Cooking Classes Enhance Education

"What happened to home ec?" seems to be a question trending in society. And this isn't just a question being asked by older generations: students have asked me this question every year for the past 14 years I have been in education. While I know school finances leave very little opportunity for home ec in a school curriculum, I know it's something we should still strive to bring to our students.

I have done many things over the course of my career to share my love of cooking and baking with my students, but I never really felt like I was giving them the confidence to be able to go out and do it on their own.

This summer, the ultimate opportunity came into view. The district librarian and I were talking about ways to get the local high school students to go to the Sandusky District Library and utilize the great programs they offer. After realizing there was a stove and refrigerator in the library community room, I immediately offered my services to bring a summer cooking class to the library. The 20 spots quickly filled up and a 4-week cooking class was brought to life. Students cut and cleaned chicken, kneaded dough, practiced measuring, made grocery lists, went shopping, and did various other things without hesitation. The laughter and confidence that could be seen and heard in this room were contagious.  

I have never had a more rewarding experience in my educational career. Plus, I know that building relationships with students is key to building successful classrooms. The kids from the class are coming up to me to share their cooking experiences at home and parents are reaching out to express their gratitude for helping their child gain confidence in the kitchen. This cooking class opportunity has given me the chance to connect with future and current students and has allowed me to grow as an educator. 

One of my strongest goals in education is to create experiences for students that carry their learning beyond the classroom to life. What I have learned most through this process is, as an educator, I must get creative and think outside of the box just as I encourage my own students with their thinking. If I believe a skill is important for my students to learn, I have to find ways to get them that knowledge, even if it means cooking in a library. If you are an educator reading this, I encourage you to do the same thing. You will not be disappointed in the results. Kids deserve it!  

Aladdin Movie/Craft Night

The kids found a craft book for the movie Aladdin at the District Library this weekend, so we decided to have a movie night with that theme. 

Rachel created Aladdin out of some leaves that she cut up and glued together. She made a head and hat out of paper and glued that on. Adding a binder clip and paper clip created the mechanism to let Aladdin go down the zipline. 

We also used a fruit snack box to create a marketplace escape. A bendy straw attached to a paper straw acts as the turning handle. We tied a piece of yarn on the straw and tied a paperclip to the other end of the yarn. Aladdin can be attached to the paperclip and lifted up the escape and dropped over the back of the "building". 

We used a piece of foam to act as a magic carpet. We put a magnet on the back of the foam. Using a long piece of cardboard, we moved a magnet under the cardboard so it looked like the carpet was moving on its own. 

We also did a lava jar with water, oil, food coloring, and alka seltzer tablets. We filled the jar 3/4 of the way with water, filled the rest of the jar with oil, added food coloring and dropped in alka seltzer tablets. We turned off the lights and shined a flashlight through. (The book said to just add salt instead of alka seltzer, but it didn't give us the reaction we were looking for. Salt and alka seltzer was cool.) 

The last craft we did was make diamond in the rough suncatchers. We cut a diamond outline out of cardstock and placed it on a piece of contact paper. The kids filled in the diamond with blue tissue paper. We added another diamond outline on top of that and covered it with another piece of contact paper. We trimmed the excess contact paper and taped them to the window. 

We made some pretzel sticks to represent the bread Aladdin steals, made naan bread, ate apples and caramels, and were going to make magic carpets out of graham crackers, frosting, and sprinkles, but we got full. 

Hummus

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

salt to taste

Drain and rinse the chick peas. Place all of the ingredients except the oil in a food processor. Turn on and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. If a smoother consistency is desired, add 2 Tbsp cold water and blend. Store in the refrigerator. 

Goes very well with the easy naan bread. 

Cinnamon/sugar roasted nuts

Ingredients: 

1 egg white

2 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla

1 lb nuts (pick any raw almonds, walnuts, or pecans)

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Mix the egg white, water, and vanilla in a bowl until frothy. 

Add the nuts and coat them well. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a Ziploc bag.

 Dump in the coated nuts and shake until coated. 

Pour on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. 

Easy Naan Bread

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

Place the ingredients in a mixer and use the hook attachment to combine. 

After 2 minutes in the mixer, knead on a floured surface for a couple of minutes. 

Cut the dough into 8 pieces. 

Roll the dough out into a circle. Brush olive oil in a cast iron pan or skillet. Cook one circle at a time. Brush the exposed part of the circle with olive oil before flipping and cooking on the other side. 

Granola Bars

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 cups quick oats 

1 cup rice krispie cereal

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips

Heat the butter, honey, brown sugar, and peanut butter until it starts to boil. Reduce heat and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. . 

Stir in the oatmeal and rice krispies

Press in a greased pan and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Press the chips down with your hand. 

Cut when they are cool and set. 

Magic 8 Ball Birthday Party

For Rachel's Golden Birthday (She turned 8 on 8/8), we decided to stick with the 8 theme. We made an 8-ball cake and pinata.