From Beets to Bananas, Snap Peas to Scallions, These Young Chefs Know Their Way Around Produce! 

This week at the Piedmont Recreation Center, our young chefs came prepared to spend each morning working on fun recipes and making new friends. We made dishes packed with vegetables and fresh herbs like carrot and zucchini pancakes, broccoli risotto, vegetable sushi, apricot cake, and even a cucumber and mint infused water. They learned new skills and knife cuts like chiffonading, separating eggs, and making pasta from scratch. We were fortunate to have tons of fresh produce to work with including sugar snap peas, carrots, beets, celery, red cabbage, cucumbers, apples, kale, apricots, bananas, broccoli, kiwi, scallions, parsley, mint, basil, oregano, and more. Some of the highlights were making recipes like pasta and sushi that let the little chef’s creativity and individuality shine. They had fun making their dream pasta designs like stars or doughnut shapes and filled their sushi rolls with uncommon ingredients like apples and beets.

The week wasn’t only about cooking, however; our chef instructor Katie took time out of each day to have a conversation with the young chefs about health and nutrition. We covered topics such as plant anatomy, balancing a diet with micro and macro nutrients, and food waste. We also discussed what are ways to make someone healthy other than food such as exercise, drinking plenty of water, spending time outside, and being open to sharing your feelings with others. There was the perfect balance of cooking, learning, and playing fun games throughout our week together!