Cooking can sometimes feel like a chore, but it doesn’t have to be! By inviting play and exploration into your cooking, you can turn it into a fun and creative activity. Here are some of our favorite ways for finding play in preparing your food:
Visit the farmer’s market: Visiting a farmer’s market can be a great source of inspiration for cooking. Seeing all the fresh produce and talking to the farmers can spark ideas for new recipes. You might find yourself drawn to a particular ingredient or combination of flavors that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
Try a new recipe with an unfamiliar ingredient: Cooking the same dishes over and over again can get boring. Creating a dish with an ingredient you’ve never used before can be a fun challenge. Use an interesting vegetable, herb, or spice as your starting point, and search online for a recipe that features it.
Host a food-based party: Themed parties can be a blast, especially when the theme is food-related. Consider hosting a party where everyone brings a dish from a particular cuisine, or an ingredient to create a dish such as Greek spanakopita, burritos, samosas, or pizza. This can be a great way to try new foods and learn about different cultures.
Have a family cooking night: Cooking with family members can be a bonding experience. Assign everyone a role, such as chopping vegetables, stirring the pot, or setting the table. You can even make it a competition by seeing who can come up with the most creative dish using a particular set of ingredients.
Take a cooking class: The Marquette Food Co-op offers public and private cooking classes. We share a full range of food experiences, from half-hour food demos to multi-course feasts. We can host bridal showers, birthday parties, business team building meetings, or friend groups looking for a unique culinary experience. Visit https://marquettefood.coop/outreach/ for more information.
By finding play in cooking, you can make it a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Whether you’re exploring new ingredients, trying new recipes, or cooking with loved ones, there are many ways to inject some fun and creativity into the process. Give it a try and let us know what you make!
Spanakopita Recipe
Have a spanakopita making party! Everyone brings an ingredient, helps prepare the pie, and can leave with leftovers! This dish freezes well, so it’s perfect to make ahead and bake as needed, straight from the freezer.
Ingredients
- 1/2 package fillo dough (thawed)
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 lb feta cheese
- plenty of butter – about 1 lb
- 3 C chopped fresh spinach or 20 oz. frozen cooked spinach
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1/4 C dried dill
Directions
Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and set aside.
Mix together the chopped spinach, onion, feta cheese, and dill. Pour the whisked eggs over spinach mixture and mix. Smell the mixture. If the dill scent is not the first thing you smell, add a little more dill. Set mixture aside.
Melt the butter in a separate dish. While the fillo dough is still rolled up, cut it into equal thirds. Take two and set aside wrapped in a damp cloth to keep the dough from drying out. Unroll the dough. Place one sheet of dough down and with a basting brush, lightly butter the dough. Place another sheet on top of the buttered one and repeat. Do this with 5 sheets of fillo dough.
Take about 2/3 cup of the spinach mixture and place it at the bottom of the 5 sheets of fillo dough. Shape the mixture into a right triangle so that one corner of the “spinach triangle” is in line with a corner of the dough. Proceed to fold the mixture into the dough in a “flag fold” fashion. When you reach the end, butter the end to the wrap, and lightly butter the top of the wrap. Continue doing this until all fillo dough is used.
Place wraps on a lightly buttered cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
*Article sponsored by the Marquette Food Co-op
Excerpt from the Summer 2023 issue of Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine, copyright 2023, Empowering Lightworks, LLC. All rights reserved.
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