Fox Cities Book Festival -- Part 2

While paging through the book festival flyer, looking at upcoming events, I spotted a cooking demonstration.. Free Food. New tastes. Down the road. At at time I could go. Free Parking. What's not to like? I texted my friend asking if she wanted to join me. She did but ended up cancelling at the last minute for the fear of little boys trying to become superman... So I went to check out Shana Corandt's Cooking Demonstration myself.

When I walked into the Thrivent Lobby at UW-Fox Valley, my first reaction was "I feel like I'm on a cruise". If you ever went to one of the chef demos on a cruise ship, you know what I'm talking about. The chairs set up in a public area. The banquet tables covered with white table clothes. Older ladies standing around waiting for it to start.

Private Chef Shana and her partner, Liz, are featured on Fox 11's Grilling With the Girls (when it's actually warm enough to grill) and have their own business, Make Me Hot Meals. Since it is Earth Day, they talked a little about sustainable food sources before touching on nutrition. She showed us a Ritz Cracker box and a Brenton Cracker box and asked which one we thought was healthier. The Brenton box had veggies on it, we figured it was "healthier" and when she read the first 3 ingredients it was pretty much the same thing as Ritz..processed flour and other not so healthy stuff. Then Shana held up Organic Shredded Wheat Crackers and Triscuits. The first three ingredients on both were whole wheat flour, salt, and soybean/sunflower oil. My beloved Triscuits had real ingredients and were pretty healthy for you. I guess I will keep eating them at work

After our cracker talk, Shana and Liz started the cooking demonstration portion of the afternoon. They made for us grass-fed beef sliders on spring mix. The beef came from Jacobs Meat Market in Appleton and we were instructed to go there even if it was just for the conversation. The spring mix and pea shoots came from the Free Market in Appleton. All organic healthy stuff I normally don't eat. All the spices came from Penzey's. I love Penzeys. On top of the sliders, was spicy ketchup made with ketchup and chili garlic paste. Then it was topped with pea shoots.

Amazing little snack. I'm not sure the hubby would go for the Chili Garlic Paste but I liked it even though it left my lips burning the entire drive home. Pea shoots were something I never tried and are absolutely amazing little greens. I could gobble those little buggers up all day. I may have to go get me some this summer.

It is amazing to see the different kinds of events the book Festival puts on. There is something for everyone and this one proves that you don't have to be a reader to enjoy the Festival. If you like to cook this one would be the one for you.

Oh and Jay Busch from Busch's Baked beans lives in Appleton.