Graduation Potluck!

The following is a blog from NC State student Holly Starks. It is the 5th in a series of 6 posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. If you haven’t already, read the 1st Wee1st Weekk, 2nd Week, 3rd Week, 4th Week and 5th Week. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’sOFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership, the Food Shuttle and NC State hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program.

Graduation Potluck!

This past Tuesday, April 27th, was the final class of our Side by Side six week course. At the beginning of class while the parents filled out a few surveys, Sara led the kids in a MyPyramid game. She showed pictures of different foods and asked for them to name the foods and then choose which food groups they belong in. After the surveys were completed, the families were challenged by a review game. The parents were asked questions from cooking, nutrition, and gardening lessons. If they answered a question correctly their child was allowed to move to the next space on our “life-size” game board. At the end of the game the families were tied and we had a lighting round to determine the winner. Felicia answered the question correctly, and she and her daughter Ali were announced the winners.

Following the game was the graduation celebration. The families were awarded their certificates for completing the course and were given graduation gifts that included a reusable grocery bag, a cutting board, a water bottle, and an adjustable measuring spoon. We also celebrated the completion of the class with a potluck. The families brought in a food item of their choice that reflected the knowledge they had gained from the class. Felicia and Ali brought in a black bean dip which contained Velveta cheese and orange bell peppers. Geneva and Dorian brought in chicken salad sandwiches on whole grain flat bread. The chicken salad had light mayonnaise and was topped with cherry tomatoes and romaine lettuce. Tamika and Tristina brought in turkey meatballs that also had mixed vegetables on the inside. Sara, our chef, brought in pumpkin muffins for the class to try. Everyone agreed that all of the recipes were delicious. The families were especially surprised about how tasty the muffins were when Sara explained that they did not contain any butter and were made using low-fat yogurt. “Wow! These are really good for not having any butter,” Tamika added. Following her comment Geneva asked, “You can use sweet potato instead of pumpkin, right?” Avram, our gardener, confirmed:

Yes, you can. It can help to save money when pumpkins aren’t in season.”

Sweet potatoes are in season all year long in North Carolina, which means that they are very affordable, especially when compared to foods that are not in season.

If you are interested in trying the pumpkin muffins with your family too, see the recipe below. We hope that you enjoyed hearing about our class. Keep a look out for new upcoming OFL classes!

Healthy Drinks Are Important Too!

The following is a blog from NC State student Holly Starks. It is the 5th in a series of 6 posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. If you haven’t already, read the 1st Week, 2nd Week, 3rd Week and 4th Week. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’sOFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership, the Food Shuttle and NC State hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. This past Tuesday, our Side by Side class at the Crosby Head Start Center discussed the importance of physical activity as a part of living healthy lives. The participants shared what physical activities they like to do as family such as going to the park or playing games. Being active together can provide fun, quality time with the family while also serving as a motivation factor to help each other stay active. As the families pointed out, exercising together doesn’t have to be in a gym but can be something simple like playing Simon Says, hopscotch, or Red Light Green Light.

Along with being active, I also pointed out the importance of staying hydrated throughout the day. The families learned about healthy, affordable drink options that can replace sodas or sugary drinks such as water, reduced-fat milk, and 100 percent juices. The families were able to try some healthy, alternative drink options through a taste test activity. They first tried tap water that they flavored with their choice of lemon, lime or both. As a class, we discussed how tap water is free and safe, and can be flavored with numerous things like fruits, cucumbers or mint. Next, the families tried “fruit sodas” which was a combination of seltzer water and 100 percent juice. “Mmmm,” Dorian exclaimed. Dorian, one of the kids in the class gulped down the soda happily. The rest of the class also agreed with Dorian that the fruit sodas were good. I told the class that fruit sodas are a great and fun way to reduce calories from 100 percent juices, which can have higher calorie content due to sugars.

Lastly, the families tried smoothies that were made using mangos and oranges. The families shared different fruits that they would use for their own smoothies as I pointed out how smoothies can be a good way to get nutrients we all need through fruits and dairy that are incorporated into them. Avram also pointed out that a small amount of vegetables like spinach can be easily added into smoothies to add nutrients, but do not alter the flavor of the smoothie.

While talking about drinks, we also discussed the importance of choosing low-fat milk products and the nutritious benefits that we get from consuming milk. Whole milk is higher in fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol, which can both contribute to the risk for chronic diseases like heart disease. The instructors told the parents that skim milk is a great alternative because it does not have any fat and is lower in calories, sugars, and cholesterol. The participants were hesitant about switching to skim milk because they were afraid it would taste too watery. We encouraged the families to at least try skim milk and see if they like it. Luckily, we had some skim milk from our orange oatmeal pancake recipes that we made during the cooking lesson. At the end of class, one of our participants, Tamika, agreed to try the skim milk. “Hmm, it’s not bad,” she paused after a sip “Actually, I think I’ll try some more.” Tamika was pleasantly surprised that she liked the skim milk and we offered to let her take the rest of the milk home to let her family try it as well.

Next week the families will be graduating! Join us for our last week to hear about what the families have learned from the class as well as the fun activities they will get to do in celebrating the completion of the course.

Make a List and Check It Twice

The following post is written by NCSU student, Madelaine Frye. It is the 2nd in a series of blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as Nutrition Instructor in her second section of spring OFL classes. Read Week 1 , Week 2, and Week 3 here. Madelaine is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Hello again! I have been reporting to you all on how our Side By Side classes at the Knightdale Head Start location have been progressing through our six-week healthy lifestyle adventure. Week four in the OFL Side by Side class sure was full of exciting activities, along with lots of cooking!

This week, we discussed the importance of making a grocery list prior to leaving your house for the store. Family menu planning gets everyone excited about meals and allows families to share in the responsibilities and fun. Advance planning can make sure that we always have healthy foods on hand and allow us to use recipe frameworks. Recipe frameworks help us to manage our food resources because we can plan to use up ingredients we have at home, using items over several meals, and to take advantage of sales we see at the store. Items such as rice and chicken are good examples of framework items, because they can be cooked in advance and used with several different dishes throughout the week, such as in sandwiches, casseroles, and soups.

Breakfast was also a topic of discussion this week. Did you know that eating breakfast can help prevent you from over eating later on and gives you the energy you need to do your best all day? If you have minimal time in the mornings, try waking up 15 minutes earlier, preparing ingredients the night before, or making a breakfast that can be heated up and taken on the go. Fruit, toasted grain items, and milk cartons are easy items to carry with you in the car or on the bus. Always try to eat at least three food groups at each meal!

For our fourth class we cooked both yogurt parfait with homemade granola and chicken soup. Yogurt parfait is a quick and easy snack that can be great for breakfast each morning. Chicken soup contains tons of foods that represent each part of the plant; Carrots are a root and celery is a stem. Try these yummy foods at home with your family and you’ll love them too!

NC State students finish semester of service learning with IFFS

If you haven't visited the Food Shuttle before, then you might not know how close we are to NC State University. We are right down the road from the University and are extremely thankful for our relationship with students and faculty members! This past semester, NC State students in Dr. Julie Grossman's Community Food Security Scholars class have each dedicated 45 hours to our Farm or Community Gardens. Watch the video below to hear about the semester built around service learning from Dr. Grossman and Allison Hofmann:

Last week the class had a celebration as the semester came to a close and reflected on time spent in the community working alongside Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.

NC State's Vice Chancellor in the Office of Extension, Engagement and Economic Development, James J. Zuiches, attended the event and our Catering With A Cause brought some sumptuous fresh food for everyone to enjoy.

Along with volunteering numerous hours at the Farm or Community Gardens, the students created learning modules. The modules (see picture below) will be helpful for community members and volunteers to independently  learn about a variety of garden topics.

Thanks to all the students and Dr. Julie Grossman for a wonderful semester!

Eating right means snacking smart

The following post is written by NCSU student, Madelaine Frye. It is the 2nd in a series of blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as Nutrition Instructor in her second section of spring OFL classes. Read Week 1 and Week 2 here. Madelaine is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. My name is Madelaine Frye and I am a senior Nutrition student at NC State. I have been reporting to you all on how our Side By Side classes at the Knightdale Head Start location have been progressing through our six-week healthy lifestyle adventure. Week three in the OFL Side by Side class sure was full of exciting activities, along with lots of creative, quick snacking!

This week in class we all learned about ways to eat healthy when we eat out, how to read the nutrition facts label, and tricks on snacking smart. We started off our class by making, and enjoying, some mango salsa together. One of the things that we all learned during class was that mangoes can be very tough to cut. They have a core that runs through the entire center of the fruit that makes it impossible to cut down the middle. Chef Jay taught us all that we must cut down each of the sides until we get as close to the center of the mango as we can. Be careful to tuck your finger in (Don’t forget to use the claw!) whenever using knives so you don’t cut yourself! We also learned that making little squares within the section of mango before cutting them off makes the tough skin much easier to work around.

Another one of the snacks that we enjoyed were mini pizzas. Each person received a whole grain English muffin and got to put their choice of toppings on top. Some good toppings are diced green peppers, olives, turkey pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. Feel free to put any other topics on that you may enjoy! We popped them in the oven for six minutes and had great, personalized mini pizzas. Many of the families commented that they would be making them that night when they got home because they loved them so much!

These are quick, easy and very tasty! Try to make some of these healthy snacks with your family, too.

The recipes for this week were Homemade Tortilla Chips, Mango Salsa and Mini Pizzas. As usual, we have the recipes for you below but, we now have a new recipe card format! You can start printing all of the recipes that we post, and add all of your favorite Food Shuttle recipes to your collection.

Making Meals Healthier

The following is a blog from NC State student Holly Starks. It is the 3rd in a series of 6 posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. If you haven’t already, read the 1st Week and 2nd Week.  Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership, the Food Shuttle and NC State hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Our second OFL Side by Side class met this past Tuesday for their third lesson, which focused on healthy eating choices while eating out and choosing snack options. The parents learned how to use the information on nutrition facts labels when buying food products while the kids were able to make their own healthy trail mix. As instructors, we emphasized the benefits of making their own healthy snacks at home such as the trail mix the kids made, but we also recognized that there will be times when their family decides to eat out. We provided several suggestions for making healthier choices such as choosing options that have more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, choosing grilled or baked options over fried, and choosing healthier drinks like water, milk, or juice instead of soda. We also pointed out that fast foods and restaurants tend to put high amounts of fat in their food, especially the types of fats that we consider “bad for you.” As a class we talked about the three different types of fats and encouraged the families to choose options that contain more unsaturated fats such as cooking with oils instead of butter and margarine, and incorporating fish, nuts, or seeds into their meals.

The cooking lesson also emphasized healthier cooking options and substitutions for when the families cook at home. For our recipes this week we made baked chicken fingers and sweet potato fries. Both of these recipes were a great way to show alternate cooking methods that can make a meal healthier. Instead of these recipes being fried, both were baked in the oven, which greatly reduced the amount of fat and calories. Using sweet potato fries was also a way to bring in more nutrients to the meal as opposed to using baked potatoes, which do not have as many vitamins.

Both the kids and parents enjoyed mixing the ingredients for the recipes as the parents helped mix the spices to flavor the fries and the kids helped mix the breading for the chicken fingers. After the fries and chicken fingers came out of the oven, everyone gathered around, anxious to try the new recipes. Both the parents and kids expressed that the recipes were delicious, as the kids especially liked the chicken fingers. Many of them expressed that they were surprised the recipes were so good because they were slightly hesitant about liking the substitutions. I think the recipes were a great way to also show the families that foods that they may typically like to eat out, can also be prepared at home in a healthier way. This recipe is also great for kids because chicken fingers tend to be at the top of their favorite foods. Join us next week to see what new recipes the families will make, and check out the recipe for the chicken fingers below. We encourage you to try them!

Baked Chicken Fingers

 serves 8                                        

 Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds boneless chicken breasts
• ¼ cup nonfat plain yogurt
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• non-stick cooking spray
• 2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 ½ cups low-sodium tomato sauce

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 400^o F.
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1” wide strips.
3. *Measure and combine the yogurt, water, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add chicken strips to yogurt mixture and toss together until chicken is well-coated.
5. *Measure and put grated Parmesan and bread crumbs into a large plastic bag.
6. Lightly coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
7. Add 3 to 4 chicken strips at a time to the plastic bag, seal bag, and have child shake the chicken inside the bag until it’s well coated. Be sure to keep the bag sealed so the ingredients don’t fall out when shaken.
8. *Place the chicken strips on the baking sheet about ½ inch apart, in a single layer, making sure not to overcrowd.
9. Spray chicken strips with cooking spray, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Repeat steps 8 and 9 if you don’t have enough room on the baking sheet to cook all the chicken strips at once.
10. 10.  Warm tomato sauce in a small saucepan over low heat, place in a small serving bowl, and serve as a dipping sauce for the chicken fingers.

*Kids friendly steps*

-Also try adding ¼ teaspoon of the following seasonings to the yogurt mix: cayenne pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, garlic powder, or paprika

Test Your Taste Buds: Try Something New!

The following is a blog from NCSU student Kate Towery. It is the 2nd in a series of 5 blog posts (read her post from week 1 if you haven't already!) she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. Kate is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Hi everybody, and welcome back to Operation Frontline’s “Side by Side” class, where we aim to help kids and families make healthier choices together. As you recall, my team from NC State University has started our second series of classes with all new participants. This week we had three more first-timers join us as we made White Bean Chicken Chili and homemade tortilla chips. The kids were a lot of help wiping down the tops of canned foods and cleaning the table. They also squeezed limes, measured and poured ingredients, and spread tortilla slices on cooking sheets. Since we were working with raw chicken Chef Will went over some great food safety tips and warned the kids about Mr. Sal (salmonella) and how to keep him away.

Another big thing we focused on this week, and we encourage everyone reading to make this a family goal, was the willingness to try something new. Tastes change with age so it is important to keep you kids trying both unfamiliar and familiar food items, even the same ones in different forms! Like the last series we had the kids do a mini taste-test with all kinds of fruits, veggies, and wheat breads, which is always a hit. We had hummus too, which the participants liked so much we plan to make an easy version of our own in a later class. The group was very open and excited to try new things outside of their normal diets. During mealtime I asked everyone what he or she thought of the chili recipe and Edith shared with us,

I really like the chili. It uses many of the same ingredients I cook with, such as rice and beans, but here they are used in a completely different way and give off a completely different taste."

Edith and her daughter Allison, as well as a few other participants, who typically enjoy traditional Latino cuisine not only showed some willingness in trying new things, but also expressed excitement in continuing this in future weeks! Let’s try and follow their great example this week!

Lastly, we aimed to focus on different forms of produce, seasonal buys, and growing or buying our own local foods. We had some great lessons on these topics, incorporated them into our recipe, and even planted our own pea plants! This activity, led by Gardner Cadi, gets the kids really excited to take care of their plants while learning about basic gardening. By planting our own produce we save money (seeds are cheap, sun and water are free!), and are able to eat our own yummy, healthy vegetables. It doesn’t get any fresher folks!

See everyone back in a few weeks for Lesson Three!

Getting The Kids Involved

The following is a blog from NC State student Holly Starks. It is the 2nd in a series of 6 posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. If you haven't already, read the 1st Week. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership, the Food Shuttle and NC State hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Our second week with our new Side by Side class at the Crosby Head Start center was packed full of fun and activities this past Tuesday. The kids were encouraged to try new fruits, vegetables, and whole grains during a taste test activity while the parents discussed different approaches for handling eating problems during mealtime. The participants were also able to practice picking out different colors of fruits and vegetables and associating the colors with their health benefits. Afterwards, the teams became “whole grain detectives” and determined if certain foods were actually whole grain or not. During the gardening lesson the families were able to plant their own kale in a pot to grow at home. With the arrival of warm weather, we are all excited to hear about the progress in the growth of their plants in the upcoming weeks!

Salena, our class manager, was especially intrigued by the involvement and enthusiasm of the kids during this class. Salena helped the kids with the taste test activity  and noted, “The kids loved all the fruits, but I found that they were more interest in the ones that were more foreign to them i.e. the kiwi and papaya.” The kids continued to explore their interest and curiosity in the foods by asking questions about the seeds, shapes, and colors. They were also eager to try the different foods multiple times, which is beneficial when introducing new foods since it usually takes kids many times of trying the same foods before they may like it. Salena also helped the kids put the tomato sauce on the English muffins for the mini pizza recipe. “They love spreading the pizza sauce on the English muffins! Interestingly enough, Dorian is a perfectionist and each piece had to have the correct amount of sauce and had to cover the entire bottom.” It’s great to see the kids’ personalities shine through as they are developing skills and healthy habits for later in life. Kids love to have tasks during cooking because it engages them and helps the meal be more meaningful to them when they have the opportunity to help create it. The kids were also given the task of putting the spinach on the mini pizzas. Salena stated, “I gave them directions and showed them how to do it and after that they went off. They repeated my directions word for word and did exactly what I asked.”  Overall, Salena is amazed by the children’s willingness to cooperate and eagerness to be involved in the lessons. It was also great to see the parents working with the kids and encouraging them to learn and participate during the lessons.

The participants’ interest and involvement has reinforced the goal of the Side by Side curriculum to get the parents and kids learning, cooking, and eating healthy together. This class helps to build skills that are both beneficial for the kids and the parents and also encourages family time and bonding, which can be critical to healthy living and development. As I like to say, families that eat healthy together, live healthy together. I encourage you all to get the whole family involved in cooking, while allowing the kids to do fun, age appropriate tasks.

Join us next week to see what else the families’ will learn about and cook!

Mini Pizzas : Fun for the whole family!

The following is a blog from NCSU student Kate Towery. It is the 1st in a series of blog posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. Kate is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. We are trying some new healthy and delicious recipes with all new parent and child participants.  This week however, we just had to repeat an old favorite, the Mini-Pizzas and fruit salad.  These food items were a real hit and even had the kids trying mushrooms, onions, and peppers as toppings!  What a great way to get those veggies into our diets while preparing meals as a family.  Our other dish, fruit salad, provided yet another food group for our meal and is an easy, budget-friendly dish: simply buy seasonal fruit (canned and frozen are cheap options too!) and cut into bite size pieces!  During our mealtime we reviewed material covered in the nutrition lesson.  Our main topics revolved around the MyPyramid.  We discussed how colorful the food groups are and how we want to eat from all of these groups each day to stay healthy and strong.  The kids also placed ingredients from the recipe into their proper food groups with help from their parents.  Kids weren’t the only ones learning this week!  Earlier in the class Erick and Gloria went over some great knife rules and techniques with chef Will and got to dicing!  While the kids watched on they reminded parents to use “the claw” – a safety technique used to avoid slicing fingers when cutting produce.  Will, Cadi, Caitlin, and I look forward to building on these techniques and tips over the next few weeks.  Since we are taking next week off, I am leaving you with a few pointers we cover during this series of our “Side by Side” class.

To make cooking and eating as a family easier try out these easy tips:

1. Clean as you go.  Less mess later means more play time for everyone!  Kids are often eager to help, just make it fun!  Give them “big kid” tasks like wiping down or setting the table.  Measuring and mixing are also fun and safe jobs.
2. Make time to cook together.  If this can’t be done during a busy week, chop or prep ahead of time and keep frozen or refrigerated.  When kids take part in planning or making a dish they are often much more likely to try it!
3.  Find ways for your kids to help cook, no matter what age!  You’ll be surprised at what they can do, and are creating less work for yourself!

The New Food Pyramid

The following is a blog from NC State student Holly Starks. It is the 1st in a series of 6 posts she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership, the Food Shuttle and NC State hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. After a successful graduation last week for our previous Operation Frontline class, Sara, Salena, Avram, and I started teaching a new group of families at the Crosby Head Start Center! This class is also learning the Side by Side curriculum which focuses on teaching families to cook and eat healthy together. By the end of the six weeks we hope that the families will be excited about making more meals at home with the family, and will be able to use helpful tips for cooking healthy with a budget and a busy schedule.

 We started the families’ first lesson with nutrition, which introduced the new food pyramid to them. The families had not seen the new food pyramid and were surprised to see that it had changed. As a class we discussed what the different parts of the new pyramid now represent. For instance, the food groups are now represented as vertical instead of horizontal on the pyramid. This shows that each food group is important in the diet and that one group is not more important than the other. Many of the families were also surprised to learn that the oils are not part of the five food groups. Instead of resting at the top, the oils are represented as a small, vertical portion on the new food pyramid to show that they are not a food group but are still essential in the diet in very small amounts. By consuming the other five food groups, grains, meat and bean, dairy, fruits, and vegetables, we generally consume the amount of oils that we need each day.

I also taught the class that some groups appear larger than others because we need more of some food groups than others. For instance we need to consume more servings of grains than we do of meats and beans. Another interesting aspect to the new food pyramid is that the base of each group is larger at the bottom and gets smaller towards the top of the pyramid. This gradual decrease in size represents that there are some foods in each group that should be consumed more than other foods. For instance, in the dairy food group, low-fat options are going to be represented towards the bottom while higher fat options like whole milk and whole cheese will be closer to the top because they are less healthy options. Lastly, the addition of the stairs to the new food pyramid is important because they represent that being healthy includes both eating healthy and exercising. Exercise not only helps us to maintain our weight, but it also helps to reduce the risk of chronic disease and other illnesses. If you would like to learn more about the new food pyramid, check out the website at www.mypyramid.gov.

After the class learned about the new food pyramid, Avram introduced gardening to them by sharing some of his own family experiences and by reading a fun book about pumpkins to the kids. The cooking portion was then led by Sara, as she introduced the families to safety rules such as proper handling of a knife and proper hand washing. She also demonstrated some simple cutting techniques to help the parents cut up the veggies for the hearty egg burritos we made. The kids had fun cracking the eggs while the parents measured out the spices and herbs for the recipe. While the parents helped Sara cook the egg mixture in the kitchen, the rest of the instructors helped the kids grate the mozzarella cheese. When the mixture was done, Sara assembled the burritos for each family. Everyone expressed how delicious the burritos were as we sat around the tables eating together. It was exciting to see that the families made a goal to make the recipe again at home with their families. Join us again in two weeks to hear about what these families will learn about and get to create. There may be some gardening involved next time!