, but the garland creating the booth is dripping with Christmas ornaments.  Most are wreaths.  If you look closely, you’ll recognized the Holy Family is the subject of the picture hanging in the center.

Someone in the Latshaw family obviously made a ton of salt dough Christmas ornaments.  That is interesting, but here is the unique part.  At the bottom of the page with the Salzteig ingredients in Hosea’s recipe book, is this notation:  Russell - China map for school.

Russell Latshaw with one of the
horses used to pull the bakery
delivery wagon.

Russell Latshaw was Hosea’s oldest child, born in 1895.  He did not graduate from high school, as he was needed in the bakery and to work on the family farm on Wall Street, also in Spring City.  However he did finish the sixth grade.  Could it be that Russell made a map of China from the Salzteig?  I suddenly became interested in the history of salt and flour maps.

After many hours on the Internet, as well as chasing down many false leads and bad information, I received a reply email from Amy Nibbet of the Smithsonian Institution.  Amy is a conservationist with the Smithsonian’s Donald Rockwell Research Center for the History of American Education.  Amy told me that the first mention of salt dough maps is in 1911 in a school annual, the forerunner of the yearbook.  The location was even more important:  Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.  After 1911, the recipe for salt dough map making appears in educational periodicals and teaching books.

Here’s the best part:  Amy told me that an “H. Latschar” had registered the recipe’s use for map-making and that royalties had been paid whenever it was published for twenty years, the term of the registration.  Due to the spelling error, the money was never paid to Hosea, and a law firm in New York City has held the royalties since 1913…with interest.  The original amount was only slightly over $7,000, but with interest averaging 4.5% the total is now almost $612,000!  Since I am the holder of the original recipe, which must still be tested for authenticity, I will be able to claim the entire amount.  And if you believe that, don’t forget it’s April Fool’s Day!

Triple-Layer Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

March is birthday month in my family.  Two immediate family members, my wife and my son share March birthdays only two days apart.  Jamie, a sister-in-law, also celebrates her birthday in March.

When the time came to select the date for the caesarian birth of my son, the doctor asked if we had any special dates on which we’d like the birth to occur.  With a straight face, I indicated that I was hoping the baby could be born on my birthday.

“When is that?” the doctor asked.

“November 1^st,” I replied.

She didn’t crack a smile and simply turned to my wife.

So, they could have shared birthdays, but we decided that Matt should have his own special day.  Up until recently that meant his own special cake, too.  In the last few years, we’ve become wiser, opting for less cake in our lives, and have used a combo cake.

When this year's big day was imminent, I suggested a Jewish Apple Cake for the celebration.  That was overruled in favor of a cake with real, honest-to-goodness frosting.  As a result, I combined two previously posted Dad in the Kitchen recipes into one really great cake, (if I do say so myself).  I decided to make a triple-layer chocolate cake using the Wacky Cake recipe I’ve made since junior high school, and frost it with Nancy Ruoff’s Peanut Butter Frosting.  You’ll remember that Nancy is the cafeteria manager at RoyersfordElementary School.

For the project, I bought new non-stick round cake pans.  The cake batter had to be made in two batches as I only had two pans.  When I made the third layer from the second batch of batter, I used the remaining cake batter to make cupcakes.

I discovered that even non-stick bakeware has to be seasoned, as the first two layers stuck slightly to the bottom of the new pans.  I also learned that it takes a lot of frosting to coat a three-layer cake.  A double batch of Nancy’s frosting was also required, with just enough left over to keep everyone happy.  I pulled my dad's icing spatula out of retirement to apply the frosting.  It hadn't been used in almost 40 years!  I have to say that it felt "at home" in my hand...not that I did as good of a job as he could do.  Practice makes perfect, right?

Here are the links to the Wacky Cake and Peanut Butter Frosting posts.  The Wacky Cake post was my very first post, blogged a year ago this month.  On the icing/frosting post, I recommend the frosting, not the icing, as two recipes are given.

Wacky Cake

Frosting Face-Off, or the Clash of the Icings

If you’d prefer just the print versions of the recipes, here they are:

Wacky Cake – recipe only

Peanut Butter Frosting – recipe only

Enjoy!

Make a wish!

Critical Need in Area Food Pantries

The Pottstown Mercury has started an initiative to increase contributions to area food banks.  The need has never been greater as a result of the current economic situation.  Food pantries are hurting.  This is due in part to the fact that a majority of donations are received from Thanksgiving through Christmas.  The project is called “Fill the Media Lab” and enlists the help of the Mercury’s bloggers to get the word out about this important and critical need.

Project Outreach is a Spring-Ford charity that I’ve supported for many years.  During my years as principal at Royersford Elementary, we held two food drives each year.  One was in November and the other, at Project Outreach’s request, was held in the spring when giving would almost dry up.  Over the years, thousands and thousands of food items were donated.  (See picture from 2006, below.)

I’ve also had the privilege of volunteering at Project Outreach in Spring City on several occasions.  Most recently I helped with the food distribution in October.  Everyone should have the opportunity to do this.  Watching a mother of four trying to decide between a jar of peanut butter or a roll of toilet paper from the “free choice” table makes an impression you never forget.

Parker Ford Church, where I serve as Pastor of Administration, continues to support Project Outreach, and serves as a collection spot.  The church is open every Sunday until 1:00 p.m., and the office is open on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Most recently, Parker Ford Church has begun to support Operation Backpack in Pottstown.  Needy or homeless children are provided with discrete backpacks filled with easy-to-prepare food for the weekend when they don’t have access to a school lunch.  (The items donated must be able to be prepared by an elementary-age child without adult assistance.)

The program in Pottstown, working in cooperation with the Pottstown School District, is currently serving 85 children!  Our church just completed a food drive for Operation Backpack and we donated 1,254 items, along with $350!  Two members of the church have committed to becoming monthly partners with Operation Backpack, and will provide a donation every month.  Another individual has volunteered to assist with inventorying food items for Operation Backpack.

For more information on this important initiative, as well as a list of suggested easy-to-prepare food items, read the Pottstown Mercury story by clicking here.  Remember that you can donate food items for Project Outreach and Operation Backpack at Parker Ford Church, 20 Rinehart Road, Pottstown, PA.  Contact the church by email or by calling 610-327-2266.

Breakfast Casseroles

If you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning, (which, by the way is exactly one year ago this week), you know that the title, There’s a Dad in the Kitchen, comes from a story connected to dads preparing breakfast for Parker Ford Church on months with a fifth Sunday.  The traditional menu for those breakfasts has been French toast and sausage for as long as I can remember.  In January we decided to try something different:  Breakfast Casseroles.

I don’t have extensive experience with making breakfast casseroles, although I have opted for them on a number of Christmas mornings.  The fact that you can prepare them the night before, take them out of the refrigerator and pop them in the oven for 45 minutes, is very appealing when you’d rather not be spending time in the kitchen.

As a trial run, I made a test casserole for our elders team the Monday before the Fifth Sunday Breakfast.  I wanted to check on how aluminum foil pans behaved using the ovens at the church.  I also wanted to test the baking time required by a double batch in each pan.  Another benefit of the trial run was to see how many people could be served with one casserole, which would enable me to determine how many to make for a group of 80-100.

There was good news all around.  The foil pan worked great, (which meant no cleanup.  Hooray!)  And the baking time for a double casserole was only about five minutes longer that for a single batch.  I also was able to estimate that each double casserole would serve 12-15 people.

We made eleven casseroles for our Fifth Sunday Breakfast.
Very little was leftover!

I wanted to provide a variety of casseroles, so I used a basic recipe to which could be added diced ham, browned sausage, crumbled bacon, or sautéed vegetables.  The basic recipe can be found at the end of this post.

Our breakfast team assembled on Saturday afternoon in order to crack 11 dozen eggs, chop and sauté the vegetables, and cook the sausage and bacon.  The ham was already cooked, so we just had to dice it.  Our assembly line included blending the eggs, milk, and spices for each casserole in plastic water pitchers.  A double batch fit in each pitcher, and it was easy to blend the ingredients using an electric hand blender.  All we had to do was then transfer this mixture, pouring each one into the prepared casseroles.

Start assembling by spraying each pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Next add the cubed bread.  You can experiment with a variety of breads.  For ours, we used loaves of day-old Italian bread. Each double casserole got a half loaf, cut into fairly large, (1”) cubes.  (As the casseroles bake, the bread virtually disappears.)  

Arrange the “filling” for each casserole on top of the bread cubes.  For our double batches, this amounted to about two cups of meat or sautéed vegetables.  Bacon is the exception.  Even for a double batch, 12-15 slices of crumbled bacon was sufficient.

One change that I would make is to add the cheese after pouring the egg mixture into each casserole.  I added the cheese on top of each casserole’s filling and then poured the egg mixture on top of that.  The cheese kind of disappeared.  Adding half the cheese on top of the bread cubes and then the remaining half on top of all of the ingredients also works.  You can always add additional cheese and doubling the cheese will definitely boost the fromage factor.  Pour the egg mixture into the casserole dish gently, trying not to disturb the bread and filling.

We next covered each casserole with foil and refrigerated them over night.  On Sunday morning, the casseroles were baked four to an oven, so the additional load on the ovens required increased baking time.  Also, the gas ovens that we use do not have a convection feature, so I recommend rotating the casseroles half-way through baking, switching those on the top to the bottom oven rack, and vice versa.

Bake the casserole for approximately 45 minutes at 350° or until the center is no longer “loose” and the top is golden brown.  Allowing the casserole to sit for a few minutes before serving will permit it time to solidify a little, making it easier to cut and serve.  The basic recipe follows:

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

6 eggs, whipped

2 or 3 slices bread, cubed

2 cups milk

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon dry mustard

½ teaspoon salt

Optional (select one, or a combination of the following):

1 pound pork sausage, cooked, drained, crumbled

1 pound diced ham

6-10 slices of bacon, fried, drained, crumbled

Sautéed vegetables (onions, bell peppers, mushrooms)

Here's a ham and sauteed vegetable casserole
ready for the oven.

Feel free to experiment with different fillings, as well as combinations of the ones mentioned.  Let me know if you try something that works especially well.  Enjoy!

Week Off

My trip to Israel has been amazing!  Unfortunately, there has been little time to write the next blog post.  So, I'm taking the week off.  I hope to be back next week with another easy recipe.  In the meantime, visit our trip blog at Josh and Dave's Trip to Jerusalem.  Thanks!