Simple Meals

From MeritBadgeDotOrg

Simple Meals is the junior-level legacy badge in the Cook category. Junior Girl Scouts are those scouts in grades 4 and 5. Scouts should complete one activity in each of five steps to earn this badge.

Tips before takeoff:

• When you cook, do it with an adult! A family member or Girl Scout volunteer should help you in every stop toward earning your Junior Cook badge.
• The kitchen is lost of fun, but here can also be lots of accidents. Stay staff! Never turn on the stove or oven without an adult's permission

Contents 1 Step 1: Step up your skills with a pro 2 Step 2: Whip up a great breakfast 3 Step 3: Fix a healthy lunch or dinner 4 Step 4: Create a delicious dessert 5 Step 5: Make your own meal

Step 1: Step up your skills with a pro

There are lots of important skills to learn before you start cooking up a maser piece. Ask a great cook to tell you about cooking tools, safety, and cleanliness; what makes a nutritionally balance meal; and how they present food to look nice on a plate.

Choices: do one:

• Visit a restaurant. Get a tour of a professional kitchen and talk to the chefs there. You might also visit the prepared foods section of a grocery store and talk to the staff who make those foods.

OR

• Invite a great cook to your Girl Scout meeting. It might be a chef, a cafeteria cook, a parent, or a Girl Scout adult. If you have the space, ask for a demonstration!

OR

• Tour a kitchen. With acknowledgeable adult, tour the kitchen of a friend or neighbor, a caterer, your school, or your very own kitchen.

Step 2: Whip up a great breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - it gets you going! Work on improving your breakfast making skills with on of these activities. Use what you learned in Sept 1 here - and in the rest of the badge - to choose dishes that give you the nutrition you need and taste great, too.

• Make easy weekday breakfasts. That doesn't mean popping a pastry in the toaster! Figure out five school-day breakfasts that are quick, easy, and good for you. Hint: Fruit is a healthy start. You could try a fruit-and-yogurt parfait, or a slice of wheat toast with bananas and peanut butter.

OR

• Create an egg dish. They seem simple, but eggs can be a tricky food to master. Find out how each family member likes their eggs and make an egg for everyone for breakfast one day.

OR

• Make a weekend breakfast. Now that you don't have to rush off to school, try experimenting with a bigger breakfast, like French toast, pancakes, or homemade muffins. Include as many good-for-you foods as you can. How many are in banana walnut pancakes?

Step 3: Fix a healthy lunch or dinner

Now it's time to tackle some of the bigger meals of the day. Follow a recipe that you have at home, or ask an adult to help you find one online or in a cookbook. Does a neighbor from another country or one of your relatives have a great recipe they could share? Choices: do one:

• Flatbread. Lots of cultures have foods that are made with a flattened version of bread, like tortillas, chapti, blini, or lavash. Try a Mexican quesadilla, a French crepe stuffed with peanut butter and fruit, or a Kenyan stew that you dip the chapati in.

OR

• International sandwich. Sandwiches aren't just deli meat or peanut butter and jelly - they can include almost anything. Try making a sandwich from another country. What about a croquet monsieur from France, a bank mi from Vietnam, or a panini from Italy?

OR

• Pocket food. Some meals are mysterious because al the ingredient are inside. you might now know what's in there until you take a bite! Make a food full of fun mystery, like a pita stuffed with falafel, a Chinese dumpling, or an Australian meat pie.

Step 4: Create a delicious dessert

Dessert is a fun treat for ending special meals. Try making one of these sweet treats to share with friends and family on a special occasion. Choices: do one:

• Make a dessert you've never tried before. have you always wanted to make your own ice-cream cake, or to try a recipe for a French eclair full of pudding and covered in chocolate?

OR

• Make a favorite dessert healthier. For instance, alther a favorite cookie recipe by using whole-wheat flour instead of shire, or boost nutrition by adding dried fruit or raisins. In some packaged muffins or cake mix you can use applesauce in place of oil.

OR

• Make a holiday dessert. desserts really take center stage around holiday times. Try a recipe for a family holiday, or for a holiday from another culture. For example, during Mardi Gras in the American South, they make a cake and bake a tiny doll inside! The person who find the doll is said to have good lucy-and gets to make the next year's cake.

Step 5: Make your own meal

Now that you've followed other people's recipes, come up with your won healthful meal. Create a meal (it's okay to get help from an adult for this step). Then share your meal with friends and family. Choices-do one:

• Make a salad meal using a protein, a vegetable, and starch. Try adding meat to a sale, and then adding crunchy noodles or potatoes. ore serve bread as a side-and bake it yourself!

OR

• Make soup, stew, or other one-pot meal. you might want to make this with a slow cooker-a big electric pot that can be set to cook things for a long time at a low temperature. Hint: Add flavored broth to some mean, veggies and noodles.

OR

• Make three dishes for one meal. Ma a separate protein, vegetable and starch. Hint: pay special attention her to how long things take to cook. To get everything out at the same time, you'll have to be good at using a timer.