Question:
What ideas do you have for cooking in the classroom and keeping it simple, too?

Answer:
First, keep recipes simple and before hand, let kids know what you want them to learn. Two great alternatives to actually cooking are food demonstrations and tasting.

• Taste and talk about different dried fruits and cheeses, for example; or bring in a pumpkin, cut it open and then demonstrate how to make Pumpkin Pudding or a Pumpkin-Yogurt Cheesecake Shake and have children taste it. Tie it to math and science by having them make some predictions beforehand, rating the food on different sensory measures and graphing the results. Remember, the same sanitation and safety rules, such as hand washing or keeping cold foods cold and hot foods hot, still need to be observed.
• Be sure to send recipes home and encourage children to make them with their families.
• Integrate some simple food preparation activities into classroom celebrations, such as assembling yogurt-fruit parfaits using seasonal colors and flavors, assembling trail-mix from a buffet of ingredients, or painting graham crackers with pudding or yogurt.
• For recipes that involve chopping and slicing or cooking engage one of your best resources - your school nutrition professional, who is "equipped" to adapt cooking exercises for the classroom setting. Many school nutrition professionals will bring children to the cafeteria to prepare and taste foods. Be sure to allow enough time to secure ingredients and slot the activity into the cafeteria schedule.

Kids love these activities, and more importantly, they get children to stretch themselves to overcome preconceived notions about food and learn that nutritious foods can taste good too!

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