Summer Solstice


The kitchen is a great place to be at BCS. But for a while now, our Blue Preschool has been eating lunch in their classroom instead. It worked for the kids because not moving back and forth between rooms meant less transitioning at an already tricky time of day. Now however, they are ready for a change of scenery. And I'm so happy to report that our new schedule of two serving times to allow everyone from both classrooms time to eat in the kitchen is working out well so far.
I love it for several reasons... I get to spend a little time with all four teachers instead of just 2, I get to spend time with all the kids and talk to them about the food and get more feedback, and it just makes the pace more relaxed. Serving is easier, and clean up is too. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have helpers like these...



In other news, we love SPINACH!


Really.
We have been eating it raw in salads, sauteed in olive oil, and baked into rice casserole. We can't get enough!

Family Dinner is coming up next week. We're having cold sesame noodles and my new obsession, cold broccoli salad. And some watermelon, and probably bread. We love bread!

Well THAT was fast!

I'm sorry for the long, long wait between posts. I've been really busy. I had a a baby!
Her name is Sadie Lou Simon and she's now about three months old.
Our fearless leader Sarah made her this great shirt - I took this photo when she was about two weeks old. Now she looks like this..

...asleep at the Old North End farmer's market!

It's been a huge adjustment for my whole family but we are all settling in nicely and I think I'm finally ready to get back down to Lunch Lady business in earnest!
Sooo....where to start?
Well let's see. I returned to lunch duty on May 10th after 6 weeks at home. My substitute, the lovely Hannah, stayed on with me for two extra days while I got my sea legs back. My comeback lunch was black bean and cheese quesadillas, tomato soup, corn, and apples.

Quesadillas are always a hit. And boy was I glad to be back!

The rest of May was cool, so we enjoyed some comforting cold weather favorites for a few weeks. Spaghetti and meatballs, and macaroni and cheese of course...



But after a few super hot days, everyone's tastes turned to lighter fare. One especially sweltering morning I made a cold three bean salad in a desperate last minute switch from baked pasta to avoid turning the oven on, and it was a welcome change.

And with that, my idea for the Summer of Salads began. A new salad every week, either as a main dish or a side, preferably using at least some ingredients grown locally, with the recipe posted here! Luckily, summer is now officially upon us and that means gardening at BCS, the neighborhood farmer's market, and lots of fresh stuff! Once again we are partnering with Grow Team One to sponsor our plot ay the Archibald Community Garden. The toddlers and preschoolers have been working on the two raised beds there and everyone is working hard to transform the playground and use every available inch for growing. In the works are squash and zucchini, tomatoes, herb pots, a sunflower house, and a raised bed alongside the kitchen growing beans and peas.
The preschoolers also brought some herb pots into the kitchen for me to use in our lunches!


Today we had egg salad sandwiches with chives from the kitchen pots, along with watermelon and carrots.

So to kick off the Summer of Salads, here's the recipe we used for Cold Bean Salad!

1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 15 oz can of red kidney beans, drained
1.5 lbs of green beans, ends trimmed, cut into medium pieces, and blanched
( dipped in boiling water for a minute or two, they should still be pretty crunchy)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tsp garlic powder
Black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients, taste and adjust however you like. It gets better after chilling together for a few hours or even overnight. Great for lunch on a hot day!

I'm so glad to be cooking again! Especially since I'm lucky enough to have Sadie near enough to be able to visit me in the kitchen!
I'll be back soon with more recipes, and news about our family dinner scheduled for the 28th, and our upcoming American Flatbread fundraiser!
xo
Erinn

February family dinner! Welcome Jed!

February Family Dinner


Our February family dinner was wonderful! It was great to get our community together with so much to talk about and celebrate!
First of all, our wonderful program director Heather left BCS back in December to be home with her new baby girl and BCS alumni boy. They are all doing very well and have even been back to visit a few times. In January we welcomed Jed Norris as our new program director and couldn't be happier that he's part of our team. He has jumped into his new role with both feet bringing lots of new energy to BCS. But the best thing about Jed, at least from my kitchen-centered perspective, is his love of good food! He has spent time baking bread and making trips to our neighborhood bakery with the kids, which have resulted in "bakeries" popping up in classrooms all over the center, and lots of impromptu baking projects finding their way into the oven before and after lunch. He and I and Sarah have spent a fair amount of time discussing recipe books, chefs, and food blogs that we love, and he's always game to taste test the day's lunch, or have a go at the leftovers! So it was great to have lots of our families together to officially welcome Jed, and what better setting than a big dinner! Unfortunately he managed to avoid having his picture taken, but I plan to post one of him soon, hopefully with a loaf of his homemade bread.

We were also coming together to talk about Kindergarten registration in Burlington for all of our second year preschoolers. We had Victor Prussack - the coordinator of the Burlington magnet schools and all kindergarten registration - on hand to talk about the process and answer questions, as well as our Head Start Early Care Advocate and some other classroom support folks. My son Eli, who is now in first grade at the Integrated Arts Academy, was there as well, and was eager to tell everyone what a great time he's having there and how proud he is of his school!


The Menu

We had spinach lasagna, tossed salad with romaine lettuce, carrots and spinach, and bread that was made by us, and some donated by our great friends and amazing bakers down the street at Panadero.

It was great to see everyone enjoying a hot, comforting dish on a cold February night! The kids have really been embracing the green veggies lately as well.
Two of my favorite recent stories...
First, one preschooler who, in her first weeks at BCS, would pick green flecks of oregano or basil out of her food if she noticed it, was spotted at lunch happily munching on raw spinach from her salad with just a bit of dressing.
Second, a preschool boy returned from his dentist appointment and asked Sarah if she knew why his teeth were so shiny. Sarah agreed that his teeth looked wonderful, and guessed it was to match his earring, also impressively shiny. But the boy corrected her. "It's because I eat VEGETABLES!"

Jamie Oliver's wish: Teach every child about food!

A few months ago I was introduced to a series of lectures available online called TED talks.
From the website:



TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Oxford, bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

The organization gave a challenge to several speakers in 2010 - tell us about your wish for the world. Jamie Oliver does that in the video below. Please take a few minutes to be educated, inspired, and charmed by a guy who really cares about how all kids eat and interact with their food.

2011 is here... let's catch up!




Well, the holiday season overwhelmed me as usual, and I didn't post nearly as much as I'd hoped to.. i.e. at all. Shame on me! But, I have set a goal for 2011 that I know I can meet.
I will take plenty of photos of lunch preparation and consumption with my (sort of) fancy new phone, and include the pics in weekly posts with at least one recipe from that week's menu.
Sound good? Good!
Before we start with this past week's photos though I want to mention our fantastic holiday dinner that took place way back in November. It really made the holidays come together for me, and it brought the BCS community together in ways we couldn't have imagined while planning it. First of all, the turnout was incredible. We estimated that at the busiest point of the night we had about 150 folks eating and mingling in the Senior Center! Sarah and Lourie braved the kitchen in the early morning to prep and roast three enormous turkeys - which turned out absolutely perfect and delicious. We had help from wonderful parents as the day went on, boiling and mashing potatoes, slicing bread, carving turkey, setting tables, chopping fruit, raw veggies, and setting out all of the incredible dishes that families brought with them to share - hot soup, salads, cheese platters and a mountain of heavenly desserts.
Everyone ate more than heartily, and we still had enough to send leftover packages home with several lucky folks. The spirit of community and love was truly in the air, and we are already planning how to make it even better next year!
But first we have a year's worth of regular old family dinners to enjoy! Our next is coming up on February 10th. I'm making veggie lasagna and we're talking about kindergarten registration! My husband will be there to take lots of photos so we'll have a great post about it in a few weeks.

For now, let me say how happy I am to be back in the kitchen! I am lucky, lucky, lucky to love my job so much that I was actually looking forward to returning after the long holiday break. How could I not look forward to puttering around in the bright BCS kitchen, chopping, slicing and bubbling, turning this...



and this...




into this,



and this!
Sometimes simple soup and a sandwich is just the thing, isn't it?
And so, here is my recipe for what I've decided to call "It's So Tasty! Vegetable Soup", based on
the exclamation of one of my toddler friends upon eating it last week. This is a very easy, basic, kid-friendly soup, and can make use of either whatever fresh veggies you have lying around that need to be used, or frozen veggies that have been hanging around the freezer. At BCS the kids like it best served with grilled cheese sandwiches or cheese quesadillas!

It's So Tasty! Vegetable Soup

this recipe will make plenty for a family of four, and can be stretched with a little extra broth or water and salt/pepper/garlic if necessary...

1 lb pasta cooked according to package directions, drained and put back in dry cooking pot with a bit of butter or margarine to keep it from sticking ( semolina or whole wheat, any fun shape will do)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 good sized carrots peeled and sliced thinly

1 15 oz bag of frozen peas, defrosted

some olive or vegetable oil

6 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste ( for this size batch approx a teaspoon of each is a good start)

Put a large pot on medium heat, add a few teaspoons of oil and the onion and stir it around for a few moments, until it starts to smell good. Add a few shakes of salt and pepper if you like, then add the carrots. Stir them around for a few minutes, being careful not to let them stick or brown up too much on the bottom. When the oil seems absorbed and the veggies are hot, add the broth, turn the heat down to medium/low, and let the pot simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots are quite soft.
Add the peas at this point, and turn the heat up a bit so everything heats up evenly. After about 5 minutes add as much or as little of the pasta as you'd like, and the salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

****This is the very basic recipe. Please note that you can use pretty much any vegetable you like in addition to or in place of the ones suggested here. I often like to stir some fresh chopped spinach in a few minutes before serving at the end so it just wilts, or add fresh or frozen corn, little cubes of potato, thinly sliced red cabbage, green beans.... whatever you and your kids like. Red or white beans also work very well ******

Take care and come back next week!
xoxo
Erinn

We are celebrating!

Tomorrow we will be busy in the kitchen all day preparing for our first Thanksgiving Family Dinner! We have invited the BCS community of families and staff, as well as volunteers and special friends that have helped us out this year. We are so thankful for our wonderful workplace!
Sarah and I will be cooking turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing (from scratch!) squash, and making veggie plates. Sarah also made some beautiful pumpkin bars and cranberry bars for dessert, so we'll whip up some cream for those.
I can't wait to post about it! Look out toward the end of the week.

Again, a big thank you to City Market for the generous donation - we are thankful for you too!!
xo
Erinn

Shepherd's Pie


I promised the shepherd's pie recipe after the last family dinner, and here you have it:


BCS Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef (or turkey)

4 c. potatoes, (peeled or not, depending on your preference) washed and cut into large pieces

2 cups corn kernels (I use frozen corn, organic when there's room in the budget, though you could certainly use fresh or canned as well)

1 clove garlic ( or more to taste)

one packet of vegetarian brown gravy mix (this is what I use. if you have a homemade gravy recipe or a mix that you love, use it!)

about 1/2 cup milk and some butter or margarine for the mashed potatoes

1/2 to 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

salt, pepper to taste

8 ior 9 inch square baking dish

First, preheat the over to 350 degrees. Then put the potatoes in a large pot with enough hot water to cover them and bring to a boil. Let them boil for about 10 minutes, then test for softness. You want them really soft so they'll mash easily and evenly.
While they're boiling chop the garlic as finely as you can, then cook it with the beef on high heat all the way through - no pink left anywhere. Season with salt, pepper.
Put the beef in the bottom of your dish.

Prepare the gravy - the kind I use just needs to be whisked with water and brought to a boil. When it's ready, pour it over the beef in the dish and mix around so it's all coated well.

Next, cook the corn in a pan with a little butter or margarine until it's heated through. Don't add salt while it's cooking - it will make the corn tough!
Pour the cooked corn over the beef making a nice layer.

Next, get to work on those mashed potatoes! They should be soft now, so drain them in a colander and put them back in the hot pot. Add your milk, butter or margarine and some salt if you like, then mash away. A masher is easiest, but a large fork or slotted spoon will work as well. Get them as smooth as you can, and taste for seasoning. If they feel stiff or dry, just add a little more milk a bit at a time.

When they're nice and smooth, spoon them over the corn layer in the dish, using a spatula to spread if necessary. When you've covered the corn, sprinkle the cheese all over the top. Use as much or as little as you'd like. I tend to like things cheesy!!

Pop it in the over until the cheese is nice and bubbly - about 10-12 minutes for a dish this size.

This will feed 6 people well, especially with some bread and salad! You can easily double or triple ( or more!) this recipe for a bigger crowd.

Some great variations to try:
Add some cooked carrots or kale or spinach to the beef before layering the corn.
Use mixed veggies instead of just corn for the second layer.
Mix the cheese with the potatoes while mashing instead of sprinkling on top.
It's a casserole! Improvise based on what your family likes!

Family Dinner (and more)

Last week's family dinner was amazing, but I'll get to that in a moment.
First I want to give the new preschoolers their due...with a few pics from the day the mayor came. He didn't visit with the preschoolers, but they enjoyed the lunch just the same. I'm so proud of these kiddos, they are really settling in to their new routine and classrooms, and I'm having so much fun cooking for them. Have a look...

It's a little hard to tell, but that's a mouthful of spinach!

Enjoying the meatloaf!A full table in the kitchen

And I'm so excited about the incredible kitchen area in the Green Preschool





I had some help preparing for the Family Dinner from my new friend and kitchen volunteer Meghan O'Day from Williston. She's working on a challenge project for school that involves learning about a non-profit organization and the work they do around a specific issue. Meghan is interested in childhood obesity, and she's spending some time with me this month learning about the BCS lunch program and how we work to promote good child and family nutrition.
She helped me prep and serve lunch on Tuesday, then came back Thursday afternoon to help get the dinner organized.
The turnout was terrific. We served shepherd's pie, homemade bread, and sliced apples buffet style near the entrance so families could come in, grab a plate, and head to their child's classroom to relax with teachers and other families.
After dinner, the party got a little wild in the preschool, where everyone was excited about the Rube-Goldberg machines the Green Preschoolers have been designing...








It was a chilly fall evening, so the shepherd's pie was perfect to warm us up. It was so popular I put it on the menu this week for lunch, and I'm distributing the recipe to parents as well.
I do love a casserole when it's cold outside!

On the lunch menu this week - grilled cheese and tomato soup, chicken alfredo, pizza, turkey burgers and green salad, yum!

The mayor came for lunch!

Last Thursday we had some very special guests at BCS. Mayor Bob Kiss and two of his co-workers joined our Older Toddlers for meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, and cinnamon apples. They were touring businesses in the Old North End of Burlington (our neighborhood) and made us their lunchtime stop.

I used my Nana's tried and true recipe for meatloaf, the same one I use every time I make it for the kids:
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
large crushed garlic clove
salt and pepper
cover top with ketchup
(multiply this as many times as you need to - I used 10 pounds of beef!)
bake at 375 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until proper temperature is reached on a meat thermometer.
The more you make the longer you'll need to bake. My "swimming pool sized" loaf - as Sarah likes to call it- takes about 2.5 hours.

It was a hit! I'm pretty sure the mayor asked for seconds. My husband was there taking photos, and captured some great conversations.

This toddler wanted to know if Bob Kiss liked to eat hot peppers.

He does!

And everyone enjoyed the meal. It was my first time serving the kids cooked spinach. I used large leaves and sauteed them with butter and a little salt, pepper and granulated garlic just until they were wilted and a little shiny. I'm happy to say, some of them tried it! And of the kids who tried it, some actually liked it! It was popular with the adults, and a nice new addition to our veggie rotation. I can't wait to make it again.

Notice the photo of the mayor behind his desk hanging on the line on the wall in this photo! Sarah gave it to the toddlers last week when they were preparing for the visit, and wondering what Bob Kiss's office looked like and what he did there.



Then it was time to get ready for nap.
(I love the way our classrooms transition from busy lunch times to quiet cozy napping spaces.)

Thank you Mayor Kiss! Please come back again soon!
-Erinn


p.s. There is so much more to catch up on! But I think I'll wait till the weekend for the rest. I have some wonderful photos of our new preschoolers enjoying lunch on meatloaf day, and of the fantastic kitchen area in our Green Preschool classroom, AND I'll want to report on our Curriculum Night and Family Dinner - happening tomorrow night. In the spirit of these chilly, windy, rainy Fall days we're having shepherd's pie, homemade bread, and applesauce. I'll tell you all about it. If you're part of the BCS family, we'll see you there!

Success! And something exciting...

So the ginger chicken and sesame noodles were well received. The kids liked the chicken about as much as they like any chicken with sauce on it, but the sesame noodles were the real surprise. They ate them up! And the best part was, I totally improvised the sauce. So I was excited when checking the Culinate blog today to find this great article about improvising stir fry sauces.

I must admit that I used some bottled teriyaki marinade with some fresh grated ginger and garlic for the chicken, but for the noodles I just followed my heart and my tastebuds and whisked together some toasted sesame oil, tamari, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic. I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles. I had to adjust many times, and then ended up making a whole second batch after adding the first to the noodles (when trying new recipes at work I often forget I don't ever cook 4 pounds of pasta at a time at home!) but in the end it came out pretty good. Next time I won't be afraid of the sugar, and will maybe try honey instead.
And next week when chicken broccoli stir fry is on the menu, I'll be consulting the stir fry sauce cheat sheet!

Now for the "something exciting"!
Today Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss is touring our neighborhood - the Old North End - and will be stopping by BCS to eat some meatloaf and mashed potatoes with our Big Toddlers! My husband will be on hand to snap a few pictures, and also a few of all of our new classrooms and kiddos.
Look out for some pictures and details after the big day!
xoxo
Erinn

Why Kids Should Cook

The new school year is in full swing, and the classrooms are busy with lots of kitchen projects. I have been joined for some portion of almost every morning by groups of kids with a teacher or two sorting, measuring, mixing, talking, and cooking up snacks for themselves and their friends. So far they've made pancakes, muffins, applesauce, apple cake, and play dough. It's been incredible to witness, as groups of up to five patiently wait for their turn with the spoon, offer predictions for what ingredients come next, or how long they'll need to bake a dish, and generally relax into the kitchen.
So it was great timing when our director Sarah shared this article with me yesterday. It 's a wonderful articulation of exactly what our teachers believe and strive for, not just in the kitchen, but in their classroom philosophy as well.

http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/a_childs_place_is_in_the_kitchen

Take a minute to look around the site, Culinate, as well. Great recipes and ideas.
I think I'll try adapting the corn chowder, without the smoked fish, for the kids this fall.

My husband is planning a visit next week to document some of these projects, and our new preschoolers and toddlers enjoying lunch, so look for new photos soon.

New recipe for lunch today! Ginger chicken and sesame noodles! If it's a hit I'll post the recipe this weekend.
Happy Harvest!
Erinn