The Students Weigh In

Since the Localvore Lunches are on a pause, our students have had time to reflect on their experience this fall. Their entries below will also be published in the upcoming issue of the Trumansburg Troubadour, a student-run newsletter of the TCSD Foundation, which has so generously supported our club. 

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Matthew S. writes: 

The Localvore Club is a group of people who cook for the adults in the middle school in Tburg every Thursday. I came up with the idea by reading a boring book for me called Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. My teacher’s name is Ms. Bryant and she asked us, “what could we do that would make you interested in this book?” I told her I wanted to cook. I wanted to cook for the teachers for working hard even when kids were being jerks; they still went on teaching no matter what. Ms. Bryant also said other students could join if they wanted to and if their teachers were okay with them missing some classes, as long as they promised to make up the work. My friend is Alex O., my best friend. We cook together with a teacher named Ms. Salib, our 8th grade science teacher.

Matthew & Alex cook up some spaghetti squash.

 Alex O. writes: 

I started by joining in and cooking on Wednesdays every week because my friend Matthew wanted me to join.  I think that anyone can join if you wanted to in the school . We come up to the library every Thursday, well almost every Thursday, when Matthew and I want to.  Cooking with Ms. Salib is fun because she keeps things fun and crazy. When we made cowboy cookies I got to use an electric mixer for the first time and it was so much fun!  

Matthew writes:

Alex and Ms. Salib in the kitchen

This week coming up is our Thanksgiving lunch. Our last one for 10 weeks.  At the end of the year we are going on a field trip in Ithaca,  going to a food truck and we are going all over the place. It’s going to be blast. The Thanksgiving lunch was successful. We all had a fun time with the teachers and classmates.

Donavan L. writes:

Donavan & Kasieum peeled a lot of carrots...with a smile!

I am a member of the Localvore Club, which means a Localvore is a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally.   I like cooking and I also like when there is a mystery vegetable in the baked goods for the kids to guess.  I like it because it’s like a snack and I also like it because it’s fun to guess.  I did guessed one right, it was a muffin with chocolate frosting with the pumpkin in it.  It was fun peeling carrots and chopping apples with the peeler machine.  

We also suggested the meat to have in the dish, like chicken.

Matthew started the club when we were reading Omnivore’s Dilemma last year.  The book is about eating healthy foods and buying the ingredients from local farmers.  I thought it was a good idea when Matthew suggested to make lunch for the teachers and have the kids help.  This will be the last week for the whole project.  It was fun when it was going on and I  wish it would go on for a couple more weeks.
 

Alyssa F. writes:

My name is Alyssa and  I'm part of the Localvore Cooking Club and I learned a lot of new things.  One of the things I learned how to make during the first week was how to make goat cheese, mozzarella cheese and butter at home.  I learned that it is really easy to make these things and it´s a lot cheaper to do it yourself.   The second week, Ms. Brisson taught us how to make menus look nice so the staff would want to buy the lunches.  We learned new computer skills to do these things.  We also learned very important things such as food safety and keeping your hands clean to protect the food.

My favorite part about the Localvore Club is when I see all the teachers are coming in to get their food and they have the biggest smiles on their faces. That's when I smile and that's what makes my day. The teachers always say thank you for all this food and we even get to talk and hang out a bit in the library while they eat .When we cook it's always something new to learn when we cook and it's always good to see everyone that cooks with a smile on their face and ready to cook.

When Mrs.Bryant cooks with us she has to stay here after school when she has to be  somewhere and she gives up all her time to finish all the baking. She also cleans up all the stuff that nobody picked up but we are getting better at cleaning up too so it´s not all on her. I thank Mrs. Bryant  a lot that she does for everybody  and when she gives up all her time for this.  There is also a lot of my teachers who have now retired that come and help us.  There are a lot of people helping with this club and that´s what makes it so fun!

Alyssa & Kelli were ready for our Cowboy Lunch (chili & cornbread)

Mari writes:

My name is Mari Wilson and I am part of the Trumansburg Middle School Localvore club. My favorite part of the club was the mystery vegetable. We put a mystery vegetable in some of the desserts. After tasting the dessert, people had to take slips of paper and guess what the mystery vegetable was. One time I thought that I tasted rutabaga, but it was really celeriac!  

I appreciated the apple roses. The apple roses were pastries that looked like roses. You could top them with caramel sauce. I am going to help make them for Thanksgiving.

I liked it when my mom came and tasted the food. I was wearing a grin. I felt joyful. My mom loved the chocolate kale cupcakes. The cupcakes were also part of my birthday celebration.

Mari tells Mr. Begeal why he should eat carrots!

I researched a vegetable each week that was in our menu, then I shared my information with the teachers when they came for lunch.  I learned a lot of facts about healthy eating. I even dressed up as the “Bean Queen” and talked to teachers about the nutritional facts of black beans.

I loved it when the club made mozzarella cheese. It is my favorite kind of cheese! We also made butter and goat cheese.

Summing up a busy fall

It has been a while since we've managed a blog post. It has been a whirlwind of a fall, full of learning and challenges. Students have been truly enjoying cooking, researching, and serving our Thursday lunches, and everyone is a bit sad that we are on a hiatus (the Home & Careers room where we do the cooking is in use 9th period during the next quarter). This pause seems like a good time to sum up and take stock.

Alyssa designed a survey to send to staff, asking about their favorite meals. As you can see below, the veggie lasagne was the hands down favorite.:




The poll was done before our November 5 Harvest Festival, though, and that was a truly spectacular meal featuring 2 kinds of soup, roasted vegetables, and homemade rolls. Staff baked many, many pumpkin treats for students to sample, and Mrs. Bryant baked a mystery vegetable cupcake for staff. No one guessed that celeriac was the mystery ingredient!

Students learned so much the first semester--not just about cooking, but about teamwork, communication, and responsibility. They also had some fun along the way!

Kelli with a finished crisp

Everyone got in the act to make apple crisp!

Mari dressed up as the Bean Queen

Cooking With Friends

Cooking With Friends

by Kelli
“Cooking with friends.” That is the advice that Mark Bittman gives in his Time magazine article, The Truth About Home Cooking.  Alyssa and I agree because it makes cooking more fun.

Alyssa and I think that this is a good idea too. When we cook together it makes it really fun because we can spend more time together and we are cooking for other people to enjoy the food.

Alyssa and I love to see the teachers smiles and their surprised faces and that make us feel really good and happy!

Kelli & Alyssa cook up some applesauce

Why I Like To Cook

by Mari

My name is Mari.  I love the Localvore program because of the cooking skills.  We are learning about applesauce making.  I research the featured fruits and vegetables that we use in the lunches that we serve. We know that apples are the perfect diet food.  I like the things we eat.  

I greet the teachers when they come in to get their lunch.  I tell them about the featured foods.  I like when we have a mystery ingredient and when the winner gets announced on the announcements.  They win a prize.

Mari researches about some of our ingredients

Mari chooses apples for this week's meal

Mari tells Mr. Robinson about the health benefits of zucchini

Cooking and ELA

by Angelina

 In class we read an article by Mark Bittman “The Truth About Home Cooking”  and in doing so we cooked a healthy meal for the teachers here at school.  My job was to help peel carrots!  I am the one sitting in the wheelchair and I found out that I really enjoy cooking!  The reason that I was peeling so many carrots was, they were going into a daikon salad.  You may be wondering what a daikon salad is?  A daikon is a white radish.  So in ELA cooking class we had to peel and ribbon carrots and the daikon radishes and mix them all together.  

Angelina peels carrots for carrot-daikon salad. Mrs. Starkweather & Nurse Donna helped, too!

Honey!

Hello Localvores!

Science teacher and beekeeper Andy Moore with some of his insect friends

I would like to introduce to you a very sweet sponsor of our program, Mr. Moore. But before I talk about Mr. Moore and his donation; I'd like to share about some of the reservations I had I about this entire Localvore endeavor. A week before the start of school my thoughts were escalating in anxiety, "this is an impossible feat, how can this be pulled off, what if people don't sign up, what if people do and there isn't enough..." Once Mr. Moore heard about the project, he offered to supply us with honey. My anxieties calmed because I realized, when there's a project that has a positive impact on the community, supplies find you. I also realized that this project parallels what bees do--older bees leave the hive to collect the nectar and bring it back for the younger bees to turn into honey. For this project, older folks are leaving the school to bring back what's been harvested for the younger folk to create into an energy-rich food to keep our colony going. In time, these younger ones will grow and go out to do the foraging. The most important part of this dynamic is understanding that it takes teamwork of an entire colony. The result of which is sweet and sustaining.

I asked Mr. Moore to share how he got involved with beekeeping and here is what he wrote below:

Mr. Moore maintains multiple beehives

"I learned beekeeping from a great friend of mine, Duane Waid.  Mr. Waid hired me on as an apprentice for two years (2001 and 2002).  Mr. Waid, who lives in Interlaken, NY, is an entrepreneur.  He started his own printing press and published the PennySaver from 1951 to 1976.  When he retired and sold his massive stock of printing machinery, Mr. Waid decided beekeeping would be a fun retirement project.  Mr. Waid began beekeeping in 1976, at the age of 55.  This year is also the year I was born.

By the time Mr. Waid and I had the opportunity to work together, he was into his second career pretty full time (hobbies sometimes can do this).  His generosity of time, material (he gave me all my equipment, FREE, so I could start work immediately), and counsel helped me gain the confidence to continue beekeeping on my own.

Beekeeping is by far the most incredible scientific thing I've ever been part of.  I've helped others get started, so I feel like it has been of service to many.  As the years pass in the rearview mirror, I've been at it for 15 years now.  With any luck, I will be able to continue this work for the rest of my life."

Many thanks, Mr. Moore, for your support and donations!

Meet Farmer Pete and Farmer Karen!

Hello Localvores! Mrs. Bryant here to introduce to you another generous couple whose help has been vital to making this project possible.

The story behind their involvement: Years ago Karen (Mrs. Salino as the kids call her) and I  became fast friends when we helped each other teach our reading classes. From there we started collaborating on everything from lesson plans to apron making. When the Localvore idea was in the works last spring, I decided I should probably do some gardening myself since I have never grown a thing, not even a houseplant. Knowing that Karen and Pete have the kind of land suitable for this endeavor, and Pete is experienced in farming, I asked if I could try my hand at a patch on their land. Being the generous people they are, and having a passion for gardening and sustainability, they were delighted to support me.

    The morning I came over to start my seeds, a question had been circling through my mind; why do some families have gardens and others don't when it is so beneficial to have one? There must have been someone in my family history who had one--why did it stop? I told Pete is probably happened when my great grandparents immigrated from Eastern Europe and went directly to working in a factory. Pete said, "they lost the connection to the land." A simple observation on his part maybe but something worth pondering, why have many of us lost our connection to the land? How does that cause other disconnects that we are not aware of? After seeing how challenging it can be to grow a nice sized beet (mine were the size of cherry tomatoes) I realized I have become casual about grocery shopping and menu planning. I walk into a supermarket and purchase apple-sized beets with no thought  about the work behind it. Reconnecting to the land increases our appreciation for the produce available to us. Reconnecting to the land also allows for other deeper connections with people. As I harvest with the Salinos, we excitedly talk about what we have recently read in the latest issue of Modern Farmer, we spout out ideas about heirloom varieties we will try to grow next spring, and my favorite topic- what recipes can we make with what we are harvesting! Reconnecting with the land, has brought back fervor to menu planning, passion for produce, and deeper relationships.

Thank you Farmer Karen and Farmer Pete- you are giving me a different kind of education and I hope I can pass it on to the students.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Kale

So many people asked for yesterday's cupcake recipe, so here it is:

Mari's Birthday Cupcake

This recipe was adapted from America's Test Kitchen recipe (The Complete America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, pg 758).

Note: I doubled the recipe below and added 2 cups of blanched kale bn and put through a food processor for about 30 seconds, scrape down sides to have evenly chopped.

Chocolate cupcakes

3 ounces high-quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped fine

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

3/4 cup hot coffee

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

6 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons white vinegar,

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cup kale, see note above

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard size muffin pan  (cups with a 1/2 cup capacity) with baking cup liners. Place the chocolate and cocoa in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until completely cool, about 20 minutes. Whisk the flour , granulated sugar, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into the cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Incorporate kale into batter.

3. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin pan cups. Bake until the cupcakes are set and firm to the touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in tin on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift out of pan and cool on wire rack for about 1 hour before frosting.

Frosting (adapted from "Hello, Cupcake" frosting recipe)

Butter, unsalted, 8 tbsp (1 stick)
Semisweet chocolate, 2 oz (approx 60 pcs)
Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened, 1/2 cup
Confectioner's Sugar, 3.75 cup (16 oz.)
Fat Free Milk, 1/2 cup

8 ounces goat cheese

Put goat cheese in separate medium bowl.

Combine the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan. Melt over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer.

Add the confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk, adding more milk if necessary to thin, and beat until fluffy and smooth.
incorporate goat cheese.
If you're not using it right away, cover the frosting container tightly. You may need to beat in more milk to get it to a spreadable consistency.

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Number of Serving 20