Veggies

This past week in class we covered Vegetables. It was set to create a vegetable tomato base sauce over whole wheat pasta. In the beginning of class I decided to try something different and have the kids help with the chopping first, rather than do the nutrition lesson because we were going to satay the veggies which would take some time along with boiling the pasta. I gave them a variety of vegetables to chop including bell peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, and onions. 90% of the children did not recognize what the eggplant was! I had them guess what it was and they thought it was a cucumber. I think because it was raw and sliced, it was harder to recognize. They complained about the onion making their eyes tear. Carlos, explained to them that the gas in the onion sometimes does that. After they helped me chop the vegetables into tiny pieces I showed them their great work all put together and began to satay them while Carlos taught his lesson. Dayna, another member of FLIPANY was there to assist and passed out raw veggies for them to try. We thought most of them had never tried most vegetables raw, in which we were correct. Most of them enjoyed them but we congratulated all of them for at least trying something new. As Carlos taught them about where vegetables come from and how they are good for our bodies, Dayna and I cooked up the veggies and the pasta. The ending result was very yummy! We are finding that they are retaining what we tell them every week which is very important and telling their parents what they are making and learning in class.