Friday, July 8

Step 1 for making a delicious breakfast: Make crepes. Step 2: Stuff with peanut butter and bananas. Step 3: Roll up and enjoy!

That's what we did for breakfast on Friday, and it was fairly popular, although crepes are a relatively new idea for most people - myself included. But we just presented them as thin pancakes, and it was the first time we had peanut butter so I think the kids were excited about that!

Lunch Friday was even more exciting - open-face grilled cheese + veggie sandwiches. For cooking time that day we were with Team 2, which consists mostly of students in grades 4-6 or thereabouts, and they were able to enthusiastically prepare and assemble the sandwiches.

First, they helped us roughly chop Swiss chard, which formed the first layer of the sandwiches. Next came shredded carrots, which Team 3 had helped us with the day before. Then, each sandwich got a thin slice of fresh tomato before being topped with a generous handful of grated cheese. We baked them in the oven 'til they got all bubbly, and served them with a roasted zucchini & nut salad. The kids helped chop all that zucchini, too! It was one of our more popular vegetable sides so far.

One of my favorite things about this lunch was how easy it was for the kids to help make it. Some of our meals so far, delicious though they were, were labor-intensive or put us in such a time crunch that it's sometimes difficult to figure out how to let the kids lend a hand. Some days we feel like we're on one of those TV game shows like "Iron Chef," scrambling to plate the meal before a buzzer goes off!! As time has passed, though, and we have gotten more comfortable as a team, it's been easier to let the kids help out. Monday of this week we made frittatas for the second time, and the kids did a lot more of the work this time around... but that is a post for another day!