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As you can imagine, with over 100 kids and young adults to feed each day, our cottage kitchens never cool down. Our dedicated Teaching Parents not only maintain a safe and loving environment in their cottages, they teach essential life skills to each child. We try to make one meal each day a family affair where everyone gets involved! Students may help with meal prep, setting the table, dishes or clean up. Older students are encouraged to plan and cook meals for the family when their busy schedules allow. Our kids routinely say they enjoy time in the kitchen, and many pride themselves on a favorite recipe.

The Cottage 8 boys love trying new recipes, and they are very talented. Over the summer the cottage contributed breakfast food to our weekly all-campus meeting and devotional. Several staff members really enjoyed the boys’ cooking and always got in line early!  (Not that we ever have favorites!)

Last night Cottage 8 invited the Cottage 10 girls for dinner. They had been packing and preparing all day to move into the new Pool cottage, and they were hungry! These little girls had so much fun with their older “brothers” and the boys enjoyed serving them.

Be sure to check out what they cooked up, and if you like be sure to share and pin the recipe for later!

Ingredients for taco meat:

• 5 Lbs. Ground Beef
• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 1 ½ Tbsp. Cumin
• 1½ Tsp Chili Powder
• 1½ Tsp Cayenne
• 1 ½ Tbsp. Garlic
• ½ Yellow Onion

Preparation:

Dice up your preferred toppings and set to the side. We like tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce. We also serve with homemade salsa and shredded cheese.

When you finish getting your toppings sorted, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add your onion, olive oil and seasoning. Gradually crumble in your beef and cook until completely brown (about 7-10 minutes). Once the beef is completely cooked, add a little water to finish. Before you serve, strain out the excess grease with a colander.

Taco night is always a hit, and sometimes prompt messy faces and spontaneous dancing!

We also like to treat ourselves to our favorite Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs of refrigerated crescent rolls
• 2 pkgs 8 oz. Cream Cheese (Softened)
• 1 ½ Cups of granulated sugar
• 1 TBS Vanilla extract
• 1 Stick of butter, melted
• ¾ cup of brown sugar and cinnamon mix. (2 tsp of cinnamon)
• Honey (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9’ baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Lay one can of crescent rolls down for one single layer on the bottom of the pan. Don’t leave any spaces uncovered!

After you’ve finished prepping the first layer, prepare the filling.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, white sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Spread the mix evenly over the already prepared first layer. Distribute the remaining can of crescent rolls over the filling and again, no empty spaces! Pour the melted butter evenly over the top and coat with cinnamon sugar mix.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, and drizzle with honey while cooling. We never have any of these left, but if you do they can be stored in the fridge after.

We make these in bulk so alter it to suits your needs! We cook two to three meals daily, and we rely heavily on our food pantry to help us do this. It is truly a blessing when groups hold food drives for us or bring in cars full of food! Of course, we’re well equipped to keep it stocked, but the extra help is always a relief. We’re always in need of staple items like:

• Spices
• Broths
• Bullion
• Rice
• Beans
• Spaghetti sauce
• Pastas
• Canned vegetables
• Condiments
• Canned tuna & chicken
• Rotel

Thank you so much for your continued support! Let us know what else you’d like to see on here and be sure to keep up with all our other social media accounts.