Feeding others

Help me finish this sentence:
When I prepare food and provide food to feed others I feel______________.

What word fits best in the blank? (And no, this isn't preparation for a standardized test.)

Lots of words spring to mind for me:
giving
nurturing
bountiful

But the word that best describes it for me is one that I almost never use in writing or in speech - beneficient. I had to look it up to confirm that it meant what I thought it meant. It does.
adjective - doing good or causing good to be done; conferring benefits; kindly in action or purpose.

When I prepare a meal for my family, when I bring a dish to a potluck, I feel beneficient. Even if I never use the word, that's the feeling I get about myself.

This week was the next to last week before the class begins studying the regions of the US. That means it's the next to last week of me choosing a cooking project just because it tickle my fancy. (Or because a cooking project chooses me; next week will include two projects like this.) I had gotten the advice to bake biscuits with the class because when we study chemistry over the winter, we can mess around with the ingredients and see what happens. Good-bye baking powder, hello baking soda. That kind of thing. So biscuits now would be the base line.

Su took class into the school kitchen in halves on Thursday afternoon to mix up the dough and form the biscuits, while I worked with the other half to finish their books. Then we switched, so all kids got to do both activities. I popped down the hall to see how the first group was doing partway through, and this is what I saw:
Not bad, you might say. But let's look a little closer.
So what. So there's a little flour on the counter.
Oh, my...Whoah...

I shouldn't have worried. My two angels, Su and Colleen, had the kitchen cleaned up before 3:00. (Colleen is an assistant who works with a student in my classroom.)

After school I baked the biscuits in the already-cleaned up kitchen. Then it was 5:55PM.

People came, people ate.No pictures of grown ups; they are a bit more camera shy. But they ate the biscuits, too!
And by 6:45...
I especially love the jam smeared all over the stick of butter!

Without a doubt, my students liked the biscuits. They loved the home-made-this-summer jam, too. But more importantly, I hope they felt a sense of beneficence. Their efforts allowed others to eat.

Even if they felt this way, did they realize it? I plan to talk with the class about this idea next week. Monday we'll be making salsa for the whole school to enjoy as part of taco lunch the next day. I'll let you know what they have to say about how it feels to feed others.

More my hero than ever

In an earlier post, I mentioned my hero of both writing and cooking, Catherine Newman. After writing that post, I emailed Catherine to tell her about my blog. Look at me, networking.

To my great pleasure, she responded the next day and offered to arrange for my class to get a free subscription to Chop Chop magazine. She is an editor of the magazine and also writes a column about her own children trying out the magazine's recipes.
We receive a subscription at home and my own children have enjoyed many of the articles and recipes that promote healthy cooking and eating to the ages 5-12 set. In the back of my mind, I'd been thinking it would be nice to get a subscription through the school library. But any public teacher will tell you that an offer of anything for free is welcome. The fact that it came from someone whose work I admire made it all the more lovely.

Our first issue arrived yesterday after school. It's a great one; the feature article is about a school group's visit to the White House garden and kitchens, including profiles of the chefs on staff there.

This morning I made a big deal out of sharing this new gift to our class with my students. They were thrilled to see the magazine! However, today was a busy day, with an all-school educational Solar Fest occupying the whole afternoon. (This event was centered around the solar array that was installed last fall on the school property.) It was wonderfully sunny, but with little time to read our new magazine. But I shared it because I didn't want to wait, I was so excited.

I'm looking forward to seeing which recipes capture the kids interest in the coming weeks. I'll report back...

Thanks again to Chop Chop magazine for this free subscription!

Busy, busy, busy

So much to tell:
of biscuits at Open House
and free gifts
and the upcoming first dish we'll prepare for the whole school.

But first...
in recognition of the completion of the first six weeks of school, I decided to do a bookmaking project with the class. I have been trying to figure out the best way to send home the recipes we've made so that there's a feeling of ceremony and celebration to it; copying them off, stapling them, and sending them home at the end of the week didn't quite feel like the way to go. All along I've had in the back of my mind that we would make a book and glue in the recipes along with other related information, but in the busyness of the beginning of the year, I hadn't figured out what the book format would be.

Then I realized that rather than creating one book per student with a collection of the year's recipes in it, it would make more sense to have a book for each unit throughout the year. My school uses the Responsive Classroom model which envisions the first six weeks of school as an important time for setting up routines, establishing expectations, and building community. The cooking we've done so far has not tied into any specific academic curriculum, but it has been an essential part of the development of the classroom community.

I have done workshops on simple bookmaking, and drew on what I've done before to design the books we made this week. There was absolutely NO WAY this project would have been possible, though, without the amazing efficiency of Barb, a classroom assistant. She spends just under an hour and a half in my room each day and accomplishes more in that ninety minutes that most of us mere mortals can do in a whole day! After my room, she's off to three more classrooms for the rest of her workday.

Monday morning I told her what I was hoping to do and she got to work cutting paper for the book pages. Monday afternoon the kids watercolored paper for their book covers and Tuesday morning she cut them up into fronts and backs. And so on. I am VERY lucky to have Barb on my team!

The kids spent their writing time this week looking back at the articles we read about the vegetables we've worked with. Then, on notecards, they wrote out facts and opinions about the foods we prepared. They also sketched these foods as illustrations.


Message from the Wisdom of Hindsight: next time have kids do these cards within a day or two of the food experience.

Yesterday we bound the books blank; today they glued in the recipes I had typed and the writing and artwork they had created.


Tonight they showed off their books at Open House. Tomorrow they'll do the last cards about biscuits (baked this afternoon), and then take the books home. Hopefully they'll try the recipes with their parents.

Here's how the books work. Recipes in the front, their work inside the flaps:


Okay, okay. I'll never be a hand model. You try holding an iPad and taking video with one hand while turning the pages with the other, and let me know how it goes.

Coming soon: biscuits and more. Stay tuned..

Fruit Salad

Do not ask me why, but in the wee hours of this morning, I dreamed that I was making fruit salad with my students. In the art room.

Maybe I was thinking about the collages they have been working on with our art teacher, inspired by the works of sixteenth century Italian painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo. We were chopping fruit in the art room after all. Not too different from this scene:

But I am inclined to think my dream occurred because this cooking concept is just on my mind. Enough to have invaded my dreams...

A Sweet New Year To You All

In this week's recipe, take:
4 pounds of carrots
2 humongus sweet potatoes
16 kids
and put them together for
10 minutes.

This is what you'll get:

I took the day off school today and tomorrow, to celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashannah, with my family. Last week when I started wondering what our cooking project of the week might be, I realized it would have to happen early in the week and Su wouldn't be available to do oven detail. In a flash of inspiration, I decided to prepare a simple stove-top vegetable dish that has always been served in my family for Rosh Hashannah: tzimmes.

Tzimmes is a general term that is used to describe any sort of stew that includes an element of sweetness. It is customary to wish people "a sweet new year" -- one of the reasons tzimmes is a staple at most Rosh Hashannah meals. If you Google tzimmes recipes you will find everything from chicken to brisket to dried fruit included in a cornucopia of recipes. My mother made a simpler variety: carrots steamed in a little margarine (I used butter), sprinkled with flour, then cooked in just enough water to cover them. After half an hour, toss in the sweet potatoes and cook until they fall apart. She made it that way because Grandma made it that way because Great-Grandma made it that way...I didn't even realize there were other ways to make tzimmes until a couple of years ago.

Our school lunch program has joined in a food cooperative and our district was also awarded a fresh fruits and vegetables grant this year, so I was able to order four pounds of carrots and two monstrously large sweet potatoes from two local growers and get it billed to the grant program. I have been piecing together funding for ingredients this month and will be writing a grant for my classroom this weekend that will hopefully take care of some of our expenses this year. This week, it was nice to have that end of things handled so easily.

Wednesday morning when students checked the morning message, they were asked to check off which they thought was healthier: white potatoes or sweet potatoes. They all guessed sweet potatoes. During reading time, we read a pared-down version of this article (pun intended). The complexity of the article allowed them to practice checking understanding as we read, something I have discovered many students need to work on. We recorded what we discovered on a Venn diagram on the white board. While sweet potatoes do have antioxidants and large amounts of vitamin A, they are also more often prepared without the massive amounts of oil that french fries and potato chips require. The article made for an interesting class conversation.

As snack time began, I got out peelers and they got to work. Kids worked in shifts in between eating their own snacks. As writing time started, I heated up a plug-in burner and started steaming the carrots.



In the afternoon, I served everyone a small taste and then asked for comments. Overall the reaction was favorable, with some kids specifically commenting on the fact that they liked the texture. I had wondered what they'd make of squashiness of the falling apart sweet potatoes. It brings me back to countless family meals, but if you haven't encountered it before, it's not the most charismatic way to interact with a sweet potato. One student didn't care for the carrots, but came back asking for seconds on the mush.

The success of the day came from the student who had eaten bread plain when we made pesto, then ate more bread plain when we made the eggplant dip. The optimistic side of me has been thinking, "Hey! This kid likes healthy, home-baked bread." I've been too busy serving everyone else to let the pessimistic side of me pipe up. But his lack of adventurousness hasn't escaped my notice.

Yesterday, after hearing everyone's comments on tzimmes, he came up and asked for his own sample. Sure enough, he was back in line with almost everyone else, asking for a full-sized serving for seconds. There was no peer pressure, but there was certainly peer influence at work.

As I offered up seconds, I asked the group to take their time eating so I could capture some pictures of them munching away. (Usually most of them have finished by the time I'm done serving.) A student who opted out of seconds volunteered to be cameraman. This is what he saw:

Eggplant Lovers Unite!

I am mounting an eggplant rebellion.

To explain: I spent my twenties as a fairly strict vegetarian. When I started dating my now-husband, there were often few vegetarian choices on the menu when we ate out. Eggplant parmesan was a reliable choice; in fact the Friday night pizza and sub place we frequented for the first three years we lived together made the best eggplant parm sub I have had before or since. (Really tasty baklava, too, but that's another story...) My husband was not a vegetarian, but was willing to eat vegetarian at home. But not eggplant. Never eggplant. It was more than him not liking it -- he was and still is offended by its existence. "Empty fiber," he has told me more than once.

This character flaw was no deal breaker and we've been happily married for twelve years and have two children.

Our kids are really good eaters. They eat almost anything and especially fruits and veggies. My son does not like beets and my daughter does not like cauliflower. Fair enough -- I don't particularly like brussel sprouts. Everyone's entitled to one or two food aversions.

A couple of years ago I brought home a lovely eggplant, sliced it thin, put a bit of olive oil on it and grilled it up with dinner. I'm not pointing any fingers, but it's possible that my husband made a few jokes of the "eggplant is gross" variety. So it was no surprise that both my children tried a piece of grilled eggplant and stated they didn't like it. Whatever. Solidarity with Dad = more eggplant for me.

But you know how it is. If no one else will eat something when you make it, you make it less often. And now that I enjoy all the animal-based entrees when we eat out, I rarely consider ordering eggplant parm. So when I found this yummy sounding recipe for an eggplant dip, I decided to make it with my students instead of trying it at home.

Yesterday I brought two luscious, purple specimens into my class. "That's an eggplant?" a couple of kids questioned. I was thrilled just to think I was exposing them to something they'd never seen before. Isn't that what education should be about?

During reading time, I shared some basic nutritional info about eggplant. (With the kale and basil, we read short informative articles about those veggies, but I recognize the flaws of my jeweled veggie friend -- a nutrition article about it wouldn't be very long.) Instead they read a short essay that recognizes both the lovely and the horrifying about eggplant. It does not have your typical texture; it does make some peoples' lips kind of itchy.

Kids discussed the text in small groups (something we're working on for anything they've read) and then we shared out as a whole group. More thrills: my students were interested in trying it a new vegetable instead of being scared off. And of course, the question: "Why is it called eggplant? It doesn't look like an egg." We ended reading time by cutting them open and seeing what they looked like inside. They are a weirdly atypical fruit, with their spongy flesh inside that luminous violet skin. One student said if it smelled weird he probably wouldn't like it, so we let him get close for a sniff.

The fantabulous Su roasted the eggplant after lunch and in the last hour of day worked with groups of three and four to measure the rest of the ingredients while everyone else worked frenetically on a building challenge involving newspaper and tape. It was busy in the room! A few whirs of my food processor (lugged from home), the room was cleaned up, and everyone sat at their seats in anticipation. It's amazing how quickly a group of kids can clean up and settle down if they know there's food waiting at the other end...

I served small tastes spread on loaf two of the bread and kids shared their reactions. Three quarters of the class liked it and came back for seconds. Some comments:

"I think I'd like this spread on a turkey sandwich."

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten!"

"This would be really good with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese." (You know you're in Vermont when kids request sharp cheddar.)

One student, who began what will possible be a life-long love affair with kale two weeks ago said, "It would be better with kale chips." He needs a t-shirt that proclaims: Everything is better with kale chips.

No one complained about itchy lips. Today most kids ate more spread on slices of leftover bread from the school kitchen (Thanks, Emily!)

But here's the best part.

When I left school yesterday, I brought some with me. My daughter had said she wanted to try it, just in case maybe she did like eggplant after all. Knowing I'd hear about it if I didn't bring any for my son, too, I made up two mini-sandwiches for them to eat on the way home.

They ate it.

They liked it.

There are now three eggplant eaters in my house. My husband is outnumbered.

The eggplant rebellion has begun.

Behind the Scenes

In case you are wondering how I manage to bake bread in the middle of the day, let me introduce you to my couldn't-do-it-without-her-partner-in-cooking-crime:The indispensable Suzanne, putting eggplant in the oven this afternoon

Miss Su, as my students know her, is both a volunteer and valued member of our professional community. School wide she has roles too numerous to list here. In my room, she handles any projects that need oven time in the school kitchen, but she also pulls small groups of students to chop, measure, mix, etc. And just when it looks like a bomb has gone off and I am envisioning the clean up process come 3PM, she tackles that, too.

There's no way I could have considered a cooking-based curriculum without her.

Next post: the skinny on the eggplant dip and student reactions.