Our members did a fantastic job making tuna pasta bake at the most recent cookery session. Not everyone is a lover of tuna, so some added sausage or ham and cheese to theirs. After making the pasta bakes everyone prepared a healthy salad of broccoli and peppers that we pan fried in olive oil, and carrots which we glazed with honey and air-fried. I think everyone hit their target of 5 portions of fruit and veg!

Thank you to Cheryl and Rickell for all your hard work in the kitchen, and to and Ffion for being an amazing quizmaster and calling the bingo.

Next week is our Halloween party when we will have prizes for the best carved pumpkin, best fancy dress, and best spooky dancer. There will also be raffles, quizzes, bingo, and lots of spooky tunes to dance to. On the menu will be jack-o-lantern pizza, spooky Halloween sausage, and graveyard cake. See you all next week.

At Friday’s cookery session we enjoyed indulging in some good old-fashioned comfort food when Connor’s choice of Lasagne was the perfect dish for a cold, rainy Friday. Our members did a great job preparing the side salad while Connor showed everyone how to layer the lasagne. He began by spreading a layer of bolognaise on the bottom of the dish, then added a single layer of pasta sheets, followed by a layer of white sauce. This was repeated to make two layers, and was topped off with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. The end result was delicious.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers for assisting and working so hard on the pots and pans – well done everyone. We have a few spaces available for pasta bake next week, so if you would like to join us drop us an email at enquiries@caerphillypeoplefirst.org or call Christy on 07940 474640.

At Friday’s cookery session members prepared salad and made burgers. We served them with fries, pickles, coleslaw and onion rings. Everyone did a fantastic job and the group enjoyed taking part in the bingo and quiz.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered at the session – you worked very hard as always, and these sessions would be impossible without you all.

It was great to see some new faces and to see everyone socialising together and making new friends. Our new member Connor has chosen lasagne for next week.

Last week’s cookery class was run by our lovely volunteers Cheryl and Zoey, when members cooked chicken curry and rice. Thanks to Amy who did a brilliant quiz and ran the bingo session. Don’t forget there is no cookery this Friday (29th September), so we will see you all on Friday 6th October when we will be cooking burgers, chips, and salad.

On Friday 12^th May we held our final cookery session and were joined by Dan from our weekly Reconnect through Music group.  The theme for this week’s session was barbecue food, which meant burgers, hot dogs, sweetcorn, and ice cream.  We also invited people to dress up on a Hawaiian theme and it was lovely to see people wearing their Hawaiian shirts and garlands.  After eating, we enjoyed musical performances by members Natalie, Mathew, Louise, Morgan, Richard, and Sian.

We also took the opportunity to recognise the members who have regularly attended the cookery sessions over the past few months with certificates, small trophies and medals.  Well done to the members who won the following awards:

Best bingo caller: Amy Jones

Best washer-upper: Sam Evans

Quizmaster: Ffion Poole

Most cool: Richard Zollner

Most talkative: Gethin Chamberlain

Best dancer: Natalie King

Best singer: Morgan Jones

I love my food/best eater: Chris Davies

Best outfit: Sian

Best cook: Cheryl Smith

We also presented other attendees with a recognition of attendance certificate.

Thanks to Cheryl and Zoe for cooking and serving up the burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream, and well done to the attendees for prepping the salad (and dodging it to make room for the ice cream) – you’re all amazing, and to see you all grow in confidence over the past few months has been incredible.  Learning new skills, reconnecting with friends, and making new ones has to be the highlight of the sessions.

Thanks to the Comic Relief Community Fund for funding all 14 cookery sessions, and although we’re sad to see the sessions end, we’re hoping to obtain further funding to restart them in the future.

Friday’s cookery session was all about celebrating the coronation of King Charles III.  Our members and volunteers all looked amazing in their costumes and finery, and the chicken stir fry chosen by Amy was delicious.

Our members prepared pak choi, carrots shaved into ribbons, peppers, spring onions, cabbage, and mushrooms for the stir fry, which we served with spring rolls and prawn crackers.

Everyone did a great job as always, and thanks to Ffion for the quiz on the Royal family.  We finished off the party with strawberry trifle, Victoria sponge, and lots of laughs.

Homemade Cottage Pie topped with cheddar was Amy Jones’s chosen dish at last week’s cookery session, and it tasted amazing. We used 5% fat lean mince, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, garlic, beef stock, and dried mixed herbs. We added onions, carrots, and peas to the mince and topped it off with creamy mash and cheddar. We then popped it in the oven for twenty minutes to finish cooking. We also made a Quorn version that tasted just as nice, for members who don’t eat meat.

We served the cottage pie with cauliflower, green beans carrots peas and gravy. Our members prepared carrots and onions, dicing them into small pieces to add to the mince, then peeled the potatoes for the mash.

Ffion and Amy hosted a quiz and bingo while lunch was cooking – well done ladies for keeping everyone entertained. Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered – you all worked so hard, as usual.

There is no class next week so we will see you all on Friday May 5th when Tracy Tregaskis has chosen to make chicken stir fry.

Toad in the hole was Paula’s choice in cookery last week, the perfect meal for a cold rainy day. Toad in the hole is traditionally served with onion gravy, but we avoided the onions in ours, as Paula’s not a fan.

Volunteers and members spent the morning preparing green beans, carrots, broccoli, and potatoes for the creamy mash. During the day some members showed us photos of the meals they have recreated at home, and they looked delicious. It’s great to see that people are more confident in the kitchen at home, and are cooking more often since coming to cookery class. What a brilliant achievement, well done to you all.

We ended the afternoon with a quiz, cake, and lots of giggles as always. It’s great to see everyone smiling and having fun with their friends whilst learning new skills. Thanks again to all our volunteers, and we’ll see you next week when Amy has chosen to make cottage pie with vegetables.

Lisa’s choice of chicken curry at last week’s cookery session was enjoyed by everyone. Luke, Richard, and Jordan did a fantastic job making the curries, and congratulations to the quiz and raffle winners – it was lovely to see everyone having fun. We’d like to thank all our volunteers, who always do an amazing job.

As it’s good Friday next week, there will be no class, so we will see you all on April 14^th when Paula has chosen to make toad in the hole, mash and veg. See you all then, and have a great Easter.