Cake Decorating & Kid's Chicken Soup

Fall classes ended this week with a grand finale` cake decorating extravaganza. Each Sprout-pastry-Chef received their own unfrosted Sproutcake. They were given cans of frosting, food coloring, pastry bags, sprinkles and candy to adorn their culinary masterpieces with. They frosted, designed and decorated their cakes in the same way an artist would paint a picture or create a sculpture in art class. Imaginations ran wild. They were also instructed not to eat the art materials until they got home, which was the only hard part of their assignment.

The Sprout Chefs think they want a cake decorating contest, but in actuality that is only good for the first place winner. Each cake was unique, beautiful and distinctly their own. Contests often make most of the chefs feel like losers, and there are no losers in my classes. Instead, everyone displayed their cakes for all to see, beside a paper for positive comments.

Royle's Stone Soup Class got to decorate a cake, but ended their session with creating and making their own chicken soup. They told me what ingredients to bring, and they made the following soup. It sure tasted good in this cold weather.

Royle's Stone Soup Sprout Chef Chicken Noodle Recipe

• 1 quart of chicken broth

• 1 cup cooked chicken, cut up into small pieces

• 1/2 cup cut up celery

• 1/2 cup cup cut up carrots

• 1 handful of fresh pasta

1. In a stockpot or wok, saute' carrots until almost tender.

2. Add the celery to the carrots and cook a little longer until both veggies are tender.

3. Pour the chicken broth into the pot and add the chicken and heat through.

4. Put the pasta in last and cook until the pasta is ready.

5. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

The highlight of my weekdays are when I am working with your children. They make me happy when they tell me how they used what they learned in class to make a treat for their families. If you have not already signed your child up for the winter session, I hope you will. Since I have reoccurring students, we always make new things, as well as repeat the old favorites. There are still some spaces available.