Today was the day that we FINALLY created our gingerbread house village!  But before we could start on the sugary construction, we first created something savory.  We began the class by talking about different ways to eat eggs.  Some eat them simply fried in a pan, some eat them in a sandwich, some scrambled.  I introduced them to a fun way to eat eggs - hint - its from Italy (we visited there a couple months ago, remember?) FRITTATAS!  Frittatas a a wonderful way to eat eggs because you can be creative with the veggies that go into it!  Today we used green beans and Swiss chard (remember to eat those greens!)  But you can use anything from potatoes to bell peppers, to spinach and mushrooms!  We started by reading the recipe as a group, to see what we needed to do - keeping track of time so that we don't miss out on assembling our ginger breads!  We began chopping the green beans, washing and chopping the greens.  Those went into a saute pan with some olive oil and salt.  While the veggies were sauteing, a group of boys began grating the cheese, and another group cracked eggs into a bowl.  Half the cheese was added to the bowl and it went straight into the perfectly al dente veggies (you don't want to overcook them!  They finish in the oven.)  With a little sprinkling of cheese, this frittata was ready to pop in the oven - and cook for 15 minutes while the kids quickly cleaned up the work space to make room for our gingerbread houses!

With a little help from our neighboring architecture class, we came together to assemble each carefully cut gingerbread cookie.  Our icing perhaps wasn't strong enough - or it could have been that the gingerbread village was on the North Pole fault line - our gingerbread houses suffered some structural damage and did not want to stay upright!  Don't worry, there was plenty of landscaping and icing stealing to be done!  Either way - we all had fun decorating our gingerbread!

We finished the class by sampling out frittatas - and admiring our gingerbread village.  A great way to end the day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break - filled with lots of warm food and treats!  

Take care, and see you next year!

Of course, the recipes: 
Frittata
 
Ingredients:
8-10 eggs
2-3 cups assorted veggies and herbs
½ cup grated cheese
2 Tablespoons water
1.5 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
 
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375.  Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk just to blend.
Wash and roughly chop the vegetables and herbs.  Add ¼ cup of the cheese (half), the water, the salt and pepper to the eggs, stir to blend. 
 
In a large pan, heat the olive oil to medium heat.  Add the vegetables and herbs and cook until they are tender – but not completely cooked.  Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and herbs, stir to blend.  Heat until the eggs are half cooked.  DO NOT OVERCOOK as the frittata will finish cooking in the oven. 
 
With the back of a spoon, smooth the top of the frittata and top with the remaining cheese.  Transfer the skillet to a preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the frittata is puffy and golden brown.  Remove the frittata from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before slicing into wedges, like a pie.