ACE Notebook

With the holidays approaching, Punchfork may satisfy your cooking anxieties and culinary creativity.  (Okay, Punchfork might not be a “typical” classroom web source, but I have a few thoughts how it might be used, which are shared at the conclusion of this post.)  This resource is my holiday gift to each of you who have become loyal followers over the last six months.  Enjoy!

Punchfork aggregates cooking sites and recipe blogs to provide the most up-to-date recipes, nutritional dishes, and traditional and international cuisine recipes.  The mouth-watering photos provide a magazine appeal, leaving the visitors to explore the beautiful photographed dishes before searching for a specific recipe.

Take time to use the search box for a specific recipe: cheesecake or  search by ingredients.  You have a few zucchini left in the garden, some fall spinach to pick, and cheese in the frig–so what can you make?  In the search box of the site, type:  zucchini cheese spinach and be impressed by the results.  Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and of course, leftover turkey recipes will surely please those looking for something new for the upcoming events of the holidays.  Maybe you’ll even discover an interesting cookie or appetizer for the annual staff holiday party!

Classroom ideas:

• Culture studies and Foreign Language – have students search for recipes by country, using the adjective forms:  Middle Eastern, Danish, Chinese, Swedish, American, etc.
  
• Math – create a list of the ingredients, research prices at the grocery, determine cost per serving
• Library – research unknown ingredients
• Culinary Arts – cook something new!  Try a new soup or create a new holiday dessert or pastry.
• Or SHARE your idea by posting a comment on this blog!