Immersion blender a hit

For Poetry Month, some students wrote haikus:

Chanitza Sanchez: Cooking is the best/ Working together is fun/ Cannot wait to share.

Dave Garcia: Eating well is great/Your belly needs to digest/It is nice to cook.

Yaritza Robles: Cooking is the best/I love to try new dishes/All types of good food.

Yosanit Bonilla: I'm going to cook/Food is delicious and good/ Tasty, yummy, great!

Delfri Guzman: Eating yummy soup/Is so good in your tummy/It is cool to cook.

Jennifer Wong: Poured, chopped, peeled, and sliced/Soup will be very healthy/ Orange, sweet, tasty.

Christy John: Cutting vegetables/We chopped, peeled, stirred, and measured/Corn bread and great soup.

Nikita Sunil: Poured, chopped, mixed, and peeled/Sweet potato and carrot soup/Soup will be orange.

Jessica Mambula: Poured, chopped, and cooking/ Soup that looks like baby food/Not delicious food.

Everyone was excited to get involved with the chopping of the vegetables and preparation of the soup and salad. The bread and salad were a hit. The texture of the soup was unfamiliar and not as well received. We used yogurt in a third way - mixed with a tad of brown sugar - and used it as a dip for strawberries.

- Diane Fanelli and Barbara Krumbhaar

This week's highlight was learning to use the immersion blender after lots of safety instruction. They each took a turn and felt accomplished afterward. We used vegetable stock and water, which gave us a chance to look at the nutritional information of the stock. To all of our surprise, it really wasn't more "good for you" than plain water but it did add flavor. The girls thought the colors of the soup with the yogurt, cilantro, and paprika were really beautiful.

- Jeanne Runne and Alice Sandmeyer

Once the soup was ladled into bowls, everyone added their own garnishes (yogurt, cilantro, and paprika) to individualize their soup. All felt that additional spices were needed. Amir further stated that the soup needed some meat and hotter spices "to enhance the taste." Even after correcting the spices in the dish, the students still felt the soup was too thin and lacked enough "zip."

- Adrian Seltzer and Debbie Haggett

"It bubbles up, like a tsunami," Jenny Bui offered when asked how we would know when our soup was at the boiling point. The recipe called for salt, pepper, and curry "to taste." This offered the day's most teachable moments as we tried to impress upon our students that it's better to start with smaller amounts of seasoning, knowing more can be added "to taste" later.

- Amy Steinberg and Cindy Rappoport

Ryiese Randolph and Anthony Bové each had a difficult time peeling sweet potatoes and carrots, but in the end, with some instruction, they succeeded in mastering the skill.

The students were excited by the immersion blender. They all thought it was a lot of fun making the chunks of vegetables into a creamy soup.

- Lisa Krader and Linda Todorow

The students raced across the gym, dropped their backpacks, and headed to the kitchen. Sasha told us her family made the Turkey Lettuce Wraps and the vegetable dish at home. This week, they easily moved from one task to another, like a well-oiled machine. - Nancy Donahue and Beth Stack