Healthy Kids Guidelines for Quick Breads

Today the Bakery students evaluated the nutritive value of yesterday's quick breads according to the Healthy Kids Guidelines. (View my materials HERE) An email from our school lunch director says:

"Here are the limits for Healthy kids Act items:
calories=200
fat=less than or equal to 35% of calories
trans fat=less than or equal to .5gm/serving
sodium=200mg
sugar=less than or equal to 35% of calories
must be at least 50% whole grain
I would love more muffin recipes. I only have one that meets these guidelines"

One trouble we ran into is that Cooking Light lists only carbohydrates instead of breaking down into sugar and fiber.  To calculate grams of sugar we multiplied the cups of sugar in the recipe by 200 (grams of sugar in one cup) and divided that number by twelve servings.

Spoiler alert! My students found that each recipe has the potential to meet the guidelines.  The olive bread has a bit too much salt which can easily be eliminated.  Each of the breads needs more whole grains to fit guidelines which is also an easy fix.

Next week we will collaborate with our school lunch director to create quick bread recipes of our own to be served for school breakfast.

Quick Breads Lab: Four Healthy Quick Loaf Bread Options

Today my students made different types of bread to complete the blending method portion of their Basic Ingredients/Quick Breads unit.

I found these healthy (ish) recipes from Cooking Light.  

• (Clockwise, from top left) Olive Bread
• Pumpkin Pecan (Students made 1/2 recipe for one full loaf)
• Brown Soda Bread
• Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Each recipe has a link back to the collection of other Cooking Light quick bread recipes.  Depending on the season you may wish to choose a different fruit or vegetable for your bread.  I know back in September I was grateful for any excuse to use up zucchini!

Paula Deen Pumpkin Bars Healthy Overhaul

No Paula Deen recipe would be complete without lots of added fat! That's why this pumpkin bar recipe from Food Network made such a great subject for our healthy substitutions lab.

This lab works great with five student groups.  Each kitchen makes a different recipe. The recipes in my materials are not labeled, so refer to the following list:

1. Original recipe
2. Add fiber with whole wheat flour and ground flax seeds
3. Cut sugar and add extra flavor with cinnamon
4. Cut fat by reducing oil using egg whites
5. Overhaul: Use all of the healthful substitutes in a single recipe

View My Materials

Whenever I'm trying "healthy" versions of recipes students can usually pick out the original.  I give them this scenario:

Imagine you walk into Mentors (homeroom) and your teacher has prepared pumpkin bars for you and your classmates.  Do you say "No thank you, those are far too healthy," or do you say, "YES! FOOD!"

Every high school student I know says "YES! FOOD!" I never have to worry about leftovers. :)

Quick Biscuits Recipe

Food and Nutrition students made this quick biscuit recipe in the time that it took their Knife Skills Soup to simmer.

I like it because the students don't need to know the specifics of biscuit making, like the cutting in method. The biscuits use all shelf stable ingredients so I didn't have to make an extra grocery trip. (I mix dry milk powder as my students need it.)

I encouraged students to make substitutions.  One group did half whole wheat flour, pumpkin instead of oil, and added some honey and cinnamon. They were awesome! It encouraged their classmates to be a bit more adventurous next time.

Create Your Own Quick Bread Project

It's that time of the Bakery term for the Create Your Own Quick Bread Project!

This activity builds on the Basic Ingredients unit.  Students use a ratio formula to create their own muffin recipe.  They evaluate the muffin and change their recipe based on their knowledge of ingredients.

When they have finalized a recipe they produce a finished product and "advertise" it with a 30 second or 1 minute commercial. Their commercial markets the muffin based on flavor, appearance, color, and texture, and includes a calorie count and cost-per-unit.

Students have quite the complex rubric to follow which you can download here.  They just made their final products muffins yesterday and the results are delicious! Student favorites include the Pear-Walnut, Nutella Espresso, and Sweet Bacon. I look forward to watching their commercials tomorrow.