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Kitchen Notebook: Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits with Homemade Granola

There's also nothing like a good breakfast to start a new semester of My Daughter's Kitchen. Especially if it's easy and fun to make.

LaSalle Academy students learn to prepare Fruit and Yogurt Parfait with Homemade Granola during week 1 of the fall 2018 sequence of the My Daughter's Kitchen kids' cooking program.
LaSalle Academy students learn to prepare Fruit and Yogurt Parfait with Homemade Granola during week 1 of the fall 2018 sequence of the My Daughter's Kitchen kids' cooking program.Read moreThomas Higgins

This Week’s Contributing Schools: 

Team Up Philly at Daroff

What a great start!  After a brief overview of kitchen safety and knife skills, we hit the ground running, diving into our recipes as we talked about our class format.  Nyonnah Meekins was shocked and delighted when she realized, about halfway through our prep time, that we were going to sit down together at the end and eat what we prepared!  The Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits with Homemade Granola were a big hit!  Jasmine Giddings wrote, "it was so so good that I will make it at home".

— Beth Buckman, Elena Levitan

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Prince Hall School

The fruit and yogurt parfaits topped with granola were a huge hit. Everyone agreed they'd be happy to eat this for breakfast any time! People thought the cooking granola smelled like peanut butter and caramel. And when they added the yogurt and fruit, "it was creamy and crunchy and a little sour," Jaykia Bonaparte wrote in her journal. "I give this 10 out of 10."

— Lisa Ellis

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Blessed Trinity
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Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences

Quotes from week 1:

"The parfait was really good.  It was crumbly and crispy.  The granola tasted better than it seemed… It was tasty."
— Yahiyla Walters

"I had to clean the dishes for the first time in my life." —Yasser Charroud

— Wendy Vandenberg

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Bayard Taylor Elementary

There's nothing like a good breakfast to start the day. There's also nothing like a good breakfast to start a new semester of My Daughter's Kitchen. Especially if it's easy and fun to make. At Bayard Taylor Elementary we had a full lineup for opening day, and there was lots of teamwork making Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits topped with Homemade Granola. Aliani Cabrera and Gabriel Rodriguez jumped right in to peel and chop the fruit – a combination of peaches, apples, bananas and a few frozen blueberries. Syliani Ortiz, meanwhile, teamed with twins Angel Ezell Sanchez and his brother Angel Luis to prepare the granola.We talked about how this is a quick-and-easy breakfast, but also one that will stick with you through lunch due to the nuts and oats in the granola. Aliani and Gabriel were fast learners for proper knife technique and made short work of the fruit. The Angels Ezell and Luis took care of the melted butter and joined Syliani to mix the granola evenly and get it ready for baking.Because we had a convection oven, we checked it several times and managed not to brown it too much."This looks sooooo good," Aliana exclaimed, when we brought the granola to the counter.The kids had fun assembling the parfaits in layers."I like making things and want to learn new foods I could make with my mom," Gabriel said."I like mixing the ingredients," added Ezell. "It's amusing how all the ingredients turn into one thing."When we marched our parfaits to the table, the students couldn't wait to see how this breakfast would taste.Syliani, who had never had raisins, found them "squishy" and could have done without them. But overall she found the dish "sweet and crunchy." Gabriel was more enthusiastic, exclaiming "This is a 5!" — and Aliani went even further: "A 5 out of crunchy 5!" "It tastes amazing, but it would taste even better with brown sugar," Ezell noted."It's the big finale!" said his brother Luis.

— Nancy Smith and Peter Landry

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Chester Eastside 

Determined to make our first meal a success, our budding chefs intently followed instructions.  The quinoa, an unfamiliar ingredient, raised eyebrows, but after  mastering its pronunciation (key-nwa), the girls confidently added this healthy grain to the granola mix.
"Today I learned that you need to measure correctly and put the right amount in the bowl to make the dish taste yummy," said Nalia Diaz.
"What I liked about our breakfast meal is that it  was healthy," added Jeidalys Collado.  "It makes you strong and brave at school."

— Sallie Anderson

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Hunter Elementary
The students arrived anticipating a positive experience, but not sure what to expect. By the end of class, all were enthusiastic!!! Each girl mentioned one ingredient they didn't like in the recipe. However, they all agreed that the yogurt parfaits were delicious and they were anxious to recreate the recipe for their families. When asked, "What did you think of the first class?" responses included, "amazing," "awesome," and "beautiful!"

— Angela Burke and Cindy DePasquale

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LaSalle Academy

Week 1 is always one of our favorites. The children are excited to try their hand at cooking — some of them for the first time. After decorating their aprons, we got right to work. Kayla Price, Arianna Lipford and Juliana Carrasquillo manned the stove and oven while everyone else worked on their cutting skills. We had bananas, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries to add to the parfaits.

Believe it or not, it was the first time most of them had tried a parfait and granola. Allison Kelso did not want to add raisins but at the end added a few to her parfait and was pleasantly surprised!

— Maureen Barrett and Mariann Owens

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Philadelphia Montessori

We had five in attendance: Aishe, Fidel, Addie, Hadiara, and Safriatou. Here what Addie said about the parfait in her blue book: "It is extravagant! We made granola and we sliced up strawberries and bananas. It has so many tastes at once!"

—Bonnie Benson, Ellen Quinn

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Wiggins School

The excited new group of student chefs eagerly paged through their MDK recipe books picking out their future favorite meals.  In their first session, students quickly  learned their way around the kitchen and the cart of cooking supplies.  Joseph Acevedo was said he was happy to learn the "claw" method because "it's good to keep safe."  As for the parfait, Madison Wilson said, "It's different, but in a good way." Homemade granola was a first for all. Our first of what will likely be many "firsts" to come.

— Susan Lore, Annamiek Van Laar, Edith Bobb

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Mother of Divine Grace

What an exciting first class! We had a great time making homemade granola. It was the first time that some of us ever had it.

— Jane Ellen Lockhart

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Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart students D.J. McDade, Ja'Niyah Kellum, May'neajah Baylor, Rahsaan Jones, and Tierrell Perry came in eager to get started with a new semester of cooking healthy dishes.  They were expecting to cook an egg dish but were pleasantly surprised by the granola parfaits.  They were familiar with granola from the sugary granola bars, but not as a healthy topping to yogurt.   They all agreed that they loved the crunch, and May'neajah had her first blueberry and loved it!

— Susan Harris and Lisa Hendrickson

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Comly School

This was a perfect start up recipe for our new mini-chefs!  The fruit is in season and the chefs are excited. Winnie Zheng immediately stated, "I think the fruits are going to taste amazing.  It is exciting to taste new recipes." Ava Stuchko chimed in, "I've been sampling the fruit, it's delicious!"

"The fruit is so colorful, it looks so good!" said Stella Chau.  Ivan Zheng was is charge of melting the butter and brown sugar. He was surprised to see "I notice the brown sugar and butter got thicker, I think that's good, it will hold the granola together."

Travis Chopyak had been working hard at measuring the ingredients for the granola.  After much thought, he concluded, "I think that the granola is going to be a balance of sweet and salty because we have seeds and the raisins are sweet."

After enjoying this colorful concoction, the mini-chefs concurred with Travis's conclusion and gave a unanimous "thumbs up"!

— Cindy O'Donnell and Lorrie Craley

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Visitation BVM School
Everyone arrived excited and eager to learn at the first class of Visitation BVM School's MDK fall 2018 term.  After introductions and review of the course goals and guidelines, students sprang into action following the first week's recipe.  Preparation and cooking efforts were rewarded when the class sat down to enjoy their fruit and yogurt parfaits with homemade granola.  Some students had never tasted yogurt and liked the smooth creaminess.  Two students savored the taste of fresh raspberries.  Janiah Lopez summed up the experience well:  I can't believe that such healthy food tastes so good!

— Maria Brown

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Urban Promise

We are off to a great start at Urban Promise!  Kaela Hannah, after saying that candy was her favorite food, tasted cherry tomatoes freshly picked from the school garden and declared that this was her new candy. And that was before we began preparing fruit and yogurt parfaits with homemade granola.  The young chefs practiced knife skills, measured, mixed, and assembled attractive and flavorful parfaits.  Nyla Hannah correctly identified and pronounced quinoa, and all agreed it was a delicious addition to the granola. We overcame late notice on food allergies, and everyone enjoyed two servings and a take home bag.

—Jane Elkis Berkowitz, Siomara Wedderburn, and Geneva McDowell

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Lewis Elkin School

Seven eager students walked into our make shift kitchen this Tuesday. It might of been the end of their school day but they all were ready to get started. We began this Fall session announcing our names and favorite food. Pizza was the most popular choice. But on our menu today was Fruit Yogurt Parfait and Granola. We read the recipe out loud and asked the question, "What is Granola?". How exciting to explain and get to prepare a food that was not familiar to our class. A healthy whole grain filled with fiber and protein from the quinoa.  The perfect way to start out your day.

— Amy Steinberg and Bette Begleiter

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McGraw Elementary

Sashai Roberts and myself welcomed 5 enthusiastic personable girls for week 1.

Some of their comments after tasting the yogurt parfaits were:
"This is like a cooking show."
"The quinoa was crunchy and good."
"I don't like raisins. Thought I would pick them out. But, the raisins tasted good in the parfaits."
" Can I take some home for my Mom to taste?"
The class concluded with the girls looking forward to next week.

— Judi Levine

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Robert B. Pollock

This is the first time Robert B. Pollock hosted My Daughter's Kitchen. The girls in my group: Day-jha Blades, Patricia McCants, Hailey Munguia, Alina Shashkova, and Viktoriia Shashkova already knew their way around a kitchen and were eager to learn more. I was very impressed with how involved they wanted to be and how they were able to begin and accomplish a task with little direction. Not only did I feel I was teaching them new things, but they were teaching each other. A few students wanted to make sure they knew every ingredient, and this was the first time they have heard of and eaten quinoa! The most satisfying part of the class, being the teacher, was sitting around the table discussing their favorite part of the parfait. Viktoriia couldn't help but say "MMMM" once she took her first bite..

— Kristen Smith

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