Junior Blogs about Recipes and Cooking

Junior Sarah King unpacks her lunch. She pulls out her Greek yogurt and raspberries, accompanied by her black bean flauta with mango chutney left over from the dinner she had made the night before.

“A lot of time [my lunch] is dinner leftovers,” King said, “Usually I try to make lunch with whatever leftovers we have.”

It may not be your average lunch, but then again, King isn’t your average cook.

Growing up, King was surrounded by food.

Organic food, that is. Her parents, John and Kathy King, owned an organic café called Sarah’s Café. Sarah’s Café, named after Sarah, opened in July of 1996, and whether she was washing dishes or helping make the focaccia bread for the bread baskets, Sarah loved helping out.

After she made the focaccia bread, she would take on the task of preparing it in the basket. She would then confidently walk the basket out to each table in the restaurant that was seated with customers.

Ever since she was two, Sarah had been helping out at the café. At the age of two, Sarah drew a series of drawings that her mom named “Apples All Around.” Although they looked like black circles, they were supposed to be apples. Her very own “Apples All Around” was used as the menu cover.

“I do think that growing up around good food, homemade food, organic food, gardening and farmer’s markets has influenced her love of food,” Kathy said.

The café sparked from the selling of gourmet, organic foods such as pumpkins, tomatoes, and zucchini. The Kings sold these vegetables and homemade bread at the farmer’s markets for seven years. They wanted to sell the food year round, which led them to open the café. The café started out in the King’s kitchen. They originally called it Stone House Pizza, selling pizzas and bread from their 1857 stone house.

“It was nice to get a larger space,” Kathy said. “A space that would let us use our home as a home instead of a bakery.”

Sarah would watch PBS cooking shows, read Bon Appetit, and explore the cook book “Epicurious,” though none of them seemed to reach out to her—they all targeted adults. Sarah wanted a book or show or just anything that teenagers could relate to.

Why couldn’t she be the one to make that something? Sarah decided she could and would. She decided to reach her fellow teen chefs through a blog, or what she liked to call “a journal that could talk back.”

Sarah started off this past summer with her easy, egg-tastic omelet recipe. She made a near perfect omelet, the garden fresh peppers and onions spilled out the sides. Within hours of posting her very first blog, people commented back.

“I was really happy that maybe somebody else was reading it,” Sarah said, “It was cool to have a connection-like-thing over food.”

Sarah mainly used her family’s old recipes from the restaurant, but as time goes on she hopes to add other recipes. In the future, she wants to add more recipes to the blog that she has altered or changed up a bit, like her curry sauce in which she substituted carrot baby food for the carrot juice. Sarah also would like to explore the farmer’s markets, and use the food to find a recipe.

“I kinda want to go to the farmer’s market pick out something weird, and then see if I can do something with it,” Sarah said.

Sarah tends to be inspired by colorful food. In the past she found purple peppers that she added in a stir fry and yellow oyster mushrooms that she sauteed with onions and added to an over easy egg.

Sarah lives in rural Johnson County between Gardner and Edgerton, approximately 45 minutes away from East, making her a transfer for IB. Living near farm land makes it easier to get fresh, organic food. Although the farm she lives on is no longer running, her family keeps a garden full of fresh vegetables such as zucchini and peppers. Sarah uses these organic foods in her cooking.

“I like organic food because it’s nice to know where the food comes from,” Sarah said.

Sarah’s blogging process begins with a plan. A week or so before cooking the actual recipe, Sarah starts brainstorming. She brainstorms how, what, and when she is going to cook her meal.

Ingredients are bought. The ovens are preheated. And Sarah cooks. Her favorite type of food to cook is Asian, because “there are so many ingredients and so many flavors.”

After cooking and eating her meal, Sarah writes her “cook talk.” Writing down whatever comes to mind, Sarah talks about the food. She doesn’t just explain the recipe and talk about how to cook it, she talks about her feelings toward the food. How the food makes her feel happy, carefree, or sad.

The writing is relaxed and sometimes sarcastic. She says in a recent blog post that, “either way, empty space, cramped apartment, suburbia, if someone is reading this, I’m still posting.” The blog is a way for Sarah to just write and reach whatever audience is viewing.

“I’ve always liked writing,” Sarah said, “and I guess people are reading it and judging it, but I wouldn’t know.”

Sarah tries to update her blog at least once a week. Sometimes she will fall behind, but so far Sarah has posted 21 recipes since this past July. She hopes that maybe one day she could create a cookbook about how to use and find fresh, organic foods, maybe using some of her recipes that she has posted on her blog.

For now, Sarah is satisfied with her blog. She may add baking tips in the future, but for now she will continue with her unique, teen “foodie” recipes.