Learning to cook, learning to give
It isn't time for Easter or Passover, but the homeless people at the St. Alphonsus Catholic Church PADS site in Prospect Heights who recently enjoyed traditional challah bread probably didn't care if it wasn't the right season.
Undoubtedly, they were just impressed with the taste and appearance of the fancy braided bread.
Two classes of eighth-grade students in a foods and nutrition course at River Trails Middle School in Mount Prospect spent two class periods last week making the bread. Then their teacher, Sue Schnackenberg, donated the loaves to the local PADS site.
This is the first year that the students in Schnackenberg's classes have made this particular bread, but certainly not the first time they have made items for local homeless shelters and nursing homes.
"I like to use all my classes to do service for the community," Schnackenberg said. "These students are the perfect age for instilling the importance of service to others."
Her textile classes have sewed items for the Cancer Society and her foods and nutrition classes have baked items for charitable groups. In addition, Schnackenberg said her Life Skills Club has also completed various public service projects.
Last week the students spent their class time one day mixing the dough for the challah bread, combining flour, butter, sugar, yeast and various other ingredients, and then allowed the dough to rise in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day they returned and watched Schnackenberg demonstrate the age-old bread braiding technique that she learned over the summer while attending a seminar at Evanston's Kendall College through an Illinois Education to Careers grant.
Then the students, three or four to a group, dispersed to several kitchenettes where they replicated the braiding with their own dough and then used a pastry brush to apply a beaten egg which makes the finished crust shiny.
"This class is a lot of fun," said Kim Bruckman. "I like both making the food and eating it and it is actually easier than I thought it would be."
Michael Solon agreed. "We learned to make quesadillas a couple of weeks ago and I actually made them for my family last weekend. They all really liked them."
Other favorites the students mentioned included banana smoothies, potato skins, cake, cupcakes and candy.
The students spend about eight weeks in the class, according to Schnackenberg.
"The purpose of classes like these is to allow the students find out where their talents lie and to help them gain an appreciation for this kind of work," she explained.
Students in the class actually cook at least once or twice a week and the rest of the time is spent on personality and career testing, outside speakers and exercises like searching through recipe books to determine which are the most nutritious recipes they can make for their families.