Cooking With Kids and Chef/Owner Sancho Soeiro of Dish N Spoon Cafe Santa Fe Make Russian Piroshki: kasa.com

Produce Professor Mark Frazee visits Cooking with Kids!

Mark Frazee, Director of Procurement at Coast Produce in California, visited Cooking with Kids classes at Chaparral Elementary School last month. Mr. Frazee, better known as the Produce Professor, was a big hit among students and teachers alike! Kids explored connections between food and science, and the Produce Professor demonstrated the use of a Brix meter to measure the sugar content of fruit, one measure of ripeness.

Thank you Produce Professor! And Bill and Jennie Morris, owners of Just the Best Produce, for bringing the Professor to Santa Fe Students!

To learn more about the Produce Professor, check out:

http://twitter.com/#!/produceprof

Cooking With Kids Marina De La O and DJ Sandoval Join Executive Chef Cristian Pontiggia: kasa.com

Cooking With Kids Takes Us to Ethiopia For Lentils with Injera and Cucumber Salad: kasa.com

CWK staff members work closely with cafeteria staff, and over the years a trusting, collaborative relationship has developed. Judi Jaquez, Santa Fe Public Schools Student Nutrition Director, explained:

We are so fortunate to have a partnership with Cooking with Kids. Students who have participated in the cooking classes are much more open to trying new foods. When they recognize a food that they have helped to prepare in class and it is being served in the cafeteria, they tend to have a very positive response.

The Cooking with Kids staff is key to the success of offering CWK lunches in the cafeteria. In many cases, the foods are unfamiliar to cafeteria managers and staff, who need to be exposed to the new flavors and preparation techniques, just like the students. Often the recipes require more chopping of fresh ingredients. However, if the dish is well received the staff feels rewarded for their extra effort.

In general, we try to work on student acceptance of fruits and vegetables by offering beautiful, fresh salads using local greens and sprouts. We also offer fruit daily, using fresh or frozen as budget allows. Instead of focusing on “bad foods” to avoid, this positive approach helps to make the serving line colorful and appealing and helps students to develop better eating habits.

The joy of seeing students eating healthy meals is the great part of this program—all the regulations and paperwork and restrictions are the challenges!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/news-content/cooking-with-kids-introducing-students-t

Cooking With Kids and Chef Olea from Epazote Make Crunchy Tostadas with Salsa Fresca: kasa.com

Thu 12 Jan 2012

Green & White Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce and Green Salad

Last semester Cooking with Kids’ Green & White Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce and Green Salad was voted in to the top 10 best lunches on the School Lunch Photo Wall and went on to be picked by Jamie and his team as the best school lunch from last semester!

First prepared by pre-kindergarten through sixth grade students in their Santa Fe classrooms, the recipe contains spinach fettuccine, white fettuccine, fresh garlic, olive oil, canned diced tomatoes, canned crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, fresh basil leaves and parmesan cheese. The recipe was then adapted for large-scale cooking in school cafeterias.

In the classroom, children make fresh spinach and white pasta from scratch, while the school lunch recipe calls for dry spinach and white fettuccine. Both the classroom and cafeteria recipes call for Romaine lettuce with a simple homemade vinaigrette dressing. This school lunch came out of our professional culinary experience and interest in sharing the delight and magic of cooking simple, delicious, and healthy food from basic ingredients.

Children are enthralled by the process of cooking in the classroom. After making the fresh fettuccine, one little girl wanted to make the fettuccine for her birthday dinner that night. 

Read the entire article here! 

Nearly 40% of New Mexico’s third-graders are overweight or obese. Why is this? And what can we do to change this disturbing trend? Gwyneth Doland leads the discussion with experts and community leaders, including Cooking with Kids Executive Director Lynn Walters.

Santa Fe’s Cooking with Kids Food Educator Karla and her daughter Leina make Llapingachos on NM Style