One of Poughkeepsie Day School’s four core values is to connect learning to the real world. Experiential learning beyond the classroom gives children the opportunity to observe the tangible applications and impact of their own education, bringing them to a greater level of understanding and joy. Our friends at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) are no stranger to this idea, and, earlier this month, they joined Grades PreK-2 to harvest fresh produce and bring it back to campus to make an array of delicious meals from scratch!

The day started with a trip to the Roosevelt Home Garden at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park, where the younger half of our lower school met Dr. Taylor Reid—Professor of Liberal Arts at the CIA—and a group of his students. The plan was to pick a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that everyone could take back to PDS and incorporate into their own dishes. So, children split up into groups based on which meals they were going to make, and worked together to harvest leeks, carrots, beets, butternut squash, raspberries, tomatoes, and more. Their favorite part, of course, was getting to taste test everything! Students also picked and tasted several herbs, taking a special liking to basil and parsley. Everyone had an amazing time putting their farming skills to work, and once they were finished, they brought bins full of the fresh produce back to school to cook with.

 

 

Working in both the PreK and Kindergarten classrooms as well as the Cozy Kitchen, Grades PreK-2 seemed to be in the mood to make some tasty food, and sprung right into action as soon as they arrived on campus. At one table in the PreK classroom, a group of students was using the butternut squash they harvested to make a delicious butternut squash and cheese ravioli. With the help of their friends from the CIA, they made the dough from scratch, rolled it out, and then made butternut squash filling and farmer’s cheese. The flattened dough was folded in half over evenly-spaced blotches of filling and then cut into squares to make individual pieces of ravioli. It came out great!

At the next table over, another group was using FDR Home Garden carrots, beets, and kale to create a beet and carrot sauté and kale chips. The beets were boiled in a pot right at the table, and the students had a lot of fun cutting, peeling, and tasting the carrots before sautéing them in a pan. Then, after cutting and drying fresh kale, the group put it in the oven with some salt and olive oil to create kale chips.

 

 

On the other side of the room, a third group was using a variety of picked veggies to make vegetable mac & cheese. After first grating carrots and a block of cheese, the crew put them into a large heated pot on the table and added flour, milk, butter, and additional chopped vegetables, stirring all the ingredients to make a delicious mix. They softened the macaroni noodles in boiling water, and then combined it with the pre-made mixture to complete their dish.

In the Kindergarten classroom, a fourth group was creating their own vegetable pizza from scratch. First, they made dough using instant yeast, flour, and water, and rolled out several pieces nice and flat. With the assistance of their CIA group leaders, the students then chopped up onions, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, peppers, tomatoes, and more to use for sauce and toppings. The group created their sauce using mostly tomatoes as well as a view other veggies, spreading it around each piece of dough once pre-baked. The rest of the vegetables were sautéed in a small pan and added to the pizza as toppings along with shredded cheese. Then, it all went in the oven, and came out amazing!

 

 

Over in the Cozy Kitchen, a final group was busy mixing ingredients and cutting up butternut squash to make delicious pancakes. To create their pancake batter, the group stirred a mixture of several ingredients in addition to butternut squash, including flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, and butter. The batter was cooked on a stovetop pan, whipped cream was added on top of each pancake after they were done. This same group also cut and chopped up apples to make homemade applesauce, heating up the apple pieces in a stovetop pot until they were completely soft and then pureeing them into a smooth sauce. The Cozy Kitchen crew had a fantastic time cooking, especially while making the applesauce.

 

After all groups had finished cooking, it was time to eat. Everyone stayed put in their groups as they chowed down on the fruits of their labor. Every single dish was tasty, for adults and children alike.

We cannot thank Professor Taylor Reid and his students enough for such an amazing day. Not only did students in Grades PreK-2 have fun, but they learned an incredible amount about cooking, agriculture, and teamwork, all through experience. Learning opportunities like these are what make the Poughkeepsie Day School and Culinary Institute of America partnership so special. We cannot wait for more of them later this year.