Thursday

Former Nanny Snags Dream Job channeling Rachel Ray

I am a former Nanny who is lucky enough to have it all. Working my life's craft and also best of all including children. Nannying put me through cooking school,and then I knew four star gourmet cuisine was not for me. YAY! I landed a job in an upscale private school teaching children how to cook.

I am lucky enough to teach children ,ages 1–13, how to cook. Although the one-year-old class doesn't cook as much as they make the most adorable mess. My class is all about smelling, tasting, touching and looking at our ingredients and finished dishes. I try to use healthy and simple ingredients from all over the world for the kids to explore and enjoy. The children and I have prepared hummus from Greece, spaghetti sauce from Italy, and also alfajores from Peru. One day I had the kids preparing a delicious broccoli salad, they were not excited. They washed their hands and broke up into groups ready to chop up the broccoli apples and onions stir in the sunflower seeds and cranberries then measure and combine the creamy sauce. Preparing the dishes helps the kids feel more comfortable trying the "strange" and "scary" food. After they tried the broccoli salad they decided it was delicious! Most of them had seconds and thirds. I love it when I'm able to introduce them to new foods and help them feel comfortable trying different things. I never force them to eat it but always encourage them to. I find that a child can do a lot of things in the kitchen with proper care, patience and guidance.

5year olds need to be walked through step by step. We work more on technique with cutting and stirring and measuring. 8 year olds can start learning to follow a recipe and just need a little guidance. My 13 year olds can do it all. We focus more on perfecting their cutting skills and learning what all the fun tools are.

Amanda's Broccoli Salad, Guarenteed to turn a frown upside down.

I know it's broccoli salad but the kids really love it once they try it.

Broccoli Salad
3-4 broccoli crowns washed and chopped small
1 Fuji apple cored and chopped small
1/2 red onion chopped small
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons dried cranberries

For the dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise (not miracle whip)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar


Salt and pepper to taste






15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fake.

Leigh Raymer said...

anon - i will say some good thoughts for you - i hope and wish you get the life you want - best wishes from heaven for you !

Anonymous said...

Anonymous
Is your life that miserable that you have the need to reply to every post saying they are fake or untrue? You are such a Negative Nellie you only seem to negativity criticize people instead of giving them constructive criticism. Maybe it. Is time for you to knock the chip off your shoulders and quit acting like your sh!+ doesn't stink! And again you still hide behind "Anonymous" Wonder why that is?

Leigh Raymer said...

Jaxx - yoou have a head on your shoulders - if you wish a position on this blog let me know - otherwise - you are just a coool person

Anonymous said...

Leigh I migh just take you up on that offer. Let me know if you are serious and how I can let you know my contact info! Thanx, in contrary to what some people say, I think you have a lot of good ideas and opinions

Lacy said...

OP, You are doing my dream job right now. I do am in culinary school and working as a nanny. I entered school never wanting to work in a restaurant-- but to be a personal chef. But, I fell in love with being a nanny and my goals changed to wanting to work with kids and food. I am currently an extremely part time nanny and a part time employee at a school with a cooking program. You have given me hope :)

Leigh Raymer said...

Jaxx - email me at the link for isyn

and lacy - if you have any questions for amanda - let me know - and if you have any good recipes for kids - let me know - you WILL be a success!!

Anonymous said...

Hm, I will try the recipe with my finicky, no-veggies eaters at home :) Hopefully they will like it! I'd love to hear more interesting, tried-out recipes with veggies for kids. Mine are carb lovers - it's all mac & cheese and crackers - I'm at my wits end!

Leigh Raymer said...

attention readers - we will be disabling comments over the weekend - but check back monday for new articles and ideas

Lacy said...

My question for the OP... How do you get into teaching cooking to kids. Ideally I would be in the home school program so I could have more freedom.

Living on the central coast of CA I have access to fresh foods--meat, cheese, produce, eggs, ect-- everything! I love taking kids to the farmers markets and then making something with what they picked.

Leigh Raymer said...

Lacy - I will let amanda know your question - meanwhile - think about submitting an article with maybe a picture of you at the farmers market and good ideas for what to pick, and what ideas the kids come up with - sometimes we are able to pay a small amount to Ops - let me know

Leigh Raymer said...

Lacy - I just had a talk with Kid's Chef Amanda - and she will answer your question- also we will make her a regular contributor to give ideas on kids and food - thank you for your wise input

Jaxx - don't forget to email me at isynblog@gmail.com - i have some ideas for you

Anonymous said...

Sounds good
Thanx

serious suggestion said...

Why have you hyphenated the word "admins"? Serious suggestion: Instead of offering to pay for original content, put the money toward an inexpensive copy editor, considering that it's not more than two or three posts a day. The current state of things is objectively very difficult to read.

Leigh Raymer said...

serious - we will do better in the future - we are finding our way - keep checking back ;)