Allergic to Salad is seeking reliable, self-motivated, independent, fun-loving and kid-loving part-time Children’s Food Educators to join our team. The Children’s Food Educators work closely with Allergic to Salad founder and lead educator, Stacey Ornstein. This person(s) is responsible for leading and/or assisting kids cooking events (classes, parties and special events). Currently most classes are in (western) Queens, but with high potential to expand to other boroughs as we continue to grow. Candidate should be a good communicator, flexible and positive team player. Access to a car preferred.

Duties include:

• Assisting and/or leading kids cooking events (classes, parties, and special events) for kids aged 2.5 to 16.
• Prep for classes: purchasing groceries and prepping/ cleaning for events, as necessary.
• Clean up: Must leave locations in condition found, or cleaner.
• Supervise and aid children during cooking.
• Building and maintain positive relationships with both parents and children.
• Follow up after classes with attendees and with Allergic to Salad.
• Recipe development, testing and writing.
• Maintain a positive, safe, supportive and welcoming environment.

Time Commitment:
Flexible/ part-time. Will begin with a monthly (Saturday) class with high potential to expand to more classes, including weekday/ daytime.

Payment:
Payment will depend on the type of event and scope of work involved.

Knowledge & Experience:

• Reliable, self-motivated, independent, motivational
• Fun-loving and kid-loving a must.
• Some teaching background preferred.
• Basic kitchen/ cooking and food knowledge—can explain these concepts to children.
• Strong communication skills.
• Organized with an attention to detail.
• Flexible, with ability to improvise, if needed.
• Candidate may be in the process of completing a Bachelor’s Degree, Culinary Degree, or having completed either/ both.

 If interested, please contact us with your resume, areas of interest and availability.

Kindergarteners make Soda Bread for St. Pat’s

I love if my students are able to retain even just a speck of information when we have visitors. Even if parts of it are wrong. Case in point yesterday. We’re making Soda Bread for St. Pat’s. I explain soda bread has its name because baking soda is used as the leavening agent, rather than yeast. It is probably too much for kindergarteners to comprehend– they can rarely remember the name of what we’re making.

Low and behold a surprise guest walks in.

“What are you making today?”
Blank stares, faces smile.

So I nudge them a bit.

“Oh, bread.”
“What kind of bread? What’s it called? For what holiday are we making this bread for?”

And something amazing happens. A kindergartener tangents on a story about her cousin and somehow manages to come full circle to mention our soda bread has baking soda which is like yeast, but not.

A sigh of relief. The guest receives a slice of bread.

Below is the Soda Bread we’re making this week. We’ve cut it with oats and are using whole wheat flour, which makes a nice rustic and hearty loaf. It was met by approval. Instead of raisins, which (surprise) can grow in Ireland, we’re using cranberries (native to North America). I must have been thinking about the band The Cranberries when creating this recipe. You can supply any dried berry for this recipe: currants, strawberry, blueberry, bilberry, raspberry, or blackberry would all be great. I prefer buttermilk in my soda bread recipe, but the store I purchase from for class doesn’t carry it. Milk with some vinegar would work, or in this case, I substituted yogurt, which also works well.

Irish Oat Soda Bread
Makes 1 10-inch loaf
2 cups oat flour*
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
1-1/2 cups buttermilk (or yogurt)
1 cup dried berries (soaked 1 hour to overnight) [recommended: raisins, cranberries, currants, strawberries, blueberries]
3 tablespoons honey

*To make oat flour: Blitz old-fashioned rolled oats in a food processor, or blender until it resembles coarse flour. Okay if some flakes remain.

Heat oven to 375.
Combine oat flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and seat salt in a mixing bowl. Add butter. Use fingertips to smash dry ingredients into the butter until butter is evenly distributed and mixture resembles wet sand. Add egg, buttermilk, berries and honey. Stir to combine. [This is a tough batter. After a few good stirs it's often easier for students to knead this dough together.] Batter will be slightly sticky. Turn dough ball out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly and bake, 25-30 minutes until golden.

Enjoy plain, with a smear of butter, jam, or a drizzle of honey.

I really believe cutting to be a great skill and something we can start younger than most people think (I give my two-year-old students knives– under supervision). Many hard vegetables, like potatoes or carrots, can be boiled briefly to soften to make the cutting easier. Soft fruit and vegetables like sweet peppers, bananas and cucumbers are okay to chop as is. The kid knife I use in my classes, and recommend, are made by Curious Chef (I don’t receive any money from them). I have been using their knives for years and love that they look and feel like real chef knives, making the eventual transition to real chef knife a breeze. You can pick them up for under $6 on Amazon. (They even sell a cool 3-piece knife set if you have a few kids with different hand sizes, linked here.) I also find them to be safer (less students cutting themselves) than when using disposable plastic “dinner” knives. My other favorite kitchen tool we used in this class (for cutting up onions to reduce tears) is a hand-powered blender. It’s a good workout too.

So get your knives in order and get practicing! Kick off your knife skills like we did– with Tortilla Soup!

I know what you’re thinking: “My kid will not eat this.” Day of, many of our students said the same thing: “No way!” And when it came to our tasting portion, one student told me she “hated” the soup (don’t you love how kids never lie to you), followed by an edit that “it actually tastes okay when you dip chips into it.” Because like a good bloody mary, we all know soups are about the accessories you serve with it! For this soup, I recommend setting up the topping bar with items like avocado, onion, cilantro, sour cream, tortilla chips, scallions, radish– or whatever else you think might be a tasty addition.

Don’t forget to check out our Class page for upcoming free classes!

Chef Michelle’s Tortilla Soup

“Bleh! I don’t like spinach!” She says at the beginning of class.

From parental demand and specially scrawled complete with sauce stains from Chef Molly of Vesta Trattoria comes our Spinach-Ricotta Gnudi.

Our January class was a great success. 18 spinach skeptics entered the restaurant.

“Are we ready to cook?!”
“Yes!”
“Ready to know what we’re making?!”
“Yes!”
“Spinach-Ricotta Gnudi!”

Silence.
Silence broken by:

“Spinach?! Bleh! I hate spinach.”

We’re obviously off to a good start.

Chef Molly explains what gnudi is. We’re waiting for a laugh with gnudi, it means naked, nude! Come on kids! Silence. So we go on in silence. They must be upset about the whole spinach thing. Gnudi are similar to gnocchi, which means dumpling, but without the potato and a touch of flour. One can still make gnocchi with ricotta, it’s the light touch of flour that makes gnudi, gnudi. When you say gnudi, think naked, as in naked pasta– it’s ravioli without the pasta. Filling only, the best part, right? Right?!

So we begin mixing our ingredients and “ew, this is like gross green ice cream that smells like cheese.” Even better.

We mix and mix, and we roll and roll, and we form our gnudi. We pass it to our guest chef, clean and hope for the best. The verdict?

One father says he’s never seen his son “eat so much spinach before. He loved every bite. This will be a recipe used often in our home.” The spinach hater ate three plates of gnudi. Plates were licked clean, and well, perhaps some of us found new love for the green monster.

Spinach-Ricotta Gnudi
2 cups blanched chopped spinach (shock in boiling water, squeeze out excess water) or 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, chopped and squeezed of excess water
1-1/2 cups whole milk ricotta, drained if excessively wet
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
6 tablespoons flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Combine spinach , cheeses, eggs in a bowl with fork. Season with salt and pepper. Add flour and stir until just combined. Drop batter using two spoons into extra flour. Roll gently until dumpling forms.
Drop dumplings into boiling water, simmer. Allow dumplings to float to top, cook another 3 to 4 minutes until firm to the touch. Serve with marinara sauce and grated parmesan.

Student: “I drew this for you!”
Me: “Really? It’s awesome! Thank you. Is this you cooking?”
Student: “Yeah.”
Me: [Taking a closer look...]
Me: “Over an open fire?”
Student: “Yeah, that’s cool.”
Me: “Is it? But we don’t cook over open fire in here.”
Student: “I dunno…” and he walks away.

At least he is a smiling pyromaniac in the self-portrait, right?

But that’s not what this post is about! This post is about some amazing Mushroom-Scallion Pancakes. And you’re saying: ‘Eeek gads! My little one hates mushrooms! No way.’ I say to you, trust me, no one, and I mean NO ONE threw these bad boys out in class. They were eaten 100%. Which actually might be a first, because even when we cook something sweet someone thinks it’s too soft, or too salty, or not sweet enough, or…. whatever.

If you were in my class, I might also say, “don’t yuck someone’s yum.”

I’ve made straight, more traditional scallion-only versions of these pancakes in the past, but thought I’d give mushrooms the old heave-ho this year. I have to admit, I was a little nervous going into this class — a known ingredient red flag plus it was parents week. It could go well: “Oh wow, I can’t get little Sammy to eat mushrooms. You’re an amazing teacher.” [Idealized vision.] It could go wrong with a parental unit being the perfect opportunity to throw a tantrum over hating mushrooms, me being an evil teacher that pushes food kids don’t enjoy, and I would have to back-step with a little with some pathetic save like: “Okay, well, we don’t have to try it maybe.” [More likely outcome.]

It also didn’t help that after I mentioned we were making “pancakes,” (with ‘scallion’ and ‘mushroom’ being apparently forgotten words) and the ingredients went down, questioning faces looked up at me: “That’s not syrup!? That’s soy sauce.” No, no, these are savory pancakes– They’re Chinese!

Dices rolled.

In the end, the tantrum came when a parent helped a child measure flour followed by a few cries of “I can do it myself.” Because while he’s the smallest kid in class, it’s true, he’s been measuring by himself all year and wanted to show off, right?

In the end, I stayed strong and we all made the mushroom version, no one threw a mushroom fit, tho there was plenty of whining: “Mushhrroooom?! I haaaaate mushrooooms. Bleh.” Plenty of my encouraging: “Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it,” and “New form, new flavor.” We pushed through. And we all liked it. Like, really liked it. I was even surprised by this. Even the young adult counselors who aid in my class told me these were “awesome, and I usually don’t eat weird foods.”

The strangest revelation of the week was the difference between my third and fourth grade class– apparently all mushroom lovers, and my sixth and seventh grade class– mostly mushroom haters. Where did this mushroom void occur? I understand it with the kindergarteners, the first and second graders had mixed mushroom feelings, but what a strange gap in taste between the tweens and teens. What happened here? We may never know.

The trick to these pancakes is to chop the mushrooms small. I’m talking adult pinky nail size. The result of which couldn’t be summed up better than by a once proclaimed kindergarten mushroom hater, and artist of the above portrait:

“I don’t like mushrooms, but because I cannot see the mushrooms, these taste great!”

SCALLION-MUSHROOM PANCAKES
Makes 4 pancakes
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup small chopped shiitake or baby bella mushrooms
8 scallions, thin sliced
1/2 cup well-packed chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Sesame oil, for cooking
Dumpling or soy sauce, for dipping

Combine flour and water, stirring until too difficult to mix. Knead to form a smooth ball, adding more flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time if it sticks to hands. Set aside to rest.

Warm 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Chop mushrooms and sauté, about 5 minutes, until reduced. Transfer to a small bowl. Add scallions, cilantro and soy sauce to the bowl. Toss to mix, set aside.

Dust work surface with flour. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll dough into a circle, about the width of a nickel. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of scallion-mushroom-cilantro mixture, spreading it out like pizza toppings.

Roll up the round tightly like a burrito, pinching the ends closed. Twist the length of dough three times. Roll the dough twist into a spiral, like a cinnamon bun, tucking the end under. Dust work surface with more flour if needed, roll the dough again, carefully this time so as little filling comes out, into a circle, about 1/4- to 1/2-inch inch thick. Continue with remaining dough.

Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil on a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancakes, cooking until golden, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook the other side until golden, another 4 minutes or so.

Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Raspberry Thumbprints

“For the holidays can we make gingerbread houses?”
Maybe
“We’re making them in class….”
So we won’t make them in cooking class.
“Okay, so we can make gingerbread cookies? And decorate them into little people? And lemon drop cookies? And caramel? And candy canes? And fudge? And chocolate cookies? Hot chocolate? Oh! Can we make hot chocolate?”

And the list went on while I walked away from the ramble. It followed close at my heels.

“So next week… what kind of holiday treat?”

Thanksgiving had barely passed and they were already itching for Christmas to begin. Or rather, the sugar rush of the holiday season I so despise cooking for. Hole yourself up in a room with one other adult plus 15 to 20 kids full of sugar daily for 3 weeks straight and see how your sanity fares. So instead I accept the questions and complaints of “we never make anything good in this class!” Ha!

But as Christmas creeps closer, the kids are eager for sugar. Of course, they’ll eventually be rewarded, but first they have to deal with Hannukah. Some sweet potato-onion latkes this year with homemade applesauce. And as was the case this year, a week or two between holidays I lay out my best distractions of not-so-holiday dishes: whole wheat calzones and vegetable samosas.

The week before winter break has arrived and they’re giddy. What will it be? Gingerbread? Chocolate chip? Snickerdoodles? Hot chocolate?

“We are making something sweet… right?”
I was thinking of calzones again, everyone loved them so much.
“What?! This is so unfair! I hated those!”
But you told me you went home that night and made them again with your family?!
“Hmph.”

The reward does arrive in the shape of their own little thumbs with our lemon shortbread based raspberry thumbprint cookies. Some of the kindergarterner’s cookies are less thumbprint and more a meld of shortbread and jam, but they’re happy because even though it looks nothing like we were supposed to make, it is theirs.

“This was the best class ever!“
Ever?
“Well, the calzones were pretty awesome. What are we making next year?”
I don’t know, I haven’t decided.
“Gingerbread cookies?!”

Lemon Shortbread Raspberry Thumbprints
Makes about 2 dozen 2-inch cookies
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
seedless raspberry jam

Heat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth and thickened and creamy. Mix in flour and salt until just combined.
Take approximately 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough (about the size of a ping pong ball), and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet and press an indent of your thumb into the cookie, about halfway into the dough. Fill with raspberry jam and repeat with remaining dough, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden. Allow to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

NY1 visits our October fundraiser.

It’s been quite a few weeks here in the New York area. It started with NY1 coming out to film our fundraiser, pictured above. Next, New York was hit by a devastating hurricane. And now, in the weeks that follow communities still struggle post-storm to get their lives back to– if not normal, at least a routine. I’ve been volunteering and donating where I can, and tweaking recipes in hopes to bring a little bit of nourishing comfort to those I teach.

Most of my after-school students live in Chinatown and Battery Park City, two areas hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Both neighborhoods saw widespread power outages, flooding, and storm-related damages. Public schools across NYC were closed the entire week post-storm. Early last week as power was (mostly) slowly restored and (most) subways reestablished operation, my school re-opened and I finally headed back to work. The subways downtown smelled pungently sterile from an excess of cleaning products. On the streets, buildings were still pumping water from flooded basements, and tree pits sighed from over-saturation. The school I teach in this year was lucky. No power loss. No flooding. No damage. My students had their own windy and watery adventures to share, some still without power, but all of us happy to see each other safe. Sadly, the community center I taught in the past three years, just a few blocks from the school, saw extensive flooding and damage with estimated rebuilding costs between 1.3 to 2.5 million dollars. The kitchen I helped build up– in a sub-basement, was filled with water floor to ceiling. The pool received damage, as did a ceramics and art room, toddler play area, teen lounge, and more. Devastating.

To help us all rebuild internally, I thought a little chicken soup was in order for my students– with pumpkin dumplings. Because cloud-like dumplings bobbing in soup is far more comforting than squiggly wormy noodles, in my humble opinion.

So there we are, chopping our carrots and celery. We’re mixing our dumpling batter and I request a student to come forward and add water into the pot when it happens.

A flooding.

The filled 2-cup container is apparently too much to lift aloft to reach the pot. Or perhaps this little kindergartner is farsighted– or has no depth of field– because she did manage to actually lift the container. She just poured the whole of its contents outside the pot rather than inside. All over our electric burner. All over the brand new supply of paper products. All over my shoes on this 40 degree and dropping day. All over her pants.

She looks up at me smiling: “oops.”

We try again getting maybe half in the pot this time: “heh, oops.”

Maybe that’s what the weather in New York is saying to us. From hurricane, to nor’easter to now 60 degree days. There are still people without power, homes destroyed, lives, beaches, and businesses are in ruins. Perhaps it’s the weather’s way of sharing with us a big “oops” of misunderstanding– missed water reaching into spaces it doesn’t belong.

People have been asking me for this recipe. At after-school, we made chicken soup with pumpkin dumplings. In my ESOL and GED classes I’ve been pumping this recipe a little more savory, a little more on the stew side, with the addition of kale and chickpeas. It was this latter rendition that received the highest complement from a teen: “Damn, Ms. Stacey, this shit is mad good.” [I love that we can use those terms in the same sentence to mean something positive.]

A combination of the two would be great– and that’s how I wrote it here.

If you’re wondering about that fundraiser, there will be more. One a month to be exact with a free cooking class to kick each one off. As we raise money more classes will be posted, so hold tight. You can read more about it on the What’s New page.

Kale-Garbanzo Soup with Pumpkin Dumplings
Serves 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 hot chile peppers (optional), chopped
1 bunch kale, chopped
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock (homemade or low-sodium)
salt, to taste

Dumplings:
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin, cooked and pureed
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 pinches salt
pinch of cinnamon

Prep vegetables: mince garlic, chop carrots, celery, onion, chile and kale. Warm a wide stock pot over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add garlic, carrots, celery, onion, and chile, sauté 5 minutes to soften. Add kale, garbanzo beans, tomato sauce and stock. Cover and bring to a boil, allowing kale to wilt.
While coming to a boil, mix dumpling ingredients in a bowl, evenly combine.
Once soup is boiling, make a well in the center of the vegetables and turn heat to medium. Spoon dumpling batter, about 1 tablespoon at a time, into the pot, leaving a touch of space between dumplings. If you run out of space, newer dumplings can be dropped over older ones just don’t move them around at this point (the dumplings at the top will steam, rather than boil). Cover pot. Cook 15 minutes, until dumplings have doubled in size.

We are thrilled to announce an amazingly successful fundraiser in October at Vesta Trattoria. Totals are still being tallied, but here at Allergic to Salad we’re already making preparations for more classes. The best news out of it though is that due to such good times by all, we will hold an ongoing partnership and fundraiser with our friends at Pachanga Patterson and Vesta.

What does it mean? The last Saturday of every month and lasting one week will be your chance to eat to raise funds for Allergic to Salad. Fundraising efforts jump between the two restaurants featuring a special appetizer dish at the restaurant location the fundraiser is happening. Each fundraiser week will also kick off with a FREE chef-led cooking class for kids.

How it works? It’s deliciously easy: Dine at Pachanga Patterson or Vesta Trattoria during the fundraiser week– one whole week! See below for upcoming schedule. Order the featured appetizer inspired by our students (we’ll post it ahead of time). 100% of sales from that dish will be donated to Allergic to Salad to support more free cooking classes!

Who: All you fabulous people– kids and adults welcome
What: Deliciously Easy Fundraiser plus Cooking Class
Where: Pachanga Patterson or Vesta Trattoria (we’ll skip between the two locations)
When: Last week of every month. Visit our calendar for details
Why: To raise funds for more free cooking classes!
Sign my child up to Cook: Register for the Free class

October at Vesta (Cooking Class Oct 27 / Fundraiser Oct 27 thru Nov 2)
November at Pachanga Patterson (Cooking Class Nov 24 / Fundraiser Nov 24 thru Nov 30)
December at Vesta (Cooking Class Dec 29 / Fundraiser Dec 29 thru Jan 4)
January at Pachanga Patterson (Cooking Class Jan 26 / Fundraiser Jan 26 thru Feb 1)
ongoing…

It’s another ‘taste and tweet’ opportunity at our next Meet-Up as we introduce you to Easy Meals to Cook with Kids author Julie Negrin and food educator, Stacey Ornstein. There will be a cooking demonstration and tasting as these experts share recipes and tips on how to encourage healthy eating and cooking among families.

Everyday Health, The Wellness Club at Whole Foods Market and The Kids Cook Monday Campaign would like to invite you to our Kids Cook Monday Mixer Meet-Up! Learn the benefits of setting aside the first night of every week for cooking and eating together as a family. We’ll also have some special guests—adorable kids with discerning palates and honest editorial to join you on this week’s tasting panel for nutritious & delicious recipes prepared by our three experts.

DATE: Monday, November 5
TIME: 6-8 pm
PLACE: The Wellness Club at Whole Foods Market, TriBeCa
270 Greenwich Street, 2nd floor

RSVP is required as space is limited. Please reply by Monday, October 29 to lsteinberg@everydayhealthinc.com

Please follow @EverydayHealth as we will be live tweeting from the open house using the hashtag #kidscookmondymixa

If I ever have a cooking show I want these two cuties, who stayed post-class for pancake thirds, to be guest chefs. They were too busy eating to sit still for a photo, but I love their zeal for these butternut squash pancakes we made together — a huge hit for the whole class!

Before we talk pancakes, don’t forget our fundraiser is happening October 27 thru November 2. It is going to be a lot of delicious fun whether you are in New York City or not, and whether you have children or not. Seriously, everyone can participate. Everything raised goes towards funding more free cooking classes. You can read all about it here.
And… Some very exciting news: Our classes were featured in the NY Daily News!

Enough awesome news– it’s time for some awesome pancakes!

This past weekend I hosted a mega-class (inside a barn) at the lovely, organic Golden Earthworm Farm in Jamesport, Long Island (full disclosure: they are also my CSA vegetable farm and are super generous amazing people). While the class posted was for 20 students, how can one say “no” to kids eager to cook up some vegetables? (I did say ‘no’ to a few adults who wanted to jump in.) In total, about 40 children came to cook up a storm — all ages! We also had the same number of parents and non-parental onlookers ready to taste the final creation. It was pretty amazing. It was pretty crazy. It tested patience (especially my guest-’chef’ and husband who started to make adults ‘entertain’ him and sing for pancakes.) I promised everyone I would post the recipe, so voila, it’s here.

While the class was crazy and loud and a total circus, my favorite moment came post-class. Not these two lovely ladies, pictured above, chowing down– though they were a huge highlight, it was a comment made to me by a gentleman that really stuck out. I’m unsure if he was a casual onlooker or a parent/ grandparent, but he stopped me in the parking lot as I was loading up to tell me:

“When you gave those kids the eggs I thought your end had arrived.”

You know, because giving a child an egg is obviously the worst thing possible a person can do (exceptions made for teenagers on Halloween). Stand back! A child is holding an egg. It may, it fact, break on the table, the floor, crush in their hand… Banish the image from your mind!

In fairness, his horror could have stemmed from the fact I randomly assigned egg cracking responsibility for our pancakes to some of our youngest chefs. But if you’re never given an opportunity to learn to crack an egg on your own– with no adult hands in the mix– (and possibly fail and try again) when will you learn? When you’re older? (I now teach 6th and 7th graders terrified to crack eggs because they might fail in front of their peers. It might crush in their hands. Some shell might get in the dish.) As an adult? (Cook? No thank you, I can’t even crack an egg!) In fact, the very first lesson for my after-school students this semester: egg cracking. We made scrambled eggs with parsley. Why? Because I think fearlessly cracking an egg is one of the best tools of the kitchen.

Perhaps it wasn’t because these students were trying to crack an egg that this comment was made, but the fear he saw in the parents with their child given the responsibility to crack an egg, or fail to crack an egg. (It’s hard to resist and adult hands swoop in to help a child crack the egg.)

I agree, it is painful to watch a child hold a measuring spoon awkwardly, think a tablespoon a teaspoon, under-measure, over-measure, crack an egg on the table, put fingers into holes they don’t belong… It’s hard to watch a child fail, especially your own. I get it. I too want to jump in sometimes, speed up the class and finish off the recipe with speed. Allowing children to complete an entire recipe turns a 10 minute project, like these pancakes, into a 1 hour patience marathon of corrections, re-tries, and explanations. It takes a great deal of self-restraint to not step in (which is I guess why one parent this weekend remarked that I was “so patient”). But I think it’s one of the most important and rewarding things we can give a child: completing a task. It builds self-confidence. It builds self-reliance. It teaches life-lessons. It makes them proud when they can eat their final accomplishment, think it’s delicious (even if it is under-measured and lumpy) because “I made that by myself.” Egg cracking failure and all.

I made this recipe all week in my after-school class as well (I mentioned my after-school students were my taste- and recipe-testers). I’d say it was met with 98% approval– even without maple syrup (shocker). I also love this recipe because it’s high protein (lots of egg) and high in fiber from the coconut flour. (Coconut flour is the leftover pulp from pressing coconut ‘meat’ when making coconut milk. Because these pancakes use coconut ‘flour’ and egg to bind them together, they are gluten-free and grain-free, if you’re concerned about either. It’s not a heavy carbohydrate fest– and yes, still delicious. (And yes, you can replace coconut flour with regular or whole wheat flour.) My problem with pancakes is I eat them and 2 hours later I’m hungry. It doesn’t do the trick. These pancakes do the trick.

Perhaps better than all the above is what one parent said:

“this is a great way to get them to eat their butternut squash– I love it!” (Just don’t hide it from them!)

My lovely husband drew the day’s recipe board.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH PANCAKES
Makes six 1/4-cup  sized pancakes
4 eggs
2 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butternut squash, roasted and pureed (can use canned)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
coconut oil, for cooking (or unsalted butter)
topping(s) of choice: maple syrup, butter, coconut oil, honey, jam, etc

1.) Combine eggs, honey, and vanilla in a bowl, using a whisk to beat until slightly frothy. Add butternut squash, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt. Stir until combined, working out any lumps.

2.) Adult: Heat a dollop of coconut oil on a skillet warmed to medium-high heat. Scoop approximately 1/4-cup of batter on the pan, leaving 1-inch between each pancake. Flatten slightly. Cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes, flip and cook another 2 to 3 minutes more. Continue with remaining batter, adding more coconut oil if needed.

MORE KITCHEN FUN: Replace butternut squash with applesauce and add apple slices for apple pancakes! Or try carrot puree, sweet potato, or other winter squash.