Inspired by the tasks being set for her year group by the Food Technology department, Sophia in year 8 devised her own.

This is her Family Cooking Challenge complete with evaluations or "What went well" (WWW) and suggestions for improvement or "Even better if..." (EBI) ready for the next time Sophia takes on feeding the family for two whole days.

Day 1

Breakfast

Today I made a summer fruit smoothie for breakfast, it contains 3or 4 of my 5-a-day, and is extremely easy to make. I usually have this for breakfast, making it the night before and freezing it so I can simply blend in the morning.
To make this smoothie, I chopped 1 banana, poured in 80g of frozen fruit mix, cut up a handful of strawberries and poured 150ml of grape juice.

• WWW: Tastes amazing and has most of my vitamins and minerals for the day.
• EBI: Frozen fruit doesn’t blend particularly well in the blender, so I should try and find a new way of freezing the fruit.

Summer fruits frozen smoothie

Lunch 

For lunch I made avocado and poached egg on toast. (This was my first time cooking an egg so it looks a little messy).
Overall it tasted quite nice but I definitely need some more practice.

• WWW: I didn’t overcook the egg so that is good, but I think it was slightly undercooked
• EBI:
  1. Use brown bread (we only had white bread in the house).
  2. Find a way or practice telling when an egg is done
  3. I think the avocado tasted quite strong so, use an older avocado or spread less of it

My first egg and avocado on toast

Dinner 

For dinner I made salmon and vegetables (potatoes, peas, mostly asparagus), it took around 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. I followed a recipe which was quite easy, but I found that folding the parchment into a parcel would need some practice.
First I laid down some asparagus and seasoned, then, I put the salmon on top and seasoned with oil, pepper and salt. Then I laid 3-4 rings of onion and topped with 2 pieces of lemon. I folded the parchment into a parcel and baked.

• WWW: tasted nice but in smaller portions
• EBI: try without help, I needed quite a bit of help with this, mostly because I haven’t cooked with fish before.

Salmon dinner with vegetables

Day 2

Breakfast

Breakfast was a little rushed this morning, and not very well thought out.

My breakfast consisted of my mum teaching me how to make an omelette - which I have never made before. I also realised that I had nothing to put in it. So, breakfast didn’t go to well.

• EBI: think through meals better

Lunch

For lunch I made a naan bread pizza, I didn’t follow a recipe as this was quite easy. I topped it with tomato paste, cheese and sausage. The reason I used naan was to make the pizza a little lighter (more of a lunch than a dinner).

• WWW: It tasted really nice, it was easy to make and quite filling without being too much
• EBI: According to my mum it would be better if I made more

Naan bread pizza

Dinner

For dinner I made a pasta dish with tomato and spinach. The original recipe was vegan so I had to substitute non-dairy milk and nutritional yeast for milk and cheese, though it turned out well. I also served some ciabatta with the pasta. I thought it was quite easy to make, it only used one pan, and not too many ingredients. But it was delicious.
First I cut onion and garlic and cooked it off a little, then I three in some tomato paste and chopped grape tomatoes. Secondly, I added vegetable broth and the same amount of milk. I put some pasta and seasoning and then let it simmer for 10 minutes. Next I put some spinach and cheese and my mum suggested adding some cornflour, to thicken it a little. Overall, it was great.

• WWW: tasted amazing, super easy and easy to clean up after
• EBI: Find some more vegetables to add a little bit more colour.

Vegetarian pasta dish