Each time we start a new session of cooking class, my partner Belinda and I say, “These are the best kids we’ve had yet.”

But this year, our students have surpassed our expectations. They are so engaged, so motivated to learn how to cook. They follow directions, they are polite and respectful, and they love being there.

Even better, they are cooking at home!

Margie Hernandez told us she made the mini frittatas after asking her mom to buy eggs and suggesting that they could make them for dinner. She and her mom made them together, Margie said, “But I led the way.”

 

Then Gabriella Diaz piped up and said she had made yellow rice and beans with her Dad.

Leilah Cruz helped her Mom make chicken parm, and Joel Palillero helped to make lasagna.

These kids are cooking!

We were making chicken and veggie stir fry , a great alternative to the Chinese take-out that so many families pick up for a quick and easy dinner. Our recipe is very basic, chicken thighs, peppers and green beans, and a simple sauce of soy sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. But we were serving it over quinoa instead of rice.

“Quinoa!” exclaimed Jizelle Santos when she saw it in the ingredients. “My Dad LOVES quinoa.” She said her family is often asking for McDonald’s, but her Dad always says, “No, let’s make dinner with quinoa.”

 

None of the other children had tried quinoa before, but they were open to giving it a try.I told them it’s a whole grain that was a good source of protein, a healthy alternative to white rice.

Lots of fast food references were made in the kitchen this week. “These look just like McDonald’s French fries” said Margie, who was proficiently slicing the peppers into thin strips, that did, in fact, resemble shoe string fries.

Leilah and Jizelle took on the task of cutting up the chicken, insisting on trimming all the fat. “It’s a struggle to get all this fat,” said Leilah. “But we don’t want to eat it,” said Jizelle, making a face. “I hate fat.”

Joel was packing the brown sugar into the measuring cup and delighted in seeing a cylinder land in a bowl when he dumped it. He said it was just like when he was making sandcastles on the beach in Atlantic City. “It reminds me of my childhood,” he said nostalgically.

Miguel Montero and Gabriella made short work of trimming and snapping the green beans. And when all the prep work was done, the meal came together easily, with Margie sauteing the chicken, Gabriella and Miguel adding the beans, Leilah adding the peppers and Joel finishing it with the sauce.

As the cooking skills have improved, so have some of the palates of these children.

 

“The chicken was kinda good, but I think it needs more seasoning,” wrote Gabriella.

“The meal today was okay, but it didn’t really satisfy me,” wrote Jizelle. “The chicken needed more flavor, even with the extra sauce. The green beans could have been a little softer.”

“It was a very good dish, ” wrote Miguel. “The part I don’t like is the peppers.”

“I liked how the red and yellow peppers were crunchy and soft,” wrote Margie.

Yet in spite of some reservations, all the children went back for seconds, thirds and even fifths, in the case of Leilah.

“I can’t believe we made this,” she gushed. “If I wasn’t in this program, I never would be able to make this. I love it so much!”