What New in the Beacon Schools? Sufferin' Succotash!

Click here to enlarge

Garlic Day at the Garden Cafe

Yesterday at Haldane's after-school enrichment program, The Garden Cafe, we planted garlic for the school cafeteria. Jade Silverstein, a high school senior and Hudson Valley Farm to School's summer intern at Glynwood, helped us make the preparations. While she worked with two kids shoveling fresh compost to amend the bed, two others prepped the soil by pulling out weeds and raking up debris. Three other kids carefully broke apart the garlic bulbs, separating them into cloves. Glynwood generously donated the garlic for our class to plant in the school garden.

Everyone got a turn shoveling the compost into the bed and turning the soil. Then, one by one they placed the garlic seed in the soil, six inches apart in six rows. A total of 80 cloves! 

Put to bed for the winter, now its just a matter of waiting for spring. Garlic scape pesto on the school cafeteria menu in June perhaps? And lots of fresh garlic to add to Haldane food service manager, Lauren Collica's tomato sauce in the fall!

We ended yesterday's class as we always do, with a snack from the garden. Yesterday we made Swiss Chard Roll-ups. You take a leaf of swiss chard and spread hummus and grated carrot on top. Roll it up and crunch! A delicious and nutritious snack.

Thank you Glynwood and Jade Silverstein for a great day at the Garden Cafe!

BTW, check out food service manager Lauren Collica's awesome Haldane Cafeteria Facebook page. 

Haldane 4th Graders Learn Hands-on in the Garden and the Kitchen

October was Farm to School Month and Garden Month at Haldane Elementary School. In keeping with their unit on Native Americans, Haldane fourth graders went into the garden to study the Three Sisters bed. The garden parent in each class read the Iroquois legend of the Three Sisters and discussed why Native Americans planted corn, squash and beans together. Afterwards, the classes broke into smaller groups, and half harvested and shucked the dried corn and pounded it into cornmeal using an old-fashioned, stone mortar and pestle. 

While the one group did that, the other group looked at the useful plants bed and learned how to identify broom corn, rice, edamame, pineapple, and papyrus. They also found butternut squash and pumpkin growing out of the compost and dinosaur gourds growing high in the tree branches. These gourds were used by Native Americans to carry water. The last thing they looked for in the grassy area around the garden was the common plantain weed. Reportedly brought to the Americas by Puritan colonizers, Native Americans called this plant by the common name "white man's footprint" as it spread where ever the settlers traveled. It was commonly used medicinally to soothe bee stings and minor skin irritations.

To complement these garden activities, Mrs. Windels and Mrs. Quick's classes had their Chef in the Classroom activity featuring corn and made Native American Corn Succotash. This Three Sisters dish included corn, zucchini and fresh cranberry beans – all procured from Madura Farms in Goshen, NY. 

Chef Margot set up a mobile kitchen in their classrooms and showed the kids how to shuck the cranberry beans and corn, cut off the kernels from the cobs, cut up the zucchini, tomatoes and scallions, and sautée all the ingredients with fresh herbs from the school garden. This dish was served the following week on National Food Day as a school-wide taste test.

Please try the recipe at home:

Traditional Corn Succotash*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 plum tomatoes, seeded, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 ten-ounce package frozen lima beans, rinsed under warm running water and drained 2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (3-4 ears)
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 scallions, finely chopped, for garnish

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.Add garlic; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.Add corn, and lima beans. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until corn and lima beans are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in zucchini, tomatoes and fresh herbs, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with scallions. Serves 6. 

*Interesting to note:
“Succotash” comes from the Narragansett Indian word “msíckquatash,” meaning boiled corn kernels. The native Americans in the eastern woodlands were the first to prepare this dish and taught it to the early settlers.Today, succotash is a traditional dish in many New England Thanksgiving celebrations. 

Farm to School Has Arrived in Beacon, NY

JV Forrestal Elementary School in Beacon, NY is the first elementary school in Dutchess County to participate in a full-year farm to school program. This program is run by The Beacon Farm to School Collaborative (BFSC) a partnership of three local non-profit organizations: Common Ground Farm, Hudson Valley Seed and Hudson Valley Farm to School. The program is designed to get kids excited about eating their veggies through hands-on learning in the garden, on the farm, and cooking in the classroom. Kids learn where their food comes from and are given the tools to make healthier choices so they can become nutrition-conscious, food literate adults. The program at Forrestal Elementary School includes weekly visits to the school garden, a monthly chef-in-the-classroom program, monthly farmer-in-the-classroom visits, school field trips to CommonGround Farm, and monthly school-wide taste tests in the cafeteria. 

Read more in this week's Poughkeepsie Journal:  

A Look Back on Haldane's Farm to School Program Last Year and News of What's to Come!

Sometimes Simple is Best

On Friday, the Haldane cafeteria served the 2nd graders' Chef in the Classroom dish, "Spinach Supreme" for their "Breakfast for Lunch" Farmers' Choice special. Although it may sound fancy, it's basically scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese.

Who would have expected that it would turn out to be the most popular Farmers' Choice special we had all year! As I started spooning the bite-sized samples into little cups, it was met with a bit of trepidation. Only a few kids wanted to try it. But as soon as Mr. Peparo's and Mrs. Scrocca's classes came into the cafeteria, everything changed. These were the classes that made the dish with the chefs. These are the kids that said they didn't like spinach before the chefs visited, then overwhelmingly loved spinach after cooking with the chefs.

One by one, these kids came up to get a taste of their "Spinach Supreme." Then other kids got curious and followed suit. Suddenly it was a big hit with all the kids coming up asking for samples. They asked for seconds, thirds, fourths. One kid had six helpings!

Eggs, onions, spinach and cheese. Sweet and savory. What's not to like?

One kid asked me to tell the cafeteria ladies to put it on the menu next time they serve breakfast for lunch.

Kids like spinach. Who knew? Click here for recipe.

Green is the Theme

The Garrison School first graders turned into some awesome budding chefs this month. Chef Laurie Gershgorn from Healthy Culinary Creations brought in a basketful of spring greens, asparagus, beets and spinach and put the young chefs to work. Every child had a task to do.

This month's feature was Spinach. But Chef Laurie always has other recipes up her sleeve. On this day, the kids got two for the price of one:

Spinach Frittata and a Spring Greens Salad.

And these were the tasks at hand:

Peeling and grating the beets.

Chopping garlic, removing the stems from the kale, and tearing the beet greens.

Breaking asparagus spears.

Beating the eggs.

Squeezing lemons for the dressing.

And best of all...

Eating their delicious culinary creations!

When we were finishing up, and the last of the frittata was long gone, I heard one boy say, "I wish we could have Chef in the Classroom everyday!"

Now that's a precious moment.

 Click here for the recipe.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

I'm strong to the finish,
'cause I eats me spinach,
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!











In April, Haldane introduced two new chefs from the Culinary Institute of America, Mary Geyer and Nicholas Gonzalez. They are first year students and members of the CIA campus Slow Food chapter. Spinach was the featured vegetable of the month. Did you know that spinach originated in Persia (present day Iran)? Chef Mary and Chef Nick worked with Mr. Peparo's and Mrs. Scrocca's 2nd grade classes. The recipe of the day: A Spinach Egg Scramble.


As the kids chopped onions, one by one their eyes began to burn and tear. Chef Nick explained to the kids why they were experiencing this strong reaction from the onions:
When you cut an onion, you break cells, releasing a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward toward your eyes. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away.


It is a natural defense mechanism developed by the onion plant. Cooking the onion inactivates the enzyme, so while the smell of cooked onions may be strong, it doesn't burn your eyes.








Chef Mary talked to the kids about the origin of Spinach and its nutritional attributes. It's not just Popeye who gets strong from eating spinach.

One cup of fresh spinach is an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin K, and a good source of vitamin C and folate. Vitamin A is essential for healthy skin and eyes. Vitamin K helps strengthen bone mass and helps with the healing process. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant which helps the body develop resistance against infections.

Chef Mary talked about kitchen food safety and cross-contamination. It's always important to wash hands after handling raw eggs.










Kids took turns grating the cheddar cheese.















The Spinach Egg Scramble, later named by the kids, Spinach Supreme was a big hit in Mr. Peparo's and Mrs. Scrocca's 2nd grade classes. Of the kids that tried it (all but 5) 85% liked it.

One student remarked: I don't like it... I love it!

Who says kids don't like spinach?

Get some spinach from Madura Farms this weekend at the Cold Spring Farmers' Market and try making Spinach Supreme at home for breakfast this weekend! Your kids will eat it up! Click here for recipe.

A Taste of The Valley included Haldane's Own Beet Soup!

On Saturday, April 22nd Glynwood Farm hosted A Taste of the Valley: A sampling of local cuisine and wine benefitting the Haldane School Foundation. And Haldane's very own Beet Soup was represented alongside many delicious dishes from top restaurants and caterers in the local Hudson Valley.

Haldane's budding young chefs from Mrs. Quick's 4th grade and Mrs. Battersby's 5th grade classes volunteered in the afternoon to make the Beet Soup they made with the CIA chefs in their Chef in the Classroom day in February. Glynwood's culinary director, Jason Wood supervised the four students as they chopped onions, grated beets and followed a recipe that would serve over 150 sample portions of the soup for all to taste that evening. The beets and the onions came from the Cold Spring Farmers' Market vendor, Madura Farms. The heavy cream came from Hudson Valley Fresh.

Truly A Taste of the Valley! 

If you enjoyed the soup at Glynwood and would like to try it yourself, here's the recipe. 

Enjoy!

Changing the Way We Eat

This month I had the good fortune of attending TEDx Manhattan: Changing the Way We Eat. There were many inspirational speakers working to change the U.S. industrial food system and addressing the inequities in food security in this country.

One of the exciting moments for me was talking to Bill Yosses, the executive pastry chef at the White House. I had met him before when I went on the White House Fall Social Garden Tour in October last year. At TEDx he spoke about cooking with kids and integrating science curriculum into cooking classes. At the break I got a chance to speak with him. I handed him a recipe card I made from one of our Chef in the Classroom visits last year. The recipe was for Super Delicious, Extra Nutritious Carrot Brownies from Mrs. Quick's 2nd grade class. He looked at it and said, "Carrot Brownies...looks like an interesting recipe, I'll have to try and make it." 

Well folks, the Obamas may be eating one of Haldane's Chef in the Classroom recipes!

If you are interested in hearing any of the speakers from  TEDx Manhattan 2013, they will be available online shortly. In the meantime, I highlighted a few of the speakers I found most thought-provoking.

The event opened with LaDonna Redmond the Senior Program Associate in Food and Justice at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She is a long-time community activist who has successfully worked to get Chicago Public Schools to evaluate junk food, launched urban agriculture projects, started a community grocery store, and worked on federal farm policy to expand access to healthy food in low-income communities. "There has never been a fair, just, healthy food system in America," she said. "It is easier to buy a semi-automatic weapon in the South Side of Chicago than a tomato."

Simran Sethi has been named one of the top ten "eco-heroes" of the planet by the UK's Independent and lauded as the "environmental messenger" by Vanity Fair. Simran Sethi is an award-winning journalist, strategist and educator. She talked about seeds. I'll highlight some of her talking points: 

- Seeds are sex. Sex is the act that causes life to begin so seeds are in essence sex packets. Seeds are the building blocks of every meal we eat: fruits, vegetables, grains, and the meats that are raised on grasses and grains. But more than just food, they are cotton for clothes, corn for fuel, wood for shelter, and plants for medicine. Yet half of the calories consumed in the U.S. come from just four crops: rice, wheat, potatoes, and corn. There are 80,000 types of seeds, 850 are farmed for crops. But only 30 species make up 95% of our caloric intake. Since 1900, 75% of all crop varieties have disappeared. As stated by Wendell Berry, eating is an agricultural act. We must eat food to save it.

Peter Lehner the Executive Director of NRDC spoke about food waste in America. Forty percent of food grown in this country isn't eaten. One-fifth of what goes into a landfill is food. Six billion pounds of food are wasted on farms per year. The average American family throws out 25 pounds of food per month. Yet, nearly 50 million Americans today (one in four children) don't know where there next meal is coming from.

Cheryl Kollin talked about her project: Farm to Freezer - a partnership with Bethesda Cares that addresses surplus fresh produce, hunger, and food waste. This social enterprise preserves donated fresh, local food at its peak ripeness; provides healthier food for Bethesda Cares' homeless client meals; supports local farmers; reduces food waste; provides community service opportunities; and raises local awareness about homelessness, nutrition, and locally-grown food. 

Ann Cooper, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, often referred to as the "Renegade Lunch Lady" gave a rousing talk about changing school food and the growing farm to school movement.

All in all, it was a great day with great people, great food, great conversations, and great motivation to keep on plugging along, working for positive change.

Cheers!

Sweet Potato Biscuits. Get 'em while they're hot!

Last Wednesday, third grade students at the Garrison School met with Chef Laurie Gershgorn from Healthy Culinary Creations and transformed local sweet potatoes into savory biscuits.

Everyone had a task to do. 

Step One: Read the recipe.

Students were assigned different stations – measuring, mixing, blending and preparing for baking.  

Some of the students didn't like raisins and walnuts, so two batches were made – one with raisins and walnuts and one plain.

After eating the biscuits warm out of the oven, the students gave them a very enthusiastic thumbs up. 

The children are looking forward to having these savory, warm biscuits on the menu next month when the PTA lunch team serves them with their meal.

As Easy as Pie

Do you want to know the secret to making a flakey pie crust? Ask a first grader at Haldane Elementary School. Last week, the first graders got a visit from Chefs Sarah Garcia and Matt Sporer, students and Slow Food members of the Culinary Institute of America.

For the month of February, Haldane featured local apples for their Chef in the Classroom program. Chef Sarah, pastry chef in-training at the CIA, brought in her recipe to make mini apple pies with the first graders.

Using a variety of local apples, Chefs Sarah and Matt put the kids to work peeling and slicing.

Yes, six year-olds can use knives. Chef Matt gave the kids a quick lesson in knife safety.

While Chef Matt worked with one group squeezing the lemon juice then cooking the apples with butter, sugar and cinnamon...

Chef Sarah taught another group how to make a flakey pie crust: Flour, butter and ice water. Don't over mix, and don't worry if you see little chunks of butter in the dough. (Chef Sarah explained to us the secret or should I say science to a flakey crust: When the crust is baking in the oven, the bits of butter create pockets of steam that give the crust the flakey layers.)
Next, quickly form the dough into a ball and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Chef Sarah brought in dough she made ahead of time and rolled it out with the kids. Everyone got a chance cutting the circles,

adding the filling,

brushing the pastry with an egg wash, then

pinching the pies closed and edging them with a fork.

While this was going on, Chef Matt was whipping up some heavy cream – the hard way – with a whisk.

How do you know when the cream is ready? Flip the bowl upside down over your head and count to 10. If it isn't ready... well I'll let you fill in the blanks.

Mini Apple Pies with fresh whipped cream. Yum yum!

Later that day, head cook Elsa in the kitchen prepares the mini pies for the school-wide taste test. Over 400 little pies!

Was it a success? Can I have seconds? Thirds? Can I lick the crumbs?

Take the recipe and make it at home. And if you have any questions, ask your kids for help.