I recently had the pleasure of teaching a cooking class with a group of 8-12 year olds at my local library. It was fabulous and the kids were so inspiring. It really brought home to me the power of doing it yourself and being self-sufficient. The class was about wraps and being able to make healthy lunches or snacks without using a knife or flame. That way the kids could be inspired to make their own food and also eat things that they need. I wanted to inspire them to open up and be artistic and enjoy food. They ended up inspiring me with their eagerness to learn and take on the their own nutrition and food options.
One of my favorite parts of the class was at the beginning where I had pureed several different veggies to make “edible paint”. I made a pesto for green (I also had a guacamole option for anyone allergic or dairy free), Black bean and sun dried tomato puree for black, roasted red pepper for red and white bean hummus for white. Then each child got a piece of lavash bread which you can buy or it is also very easy to make with the kids (See recipe below)! I then instructed them to use their fingers and paint pictures on the bread. They were awesome! I am including some pictures in this post for you to see how fabulous the kids were in their creations! Once they were done and the paintings were immortalized in picture I told them they could eat their creations! At first they were a bit incredulous but then they rolled up the lavash and ate their pictures! They loved it!
We then moved on to wraps. I spoke up the different things that they could use to “wrap” things like wraps of course, lettuce or even bread that you take the crusts off of and roll out thin. We made veggie “sushi”, turkey rollups and pizza rolls. I encouraged the kids to brainstorm what they could put in wraps and asked them if they knew of anything that could not be put in a wrap. They came up with some goods ones but the only one that stumped me was the chicken soup…. that was a winner 🙂 The kids then got many different ingredients and went to work making the wrap of their choice and I helped them to wrap them up.
We could not end the class without dessert so we quickly moved on to sweet options with Nutella, pineapple, yogurt, raisins and other options and we did the same thing. Their enthusiasm was infectious and I heard back from some of the moms that the kids have really taken to the challenge and are making their own wraps. This…this is why I love my job 🙂
Lavash
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown
- Total Time: 30 min
- Prep: 15 min
- Cook: 15 min
- Yield:
- 10 to 12 serving
- Ingredients
-
14 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 1/2 cups plus extra for rolling
-
1 teaspoon table salt
-
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
-
2/3 cup water, plus additional if needed
-
1 whole egg
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5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided, melted, and cooled slightly
- Place the flour, salt and sugar into a medium bowl and whisk to combine. In a small bowl whisk together the water, egg, and 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until the dough comes together, adding additional water if the dough is dry. Knead the dough in the bowl 5 to 6 times. Turn the dough out onto the counter, divide into thirds, cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly butter the back of a half sheet pan using some of the remaining butter. Place the sheet pan, upside down on a surface that will prevent sliding. Working with one ball at a time, place the dough ball onto the back of the sheet pan and roll the dough out to an even 1/8-inch thickness. Gently stretch the edges of the dough so they fall slightly below the edge of the pan and hold the dough in place. Lightly brush the dough with butter, place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the lavash to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, on a cooled pan. Break each sheet into shapes and sizes as desired. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown, 2008
