Live Healthy America- Food is Elementary- Week 6!

This week class was so much fun! It was the first time the students got to cook 2 recipes together as a class!  The two recipes we made were called Summer Squash Ribbon Salad and 3 Sisters Casserole.  They were both SO DELICIOUS!  The lesson we learned was about the ease of growing squash.  Students were shown pictures of what a 3 sisters garden looks like and it is the traditional way that Native Americans grow these crops.  The concept of the 3 sisters is that the corn grows tall and helps support the beans that climb up its stalk.  The squash grow low to the group and help prevent weeds from growing, animals from eating the beans, and helps keep the soil moist.  The beans put nitrogen back into the soil that the corn takes up.  Gardens need a good balance of nitrogen to grow strong. 

We then did a gardening activity of our own!  We made seed gloves.  This experiment showed the students how much water seeds need to grow big and strong.  The students had a plastic glove, 3 cotton balls, 3 lima bean seeds and a piece of twine.  The students took the gloves and put one sopping wet cotton ball in the thumb of the gloves, a moist cotton ball in the pointer finger of the glove and a dry cotton ball in the pinkie finger of the glove.  The students put the 3 bean seeds on top of those cotton balls and tied the glove up with twine.  They then put this experiment in a dark place and will check it everyday to see if something has sprouted.  When it has, they can then place the glove in the sun and watch to see which beans grow.

After doing our experiment we prepped both recipes.  Students were able to cut up ingredients, open the cans with a can opener, juice lemons and stir up the bowl of ingredients.  They had such a fun time doing this because it was fun for them to be little chefs!  After all of the food was done being cooked, we passed out the food and ate as a class.  I heard a lot of "yummmmm" sounds from the students as they were eating :)

The students were able to take home a copy of both recipes for their families.  At the bottom of the recipes it shows how much this recipe would cost at their local Kroger, that way families can learn that it is possible to eat healthy at a low cost!

I have attached one of the recipes below since it is my personal favorite!

I will be competing in another Miss Ohio Preliminary pageant this weekend!  There will be 3 crowns titled, Miss Maumee Valley, Miss All-American City and Miss Fallen Timbers.  I am hoping to win one of these titles so please keep me in your thoughts :)  Winning a title would allow me to compete for Miss Ohio for a third time!! There are also outstanding teen titles for this pageant too and one of the girls I mentor is competing!  Goodluck to all the teen contestants! I know they will be fabulous as always!