One of the great things about cooking class is that there are often wonderful surprises.

In Week 4 at Bayard Taylor, there were two that made everyone smile.

The first could be summed up in three words: “Pablo liked something!”

That’s because in the first three weeks of class, Pablo Gomez had been one of our pickiest eaters. Egg Salad Pita Sandwiches gave him something to be happy about.

“I liked the eggs,” he said, “because they were crunchy” with chopped celery bits.

“I had one and a half sandwiches,” he said — and even gave the Kale, Apple and Carrot Salad partial approval.

“I liked the apple,” he said.

The other surprise came when the class was serving up the salad and sandwiches at our cafeteria table.

When Mr. Peter asked if there was a sandwich he could have, Alison Reyes gave him the one from her plate — even though there were none left on the serving platter.

“You can have it,” she said, when he tried to give it back.

“That was so sweet,” Ms. Linda said later. “That really shows wonderful character.”

Eventually, Alison got a sandwich, when another student didn’t finish theirs.

“It was good,” she said with a smile. “I liked the eggs with the sandwich, and I liked when we scooped the egg into the sandwich bread.”

Making sandwiches and salad was a good lesson for how to put together a healthy, balanced meal from inexpensive things many families have in the refrigerator.

Eggs are a “complete protein” that build strong muscles, and egg salad can be dressed up with raw vegetables, herbs and spices that families have on hand. This recipe used yogurt to moisten the eggs, but mayonnaise works just as well. (And you can use up mayonnaise packets from fast food if you have them!)

The kale salad, which can be made with other dark green vegetables such as spinach or romaine lettuce, is a good source of vitamins and minerals and is rich in calcium that builds strong bones. The carrots improve vision and the apples improve heart health and digestion.

Best of all this meal was FUN to make.

The kale salad required lots of chopping and grating, and our young chefs learned a new word when they were asked to “julienne” the apple into match sticks (JOO-lee-EN).

Isaiah Viera quickly mastered the technique, while Alison and Pablo stripped the kale leaves from the stems and Maya Ramos chopped avocado into wedges for the sandwiches.

To make the egg mixture, Genevieve Brush learned how to dice the celery into little bits, and Maya discovered how mustard can add kick to a recipe.

Everyone was interested to see how quickly eggs can cook to become hard-boiled, and everyone wanted to try their own technique for peeling off the shells. Isaiah and Austin Caballero proved especially good at it, producing perfect eggs that looked like smooth white balls.

Austin, Isaiah, Maya and Alison then took turns using knives in both hands to chop up the eggs and mix them with the yogurt and mustard.

Maya, Alison and Genevieve had trouble with too-hard whole wheat pita bread to make the pockets needed for the egg, but they made it work eventually. Genevieve marched the sandwiches to the table on our big, white platter.

And how was this healthy, inexpensive meal?

“I liked the salad and the sandwich,” Maya said. “I liked the apple in the salad and the vinegar.”

Isaiah wished the salad had even more vinegar.

“I tried the salad but it was too sweet,” he said, because it had maple syrup in the dressing. “The salad was mid.”

Pablo said “I give the salad a 5 out of 10” — which for him was a very good grade.

Genevieve gave the meal the highest marks.

“The class was great,” she said. “I liked the egg because it was protein. The salad was healthy food and tasted great. I liked the carrots.”

“I’m going to take some home to my mom and my dad,” Austin said. “I liked making food.”