Family Connection presents the latest chef graduates

Emanuel Chopped Junior completed its sixth beginner session last week. This project is the brainchild of Tammy Allen, the Emanuel County Family Connection Coordinator. Emanuel County Family Connection is a collaborative of community partners who work together for the betterment of our youngsters with a concentration on childhood nutrition and literacy. Millcreek Foundation generously funded this cooking adventure and deserve our gratitude.

Emanuel Chopped Junior was a jammed-packed five days of cooking, baking, using a variety of kitchen appliances, and learning safety skills. As Miss Tammy told the participants, “Don’t work in the kitchen without permission,” and these children were continually supervised by Family Connection Partners Pam Carr, Candy Powers, and Petite Garrett and community volunteers Jen Meadows and Devion Davis. Other adults who visited our chefs in training were our judges: Matt Jarrell, Susan Stephenson, Cayla Scarboro, and Olivia Golden, all who are part of the Family Connection Collaborative Parnership.

These chefs began the week preparing smoothies and creating pancake art, which was judged on appearance and oral presentation. The second day included a visit from three members of the Leanna’s Coffee Shop staff, who gave a “hands-on” lesson in making pizza from rolling out the dough and spinning the crust in the air to adding sauce and cheese. The Chopped Junior chefs then created their own personal-sized pizzas adding special ingredients of their choosing. The next project involved a discussion of different types of apples followed by the chefs rolling out crusts, filling their miniature pie pans with apples, and topping their pies with a traditional crust and a decorative opening and crimped crust or with lattice work to complete their fruit masterpieces.

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Day three the chefs used their learned health skills to crack eggs and cook scrambled eggs in the microwave and sausage links in the air fryer. The last cooking activity of the day was the preparation, seasoning, and roasting of fresh vegetables. Thursday, chefs began the morning with a most unusual, but delicious dish, waffle corn dogs, using a waffle iron. Following this breakfast dish, students were each given a piping bag filled with frosting to practice making decorations for the cakes they were to bake the next day. The class ended in each group’s making a crescent roll entrée, which was judged on its appearance, taste, and student presentation.

The last day of this fun week of Emanuel Chopped Junior ended with chefs baking and using their previously learned piping skills to decorate mini cakes. Then they displayed their creativity with fruit sculptures, which were judged on appearance and oral descriptions of their works of art. Students ended Emanuel Chopped Junior by putting on aprons, personalized by Family Connection Partner Ann Rogers, and chef hats. Each chef was presented with their own smoothie maker and a gift bag containing measuring cups and spoons, mini baking pans, and a recipe book containing all the recipes they had followed during their five days of Emanuel Chopped Junior.

Emanuel chopped graduates