Camp Nana · A Summer Tradition

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A Rainbow Rolled by Hand

The Mountains of North Carolina

While brainstorming activities to do with my campers at my recent "Camp Nana," my very first idea was to offer a class on baking and cake decorating. But here in the mountains of North Carolina, we sit in a bit of a rain forest. A humid, wet rain forest. This is not the best environment for cake decorating, as the frosting has an incredibly hard time setting up.

My next thought was to do a cooking class where we actively ate what we cooked for dinner—doing double duty! Then I thought about pizza, which naturally led me to think about pasta. (My mind wanders in strange and mysterious ways...)

Pasta Perfection in the Mountains

This time, I thank goodness for strange thoughts, as this class went down with absolute pasta perfection. Of course, my over-achiever self decided that we would make differently colored pastas instead of plain old noodles. Why not? Using fresh beets, spinach leaves, and roasted carrots, we blended each vegetable into a vibrant purée to construct our own brilliant dough from scratch.

The technique is incredibly simple and a perfect activity for kids of all ages. You dump the flour onto your work surface and use your fiercely clean, washed hands to bring it together in a circle, creating a well to slowly swirl the wet ingredients in. We pushed the vibrant dough through the machines into impossibly thin, beautiful sheets.

From the Memoir to the Kitchen

Ready to toss your freshly made rainbow with something rich and deeply savory? Uncover the Master Blueprint for our decadent Penne Carbonara.