Welcome to My Kitchen

School is out and the swimming pool is open. Soon young entrepreneurs will be setting up lemonade stands to earn money for swimming and other summertime activities. Personally, I try to never pass by a children's lemonade enterprise. I like to encourage budding business owners. Following are some tips for operating a successful lemonade stand.

1. Make your signs big. Use an extra wide marking pen to make lettering that can be read from half a block away so customers have time to stop before passing by. In Odessa, most of your customers will be driving.

2. Use powdered lemonade mix or frozen concentrate. It is the most cost effective and easiest to make. Follow measuring and mixing instructions exactly.

3. Keep it cold. Use a small pitcher that is easy to handle, refilling from a container you keep in your refrigerator in the house. Nestle the serving pitcher in a bowl of ice and have a separate, covered container for ice cubes to put in the serving cups. Use tongs to put the ice in the cups. People will see you are taking care to have a clean operation.

4. Have an adult help you pencil out the cost of ingredients, disposable cups and sign making items, and help you decide on a fair price to charge for your lemonade. Then display the price prominently on your signs.

5. Wash your hands before you start mixing the lemonade or handling the cups and ice. Then wash your hands often when serving. Money gets germs on it, so have a friend help, one of you serving and the other cashiering.

I hope to see lots of lemonade stands this summer.

The July issue of Family Circle Magazine has a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies. This would be a tempting cookie to offer for sale along with lemonade. Adult supervision is advised for young cooks as an electric mixer is recommended and hot from the oven pans can be hard for young hands to manage.

Peanut Butter

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 bag (11.5 ounces) chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in both kinds of sugar until pale colored. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth. On low speed, beat in flour mixture just until combined. Add chocolate chunks and stir in by hand until evenly distributed. Using a small scoop, form mounds of cookie dough on a large cookie sheet. Flatten mounds slightly. Bake 15 minutes or until browned. Remove to wire racks and cool completely. Yield: 2 1/2 – 3 dozen, 3 inch cookies.

Note: place individual cooled cookies in sandwich bags when offering for sale at your lemonade stand, or for putting in summer lunch boxes.

I have had several requests for lunch box menu items that are low in fat and salt, and provide the daily requirements of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and fiber. Also, a request for foods kids like besides chips and sweets. Send your lunch box recipes to the address below.

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board sends out a monthly e-newsletter, http://www.eatwisconsinche

ese.com. It is filled with all sorts of cheese inspired recipes. The June issue included a recipe for Banana Cream Pie. At first glance, I thought, what is that doing on a cheese site? Closer inspection discovered the recipe included cream cheese. This pie was a hit with the neighborhood taste testers.

Banana Cream Pie

1 (9 inch) pastry shell, baked

8 Tbsp (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups cold milk, plus 2 Tbsp.

1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding and pie filling

2 large bananas

1 cup whipping cream

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons milk and mix, scraping the sides of the bowl, until the cream cheese is creamy and lump free. Add the remaining milk; mix well. Add the vanilla pudding mix and beat on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile slice bananas and place in a single layer in the bottom of baked and cooled pastry shell. Pour the pudding mixture over the bananas. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Pipe or spread the whipped cream onto the pie. Refrigerate 1 or 2 hours before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Note: no sugar is added to the whipped cream, so it holds it’s shape well. If you add sugar it will begin to collapse and become runny. If you must have sweetened cream, plan to use the pie within 6 to 8 hours.

You may use sugar free pudding mix in this recipe and substitute sugar free whipped topping for the whipped cream, if you desire a sugar free dessert. This recipe seems to have many possible flavor combinations. Chocolate would also be good with bananas. Lemon would pair well with raspberries or blueberries, or coconut with well drained pineapple or mandarin oranges.

Share your favorite recipes for summer by sending them to Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa WA 99159 or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Tomatoes like to be watered in the cool of the evening.