Budding Chefs inspires children by providing fun, interactive, hands-on cooking experiences

Monday, October 25, 2010

Popcorn Balls

Ooooh, this was a sticky, messy class!  We made orange popcorn balls...the easy way, using marshmallows and butter.   We talked about what colors we need to use to color them orange, because we didn't have orange food coloring.  


We all buttered our hands to form the balls....Collin did NOT like it!  He said he didn't want to do THAT AGAIN!


We read  There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.  What a silly story!  















Friday, October 22, 2010

Mexican Lovers Class 10/21/10

On the menu for this week's class:  Mexican Rice Salad.  We talked about a lot of different things tonight to make them think about how we shop for food.

Convenience foods.  I had bought one pouch of Uncle Ben's brown rice, already cooked, just vent the package and microwave.  Then we made rice in the microwave rice cooker.  Later I asked them how long the already cooked rice takes (90 seconds) and how long it took us to make the rice in the rice cooker (9 minutes). We talked about how much each cost.  The "convenient" rice:  $1.25, which makes 2 cups.  The rice we had to make:  $1.44 for a whole box, which makes about 5 cups.  They understood that you have to pay for the convenience of someone else doing the work to make it go faster for you. 

We also discussed brand names and generic.  They were a bit confused by the terms.  You can tell how much information must be being discussed about gluten-free foods; they thought that's what I was talking about.  So we brought the discussion back the right way, and I told them that what I have found numerous times is that generic brands are actually healthier than the brand name products.  Sometimes they don't taste as good, but that's really no different than a taste difference between 2 different brands.  I had bought a generic brand box of rice. It had the same amount of fiber, but  there was no sodium. Why do you need sodium in rice?  The Minute Rice brand had sodium. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 weeks of this class.  The kids did everything themselves, and sometimes they amazed me with their knowledge.  They were also willing to try anything I asked them to.  Have a bite of parsley and cilantro?  Sure!  Of course they spit it out.  But I think it's important to know what ingredients taste and smell like on their own.  Especially cilantro...it has a definite flavor, and I'll bet from now on, they will know when something has cilantro in it just by tasting.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Chef Sprouts 10/18/10 Green Eggs and Ham


"I do not like them, Sam I Am!!"  















Mexican Lovers Class 10/14/10




This week in Mexican Lovers class we made Taco Roll-Ups.  They were really good!  Browned ground beef and refried beans, smooshed up in a blender to make it smoother to spread.  Spread on a large tortilla, top with salsa and cheese, and roll up.  Everyone ate their whole roll-up, and then made another to take home for lunch the next day.  


Giggly!






Saturday, October 16, 2010

October Cook with a Book at Butterfly Books

This class is so much fun! Cook with a Book is a story time followed by making (and eating) a simple snack.  Our October theme was pumpkins.  We read a couple of pumpkin books and sang some songs, and then made No Bake Pumpkin Pies. 

We were doing a little scarecrow song, and we talked about what makes the scarecrow so scary to the birds...talked about how the straw or hay makes noise in the wind, and sometimes people put bells or things that clang on them. And one little boy said, "and sometimes they use a microwave!" I had to giggle (to myself). I knew he meant microphone--we had a laugh about high-tech scarecrows. Later we were talking about big "T" and little "t", as in Tablespoons vs. teaspoons. I asked if they knew what a T looked like, and the same boy said "you use it to hold your ball". He's a little golfer! Never a dull moment.