Kids Cuisine

Lizzie’s Girl Scout troop leader asked Lizzie if she would be interested in preparing an Egyptian food to share at today’s Girl Scout Expo. Each participating troop shared information about a country they studied and some offered food samples. Since Lizzie’s troop was studying Egypt, we thought about a food that is easy to prepare and that can sit at room temperature during the Expo. Tabouli was Lizzie’s choice, since it is a food commonly eaten in Egypt and met our other criteria (easy prep, etc.). After sharing the recipe with our troop leader, she casually mentioned to “only make enough for 100 people… there won’t be that big of a crowd.”

What a challenge, feed 100 people Tabouli! Hmm, okay, let’s think about this. Lizzie and I sat down with a calculator and decided the quantities of each ingredient needed to feed a crowd. We made a test run of a “normal” sized serving last week and it tasted phenomenal; however, could we replicate the flavor for many more servings? Lizzie got a LOT of great practice chopping cucumbers.

What did we learn? I don’t have mixing bowls big enough for a 100-serving batch. My kitchen counter had several mixing bowls lined up. We would have liked the final version to have more lemon flavor, but we were hesitant to add more and saturate the bulgur.

The result, 95% of the Tabouli tasters loved it! The other 5% were adults who admitted to not trying anything new or claimed they were “meat and potatoes” folks. Our serving pan was empty at the end of the event and many children asked for second servings. Most of the adults said they were shocked that a vegetarian meal could have so much flavor.

It is always satisfying feeding a flock and have them begging for more.

Warmly,
Doreen