A New Menu

I’m on a mission, and I’m rather enjoying it. I’ve been challenged with coming up with a new snack menu for our incoming students here at the basico school. I have several prerequisites for the menu to pass. It has to be healthy. It has stay within our budget. And it has to be something kids, who are used to packaged chips from the local tienda, will eat. We may have to do some retraining, but hopefully they’ll get it.

Fruit and Kefir Parfait
(this was definitely a favorite)

I must confess, I recruited some help from a friend back home. I knew she would be perfect for this assignment. And she was. She sent me a list of Latin American friendly snacks with recipes and pictures. Pictures are the selling factor for me. When I’m in a restaurant and they have pictures, that’s how I decide what I’m eating. So this week, Isabela and I are trying these recipes to see if they pass. Now, you need to understand, my friend Isabela doesn’t read. But she is a quick learner. Today, we made healthy egg salad. Healthy, because it had fresh vegetables in it. I think we like it. We still need to have a student or teacher try it. But so far it has passed. Tomorrow, after we visit our local market to buy some lacking kitchen supplies, we plan to tackle three more recipes. I think I’ll wait until then to submit this post so you can all see some photos. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, it will save me a lot of words!

Healthy Egg Salad

One of the items we will eventually be purchasing is a food processor. I’m so excited. And so is Isabela. I brought my mini one down to the kitchen today for her to use. You should have seen her face light up when I chopped up the carrots in three seconds. This woman can cut fast and tiny and perfect. But she was blown away by the food processor. We’ve lived so blessed.

Black Bean Hummus with fresh veggies
(they didn’t like this one so much)

My plan is, if we’re permitted, to have two of the ninth grade girls come in each morning to help prepare snack during the school year. I have several motives. I really want them to learn some kitchen skills that I’m guessing they’re not learning in their homes. I also want to give them some pointers on why the food is healthy and nutritious. Something they can learn, practice at home and then pass on to their friends and family. Lastly and most importantly, I really want to get to know these girls. I hope to have a chance to get to know them in a way that they will respect me enough to listen later when I have more important things to share with them than what they should eat.