The Nettel Kettle is coming

I love my kids' elementary school. The teachers and staff are fabulous, the parents are super-involved and the atmosphere rocks! This year I've been working with another parent, Shari, to put together the best Community Cookbook ever (OK, it's our first one, but it is pretty great). It's been so much fun collecting and reading the different recipes (and personal stories) from Nettelhorst Families and some Chicago Celebrity Chefs as well!

The different recipes wonderfully reflect the diversity in our school. And the many cuisines represented make this a perfect cookbook to be coming out the week of our Annual International Fest in June. Below is just one of the recipes that can be found in the book.

From:

Rockit Bar and Grill

3700 North Clark Street

Chef James Gottwald

Rockit Pockits

2 lbs. 1/8" sliced top round

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

8 slices white American cheese

8 each 6" spring roll wrappers

Vegetable oil for frying

Cut the sliced top round into 1/2-inch cubes. Heat a large sauté pan on high heat, and add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add half the meat, season with salt and pepper, sear until the moisture cooks out. 

Add half the sliced onions and begin to caramelize. Continue cooking until moisture is just about cooked out and add garlic powder. Repeat with remaining meat. Allow to cool.

Set up a small dish with water. Working one at a time, place 1/2 slice of cheese (cut as a rectangle) in center of spring wrapper, add 2 ounces of cooked meat and top with the other 1/2 slice of cheese. Wet a small pastry brush and lightly wet the edges of the wrapper fold as you would a spring roll. Repeat with remaining wrappers and meat.

In a deep fry pan, heat vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Fry in batches for approximately 5 minutes, drain and slice with a serrated knife on a biased. 

Serve with ketchup for dipping. 

Serves 4

What's Cookin'

With my kids going back to school on Tuesday, I am newly motivated to try to cook some nice and healthy weeknight meals for the family. Too many times we've fallen back on soup (from a can), chicken nuggets and sandwiches. I'm not looking to make anything fancy. Just some simple, fresh foods that might broaden their palettes a bit and make me feel good about serving it to them. And it's not all about the kids. I find that when I spend some time making a meal, I sit down and savor it a bit more than something I just throw together. I'd also like to have a nice option for my husband when he comes home from work. He might not get too excited about the veggie burgers I plan on cooking up this week, but it will be there if he wants to try it!

Though the kids will be in school all day, I don't plan on cooking all day! I am planning an art class I'll (hopefully) be teaching at the school, working on a newsletter and two magazines, continuing with Raspberrykidz and (coincidentally) putting together a cookbook as a school fundraiser. I would, however, like to work on organization and simplicity, and I'd like to keep the grocery bill down at the same time.

I also think that posting here will help motivate me to make a nice presentation, because I will occassionally take pictures of what I serve up to post here, starting right now. Above is a simple green bean dish I brought to my parents' house this evening for a barbeque.

If you have any simple recipes, tips, tricks...anything you would like to share, feel free to post here! I can use all the help I can get!