New recipes are a success

Finding new and healthy breakfast recipes for their school was a goal for the Fuel Up to Play 60 children.

For National School Breakfast Week, March 2-6, Lincoln Middle School students in the Fuel Up to Play 60 program had a chance to debut some of the healthy breakfast recipes they created.

Linda Martin, Sweetwater County School District No. 2 food service director, said members in that group asked her to try the different breakfast recipes they came up with prior to the school student’s taste test.

“The kids came up with it themselves,” Martin said. “I didn’t even know they had been working on it until they invited me down for a taste test.”

Carlee Boden, Tanner Adam, Matthew Pickering, Brad Eveatt, Nathan Nelson and Brett McKeehan were a few of the students who worked on the breakfasts.

Carlee Boden said the whole idea of creating healthy breakfast recipes was brought up at one of the group’s meetings.

“It started as a little project,” Adam said.

That was a little over a month ago, Martin said. The group’s project turned into something bigger and the focus changed to having some of the recipes offered at the schools at part of the school-breakfast program.

Before the taste test, members of the group divided into pairs to create healthy breakfasts. Some of the breakfasts made included smoothies, shakes, cornbread cheese muffins and fruity flatbreads.

Eveatt said a couple of the recipes, the cornbread muffin and the fruity flatbread came from the Western Dairy Association, which encourages healthy eating.

The fruity flatbread was a toasted flatbread with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on it with fruit on top.

Another recipe is called waffle dunkers. The whole-grain waffles are cut into pieces that could easily be dumped into a peach yogurt and cream-cheese mixture.

During the development phase, the students learned the importance of communication and adapting a recipe. The students also learned to adapt the recipes to their liking, Martin said.

Boden said she learned four hands are better than two when she is pouring a shake.

“It’s sometimes easier to complete a task with another person,” Everatt said.

Boden said she also learned how to be patient.

“Sometimes you hope that time is on your side so it works out the best for you,” Boden said.

They also learned that sometimes they just may not like something they make, but that doesn’t mean you give up.

“If you get down on every mistake you make in life you are never going to get anywhere in life,” Eveatt said.

Before the recipes could be put on the breakfast list, they had to be taste tested by LMS teachers and employees. Some of recipes advanced to the students taste test, which took place during National School Breakfast Week.

During the school’s office test tasting, some students were hesitant to try what the Play 60 group had come up with. The students were good at encouraging their peers to just give it a try before making a decision.

The taste test was a success and the administration, employees and students all agreed these items would make a nice change to the menu.

Those making it onto the school’s breakfast menu are the cornbread muffin, fruity flatbread, waffle dunkers and a smoothie.

“These recipes will be a permanent part of the menu,” Martin said. “The smoothie has been altered to meet nutritional standards,”

The project just didn’t stop there. The students happily shared the recipes with their family and friends. Adam said his family has been making big batches on the weekends and eating them for breakfast all week.

Boden said her dad has been eating them on his way to work. Through this project the students have learned how rewarding teamwork can be.

“You have to work hard to get what you want,” Eveatt said.