From the start of the second day of school, my students have been fortunate enough to have hands on cooking experiences thanks to the generous donations of various staff members on campus. It started with a delivery of 2 crate-loads of lemons from one of our generous substitute teachers. The agenda read, “Thursday, September 8: When life gives you lemons…” and so we did. The students learned how to make a mint infused simple syrup (using mint from our CHS Sustainable Garden & Lab and heating it with equal parts sugar and water), they gained awareness of lemon zesting techniques and uses (though not used in this recipe) and practiced various juicing techniques to extract and conserve every drop. After straining, mixing and chilling, the students were able to enjoy the fruits of their labor; Mint Infused Lemonade, and they loved it! No more sugar-grainy lemonade for my students!
The next week, our very-own Mrs. Beck had 6 zucchinis the size of bats dropped off at my classroom (S-7, should you like to make a donation). With these, my students began to learn the proper way to handle a chef’s knife as well as correct knife skills as they sliced half-moons of zucchinis. In the end, they discovered that zucchini can actually taste pretty good when it’s been roasted in olive oil, garlic, grated Parmesan cheese and fresh thyme from our CHS Sustainable Garden & Lab. Even after all five of classes made this recipe, we still had lots of zucchini left over! To preserve it, one of my students, Anai Ponce, stayed after school with me on a Friday and using the Cuisinart, she shredded 4 large 1 gallon sized freezer bags of Zucchini; could you imagine?! I went home to research what we could make and suddenly recipes such as Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies and Chocolate Zucchini Brownies started popping up. Brownies it is! My students learned how to synthesize a recipe, recalculate the serving size, understand the importance of proper liquid and dry measurements and ultimately came to the conclusion that Chocolate Zucchini Brownies are chocolaty goodness, and that the zucchini mostly adds moisture and texture.
The third week of school brought our first catering request. The Parent Center was hosting the Title 1 informational for parents of our students and they wanted us to help cater their meeting. On the menu: Fried Chicken from Popeye’s and Potato Salad, Green Salad and Brownies from Kelly’s Cooking Colts. The students learned the proper cooking techniques for potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. They reinforced their knife and measuring skills and worked in small groups to complete various tasks. In the end, we had a lot of fun and a lot of potato salad, and what’s a girl to do with 15 lbs of potato salad? ~ Throw a last minute pot-luck fundraiser!
On Friday September 23rd, homemade foods began pouring into room S-7, along with beaming children with photos on their phones and stories of just exactly how they made their dish and in one case, how his baby brother inadvertently dug into it too soon. To go along with our potato salad, we had: fried chicken, hotdogs in sauce, Chilaquiles, Pancit, Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Patties, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Flan, Cornbread and more. By lunchtime, the Culinary Classroom was filled with organized chaos of hungry, laughing children as my T.A., Raquel Bandiago, documented some of the event.
