The holiday season can be stressful for us as the students get riled up in anticipation of school break, classes get shorter making it hard to cram our lessons into half days, and our personal lives get busy. I personally view holidays as a way to celebrate with students and take some of the pressure off of the normal academia pacing that at this time of the semester can leave us all exhausted. Here are a few holiday ideas to either help your department raise money, fit in some extra holiday excitement, or comply with a half day schedule.

Fundraisers

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser

Baking & Pastry

• Tiny Turkey Dinner Cupcakes
• Nutter butter Turkey Cookies
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

Hospitality

• Turkey Placeholders

Sewing

• Felt Turkey Pins
• Turkey Chair Covers
• Soft Pumpkins These can be made into pincushions

Preschool

• Foot & Hand Turkey Craft
• Turkey Songs

Community Service

• Find a Local Food Bank
• Thanksgiving Food Baskets (PDF)

Life Skills

• Collage Family Tree

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Time Frame: 1 full block

Objective: Apply food  preparation guidelines related to meat and grains. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Review how to cook meat properly.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

Background for Teachers

• This is one of the schools more popular take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home and bake for dinner. That’s right it is assembled but not baked!
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Lasagna Fundraiser Profit Sheet (Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs.
• You can also have your baking class or the culinary class make garlic bread or focaccia bread as an accompaniment to the meal.
• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)

Activity

• Have each group prepare 1-2 recipes from start to finish; assembling them in the foil tins.
  

Evaluation Sheet

• Evaluation-Lasagna (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Italian Sausage Lasagna Take Home Meal Recipe (Word)
• Lasagna Labels (Word)

Websites

• Lasagna Fundraiser
• How to Get a Real Education for B Students

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Time Frame: 2 full blocks + 1 half block to make stock

Objective: Apply food preparation guidelines related to pies and soups. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Assign group roles.

Materials

Background for Teachers

• This is the best selling recipe for my culinary program’s take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home and bake for dinner. Our pot pies are assembled and frozen but not baked!
• Chicken Pot Pie Profit Sheet (Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs.
• It is not uncommon for my culinary students to make at least 30 of these pies. I created an ingredient matrix to help with ordering ingredients for each year’s demand. Chicken pot pie ingredient matrix (Excel).
• Recipe modifications: I don’t use dry sherry in my recipe or fresh thyme leaves. I always use whole milk.
• The secret to this recipe is the butter crust. I realize this poses a challenge as butter crust must be refrigerated and is a pain to roll out sometimes. If the crust is too frustrating only roll tops for the pies and leave off the bottom crust.
• Making so many pie crusts by hand is silly so use a food processor. Don’t over mix or it will turn into butter/flour paste – it should still look like crumbles that you have to squeeze together to form a ball.
• If you make 30 plus pies that is an awful lot of vegetable chopping! You can use a food processor to save time or if you like to see them squirm give them the 10lb bag of onions to dice ….
• I use about 2 cups of cubed chicken meat in each filling recipe. Sometimes I have the students take all the meat off the bones from the stock and other times I boil chicken breast in the stock to make the dicing go faster.
• The pies are much easier to fill when the filling is cold. I suggest making the filling one day and assembling pies the next. Otherwise what happens is that the filling starts melting the crust and it is very difficult to prevent them from spilling as students are putting them in the freezer.
• One pot pie filling recipe is enough to fill 2 shallow 9″ pie tins. You will need two crust recipes though.
• Pies are much easier to transport home when they are frozen and in a pie box. Freeze them for at least a half day before sending them home with customers. You don’t want customers with pot pie puddles in the back of their cars!

• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)

Activity

• Day 1:
  • Make stock
• Day 2:
  
  • Group 1, 2, 3: Make pot pie filling
  • Group 4, 5: Make pie crusts- refrigerate by pressing dough into disks and wrapping with plastic wrap.
• Day 3:
  
  • Make filling
  • Roll pie crusts
  • Fill and top pies
  • Freeze pies immediately
    

Evaluation Sheet

• EVALUATION-Chicken Pot Pie (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Frozen Pot Pies Labels (Word)

Websites

• Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
• How to Give your B Students a Real Education

Pictures

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
• Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad Fundraiser
• Lasagna Fundraiser
• Stuffed Shells Take Home Meal Fundraiser
• Gourmet Mac & Cheese Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

Time Frame: 1 full block

Objective: Apply food preparation guidelines related to dairy and grains. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

• This is one of my culinary program’s take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home and bake for dinner. That’s right it is assembled but not baked!
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Mac & Cheese Profit Sheet (Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs. This is one of the lower profit fundraisers due to the cost of the cheese.
• Ingredient Tips: I upped the amount of bread crumbs to 1/3 of a cup, the amount of salt to 3/4 a tsp and the bacon to 1/2 lb.
• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)
• It is really easy to run out of ingredients if students don’t measure the cheese the same way. I usually account for some error in measuring just to make sure we don’t run out. Tell your students to loosely fill the measuring cup with cheese or convert the recipe all to ounces and weigh the cheese to be more accurate.

Activity

• Have each group prepare 1-2 recipes from start to finish; assembling them in the foil tins.
  

Evaluation Sheet

• Evaluation- Mac & Cheese (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!
• You can also have your culinary class make a garden salad as an accompaniment to the meal. Add an additional class if you’re going to make salad too.

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Mac and Cheese Labels (Word)

Websites

• Cheese Lovers 5 Cheese Mac and Cheese Recipe
• How to Get a Real Education for B Students

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
• Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad Fundraiser
• Lasagna Fundraiser
• Stuffed Shells Take Home Meal Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

Time Frame: 1 full block

Objective: Apply food preparation guidelines related to dairy and grains. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

Background for Teachers

• This is one of the schools more popular take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home and bake for dinner. That’s right it is assembled but not baked!
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Stuffed Shells Take Home Meal Profits(Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs.
• Ingredient Tips: there are 5.5cups of ricotta in a 3lb(48oz) tub. There are 13 cups in a #10 can of spaghetti sauce. If your homemade sauce tastes burnt or bitter add some sugar.
• You can also have your baking class or the culinary class make garlic bread or focaccia bread as an accompaniment to the meal.
• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)
• Stuffed Shells Fundraiser Email Sample (Word)
• Purchase and cook a few extra boxes of pasta because some shells will be really broken or shredded looking. If you’re in a pinch and need to use the broken shell pieces simply fill them first and put them in the bottom of the pan. Use nice, whole shells for the top layer.
• It is really easy to run out of ingredients if students don’t scrape the containers completely with a rubber scraper. I usually account for some error in measuring just to make sure we don’t run out of ingredients–sauce and ricotta specifically.

Activity

• Have each group prepare 1-2 recipes from start to finish; assembling them in the foil tins.
  

Evaluation Sheet

• Evaluation -Stuffed Shells (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!
• Make your own spaghetti sauce from scratch! Add one day for making the sauce.

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Stuffed Shells Take Home Meals Fundraiser Recipe (Word)
• Stuffed Shells Label (Word)

Websites

• Stuffed Shells Order Form
• Tomato Sauce Recipe

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
• Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad Fundraiser
• Lasagna Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

Time Frame: 1 full block

Objective: Apply food  preparation guidelines related to meat and grains. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Review how to cook meat properly.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

• This is one of the schools more popular take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home for dinner.
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)

Activity

• Have each group prepare 1-2 recipes from start to finish; assembling them in the foil tins.
  

Evaluation Sheet

• Evaluation-burritos (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!
• Make your own class brand of salsa – but it will take an extra class.

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Burrito Take Home Meal Recipe (Word)
• Burrito Labels (Word)

Pictures

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
• Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

At the end of the grains, pasta, and rice unit we usually do a pasta fundraiser. This chicken, broccoli, fettuccine Alfredo is a popular choice among the faculty that can purchase this for lunch or as a take home meal.

Time Frame: 1 full block or split into 2 blocks

Objective: Apply food preparation guidelines related to pasta, dairy, and chicken.  Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

• Aluminum Takeout Containers
• Aluminum Takeout Lids

Background for Teachers

• This is one of my culinary program’s take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home and bake for dinner. That’s right it is assembled but not baked!
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Chicken broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo (Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs.
• Hand out evaluations with each meal you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)
• It is really easy to run out of ingredients if students don’t measure the cheese the same way. I usually account for some error in measuring just to make sure we don’t run out. Tell your students to loosely fill the measuring cup with cheese or convert the recipe all to ounces and weigh the cheese to be more accurate.

Activity

• Have each group prepare 1-2 recipes from start to finish; assembling them in the aluminum tins.
  

Evaluation Sheet

• EVALUATION for Chicken Alfredo (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the meal and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!
• You can also have your culinary class make a garden salad or bread as an accompaniment to the meal. Add an additional class if you’re going to make salad too.

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Tags for Chicken Fettuccini (Word)

Websites

• Chicken Broccoli Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe
• How to Get a Real Education for B Students

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
• Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad Fundraiser
• Lasagna Fundraiser
• Stuffed Shells Take Home Meal Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

Time Frame: 1/2 block to prep dough + 1 full block for salads

Objective: Apply food  preparation guidelines related to fruits and vegetables. Practice presentation and safe food handling procedures.

Set

• Review proper food handling procedures for ready to eat foods.
• Review how to cook chicken properly and how to take the internal temperature to make sure it is fully cooked before slicing.
• Assign group roles.
  

Materials

Background for Teachers

• This is one of the schools more popular take home meals that faculty and staff can purchase to take home for dinner.
• I usually have the students make bread dough the class before to accompany the salad. One semester we made basic focaccia bread the other semester we made Joy of Cooking’s Oatmeal Molasses bread.
• Pear Salad Profit Sheet (Excel) – change this document to match your pricing and ingredient costs.
• You can also make lunch portions and deliver or serve them to the faculty for lunch.
• Marinate the chicken in Italian dressing the day before for super delicious chicken to accompanies this salad perfectly!
• Hand out evaluations with each salad you deliver. Read evaluations to the class after you get them back.
• Sample Take Home Meals Order Form (Word)
  

Activity

• Group 1: make the balsamic vinaigrette & fill portion cups
• Group 2: cook and slice the chicken
• Group 3: make the candied pecans
• Group 4: prep the pear, Gorgonzola, and lettuce and start assembly
• Group 5: shape, proof, bake the bread

Evaluation Sheet

• Evaluation of pear salad (Word)

Extensions

• If you want to make this a more in depth lesson have your students price out the salads and determine the selling price and profit. Being able to use Excel is a great life skill!

Closure

• What did our class do well today?
• What challenges did you face today?
• What was the hardest part of this fundraiser?
• What could the class do differently next time to make this fundraiser more efficient?

Attachments

• Pear Salad Recipe (Word)

Pictures

Similar Lessons

• Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser
• Take Home Meals Fundraiser
  

Print PDF

I stumbled upon cake pops a few years ago and decided to give them a try with my hospitality students. We were making food to sell as a fundraiser at the prom fashion show. These are delicious and genius creations sure to be a crowd pleaser.

As far as I can tell, cake pops were first created by Angie Dudley the founder of Bakerella.com. She has a whole book and supplies dedicated to the art and craft of making these delicious treats!

Materials

Snowmen Cake Pops

1. Bake a Cake
2. Crumble Cake
3. Mix with frosting
4. Form into balls
5. Freeze the balls
6. Stick a skewer in them (half way)
7. Dip them in 1 bag white chocolate chips (melted + 3 Tbsp shortening)
8. For hats I used mini Oreo Cakesters
9. For noses I used the orange piece of licorice mix and rolled them into noses. Softened Starbursts can also be used.
10. For eyes and a mouth I also used cut pieces of licorice.

Sheep & Lamb Cake Pops

1. Bake a Cake
2. Crumble Cake
3. Mix with frosting
4. Form into balls
5. Freeze the balls
6. Stick a skewer in them (half way)
7. Dip them in 1 bag white chocolate chips (melted + 3 Tbsp shortening). Shortening makes the chocolate thinner.
8. Let the excess drip off before dipping them in a bowl of sugar pearls.
9. Using the chocolate as glue glue on a round black licorice head, a tail, ears, and four legs.
10. A heart sprinkle can be used for a mouth or you can shape one from the pink licorice.
11. Finally add eyes with a tooth pick dipped in white chocolate.

Cake Pop Materials for Snowmen and Sheep

Tips

• Don’t make your cake balls too big or their weight will make them fall off the lolly pop stick!
• To make chocolate thinner and less globby add a spoonful of shortening to the hot chocolate.
• If you don’t have a piece of Styrofoam to put the finished pops in find an appliance that has Styrofoam surrounding it and poke a few holes in that. I used the Styrofoam that came with my rice maker.

Selling them as a fundraiser

• Have your students price out how much each one costs in supplies to make. Double the cost and that should be your selling price.
• Place a lolly pop bag over each one and tie with a ribbon as pictured.
• These can also be used as a substitution for a candy gram–instead sell cake pop grams! The way grams work is you have students buy a gram from someone in the school and they can attach a personal note. The grams are then delivered on a specific day and usually are surprises for the students who receive them.  Cake pops make a great “gram” to deliver because they can be made in all different shapes and representations for every season. For a Vocational Agriculture program you could sell farm animal cake pops. Here are some holiday cake pops. Even Birthday cake pops. The ideas are endless.
• To display them at a concession stand buy a piece of foam (like is found in the floral section of your local craft store) that fits inside a decorative container and stick the pops in the foam. To hide the foam place Easter grass or tissue paper over the foam.

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Win $20,000 for you and your school by entering the Taste of Home/Books are Fun recipe contest. There are six categories you can enter:

1. Appetizers & Snacks
2. Salads, Soups, & Sides
3. Entrees
4. Desserts
5. Bake Sale
6. Healthy Recipes

The second place prize is $10,000 and third place is $5,000. The contest ends November 30th. Winners will also receive a year subscription of Taste of Home Magazine for themselves and colleagues. For more information and to enter click here or click on the banner.

Recipes are scored according to the following criterion:

• 35% Flavor
• 25% Visual Appeal
• 25% Feasibility
• 15% Creativity/Uniqueness

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