Kitchen Notebook: Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches

Team Up Philly at Universal Daroff

We’re so glad to be cooking again! Everyone liked the homemade breakfast biscuit sandwiches and almost everyone even liked the sauteed peppers and onions in the egg mixture. Aniyah wrote that “the food was lovely”. India was glad that she “learned to hold the knife a certain way,” and Vanity learned some cooking math, noting that two ½ cup measures is equal to one cup!

— Elena Levitan and Beth Buckman

Bayard Taylor Elementary

If teamwork is the key to a good cooking class, ours is off to a great start. Both students and teachers smoothly divided the tasks for Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches, and our young chefs enthusiastically jumped in to show us their skills.

Johnise Gause, who has cooked a lot at home, quickly took on dicing the green peppers for the eggs, and Bryttanye Vasquez volunteered to chop the onion after discovering we had goggles to keep her from crying. Meanwhile, Mirelyz Perez got busy chopping butter for biscuits, and Jayden Murphy and Gabriel Ortiz sorted through the measuring spoons and cups to figure out which went with dry ingredients and which went with wet. Everyone wanted a turn cracking eggs, so we made sure we divided them so each got at least two. A few eggshells made it into the bowl, but the kids smiled when we reminded them “you can’t wreck an egg!” As Mirelyz and Gabriel whisked the eggs into shape, Mirelyz described the technique perfectly when she said it was “like a little tornado.”

Bryttanye and Jayden took the lead combining the milk and butter with the dry biscuit ingredients and had great fun getting their hands white and gooey as they worked for the right texture. They also liked learning that your hands are one of your most important kitchen tools!

When the biscuits went into the oven, Johnise took charge of the eggs, since she was most comfortable working a hot stove. Soon Jayden and Mirelyze wanted in on the action, however, even though Mirelyze confessed she had never cooked breakfast and “I don’t even eat breakfast” as a rule. Not so Jayden. He proudly reported “I cook breakfast for myself — bacon, eggs and grits.”

When the time came to combine the eggs and biscuits on our beautifully set table in the cafeteria, the meal got solid reviews. “It’s good!” Bryttanye said. “Marvelous!” added Mirelyze enthusiastically. Jayden announced “I love the peppers!” but Gabriel carefully ate around every one on his plate. “I don’t like peppers,” he explained, “but I like cucumbers, pickles and broccoli.” Before we had finished eating, the young chefs wanted to know what we would be making the next week. “I want to learn how to make more different foods,” Bryttanye noted. “I want to try different things I’ve never tried before,” said Mirelyze. And what was the most important thing they learned in the first class? “Keep your fingers away from the knives!” Gabriel exclaimed. “Yesssss!” everyone said, all together.

— Linda Molloy, Nancy Smith and Peter Landry

Hunter School

Students were excited to see us today! They were especially happy that we were making a breakfast recipe. However, Xavier remarked, “I’m nervous. I’m afraid I might burn down the school!” After we reassured him we wouldn’t allow that to happen, he was all smiles and mentioned he might try the recipe for his four sisters at home the next day.

— Angela Burke, Cindy DePasquale

Wissahickon Fernhill

We had an awesome first week with my daughters kitchen. The kids loved the meal especially the biscuits. At first a few people were adverse to the green peppers but in the end they thought they added flavor and loved the combination of the onions with the green peppers. The kids found the recipe easy to understand, and one of the suggestions with maybe to add cheese. I think all the kids felt this was a meal that they would make at home and thought it might be fun to include family members in the preparation.

— Jill Durovsik

Kensington Health Sciences Academy

Some quotes from week 1:

Zena Qoraan: “The scrambled eggs were delicious.”

Elsa Rosano: “I really like it, the food was amazing. I really like it.”

Jarolyn Paredes Hernandes: “I like it because it was healthy and delicious.”

— Hope Waller

Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences

Some quotes from the first week of the Spring program:

“I feel as if it were a new chapter into my cooking experience... I learned that red onions are actually sweeter than yellow onions.” —Jayla Velazquez

“I learned that friends are all you need and it’s so nice to make food with people you don’t know.” —Jazziarah Williams

— Tijuanda L. Riddick

Mother of Divine Grace School

We had a great 1st class. McKenzie liked that she was able to hang out and cook with her friends. Francesca was proud of herself for trying the recipe, and it turned out really well. Isabella is looking forward to trying new foods. Savannah is looking forward to working with her friends and learning new skills in the kitchen. Lexie is proud of herself and all of her friends for trying something new.

— Jane Ellen Lockhart

Wissahickon Awbury

Comly School

The Comly Culinary kids were a gaggle of excitement all day! They had no idea what the menu was for the first week, but that didn’t stop the talk in the hallways. We all arrived at the kitchen together. Cheyana Rivas asked, “What do we do?” Mrs. Craley and Mrs. O’Donnell began to explain the hows and whys of My Daughter’s Kitchen. Erica Gogan exclaimed, “Oh that makes sense.” The cookbooks were distributed to the group, and they excitedly read the recipes. Jaesha Benjamin said, “I love breakfast! We have it for dinner sometimes.”

The culinary kids divided up the jobs. Jaesha Benjamin and LiLa Mora took on the task of chopping the vegetables. Jaesha was so excited, “I’m so happy today was my first time cutting onions and I did not even cry!” Maeve Taffee couldn’t wait to mix the batter for the biscuits. She said, “making the dough for the biscuits was my favorite part because when I was kneading it, it felt weird when it stuck between my fingers."

We sat down to taste their first cooking attempt. It was the first time everyone was quiet. Erica Gogan said, “I love how everything smells! It smells like a real restaurant!” Chey Rivas agreed and said, “The peppers in the eggs really stand out.” Maeve Taffee said, “The eggs are so fluffy and fresh.” At then end of the class, everyone was in agreement that they could all make this for their families!

— Lorrie Craley and Cindy O’Donnell

Wiggins School

“We’re making our own biscuits? But you can just buy them at the store!” And with that observation, A’Zon Young kicked off another semester of My Daughter’s Kitchen. Our first session included: an explanation of how it can be healthier and more cost-effective to prepare your own food; a tour of the kitchen and pantry; an overview of knife skills, table setting and etiquette; and a lesson on fiber from the school nurse. After all that, Tyrone Baker excitedly asked, “Wait, now we get to eat this?” Yes!

— Susan Lore, Annamiek VanLaar, Edith Bobb

LaSalle Academy

This was a great recipe for the first week of class. The children had plenty of time to decorate their aprons and get right down to work. Not one complaint about cutting the onions, even though some tears were flowing! Khaliyl Ali said onions don’t make him cry; he makes THEM cry!They were all enthusiastic, right down to doing the dishes. And best of all, they all cleaned their plates. Week 1 goes in the win column!

— Maureen Barrett and Mariann Owens

Philadelphia Montessori Charter School

Smedley Elementary

This week, we started My Daughter’s Kitchen with a new group of students. We separated into two groups: Ms. Sharon taught four students how to make the muffins, and I worked with the other three students to chop the veggies and make the eggs. This new set of students was instantly engaged in the club. All students were observant when they were not in charge of prepping or cooking. There was a consensus that they enjoyed the muffin and would rather not have veggies in their eggs. I heard multiple students say they didn’t like onions or peppers but they still tried the eggs.

— Iliana Alvarez

Robert B. Pollock Elementary School

We met with success during our first lesson with the breakfast biscuit sandwiches! The students were surprised with how we used healthy ingredients such as Greek yogurt to make the biscuits rise. Julian Lebron in Grade 5 asked, “Don’t we need yeast to make the biscuits?” but learned there were other healthy methods. The biscuits received rave reviews from Joseph Alejandro, Grade 6, who shared, “I loved the biscuits, the eggs just needed a little salt.”

— Olivia Bates

McClure Elementary

Chester Eastside

This week we had plenty of time left for the children to write about their cooking experience in their blue books, and it was interesting to see what they had to say. Nalia Diaz noted the challenge that teammate Laila Daniels had in slicing the biscuits in half. “They came out a little broken into little pieces,” Nalia wrote. “But we tried our best, and they were tasty.” Rashod Kelly wrote that he would like to cook the recipe for his family, but added, “with a little salt, the eggs would have tasted better.”

— Sallie Anderson and Pat Kelly

Sacred Heart School

After saying she “wasn’t really into eggs," Leila said, “the eggs are actually pretty good and really creamy.” She was glad she tried it despite not being a huge fan of eggs. While we were looking through the My Daughter’s Kitchen recipe book, Reyna, (who is also a pescetarian) said, “Veggie cheesesteaks? With portabella mushrooms? That sounds awesome!” Nalani said, “I’m really happy I got picked to be in cooking! It is the best after-school program. All my friends wanted to be in it, too. I hope I can be in it again next year.”

— Mari Bartram

St. Augustine Academy

All participants, girls and teachers, were very excited to begin our MDK lessons. The two returning cooks, Brianna Arroya and Keymoni Thorton, helped the new girls with their knife skill knowledge. " I need to make a crab with my fingers and dig into the pepper with my nails" said Jocelyn Bastida per Brianna’s directions about dicing the pepper. Nevaeh Zampirri rated the meal nine out of ten! “With the onions and peppers the eggs are so good” exclaimed Sa’niya Sanders.

— Irene Cabrelli, Cheryl Pfeiffer, Ann Strohacker

Urban Promise

The UrbanPromise Junior chefs this semester are all in middle school, and three of the six have been through My Daughters Kitchen before. All six of the students, ranging from 6th to 8th grade, came ready to cook, and ready to eat their egg biscuit sandwiches.

The class started with a read through of the recipe and a review of proper knife skills. Jermaine Brown and Arianna Cooks (her real name!) got started on chopping peppers while Jaden Mosely, Malaysia Williams and Adir Harris began making biscuits. Everyone took turns cooking the eggs. When it was time to sit and eat, the class reviewed what they cooked. “I think it could have used some mozzarella cheese,” said Adir Harris.

— Maureen Dodson