Start your Recipe Club with a theme; gather recipes that pertain to that theme and make copies to be handed out at your first meeting. For example, start with lemons. Search for recipes that contain lemon, and it doesn’t just have to be desserts. Just googling Lemon Recipes, I found several places to go for reliable recipes. Braised Chicken with Artichokes, Olives, and Lemon  is from Martha Stewart. Basil Shrimp is from allrecipes.  And of course, my favorite, Lemon Bars from Ree Drummond at The Food Network. As a courtesy, I also like to print out information on the ingredient featured, like how it is grown, any unusual features about it, where you can get it if it is a more difficult to find ingredient, and the nutritional value. But the best way to showcase a food is to bring samples of it for members to taste.

Graduate to a Recipe Cookbook Club, where you can pick out a popular cookbook, bring copies in from other libraries for your members to check out, and create some of the recipes featured. Be sure pick a cookbook that you can get copies for. Many times, good cookbooks aren’t always the popular cookbooks and other libraries don’t stock them as much as they do the ones in high demand. Keep a list of cookbooks that you can get readily so you don’t have to hunt for them every month.

When you have a constant attendance of regulars, think about starting your own recipe cookbook. A community recipe cookbook is always sought after by locals and tourists. You can make your cookbook into a fundraiser for your library’s friends group or for the club itself. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to invest in bakeware that patrons can check out. For our cookbook, we went with the Morris Press Cookbook company. There are other places out therethat you can investigate too, but this one had the best prices for the amount of books we wanted.

And as always, Happy Eating!

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Make sure your “kitchen” has the necessary tools for a successful class: measuring cups and spoons, bowls-small and large, sharp knife, cutting board, spoons, forks, plates, napkins, cups, wax paper, baggies, and towels. Any small appliances you may need like a blender, food processor, grill press or slow cooker you can find at almost any thrift store for a fraction of what a new one would cost. Remember, you aren’t going to be using them daily like at home.

Somethings will need to be prepared for class. Make sure everything is chopped, peeled and ready to use so you don’t have to waste time during class. Have everything, as the chefs on the FoodNetwork say, mis en place (in it’s place).

A lot of items I usually just bring from my home kitchen because buying even a small jar of mayo can be wasteful if you only need a few tablespoons for a recipe. Buying non perishable items, however, can be worth it, especially when you have classes on a regular basis. These items include olive oil, salt and pepper, vinegar and other spices. You’ll be able to plan other classes around items you already have on hand.

Sometimes buying packaged food can be costly, check with the deli if they have any sales going on that you can take advantage of and plan your class around. You don’t need to advertise precisely what you plan to make, but rather list your theme and create your menu around the ingredients you can get. And you don’t have to make three course meals. A smaller scale version of your menu is fine, because people aren’t going to be eating plates of food, but they will want a taste. Talk to your local grocer and ask if they would be willing to donate a small amount from the deli to your class in exchange for a free advertisement with your patrons.

Always have some recipe books on hand, too, for your patrons to checkout.

And always encourage tasting. My tag line is: Come Hungry. Tasting is Mandatory.

The post Adult Programming: How to Have Cooking Demos Without Cooking first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

For this craft, you will be cutting one inch wide by three inch long strips of fabric. Have these prepared before class so time isn’t taken up by the cutting. Also have the wire hangers prepared before class; stretch them out so that the triangular part shapes into a circle. You can also shape the hangers into squares and hearts for other holidays or events. The hanger part itself is left the way it is to hang the wreath once it’s done.

Photo Courtesy of Annie Bahringer

The strips of fabric are then tied to the wire circle in a double knot. Push each knot together to make the fabric bunch up. This will give the wreath a nice, rich fullness. Have your students tie fabric strips until all of the space on the wire is covered. Twist the ties so that they stagger around the circle, alternating the ends of the fabric so they don’t all fall in the same direction.

This makes for a great Valentine’s Day craft, too, bending the hanger into a heart shape and using red and black or pink and white color motifs. Halloween fabric has to be one of the most fun times to shop for fabric and the Christmas color schemes are endless. Red, white and blue work well for Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Ask your students to bring scraps from home and see what they can create. It’s always a surprise what kind of color combinations they can come up with.

The post Easy Crafting for Your Library: Rag Wreaths first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Infused oils and alcohols take a little longer to make than waters, which can be consumed immediately after mixing. If you want to make infused oils or vinegar for gifts, you may want to invest in some decorative bottles which can be bought at any craft or home goods stores. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the bottle with a tag reading what is in the concoction. Infused alcohols can be mixed and presented in mason jars. Make sure which ever bottle or jar you use is clean and dry. Any moisture left in the bottle can turn an oil rancid.

Infused water is a wonderful treat for scorching summer days, after a work out, or at a party. You can use a regular pitcher to set your fruit and herbs in, let sit for about 30 minutes and serve. Fruit frozen in ice cubes makes a pretty addition to your waters. To find some fun and delicious combinations, go to Infused Waters for inspiration.

Infused oils make a beautiful addition to kitchen decor, and even better when they are homemade. For recipes start at Instructibles. It gives step by step instructions on how to make infused cooking oils and oils for skin. The most important thing to remember when working with oils is to use clean, dry bottles or jars. Any moisture left can cause the oil to spoil and turn rancid, as will any herbs not submerged in oil. Let your giftee know that when they use their gift to tuck the herbs down into the oil or to simply cut it off and use it for cooking. Oils need time to steep so make sure if you are wanting to use it as a gift, start at least three months in advance of the gift date. Keep your oil in a warm, dark place and just let sit until you are ready to use it.

Infused alcohols are a fun and easy gift for those who like to make more complex mixed drinks. Like the oil, it needs time to infuse. For some great ideas head over to Booze and Infused. Any kind of hard liquor can be used for infusion. Use the bottle it came in or put your mix into a tall ball jar with a label. Place your infusion in a dark, cool place for several months to let steep.

Vinegars can also be used for a flavor infusion. A step by step recipe can be found at Organic Authority. Like the oils, vinegars look great in a decorative glass bottle. Don’t forget to label your newly concocted creations! And don’t forget to sample!

The post Like Oil and Water: Infused Flavors Craft Class first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

In this second in a series of posts about crafting at the library, I will detail how to make Bleach Shirts. This is one of the easiest crafts you can do in the library. You will need a sink, so as long as you have a water source, you, too, can teach this class. It doesn’t take long, about an hour is all you need.

Supplies you need are: 100% cotton shirts, newspaper or cardboard, gel bleach pens, vinegar and water. Make sure that the t-shirts are 100% cotton. Any polyester blend will not take the bleach. The darker the material the better: black works best. And it doesn’t have to be a t-shirt. It can be any kind of garment or piece of material as long as it is 100% cotton. Leggings are also a fun garment to work with, and the results can be fantastic. Garments should be clean and free of lint and animal hair. A great place to find suitable t-shirts is at Michael’s craft stores. At regular price they are a great deal. Buy several shirts in different sizes for those patrons who come without a shirt or who may bring the wrong kind of shirt.

You can find the gel bleach pens online at amazon.com. Be sure to purchase the gel pens. The gel is easier to use on fabrics, especially for intricate designs. Regular bleach pens may be too liquid and not allow you to get a clean line. Use the newspaper or cardboard as a separator between the layers of fabric so that the bleach doesn’t bleed to the opposite side of the garment.

Apply a thin line of gel onto the fabric in any shape or form. Words work well, too. Pinterest has visual examples to show students the possibilities they have when working with the gel. Stencils also work well, as does some larger stamps, for those afraid to freehand a drawing or text. Use painter’s tape to make geographical designs. Let the bleach stay on the fabric for at least 20 minutes. You will be able to see the color change, especially on dark or black fabric. You can also use liquid bleach and a spray bottle. This, of course, is going to be a bit messier and may need extra newspapers to lay down around the garment, but it can create a nice speckled effect.

After 20 minutes, rinse the shirt thoroughly and then set in a solution of 1/2 cup of vinegar to 2 gallons water. Soak for about 5 minutes and then wring dry. Provide plastic bags so that patrons can take their shirts home to dry. They also can wash their shirts with regular soap and water while still wet in order to get all of the vinegar out.

There will also be a lot of left over bleach left in the pens so you can reuse the pens for another project.

In the end you have a t-shirt with a handmade one-of-a-kind design.

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For this class, find someone who has extensive experience in home canning; in water bath and in pressure cooker techniques. One of the best resources to find an instructor is the community itself. A resource that is not always utilized is the Master Food Preservers for your county or state. Masters are required to give at least 20 hours volunteer time per year to public outreach. Check with your state’s Extension program. Chances are there is a Master Food Preserver in your area.

The class should go over the specifics of how to preserve your garden harvest using the hot water bath method, pressure canner techniques, drying, and freezing. Bring in a variety of pots and other equipment that can be used for canning. Outsource your books: utilize your library system’s collection and bring in books on canning, preserving, fermenting, and homesteading for a table display. Offer your patrons who can’t make the class, or those who attend further reading.

There are online resources available for the novice preserver or the experienced one.  YouTube has many videos from reputable sources. One resource that can greatly improve a class is the Ball Canning’s website. Their Canning 101 video and pdf printouts are invaluable. It will help you save time writing out your own notes and, as the video is in the public domain, your presentation is already set. This is a virtually no cost class presentation, perfect for adult continuing education.

If your library has its own seed library, this is a great program to help promote it. For those libraries that have one, or even a community garden, the best way to promote growing is by showing patrons what they can do with their harvest. Cooking classes or demonstrations are also effective ways to show people what they can grow in their garden and what to do with it when it’s time to harvest.

The post Anyone Can Make Homemade Pickles: Teaching Canning at the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.