The Children's Culinary Academy

Nostalgia

Last week I was feeling nostalgic about the kids who have been with me from the beginning of the program. I've had the pleasure of watching them grow for three years. Many have moved from Rake and Bake to Green Teens this year, and they've done so seamlessly. A couple of the teens are becoming teachers and mentors to the younger kids, which is a joy to watch.  Sometimes I'm surprised by what they've retained. The kitchen is a comfort to many of them, and they don't seem to mind doing dishes, putting away equipment, or even cleaning before we leave for the day. I like having them around. They're funny and weird and self-assured in ways that only kids are. Sometimes I think I can see glimpses of their future selves. It's tempting to try to tell them what I see, but I know they won't understand and will look at me like I'm a three-headed squid, so instead I just observe and enjoy.

And because of this sort of sentimentality (sucker!) occasionally get roped into letting them make something crazy like doughnuts and soft pretzels.

Henry P., who has matured so dramatically over the past three summers that it caused me to experience some sort of mental break, was the catalyst. He mentioned how much he loved the soft pretzels we made last summer and asked if we could do them again this summer.  I acquiesced, which only served to empower him to make a more outrageous request. He then said that he wanted to make glazed doughnuts, which are not something we'd ever normally make because they fall a...ahem...tiny bit outside the guidelines for what I think of as a healthy treat.

Nevertheless, he kept asking until one day I finally gave in. BUT! There was a catch. These weren't going to be your average run of the mill deep fried doughnuts (What?! Doughnuts are deep fried?! Most of the kids had absolutely no clue about this and expressed great shock before falling to their knees muttering "but they're sooooooooooooo good!").

I told Henry the doughnuts would have to be baked.

He was thrilled that I'd given in, but I wasn't 100% sure he'd be happy with the final product. I'd never tried baked doughnuts before. At best, it they would taste wonderful. At worst it would all make for an interesting experiment.

I chose an enriched, yeasted dough--the same we used for French Toast earlier in the week, because it was soft and sweet and rose well. We made a big batch of dough and then rolled and cut the doughnuts with the doughnut cutter. The kids were surprised to learn that doughnut holes actually do come from the hole of the doughnut. 

We laid them out on sheet pans, waited for them to rise again, baked them, and then glazed them. They were fantastic!

Some of our other creations last week were barbecued chicken (in the oven) with corn bread (made with agave syrup), and more vegetable samosas, mainly because it just tickles me that the kids will devour something so spicy and foreign to their taste buds.

The garden is in full swing and we've harvested beets, onions, tomatoes, all sorts of herbs, a couple of really hot peppers, and of course lots of zucchini and yellow summer squash. My biggest surprise of the season so far, however, has been the cantaloupes, which are growing like crazy! I planted them but didn't expect much and right now we've got at least a dozen growing out there. Amazing! Hopefully they'll make it to full ripeness. When they do, you can be sure there will be pictures here!!

It Has Real Corn In It!

The cornbread we made last Sunday had fresh corn kernels in it, and when their parents picked them up the kids excitedly exclaimed, "It has real corn in it!" Of course the cornmeal was made from real corn too, but what thrilled them was the whole topsy turvy (to them) idea of putting whole corn kernels into the batter.

 

What excited me was the agave syrup we used in place of granulated sugar. Agave syrup is a liquid sweetener that comes from the agave plant and is low on the glycemic load scale.  
And, in simple terms, it is also sweeter than sugar, which means you can use less to get the same level of sweetness you'd get in table sugar. Thus, healthier cornbread!!

We also made oven "barbecued" chicken, slathered with our own homemade spicy barbecue sauce. Onions and garlic were chopped,  spices were mixed with tomato sauce, and the whole thing was cooked slowly until the flavors were just right. Then each child brushed two chicken legs with sauce and we put them all in the oven to cook.
  Twenty minutes later the chicken emerged hot from the oven, ready to eat.

 
The kids loved everything on Sunday's menu and the parents sent rave reviews too!

This week we're going to do some Indian food and I can't wait to see what the kids say about one of the more unusual ingredients we'll be using.

In other news, I just agreed to write a monthly column about cooking and gardening with kids at www.camps.com. I'll let you all know when the first article appears.