Haldane's first year of Chef in the Classroom finishes with a big hit! Mrs. Battersby's 5th grade class got a visit from Chef Mark today. The vegetable the students chose was Rhubarb.
While Mark set up his kitchen and laid out all the ingredients, Sunny told some interesting facts about rhubarb. For example: only the stalk of the rhubarb plant is good to eat. The leaves are toxic and should be discarded. Rhubarb grows in cold climates like Norway where Sunny is from. They even grow in Alaska! Rhubarb is a great source of vitamin C.
After some lively discussion about what you can make with rhubarb, they decided on Rhubarb crumble. There was a lot of excitement as the students gathered around. All were eager to help with the preparation of the dish. First, they prepared the crumble with granola, brown sugar, flour, ground ginger, and butter. Chef Mark blended it all up in a food processor. Then he cut the rhubarb and put it in a pan to cook. He added fresh ginger, orange zest, brown sugar, and juice of the orange. And finally, he added pieces of fresh orange. As the ingredients cooked, and the sweet aroma filled the classroom, the students got very excited to try it.
Once the rhubarb softened and the juices got syrupy, Chef Mark poured it into a pie tin and sprinkled the crumble on top. Then he popped it into the oven to cook. (Lucky for the students he had one ready to eat waiting in the warming oven.) Well, I don't need to tell you how everyone liked it. Not only did everyone try it. Most clamored for seconds! This might be our biggest success to date!
Thank you Chef Mark and Sunny Gandara for finishing up our year with a bang. Cindy is planning on serving this dish in the cafeteria next Friday, June 3rd. Believe me, this one is not to be missed!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Farmer's Choice Sweet Potatoes
Sorry for the late notice folks.
If you get this in time, ask your kids to buy lunch tomorrow. They will be serving Sweet Potato Salad made with sweet potatoes from Madura Farm and eggs from Glynwood. It's mighty tasty!
If you get this in time, ask your kids to buy lunch tomorrow. They will be serving Sweet Potato Salad made with sweet potatoes from Madura Farm and eggs from Glynwood. It's mighty tasty!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Eco Night Family Cooking Event
Please come to Eco Night this Friday and join our Chefs Mark and Sunny Gandara for a family cooking demo. They will be making dishes using local mushrooms and spinach from Madura Farms. The event starts promptly at 6:30 in the Home Ec. room. Seating is limited.
Find out what your kids have been talking about!
If any of you are able to bring in small finger foods made with local farm to table ingredients, we will have two tables set up in front of the Home Ec. room.
Thanks for your participation. We look forward to seeing you there!
Find out what your kids have been talking about!
If any of you are able to bring in small finger foods made with local farm to table ingredients, we will have two tables set up in front of the Home Ec. room.
Thanks for your participation. We look forward to seeing you there!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Eco Night
We are getting ready for Eco Night, Friday, April 8th. It's going to be an exciting evening! I hope you received Dr. Villanti's flyer with all the fun activities that will be going on that evening.
In addition to the activities listed on the flyer, we are asking parents if they can make small "farm to table" finger food (not desserts –the PTA volunteers will take care of that).
We will have a Farm to School table set up in front of the Home Ec. room where our Chef Mark will be doing a family cooking demo. Please let me know who can bring a small dish to share made with local ingredients from the farmers' market.
Some suggestions might be:
Raw veggies and dip platter
Bite size quiches
Small soup samplings
Apple/Carrot slaw
mini muffins (apple, carrot, zucchini, etc)
Any other ideas???
In addition to the activities listed on the flyer, we are asking parents if they can make small "farm to table" finger food (not desserts –the PTA volunteers will take care of that).
We will have a Farm to School table set up in front of the Home Ec. room where our Chef Mark will be doing a family cooking demo. Please let me know who can bring a small dish to share made with local ingredients from the farmers' market.
Some suggestions might be:
Raw veggies and dip platter
Bite size quiches
Small soup samplings
Apple/Carrot slaw
mini muffins (apple, carrot, zucchini, etc)
Any other ideas???
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Farm To School & Garden News
It's been a couple of months since my last update, and I wanted to let you in on some fun events coming up this Spring as well as updates on our monthly Chef in the Classroom and Farmer's Choice vegetable in the cafeteria.
First the updates:
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Chef in the Classroom program for the months of January, February and March. It's not clear why. I was told it was a budget issue. But when I was offered an anonymous emergency donation to keep the program going, Maggie Davis said it was more of a scheduling conflict rather than a financial constraint. It's disappointing, I know, but we will be in full swing again beginning April.
Some good news: Our cafeteria will be getting a salad bar! Food service director, Cindy Miozzi filled out a grant application and won! We were very excited to hear this wonderful news at the Wellness meeting on Monday. We should be expecting it any day now. With our new salad bar, I am hoping that next year we will be able to fill it with lots of local vegetables!
Chocolate milk controversy: A couple of weeks ago, I was alerted to the fact that the chocolate milk our children are drinking in school contains high fructose corn syrup. This was shocking news to many parents, especially those of children who drink two or more a day. We all know how foods high in sugars affect children's behavior and ability to concentrate. And the consumption of high fructose corn syrup is attributed to the rising epidemic of childhood obesity.
I brought this issue up at the Wellness meeting on Monday, and Maggie Davis asked Cindy to call the school's milk distributor and ask them to switch to a different brand of chocolate milk that doesn't contain HFCS. I have no idea if we will be able to make the change immediately (we may have to wait until the contract expires at the end of the school year). However, if enough parents come out and voice their concerns to Maggie Davis or Dr. Villanti, there will be swifter action. Make your voices heard and start calling!
Have you read the most recent edition of Horizons Newsletter? The front page article is all about our Farm to School program. Please check it out!
Now for the fun stuff to come:
The week of April 4th is Haldane's Eco Week. This week will be filled with activities related to outdoor exploration, recycling, composting, gardening and farm to school. Dr. Villanti hopes that sometime during this week will see the official "ribbon cutting" ceremony of Haldane's new Garden. We are currently looking into getting some local farmers to come to the school and help the teachers get started in the garden.
Eco Night will be on Friday, April 8th, and it will have a Farm to Table theme. Our chef Mark Gandara and his wife Sunny will be giving two 45 minute cooking sessions in the Home Ec room. The theme will be cooking local and in season. It will be a surprise what they will come up with. The Cold Spring Farmers' Market will also be present that evening. We will have tables set up at the entrance to the Home Ec room with samples from the market and a digital frame displaying photos of Madura Farms where all of our Farmer's Choice vegetables are grown. We will be asking families to bring in light, finger foods and small tastings of recipes using local ingredients for people to sample. (Think apples, eggs, milk, cheese, carrots, greens, etc.)
If anyone is interested in being part of the planning of these events, you can come to the next Environmental meeting on Wednesday, March 16th at 3:15 in the Merritt building.
That's all for now.
***Don't forget to come to the Garden meeting at the Butterfield Library next Wednesday, February 16th at 6 pm. Learn about the progress that has been made and the plans that lay ahead. We will be serving homemade soups and babysitting will be available.
First the updates:
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Chef in the Classroom program for the months of January, February and March. It's not clear why. I was told it was a budget issue. But when I was offered an anonymous emergency donation to keep the program going, Maggie Davis said it was more of a scheduling conflict rather than a financial constraint. It's disappointing, I know, but we will be in full swing again beginning April.
Some good news: Our cafeteria will be getting a salad bar! Food service director, Cindy Miozzi filled out a grant application and won! We were very excited to hear this wonderful news at the Wellness meeting on Monday. We should be expecting it any day now. With our new salad bar, I am hoping that next year we will be able to fill it with lots of local vegetables!
Chocolate milk controversy: A couple of weeks ago, I was alerted to the fact that the chocolate milk our children are drinking in school contains high fructose corn syrup. This was shocking news to many parents, especially those of children who drink two or more a day. We all know how foods high in sugars affect children's behavior and ability to concentrate. And the consumption of high fructose corn syrup is attributed to the rising epidemic of childhood obesity.
I brought this issue up at the Wellness meeting on Monday, and Maggie Davis asked Cindy to call the school's milk distributor and ask them to switch to a different brand of chocolate milk that doesn't contain HFCS. I have no idea if we will be able to make the change immediately (we may have to wait until the contract expires at the end of the school year). However, if enough parents come out and voice their concerns to Maggie Davis or Dr. Villanti, there will be swifter action. Make your voices heard and start calling!
Have you read the most recent edition of Horizons Newsletter? The front page article is all about our Farm to School program. Please check it out!
Now for the fun stuff to come:
The week of April 4th is Haldane's Eco Week. This week will be filled with activities related to outdoor exploration, recycling, composting, gardening and farm to school. Dr. Villanti hopes that sometime during this week will see the official "ribbon cutting" ceremony of Haldane's new Garden. We are currently looking into getting some local farmers to come to the school and help the teachers get started in the garden.
Eco Night will be on Friday, April 8th, and it will have a Farm to Table theme. Our chef Mark Gandara and his wife Sunny will be giving two 45 minute cooking sessions in the Home Ec room. The theme will be cooking local and in season. It will be a surprise what they will come up with. The Cold Spring Farmers' Market will also be present that evening. We will have tables set up at the entrance to the Home Ec room with samples from the market and a digital frame displaying photos of Madura Farms where all of our Farmer's Choice vegetables are grown. We will be asking families to bring in light, finger foods and small tastings of recipes using local ingredients for people to sample. (Think apples, eggs, milk, cheese, carrots, greens, etc.)
If anyone is interested in being part of the planning of these events, you can come to the next Environmental meeting on Wednesday, March 16th at 3:15 in the Merritt building.
That's all for now.
***Don't forget to come to the Garden meeting at the Butterfield Library next Wednesday, February 16th at 6 pm. Learn about the progress that has been made and the plans that lay ahead. We will be serving homemade soups and babysitting will be available.
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