The most magical thing about cooking is that you can take a group of different ingredients, mix them together, and create something new and wonderful.

The same can be said of a cooking class.

You can mix a group of different personalities, skills and interests together and create something as magical and wonderful as the food.

That was the takeaway from our first class of the spring semester in the My Family Kitchen program at Bayard Taylor Elementary in North Philadelphia.

“I got to meet new people,” Nathan Sanchez said when asked what he liked best.

“We are all from different classes and we combined our classes,” Glorielys Gonzalez said. “We met new people and teamed up to be one group.”

“I met Yeremy and Nathan at the same time,” Yohana Almonte added. “The class was very good.”

The first class is always an introduction to what young chefs will learn over eight weeks.

And it always starts with a good breakfast, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

The week’s recipe for Yogurt Fruit Parfaits was especially appealing, because the concoction not only is healthy but tastes almost like a dessert. And topped with homemade granola, it had a tangy crunchiness to offset the sweetness of the vanilla yogurt used to make it.

The granola, which was roasted in the oven, featured old fashioned oats, raw quinoa, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds and raisins plus butter, brown sugar and salt for texture and seasoning.

It required a lot of measuring, a skill students will need a lot in the weeks ahead.

“I was very precise with it,” Glorielys said after mixing and measuring the granola.

“I got to pour the butter with the almonds and stuff,” Yeremy Munoz said enthusiastically. “The butter tasted really good and it all mixed really well. And I got to keep the other half of the butter to take home!”

While the granola was roasting, the class formed an assembly line to put the parfaits together. It was a fun experience alternating layers of white yogurt with the colorful strawberries, blueberries and banana.

“It was pretty,” Yohana said. “I liked the chopping because when you’re chopping you can just feel the knife working.”

After topping the parfaits with granola fresh from the oven, the young chefs were eager to parade them to the table and eat.

“I’m in heaven!” Liam Ortiz Espiritu exclaimed after taking his first bite. “It was heavenly! It was divine! I had two cups!”

“It tasted really good,” Aubrey Brown said. “I liked the fruit, the granola, everything.”

“The fruit was 10 out of 10 — perfect rating,” Yeremy said. “It was so delicious I went to heaven and back.”

And how would the chefs rate their first class?

“It was amazing,” Aubrey said. “We got to do a lot of things and we got to make breakfast.”

“The class was really good,” Liam added. “We made some really good food.”

“A 10 out of 10 experience,” Yeremy enthused. “The best class of my life.”

And what would the young chefs tell their friends about it?

“It’s something you should try,” Glorielys said, “because it’s once in a lifetime.”