When the strips are tender, remove them from the oven. Once they are cool enough to handle, scrape the pumpkin from the skins and put the pumpkin into a bowl. Save the skins for your chickens or your compost.
Beat the pumpkin with an immersion blender or purée in a food processor until smooth.
Use as directed in any recipe that calls for fresh puréed or canned pumpkin. It is also delicious in soups and homemade ice cream. You may freeze leftovers or store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days.
Spice Rub Mix
Makes 1/3 cup
We made a huge batch of this spice rub mix for our teachers this holiday season. My daughter poured batches of it into cute little jars, and tied a tiny demitasse spoon to each one with a ribbon.
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder
½ tablespoon garlic salt
1½ tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1½ tablespoons chili powder
½ tablespoon coriander
Mix all of the ingredients together.
Pour into jars, seal, and store out of direct sunlight for up to three months.
If you attach a card to each jar, explain that this spice mixture can be rubbed onto fish, poultry, or meat before grilling.
Hot Cocoa Mix
Makes 2 cups
People pay a premium for convenience. Who can blame them? But convenience often comes at a cost when it comes to foods. Take hot cocoa, for instance. When most people buy it, it comes in little envelopes and may be filled with mystery ingredients. The cost is high — you are paying for the packaging and for people to process your food. How about buying some quality ingredients, mixing them together, and storing them in a jar in your kitchen cabinet? It's convenient — all you have to do is scoop some into your warm milk (or coffee!). But it isn't costly for our planet. Plus, it makes a really cute gift, packaged in a reusable jar and tied with a colorful ribbon.
¾ cup sugar
2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, Fair Trade if possible
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, Fair Trade if possible
Peppermint candies or candy canes, optional
Make the dry mix:
Measure the sugar, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips, and pour them into a large bowl.
If using, crush several peppermint candies or candy canes: Put them in the food processor and pulse a few times, OR put them inside a heavy zip-top bag and smash into pieces (not dust!) with the back of a small skillet or with a hammer.
Add ¼ cup crushed peppermint candies to the chocolate mixture. Stir the ingredients together to combine.
Store in an airtight container and use within three months.
If you are giving this as a gift, divide evenly among several small jars and tie on a fancy ribbon. Make a gift tag that reads:
Pour ¾ cup milk into a small saucepan. Whisk in ¼ cup cocoa mix, and bring to a low simmer. Serves 1.
To use the mix for hot cocoa:
Measure ¾ cup milk and pour it into a small saucepan.
Turn on the heat to low and heat the milk slowly.
Measure ¼ cup cocoa mix and whisk it into the hot milk. Serves 1.
NO TIME TO COMPROMISE
Fair Trade
Maybe you have developed a better shopping system than I have, but some days I can barely get through the aisles of the market with my kids. List in hand, I quickly move through the store and try to escape as quickly as possible. During times like this, I don't often pay enough attention to details. But here is one that I do look for — it's a label that says, “Fair Trade Certified,” and it's usually on my coffee and chocolate. That label tells me that the people who have grown and processed these items have been paid and treated fairly. Fair Trade standards were developed to ensure human rights and environmental sustainability from the producer all the way to your plate. Come to think of it, I'll show the label to my kids and have them go on a scavenger hunt the next time we are shopping — that should keep them busy and make the experience a little less stressful!
Appendix
Tips for Teachers — Cooking in the Classroom
The kitchen is an ideal place to reinforce what our children are learning in school. Measuring, estimating, and counting reinforce math skills and make them relevant, especially to children who learn best by “doing.”Predicting, observing, and causing changes in food are the fodder of scientific learning. Tasting and preparing foods from around the globe are an ideal way to learn about other cultures. And cooking with healthy and seasonal ingredients models healthy eating, which we certainly need to reinforce more and more in our growing country (and by growing, I mean in girth!).
Some of the following tips may be obvious to you, but they are worth mentioning for the safety and health of our students.
Cleanliness
Before starting any cooking activity with your students, model good hand-washing techniques. Be sure to show the children how you wash not only your palms, but also between your fingers, and the backs of your hands. It's also good to show them how to “scritch-scratch” the soap on your palms with the tips of your fingers to clean under your fingernails. Who knows what has been gathering under there ….
If you have long hair, tie it back. Nobody likes strands of hair in their food.
If anyone touches his face or hair or teeth, gently remind him to wash his hands again. Younger kids need frequent reminding since they seem to adore scratching the insides of their noses!
Have clean and dry dish towels and dish soap at the ready.
Have two scrubbies handy — one for washing dishes with soap; the other for scrubbing vegetables (be sure to keep this one soap-free!).
Safety
Have two clean and DRY potholders in a convenient location.
Depending on the age of your students, you might want to use blue painter's tape to make a “safety zone” around an electric skillet, burner, oven, or stove. Students should stay on the outside of the taped area unless they are supervised by an adult and are actively stirring the cooking food.
If you are using knives in your class, be sure to wash them immediately after use and return them to their safe storage location. Knives can easily get lost under soapy water in the sink and can cut unsuspecting dishwashers.
Always carry knives at your side with the tip pointing toward the floor.
Before cutting rounded objects, such as potatoes, carrots, or zucchini, give the food a flat edge so that the food doesn't roll around on the cutting board. Do this by cutting a small slice from one side of the food so that it can lie flat on your work surface.
Teaching
Try to include every student — this may mean giving each student a small task. Tasks can include reading the recipe aloud, checking to be sure that you have included all of the ingredients, washing produce or dishes, drying dishes, measuring or stirring, or helping another student.
Encourage all of the students to taste the food. If they are hesitant, don't force them, but enthusiastically remind them that their own food tastes especially good. If they are fairly certain that they won't like the food, encourage them to take a “No, thank you” bite. Remember that forcing the issue can lead to issues about food later in life — and we want food to be associated with positive memories.
Because students are easily influenced by their peers, ask them not to “yuk my yum,” which loosely translates to “if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.”
MICHELLE STERN owns What's Cooking, a certified green company that offers cooking classes for children in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not only do her classes teach kids and their families to enjoy delicious homemade foods, but they also motivate families to use food and cooking to help those less fortunate. Her involvement with the International Association of Culinary Professionals and local school lunch reform led to an invitation to the White House, where Michelle participated in the launch o
f Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to Schools initiative. She has appeared on ABC's View From the Bay seven times and was recently a guest on a radio show about childhood obesity. In addition, her blog won the 2010 Parent & Child Green Blog Award from Scholastic. In her former life (pre-mommyhood), Michelle was a high school biology and environmental science teacher. Her teaching roots and eco-friendly mindset shine through in her current work with children. When she isn't in the kitchen, at the farmer's market, or at the computer, Michelle is the head chauffeur for her two children, dog walker to her two mutts, and chicken feeder for her backyard flock.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Introduction: Raising Little Locavores
Chapter 1: Ready, Set, Go! Engaging Kids in the Kitchen
Chapter 2: Breakfast of Champions
Chapter 3: Lunchtime Favorites
Chapter 4: What's for Dinner?
Chapter 5: Scrumptious Sides
Chapter 6: Mom-Approved Treats
Chapter 7: Make Your Own!
Appendix: Tips for Teachers — Cooking in the Classroom
The Whole Family Cookbook Page 14
