Princeton Middle School Cooks+Gardens1

PMS Cooks+Gardens: Greens and eggs

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Spring session of JW Cooks+Gardens is under way, with students making scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and greens from the JW Edible Gardens! Thanks to all who make it possible, especially our volunteers and our funders, McCaffrey’s Food Markets and Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund. Thanks to Chef Michelle Fuerst and to Priscilla Hayes, our Master Gardener and administrator of this program for middle school students. A special thanks to Jason Burr, principal, and to Janet Gaudino, science teacher, for the hard work that brings richness in experience to students in grades 6-8.

Grow, cook & eat!

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Thanks to the generosity of McCaffrey’s Markets and in partnership with Princeton Public Schools, we are again offering our seed-to-table food literacy program for students in grades 8-12! Students can sign up at PHS or JW office. Students at PHS can also sign up at the club fair on Wednesday afternoon.
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Fall harvest at PMS Cooks kitchens & gardens!

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Jason Burr, JW principal, and Debbie Schaeffer, owner of Mrs. G's, toured the JW Teaching Kitchens and Edible Gardens - and she left with a beautiful lettuce bouquet for lunch! Thank you, Debbie, for your generous gift of 5 single-basin kitchen sinks and high-neck faucets for upgrading the Teaching Kitchens. They will make washing big pots and pans almost easy!
Jason Burr, JW principal, and Debbie Schaeffer, owner of Mrs. G’s, toured the JW Teaching Kitchens and Edible Gardens – and she left with a beautiful lettuce bouquet for lunch! Thank you, Debbie, for your generous gift of 5 single-basin kitchen sinks and high-neck faucets for upgrading the Teaching Kitchens. They will make washing big pots and pans almost easy!

Making frittatas with Chef Michelle Fuerst

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Fresh-picked mint, chives, cilantro and parsley
Fresh-picked mint, chives, cilantro and parsley
Use a mortar and pestle to make a fresh herb sauce with garlic, oil and lemon.
Use a mortar and pestle to make a fresh herb sauce with garlic, oil and lemon.
onions
Chef Fuerst prepared caramelized onions and several other frittata fillings in advance of PPS Cooks.
Chef Fuerst demonstrates a typical frittata technique before adding eggplant and caramelized onions as filling, and pounded herb sauce as a topping.
Chef Fuerst demonstrates a typical frittata technique before adding eggplant and caramelized onions as filling, and pounded herb sauce as a topping.
Begin with a good-quality pan. Add a knob of butter and, over medium heat, allow it to sizzle. Add egg mixture, sliding spatula beneath the cooked edges and tipping pan to allow uncooked mixture to flow beneath.
Begin with a good-quality pan. Add a knob of butter and, over medium heat, allow it to sizzle. Add egg mixture, sliding spatula beneath the cooked edges and tipping pan to allow uncooked mixture to flow beneath.
The pan goes off the heat while toppings are added.
The pan goes off the heat while toppings are added.
Frittatas are sometimes left open, but can be folded into various shapes.
Frittatas are sometimes left open, but can be folded into various shapes.
The finished frittata, garnished with fresh crumbled feta.
The finished frittata, garnished with fresh crumbled feta.

PMS Cooks, with Chef Kim Rizk, of Jammin’ Crepes

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Kim Rizk, owner of Jammin' Crepes, and students in PPS Cooks take note of the temperature creeping up past syrup to jam.
Kim Rizk, owner of Jammin’ Crepes, and students in PPS Cooks take note of the temperature creeping up past syrup to jam.
Crepe batter begins with flour, eggs and milk.
Crepe batter begins with flour, eggs and milk.
Crepe-making is an art that requires practice and a light touch with the trowel spreader.
Crepe-making is an art that requires practice and a light touch with the trowel spreader.
Crepe-making in one corner, and in the other, jam-making.
Crepe-making in one corner, and in the other, jam-making.
Kim Rizk's restaurant, Jammin' Crepes, is at 20 Nassau Street, opposite Princeton University.
Kim Rizk’s restaurant, Jammin’ Crepes, is at 20 Nassau Street, opposite Princeton University.

Making personal pizzas with Chef Michelle Fuerst

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Fresh-picked sorrel from the JW-PPS gardens was among the toppings available for home-made pizzas during a recent food literacy session.
Fresh-picked sorrel from the JW-PPS gardens was among the toppings available for home-made pizzas during a recent food literacy session.
Pizza dough, mid-process, is yeasty and slightly sticky.
Pizza dough, mid-process, is yeasty and slightly sticky.
Chef demonstrates kneading the dough at the mirrored work station.
Chef demonstrates kneading the dough at the mirrored work station.
Start with crust, and then, anything goes with personal pizzas.
Start with crust, and then, anything goes with personal pizzas.
After the dough had risen slowly overnight to develop flavor and texture, the students began shaping portions of it into pizza shells.
After the dough had risen slowly overnight to develop flavor and texture, the students began shaping portions of it into pizza shells.
Potato, gorgonzola, sorrel and red onion pizza, fresh from the oven.
Potato, gorgonzola, sorrel and red onion pizza, fresh from the oven.

New kitchen sinks and faucets from a new partner

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BEFORE: Janet Gaudino, 8th grade science teacher and advisor to JW Cooks, at the small double-basin sinks that date the Teaching Kitchens to a time when very little food was made from whole ingredients. Check back soon for the AFTER picture!
BEFORE: Janet Gaudino, 8th grade science teacher and advisor to JW Cooks, at the small double-basin sinks that date the Teaching Kitchens to a time when very little food was made from whole ingredients. Check back soon for the AFTER picture!

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with Debbie Schaefer and Mrs G’s Appliances for the benefit of food literacy efforts at Princeton Public Schools.

Debbie, granddaughter of the original Mrs G (Beatrice Greenberg) is donating 5 new single-basin stainless steel sinks and high-rise faucets from Mrs G’s for updating the JW Teaching Kitchens. Gary Weisman, Director of Plant Operations at PPS, will supervise the renovations under the director of Jason Burr, principal at the John Witherspoon Middle School.

The kitchens, once used for Home Economics classes, and more recently for Modern Living classes, are now home to JW Cooks, a seed-to-table after-school program our nonprofit created for middle schoolers four years ago and, in a long-time goal realized, will be added to the school day as a class in January 2016!

Thank you, Debbie. We look forward to sharing stories, food, produce and more as your gardens grow at your shiny new store (2720 U.S. Route 1 North). And we look forward to visits from you and your chef, Nirit Yadin! And we look forward to seeing the students maneuvering their stockpots and big saute pans into the new sinks for sudsing – with ease!

Read more about Debbie’s story and Mrs G’s here. And read her blog, where you can find posts on good deals at the store and snippets about her life and thoughts. Here’s a recent favorite on how the new logo (see it on our home page) for the store came into being.