Bringing The Sunshine Indoors With A Rainbow of Colours...

I thought I could bring with me the Mayan sun back from vacay, but two weeks has gone by and all we've experienced in Toronto is cold, wind, heavy rain, flurries (yup, the white stuff) and grey skies....  Oh Whyyyyy... It's mid-April ??? If you can't beat 'em, you can at least escape it by creating your little sunny oasis indoors, but Do IT frequently. And what better way than a rainbow of fresh produce to get everyone in the mood for lighter and brighter things to come. ☀️🌈 It'll eventually come... right? 

I have been bringing the sunshine indoors to all my cooking classes literally since I stepped back on home soil (I taught an after school cooking club class the very next day). Here was my one week of back-to-back food idea inspirations to make your kitchen a sunny vibrant one too! #cookingwithtdsb

Fruits brightens, yes?

The last cooking club class for these newcomer students over at Silver Springs Public School. They had requested pizza, so we did pita pizzas on a lovely thick wheat pita with an assortment of colourful vegetables which they cut and prepared. And we served it with a mixed garden salad with my own lemon vinaigrette salad dressing.

The kids each happily made their own pizza.

Baked and oozing with yummy goodness.

From the mouth of Jamie Oliver (my previous affiliation with his foundation Food Revolution) and my sentiments exactly: "I never understand why anyone would want to buy store-bought salad dressings when they’re so easy to make, taste far nicer and aren’t pumped full of preservatives if you make them yourself!" Jamie makes his in a jam jar so that leftovers can be stored easily in the fridge – it will sit quite happily for up to a week so he often makes up double batches to save himself time after a busy day at work.

I made this quick lemon vinaigrette with 1 part lemon juice, 2 part olive oil, a bit of mustard and honey, salt and black pepper. You can add chopped garlic and/or shallots to really flavour it. Give it a shake in a jar and you have your own salad dressing concoction! I compared the real ingredients in this vinaigrette to some really hard to pronounce non real ingredients in a market prepared salad dressing and the kids understood why real and fresh was better. #foodeducation

Monday at Marc Garneau High School, the morning period students cooked up crepes, and we served it with strawberries, blueberries and bananas. Cinnamon, chocolate chips, Nutella and pure maple syrup were fabulous additional toppings and condiments for jazzing up the crepes.

See my post on How To Create Basic Crepes

The middle schoolers at Beverley Heights enjoyed the bountiful vibrance in their Tuesday's lunch class. An hour is not a lot of time, so fresh and simple ideas work best. Here, we made fruit kebabs. Kids got to cut and dice, and make up skewers real nice!

There was so much creativity and fun! Skewers were served with a dollop of vanilla yogurt, torn fresh mint and a sprinkle of cinnamon as they wish.

A rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple) on a stick!

Over on Wednesday, my Chinese cooking class with seniors was turning up the taste buds with spicy profile of tongue-numbing lemon-hinted Szechuan peppercorns and the heat of spicy chili peppers in this delicious spicy pork and pepper stir-fry. And toned down with an accompany cold refreshing and colourful bean curd salad with or without spiciness.

Spicy Pork and Peppers Stir-Fry

The salty, tangy, spicy flavours all combine wonderfully in this simply refreshing cold textural dish. Serve it as an appetizer or an accompaniment to your Asian meal, it graces the meal perfectly during the summer months.

Bean Curd and Vegetable Salad

And hands-down a favourite in the schools this past while, has certainly been this Caribbean Black Bean Salad with Mangoes and Papaya. It is a vibrant tropical medley of fresh sweet and fruity flavours, with crunchy textures and piquant bite! In here, we've got mangoes, papaya, bell peppers, raisins, lime juice and spicy jalapeno. I also add toasted slivered almonds to give extra dimension and crunch.

Cooking with parents at Fraser Mustard as part of the Parent Engagement Culinary Program funded by Michael Garron Hospital and supported by TDSB Newcomer Services.

Everyone loved the presentation with the contrasting cascade of colours before it was all tossed together. I made it again the following week with Beverley Heights students and we served it with tortilla chips. YUM!

So refreshingly good, this fruity bean salad compliments along a meal of my Slow-Cooked Jamaican Oxtails.

Hopefully the next time I post, we are submerged in better, warmer weather :D