I had to send you a quick note before Thanksgiving so you could hear about our great cooking class and see an amazing edible turkey created by one of our great friends Theresa McCarthy-Brow! The young parents and several of our supporters had a fun evening learning and sharing. I also wanted to tell you about two ways you can support The Partnership!

Head to Your Cooking Stations!

We had a great time getting ready for our first Young Parent Cooking Class that was made possible thanks to some kind friends and a great donation from one of our generous supporters! We started with a meeting to plan the day with some expert advice from Nancy Zink. Then we planned food stations and gifts we could give the young parents so they could put their freshly learned cooking skills to work!

The wonderful folks at First Christian Church (Greentree) cooked chili for everyone and guest chefs taught some chili making skills and ingredients. Mary Graham taught participants how to cook pasta and steam veggies - some participants got to taste asparagus for the first time! Marilyn and Rose taught the art of bean sorting and soaking!(pictured at top right)

Other stations included meat browning and proper draining of grease (Robyn) and food safety (Karen and Jessica from Extension). Bruce and Jodi Waltman taught chopping skills - including onions and green peppers (pictured at right). Theresa and Jamie Archer taught fun snacks to make with your kids (more on that below).

A lovely cash gift from an anonymous donor enabled us to purchase great stuff for program participants including a set of pots and pans, cooking utensils, measuring cups, and more. Youth also left with a great cookbook and produce voucher thanks to the Missouri Foundation for Health and Fit Phelps! We hope the cooking instructions coupled with the gifts will enable YP participants to cook some of their own great and easy home-cooked meals.

Jodi Waltman found the great cookbook pictured at right - it is filled with pictures and seems like the perfect first cookbook. (I think Anyone Can Cook is going to be one of my new favorite "on your own" gifts!)

Incredible Edible Turkey

I know this is a lot to share about one of our events but the pictures were so great I just had to share them with you! I hope you enjoy this turkey story.

Theresa came to the cooking class with the most amazing turkey. It was named Jefferey and created by her daughters. The body is a melon and the face a pear. I was at a conference in Kansas last Tuesday so I didn't get to attend the cooking class but I loved the picture of this great edible centerpiece so much that I think I am going to ask my daughter to make it this year! 

It looks fun and is a turkey even a vegetarian can enjoy. The feathers are kabobs of fruit and cheese with some colorful peppers included throughout. When I googled the term fruit-turkey-centerpiece I came up with several hits and thought you might even like to see one of the links!

Theresa and Jamie also had fun snacks for participants to make with their children. Ants-on-a-log and fruit kabobs were some of the nifty treats!

Well, what a great event this was all thanks to some very generous friends and our wonderful young parents. I can't think of a better way to share a story of a Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and delicious. I am heading out now to start cooking for my large crowd of family and friends.

With the holidays coming up, please consider using the GoodShop site for all you online purchases. It's easy to do and The Partnership will receive a percentage of virtually every purchase you make as a donation from the store. Two of my favorite shopping spots (6pm and Amazon) are listed. Just go to the website and enter the Community Partnership Rolla and shop your favorite store!

Another way to help us out is to attend the annual Chartwell's Holiday Buffet. This great turkey feast with all the trimmings will be held on December 10th from 11:30-2:00 at the Havener Center. Email Rachel or call 573.341.7019 for reservations, which should be made by December 4th. Cost is $10.49 per person.

Happy Turkey Day,