Los Gatos, Saratoga: Local kids compete in ‘Healthy Breakfast’ challenge

It seems like you see kids cooking up a storm everywhere you look these days.

They’re on the Fox Network’s “MasterChef Jr.” show or taking junior chef classes at cooking supply stores. LGS Recreation and the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center have latched onto the trend, too, and are offering a variety of summer cooking camps for kids.

So when school food service provider Sodexo held its sixth annual Future Chefs Challenge, 120 “Healthy Breakfast” recipes were submitted by elementary students from the Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cambrian and Union school districts.

The national contest is open to children in kindergarten through the fifth grade.

That’s why the commercial ovens in the Fisher Middle School cafeteria in Los Gatos were humming on March 24. Simultaneously, microwave timers dinged and frying pans sizzled as seven local finalists went head to head to see whose healthy breakfast recipe would be judged the best.

Tressle Margo Hertz from Foothill Elementary in Saratoga made “Fairy Toast.” Turns out this is the all-time children’s favorite more commonly called cinnamon toast.

“Did you know cinnamon regulates blood sugar?” Tressle asked. “It doesn’t go too high or too low.”

Then as an after-thought she added, “My cat loves sugar and cinnamon.”

Tressle, who is in the fourth grade, butters the toast and tops it with cinnamon that’s been premixed with brown sugar.

“I make it every morning and sometimes for a snack. It’s a good Saturday snack,” Tressle said. “I eat one piece and end up eating three.”

First-grader Abby Nelson from Daves Avenue Elementary in Los Gatos was hard at work making banana strawberry pancakes. “It’s fun to flip them,” she said. “I like making these because they’re really healthy and good at the same time.”

They also smelled wonderful.

Before the contest, Abby practiced making her pancakes five times at home, which means her family’s kitchen must have been a pretty busy place … since Abby’s sister Katie Nelson also entered the contest.

Katie is in the third grade at Daves Avenue. “I’m making Power Pumpkin Packages,” she said.

She starts with a basic pumpkin bread recipe–flour, sugar, eggs and canned pumpkin puree–then adds shredded zucchini and raisins.

“This is a really special recipe because it’s my mom’s famous pumpkin bread with a zucchini twist. She ate it all the time when she was pregnant with me,” Katie said.

Katie and her mother often work side by side in the kitchen, but Katie said it was “MasterChef Jr.” that inspired her to cook more often.

Four egg-laying chickens in her back yard inspired Annalynn Ballester to create the “Happy Egg Pizza Pie.” Annalynn is a fourth-grader at Farnham Elementary in the Cambrian School District.

Annalynn purchased a premade pie crust and topped it with an egg, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, pre-cooked turkey sausage and chopped bell peppers, then popped it in the oven at 375 degrees.

An hour later, the result is a quiche-like pie.

“We get four fresh eggs a day, so we needed something to use them up,” Annalynn said. “I’ve made this for my neighbors and family, but I thought I could get really good at cooking by entering the contest.”

In addition to the local contestants, Sodexo estimates there are almost 2,500 students from 1,300 schools in 28 states participating in the national challenge.

Sodexo CEO Stephen Dunmore said estimates that one in three American children is obese or overweight demonstrates “why it is more important than ever to engage youth to become advocates for their own health.”

To get to the local competition at Fisher, each contestant filled out a recipe entry form, listing ingredients and cooking directions.

“This is the students’ first time actually making the recipes in a competitive setting, so we have food service volunteers from the school districts helping them,” Sodexo operations manager Pam Tilton said.

In addition, two Sodexo food service workers and three educators served as judges.

Entries were judged on originality, taste, presentation, kid friendliness and the use of healthy ingredients.

“When it said, ‘Healthy Breakfast,’ my mind thought of eggs, so I went to an omelette,” Srishti Vinkatesan said. “Then I thought of adding veggies.”

Srishti, who is in the fourth grade at Alta Vista Elementary, made “Mini Happy Face Omelettes” with black olives for eyes. The “faces” also had mushroom noses, red pepper smiles and cheddar cheese cheeks.

Another Alta Vista fourth-grader, Eliot Eftimie, stood next to Srishti, busily whisking a bowl of “Greek Scrambled Eggs.”

Since Greek is the operative word here, Eliot created a recipe that adds mint, baby spinach and feta cheese to his scramble.

“I’ve made this many times before,” Eliot said. “For the competition I tried to make it better by adding a few things, so it’s also flavored with thyme, oregano, green onions, pepper and cherry tomatoes.”

Eliot, who thinks cooking is “fun,” also enjoys making spaghetti sauce from scratch.

Contestant Saachi Jain, who is in the third grade at Foothill Elementary in Saratoga, showed off her culinary skills by creating the “OMG! Omelette Roll.”

Eggs once again have the starring role in this breakfast concoction, but in Saachi’s recipe onion, spinach, shredded zucchini, cilantro and turkey sausage are cooked into an omelette that’s placed on top of a whole wheat tortilla. Saachi slathers her tortilla with ketchup and cream cheese, then rolls the whole thing up.

“I help my mom with pasta recipes and Indian dishes,” Saachi said. “But I’m not allowed to use the stove at home unless my mom is around, so I developed this recipe for the microwave and it came out just as good.”

Saachi swirls a little olive oil on a microwave safe dish, then nukes the egg mixture for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, or perhaps 2 minutes 45 seconds since microwave cooking times vary.

As the contest drew to a close, Saachi and the other contestants lined up for photos and to learn who would take home a big market basket filled with everything from a whisk to mixing spoons and bowls, a scale, apron, oven mitts and a “basil garden in a can.”

You could sense the excitement as the kids dressed in chefs’ toques and aprons could barely control their eagerness.

Drum roll, please: The third-place winner was Eliot Eftimie from Alta Vista, and second place went to Farnham’s Annalynn Ballester.

First place was awarded to Foothill’s Saachi Jain.

“I practiced really hard, and this tells me people enjoy my cooking,” Saachi said. “Now that I’ve won I actually want to be a cook, but it’s a little early to tell.”

Saachi’s father thinks the contest instilled his daughter with self-confidence. “She didn’t want any help when she was making her omelettes at home,” Vipin Jain said.

Not only does the contest give the youngsters confidence, it also teaches them about making healthy food choices.

“Encouraging kids and getting them involved in cooking at a young age makes them more aware, so they make better choices,” Tilton said.

Saachi joins 228 other local winners from districts across the nation. Going forward, a panel of chef judges will whittle down the number to 40 regional winners.

By April 12 there will be just five finalists left, and they will go on to the national competition.

“Those five contestants will post videos online explaining their recipes,” Sodexo spokesman Greg Yost said. “The public then watches the videos and votes for the grand prize winner.”

The videos will be posted at sodexousa.com. Voting takes place from April 25 to May 1.