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Tuna Pie in Mariano Castro Elementary School

Posted on December 10, 2014 · Leave a Comment

We have started our series of lessons in the Castro Mariano Valley Elementary School! This week the kids prepared a delicious and healthy Mexican recipe contributed by one of our team members. Check out the recipes and the photos of the interactive class!

Country we are exploring: Mexico (Population: 122 million)

Capital: Mexico City

Continent: America

Official Language(s): Spanish

English Recipe Name: Tuna Pie

Name of dish in native country: Pastel de atún

Type of dish: Appetizer

Recommended season or holiday: The following recipe is very popular at children’s parties in Mexico, specially in the Mazatlán region. And one of our team members from Mexico mentions is traditional for her family holidays!

Serving Size: for 6 people

When it comes to health, Tuna fish has it all. It is rich in protein, low in fat, and is an excellent source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids, which make your brain smarter!

Ingredient spotlight: Tuna

Fish are vertebrate animals that live in the water. Vertebrate means they have a spinal cord surrounded by bone or cartilage.

When it comes to health, Tuna fish has it all. It is rich in protein, low in fat, and is an excellent source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids, which make your brain smarter!

Tools (optional): knife, blender, glass vessel, spoon

Ingredients:

1 package of white bread
1/4 of cream
6 slices of cheddar cheese
1 tin medium of bell pepper
2 cans of tuna in water or oil
1 can of vegetables for salad
mayonnaise to taste

Little Chef Duties: Measure all of the ingredients

Big Chef Duties: Mix all the ingredients in a blender

Little Chef Duties: Cut the edges of the bread and mix the ingredients for the salad

Learn while you wait:

Science: we discussed today the difference of mixtures that are homogeneous and heterogeneous, and asked the kids whether they know which mixture our food mixture became.

Heterogeneous and homogeneous refer to mixtures of materials in chemistry. The difference between heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures is the degree at which the materials are mixed together and the uniformity of their composition.

A homogeneous mixture is a mixture where the components that make up the mixture are uniformly distributed throughout the mixture. The composition of the mixture is the same throughout. There is only one phase of matter observed in a homogeneous mixture.

You can’t pick out components of a homogeneous mixture or use a simple mechanical means to separate them

(Our tuna and cream mixture)

A heterogeneous mixture is a mixture where the components of the mixture are not uniform or have localized regions with different properties. Different samples from the mixture are not identical to each other.

Math: Can you cut your sandwiches in different shapes, (rectangles, triangles), circles?

Also if this recipe asks for 6, and we need to make food for 12, how much more of each material do we need?

Presentation:

Enjoy a sandwich with your favorite cup of soup or beans

Teach the kids how to say Bon Appetit in the language of this recipe: disfrute de su comida

Did you know?

One of the biggest issues affecting kids in Mexico is the increase in child abduction.

Conversation Igniters:

Do you know what abduction means? What are some ways you can help help find missing children?

Take Action:

Read about some ways you can help with the problem of child abduction, and come to class next week prepared to talk about what you can personally do:

http://www.missingkids.com/HowYouCanHelp

Here some photos of the fun day we had at the Castro Elementary School!

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Chic Flavors, Recipes Tagged With: atun, cook, cooking, education, elementary school, healthy tuna, kids, mariano castro, mexican, mexican flavors, mexico, mexico recipes, mountain view, pay de atun, recipes, school, teachers, teaching, technology, tuna, tuna fish, Tuna pie

Crumb Sandwich

Posted on June 7, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Yesterday we had the opportunity to share the Chef Koochooloo idea with the 1^st graders of the Belmont Oaks Academy. The kids had a great time discovering Argentina, while preparing the all time favorite Argentinian snack, the Sandwich de Miga! Our thanks go to the Academy and to the teachers, Erin Reaves and Danielle Thompson.

Sandwiches de miga are popular food items in Argentina where they are consumed mainly at parties or as snacks. These sandwiches de miga are similar to the English cucumber sandwich and it also resembles the Italian tramezzino. They are single or double layered sandwiches, made from a thin white bread without crust, filled with thinly sliced meat such as ham, eggs, cheese, tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, and other vegetables.

Here are the country facts in our traditional Chef Koochooloo format:

Course Category: Appertizer

Continent: South America

National Language: Spanish

English Recipe Name: Crumb Sandwich

Argentinian Name: Sandwich de Miga

The kids were very quick to spot Argentina on the globe. They already knew that the national language is Spanish and they even spoke some Spanish themselves! They were very interested to learn that the capital Buenos Aires actually means “good air” but were concerned to hear that this is no longer the case because of air pollution.

What captured their attention even more was the economic phenomenon of inflation. When introducing Argentina, one cannot but talk about the great economic challenge this country has been facing during the last decade. The kids where fast to grasp that inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level. Put in their own words “inflation means that all the prices go up and you can buy less with your money, so your money is not worth as much”. In this simple way we introduced the concepts of inflation and currency devaluation and had a spelling challenge, which they passed with flying colors!

Argentina, however, has much more than a gloomy economy. Argentina is the land of Tango! The kids were very enthusiastic to try it out! Claudia, out native Argentinian colleague simplified the Tango steps: Tango is about drawing a square with your feet! Geometry did the trick and the kids picked up on some great Argentinian dancing skills! The music in the background certainly captured their interest and increased their engagement.

After dancing, we all got really hungry, so we started preparing our sandwiches right away:

Ingredients:

Sliced bread
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
Corn
Ketchup
Mayonnaise

Lettuce originated in ancient Egypt and spread to ancient Greece and Rome. By the 16th century it was already very popular in both Europe and the Americas.

Ingredient spotlight: Lettuce

Lettuce originated in ancient Egypt and spread to ancient Greece and Rome. By the 16^th century it was already very popular in both Europe and the Americas. Lettuce is a great source of vitamin A. Vitamin A promotes growth, the immune system, reproduction, and vision. More nutritional notes about lettuce can be found here

Preparation

Little chef tasks

Prepare your ingredients:

This is a crumb sandwich, so our first task is to remove the crust from our two bread slices.
Add ketchup and mayonnaise in a bowl and mix well to make the sauce

Here we introduced the primary and secondary colors by asking:

When adding red ketchup and yellow mayonnaise, what color do you think you sauce will be?

Wash the tomato and the lettuce
Slice the tomato
Cut the lettuce (if not precut)

Layer your sandwich:

Lay your bread slice and spread the sauce
Add the cheese, the lettuce, and the tomato and then sprinkle some corn on top.
Top it with your second slice of bread

Give you sandwich your favorite shape:

Cut your sandwich to make two small rectangles or two triangles or even 4 small squares! Here we introduced the basic shapes and some elements of geometry that the kids can visualize.

At this point, the kids had learned a lot and it was time to enjoy:

¡Buen provecho is Spanish for “Enjoy your meal”

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Chic Flavors, Recipes Tagged With: argentina, belmont oaks, chef, cooking, crumb sandwiches, education, food, sandwiches, sandwiches de miga, school, snacks, tango

Anzac cookies

Posted on June 5, 2014 · Leave a Comment

First of all we want to thank our contributor Holly for this incredible recipe, it will not only make a delicious snack for families it also has interesting fun facts about Australia and the life in the country!

Thank you Holly for sharing this with all the Chef Koochooloo readers!

Country of Origin: Australia

Continent: Australia

National Language: English (with an Aussie accent!)

Recipe Name in National Language: Anzac biscuits

Fun Fact about that Country: In Australia, kids start school at the beginning of the calendar year in January, and they finish the school year in December.

Serious fact about country The sun is much stronger in Australia, so kids always have to wear sunscreen outside. They stay out of the sun in the middle of the day because it’s so easy to get sunburned. Hats are a required part of all school uniforms!

Quiz question: Do you know why the sun is stronger in Australia?

Answer: Because there’s a hole in the ozone layer above Australia. The ozone layer is a layer of gas in the sky that stops the sun from being so harsh all over the world.

Website to take action, learn more, or get involved: sunsmart.com.au

Why is this recipe special? When do people eat this? It’s an Australian tradition to eat Anzac biscuits each year on Anzac Day, April 25^th. Anzac Day is a national holiday to honor and remember all the soldiers who have fought hard for their country. The word Anzac stands for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps. It’s the Australian version of Memorial Day – and yes, that means no school!

Why Big Chefs Care: The oats in Anzac cookies contain healthy fiber that will keep your kids fueled for hours. Oats are not only a healthy ingredient that is digested slowly, but they are also a rich source of magnesium and are good for heart health, too. Coconut meat also contains dietary fiber, protein, iron, and zinc. Another great part about Anzac cookies is they won’t go stale as fast as your typical sugar cookie. Keep them in an airtight container and you can munch on them all week long!

Why Little Chefs Care: Anzac cookies taste sweet and delicious, and it’s fun to get your hands all dirty mixing the dough!

Serving Size: approximately 24 cookies

An Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit popular in Australia and New Zealand made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and water.

Ingredients:

1 cup of quick oats
½ cup flaked coconut
¾ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp boiling water

Instructions:

Step 1:

Little Chef: Measure out the oats, flour, sugar, and coconut into a bowl and mix them together with a wooden spoon.
Big Chef: Put on a small amount of water to boil, and preheat oven to 350° F.

Step 2:

Little Chef: Measure out 1 teaspoon of baking soda into a mug or small bowl.
Big Chef: In a small saucepan on low heat, melt the butter and syrup together. Add the boiling water to the baking soda, mix, then add to the butter mixture and mix well

Step 3:

Little Chef: Grease the cookie sheet with butter or cooking spray so the cookies don’t get stuck.
Big Chef: Pour the butter mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. When the mixture is cool enough to touch, you can let the little chef knead the mixture with his/her hands until everything is mixed in well.

Step 4:

Little Chef: Make little balls out of the dough that are about 1 inch thick (about one heaped teaspoon each), and place them on the cookie sheets. Make sure you leave an inch or two between each one so they don’t get stuck to each other.
Big Chef: Put the cookies in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Learn while you wait:

Question: What kind of trees do coconuts come from? Answer: Palm trees
Question: What’s the point of adding baking soda to cookies? What would happen if you didn’t? Answer: Baking soda makes the cookies rise up; if you didn’t have it, your cookies would be flat as a pancake!
Question: What shape is a coconut? Answer: Sphere. Challenge: Draw 3 more items in the kitchen that are the same shape.

Presentation:

Put the cookies on a cooling rack and wait until they are room temperature
Arrange the cookies on a nice plate, and then enjoy!

As they say in Australia, “Cheers mate!”

Substitutions:

Whole wheat flour instead of regular flour
Maple syrup, honey, or agave instead of golden syrup
Brown sugar instead of white sugar
Rolled oats or muesli instead of quick oats
You can also make your own variations by adding different types of nuts or dried fruit.

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Chic Flavors, Recipes Tagged With: anzac, anzac biscuits, anzac cookies, australia, baking, baking cookies, cook, cookies, cooking, culture, Dessert, education, learning, new zeland, recipe

Outback Carrot Soup

Posted on June 4, 2014 · 1 Comment

Carrot Soup main ingredients, the carrot, is a great source of vitamin. Lear more about it reading our recipe here!

Carrot Soup main ingredients is… the carrot! And carrots are a great source of vitamin. Lear more about them reading our recipe!

Country we are exploring: Australia

Continent: Australia

National Language: English

English Recipe Name: Outback Carrot Soup

Australian Name: Outback Carrot Soup

Did you know that Australia has been through many droughts, which is when there is not enough rain for a very long period of time. The worst recent drought lasted from 1995-2009 – that’s 14 years! When there is a drought, there are also water restrictions, which means you can only use a little bit of water. If you were a kid in Australia, you would have to forget about taking long showers and running through sprinklers for fun.

Discussion questions: How would you feel if you knew that your country was running out of water? What would you do differently to help save water?

Click here to take action and save water!

Kids love this country because…

Australia is the only place where koalas live. They are not bears, but they look like cute and cuddly teddy bears with grey fur and big, round, black noses. Koalas live high up in trees, sleep all day, and only wake up for 4-5 hours at night. They only eat eucalyptus leaves, which are poisonous to most animals. Koalas are hard to see in the wild, but you can pet them at the zoo!

Carrots have a lot of Vitamin A, which is good for your eyes and your tummy. Many years ago, carrots were originally purple, red, yellow, and white, but not orange. Over time, humans grew carrots on farms and mixed together different colored carrots to get orange ones.

Ingredient Spotlight

INGREDIENTS (Makes 12 servings)

8-10 carrots, chopped into 1 inch chunks
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
½ cup celery, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp of minced garlic
2 cups of sour cream
Whole wheat bread rolls, sliced
Low fat vegetable oil spread or butter
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary for garnish
1-2 cups hot water
1 jar of vegemite (If you can find it! Vegemite is a popular dark brown spread that Australians usually eat on bread or crackers. You can find it in some specialty food stores that sells international foods. If you don’t have vegemite, this will still be a delicious classic carrot soup. As they say in Australia, “No worries mate!”)

PREPARATION

Little Chef Duties:

Wash carrots and celery
Grate ginger and lemon rind
While the veggies are cooking, spread butter on each piece of bread and arrange them on a plate (If you can get vegemite to make it even more Australian, spread a tiny bit on the buttered bread).
Once soup is in bowls, add a spoonful of sour cream to each one.

Big Chef Duties:

Chop up the onion, celery, and carrots
Sauté onion, garlic, celery, ginger, carrots, and lemon until onions are transparent
Pour in broth, 1 tbsp vegemite, salt & pepper, and simmer until carrots are soft (about 20 minutes).
Pour into food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add hot water until soup is desired consistency.
Use a ladel to pour soup into bowls

Presentation:

Add a sprig of rosemary on top of the sour cream as a garnish.

Learn while you wait: (Introduce a Math, history or science related fact to your kids while the food is ready!)

Name 5 more foods that grow under the ground like carrots do!

Possible answers: Potatoes, Beets, Onions, Yams, Ginger

As they say in Australia, cheers mate!

Possible substitutions:

Yogurt instead of sour cream
Crackers instead of bread

Finally we want to thank our incredible contributor Holly, she made this recipe to share with all our Chef Koochooloo readers and she did an amazing job sharing fun, interesting and important facts about Australia, the country and the culture.

Thank you Holly for the delicious recipe! We would’ve love to have more recipes from you soon!

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Chic Flavors, Recipes Tagged With: Aussie, australia, carrot, carrot soup, cook, cooking, education, food, kids, koala, learning, new zeland, Outback Carrot Soup, recipe, soup

A different educational and learning experience: Cooking with little hands

Posted on May 16, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Why is important to educate your kids, but make it a fun learning experience?

There are different opinions about how learning should take place, especially at a young age, but now more than ever is proving true that long-term learning is related to a fun, engaging and entertained learning experience.

Discovery, experimentation and interaction make kids go ‘aha’ when they figure out knowledge on their own, and this is exactly what we are one step closer to accomplish with ‘Chef Koochooloo’ an educational learning experience that is fun, exciting and that kids will enjoy.

I want to share a special thanks to the Bahararestan Kids, Persian Immersion & Culture team who let us conduct a first interaction session with ‘Chef Koochooloo’ at their school where kids cooked ‘Khagineh’ a traditional Persian Omelet, all while learning about Persian, Iranian tradition and culture.

Here we share some pictures and the video of the day! Thank you all for your participation during this fun activity!

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Mom Insights Tagged With: children, education, educational experience, fun, kids, kinder, kindergarden, languages, learning, learning experience, persian schools, pre-school, preschool, schoool

Khagineh Omelet

Posted on May 16, 2014 · 5 Comments

A traditional omelet in Persia is known as 'Khagineh'. Is very easy to cook and kids will have a lot of fun learning about Persia!

A traditional omelet in Persia is known as ‘Khagineh’. Is very easy to cook and kids will have a lot of fun learning about Iran!

This week we had the opportunity to enjoy while kids experienced ‘Chef Koochooloo’ first hand. Special thanks to the team of Baharestan Kids, Persian Immersion and Culture for letting us experience this activity with the kids and let them cook a delicious Khagineh that they enjoyed for lunch.

English Recipe Name: Omelet

Farsi Name: Khagineh

Country and region of Origin: Iran

Continent: Asia

National Language: Farsi

Did you know? All children in Iran have to wear a Uniform? (No matter if they are going to Private or Public School)

Action: Engage with the children about the advantages/disadvantages of uniforms?

Kids love Iran Because… We have beautiful Persian cats everywhere

Ingredient spotlight: Eggs

Eggs are laid by female animals of many different species, including birds, reptiles, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen (egg white), and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within various thin membranes.

Why Big Chefs Care: (Nutritionist, scientific facts that parents care about)

Eggs are a fabulous way to introduce children to science and nutrition.

Eggs are laid by female animals of many different species, including birds, reptiles, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen (egg white), and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within various thin membranes.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
2 green onions
1/4 Cup Milk
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
Salt

Big Chef Prep Work:

Break the eggs into bowls
Wash the green onions and remove the yellowish leaves off

Little Chef Prep Work:

Beat the eggs until stiff
Chop the green onions in small pieces

Instructions

Add a pinch of salt as preferred.
Add milk and whisk until well mixed.
Add vegetable oil to a frying pan and transfer the mixture into the pan.
Fry the mixture over medium heat, flip when hardened.

Learn while you wait:

Chop the green onion into ten pieces or more (ask them to count the final chopped green onions)
Smell the green onions and describe how it smells

PRESENTATION

Serve with bread, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots or fruits like strawberry.

As they say in Iran, “Noosh Jan”

Filed Under: Chef Koochooloo, Chic Flavors, Recipes Tagged With: Chef Koochooloo, children development, cooking, education, egg, omelet

Awakening your children’s creative and innovative minds!

Posted on May 4, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Last night, we held a special Focus Group for Chef Koochoolo. We had both kids and parents participate, it was a lot of fun, and I personally gained a lot of new insights about other parents’ dilemmas when it comes to their kid’s education.

Everyone talked about the challenge of keeping their kids engaged and learning at all times, especially over summer break, while finding time to put a healthy and delicious meal on the table.

Kids are naturally curious and creative. They’re into everything. But with time, and what parents shared as ‘bad schooling’, some of that natural spirit of exploration can get sucked out of them. Gradually, a fear of mistakes and their consequences can start to grow.

If innovation is important to you, give one of Chef Koochooloo recipes a try, venture out into Slovakia or Iran and teach them about geography and math at the same time.

Here some pictures of the event. And keep reading because there’s more!

If you foresee a busy summer and don’t think you’ll have much time for the kitchen, there are two camps I would strongly recommend for your kids, and my opinion is not formed because of Galileo’s support of this blog, but due to the foundation and philosophy behind their curriculum.

One of my good friends at work, Gita Kapoor has two amazingly talented boys who have created a unique engineering summer camp for children entering grades 6-8. The camp is designed to teach specific mechanical engineering principles using LEGO, and will also touch on autonomous robotics using NXT, including programming. It will conclude with LEGO battlebot development and a battlebot tournament to which parents are invited.

If you know anyone entering grades 5-8 who loves LEGO and would enjoy learning more about mechanical engineering concepts please let them know about this unique one-week camp. The camp will be located in Cupertino and runs from 9am-12:30pm. Space is limited to six campers per session. You can find more information and registration details here: http://futureengineers.webflow.com

The kids will even give you a discount of $10, if you happen to mention my blog post ☺

Looking for a bigger discount? Then you might want to check out the promotion I have for you from Galileo. Sign up by May 31 and save $30 per camper with code 2014INNOVATION. Also you can have a chance to win a free week of summer camp by signing up for the newsletter at the bottom of the page.

Armed with an innovation process inspired by the Stanford d. school, Galileo instructors facilitate campers’ hands-on exploration of science, art and outdoor activities. Behind every activity, an idea. And a mindset—visionary, courageous, collaborative, determined, reflective.

CAMP GALILEO IS A PLACE WHERE FEAR GOES ON HOLIDAY. In its place grows a spirit of exploration and innovation. Every year, Galileo sees the experience fire campers’ imaginations and literally change their way of relating to learning.

• Nebulas: pre-K to K

• Stars: 1st and 2nd graders

• Supernovas: 3rd to 5th graders

I strongly believe, that all of the above options are AMAZING. And the by-products- kids with supreme confidence and a boldness of vision are what will eventually rock our world, so in preparation for your summer, do plan for fun engaging and innovative activities that your children can enjoy.