What an enthusiastic group of students we had for our first week of cooking class. We had a stellar first class!

After washing hands, we talked about our goals for the class, and asked why the students had signed up.

“You get free food, and you can become a cooker in the future,” said Bella Nguyem.

“My mom wants me to learn to cook,” said Martin Castano.

Others said they wanted to learn to cook for their family, that they love to cook and want to learn how to cook new things, and that they just love learning.

In the next eight weeks, I hope we can meet everyone’s goals!

We talked about what cooking involves, and stressed that we would be using sharp knives and hot pans. We demonstrated how to hold the knife properly and how important it is to pay attention to the task of cutting, lest a finger could be nipped. The same goes for when cooking over the hot stove.

The students then took turns reading the recipe and identifying the ingredients for our Yogurt Parfait and Home Made Granola. Everyone except Martin and Bella had some cooking experience, however, they both were excited to learn!

Making granola from scratch was a surprise to all. They did not realize all the ingredients that could go into granola, especially quinoa and pumpkin seeds!

“Is that a grain?” asked Martin, while pointing to the box of quinoa.

In fact they all learned that there are many kinds of grain used in recipes, this one also included another grain, oatmeal.

Half the group made the granola while the others washed and cut up the fruit.

As we melted the butter and brown sugar for the granola, all the students savored the smell.

“It smells like caramel,” said Zuliany. When they took a tiny taste after it was cooled, they found, it tasted like caramel too.

The oats, quinoa and seeds were mixed with the caramel mixture, and spread on a sheet pan to go into the oven. They all loved the aroma as it cooked.

Once the granola cooled, we demonstrated how to “ layer” the yogurt, fruit, and granola into the parfait cups.

And then, the best part, sharing our meal together. When asked to describe the textures, they came up with crunchy, sweet, smooth and chewy. We explained that lots of different textures make a good recipe.

The student’s reviews came in strong. “I really like it. It kinda of reminds me of caramel popcorn,” said Jizelle Santos of the granola.

“It’s really good!” said Marielys Martinez.

“I just unlocked a whole new universe of taste buds!” said Martin.

Scarlett Godoy seemed to sum up what everyone was feeling: “Cooking class is starting off great!”