RainyDayChefs
Sunday, June 24th, 2023
Every June, we do a special cookout that’s led by our younger group of RDC members that tries to raise money for a charity or just help by doing what we do best, cooking. This year, we settled on making over 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for an organization that we have worked with on countless occasions, the Sophia Way. To start, we gathered materials. Two of our younger RDC members, Ashwika and Jiwon made some homemade strawberry jelly to help our efforts while the senior team gathered the bread, peanut butter and a bit more jam. We gathered 9 kids ranging from the ages of 8 to 14 and started working. I assumed that this would take over two hours to complete such a daunting task, with the number 200 sounding like an impossible challenge. However, our team worked together perfectly, making three groups of twos and on group of three. This meant that one partner would make the peanut butter side while to other made the jam. This led to insane levels of efficiency (The benefit of the factory line) and led us to complete the once scary task in under 50 minutes.
“We struggled to supply the kids the ingredients due to how fast they were going. It was amazing!” – Harita Proddatoori, a parent volunteer who chaperoned the event (also my mom)
Even though we finished making the sandwiches, it wasn’t over yet. We put the sandwiches in trays, plastic wrapped them, and delivered it to Nitya, who drove the sandwiches to the Sofia Way, finishing the job. This left a great feeling of accomplishment in all of our hearts and left s as better people. With the school year ending the day before this cookout, I had a great time spending time with my friends one last time, and I will never forget this day. I felt really proud of what we did and am excited to do it again! Thank you to all our volunteers who participated at this event and I hope you had fun! Thanks to Ashwika and Jiwon for the Jam!
Until next time, - Arnav Kaja.
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Recipie for the Berrybliss Jam: (Serves 65-70 sandwiches)
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Ingredients:
6 cups of strawberries and 2 cups of blueberries
6 cups sugar
3 table spoons pectin
1. First, cut the washed and hand towel dried, strawberries into small pieces.
2. Mix both fruits in a large pand and mash with a masher until small chunks are visible.
3.Then, add to a heated pan on med - high heat*.
2. Heat until rolling boil ( when it starts to bubble on the edges). Then slowly add sugar. mix until the sugar disolves.
3. Add pectin at medium heat. Stir until disolved.
4. cool and enjoy!!!
