You Could Say we Ended Up a Little Pickled

  Day 3 of 4-H Jr. Chef Academy is upon us and you will be amazed at all that we accomplished.  We started our day with what we learned over the past few days and what we liked.  So far, just so you know, its been a lot of fun.
  We split quickly into our groups so one group could work in the kitchen with Mrs. Janice and the other group worked with our friends from the health department.  Camille and Colton stopped by to talk food, actually our favorite ingredient in food with us, sugar.  We learned about different types of sugar and how much sugar is in a soda, juice, and even milk.  we were surprised to learn that milk has a natural sugar in it.  The best drink for us?  Good old fashioned water.  However the other drinks in moderation work too.  You just need to stop and rethink your drink before choosing.
  After snack we had a chance to switch groups so that those with Mrs. Janice worked with Camillie and Colton and vicea versa.  Some folks might say we were cutting up while we worked with Mrs. Janice.  To some extent that was true, we were cutting up cucumbers to make the perfect pickle spears.  We learned that the blossom end of the cucumber must be cut off or the spear will be soft, not crunchy.  We decided we didn't like soft pickles.  We also cut the spears just so to make sure the pickles would be the right length and girth for the jars.  We learned that the jars are filled appropriately when you can turn them upside down and no pickles fall out.  We also learned not to fill them to the top with our special dill liquid, there must be a 1/4 inch head space at the top of the jar.  We put lids on the jars and placed them in a water bath. We will get to take our creations home in a day or so after they sit to ensure the seal.
  All that fun in the kitchen was just part of our day.  We got a chance to make our own butter by shaking whipping cream in a jar.  Now you might wonder why we would do that?  Well it was perfect for our lunch.  We got to sample our butter over corn, that we had shucked that morning.  The fresh corn and our homemade butter was a tasty treat next to the pizza we were having for lunch.  We also got to take our butter makers, extra butter, and butter recipe home with us.
  After working so hard you might think we were done.  Oh no that certainly wasn't the case.  Half of us worked on pickles while the other half helped Miss Shea Ann pick out recipes for our Food Network competition.  We had a lot of fun and can't wait to see what our final choices will be.

  Mrs. T came by and got us up and moving.  Physical activity is important to our health so she made us dance.  That was more painful for some rather than others.  We also got to make our afternoon snack with her, a breakfast pizza.  We used half an english muffin and spread apple butter, peanut butter, or other types of stuff on it then piled it high with our choice of fruit.  She said we could also drizzle honey over it.  It was the bomb!
  At the end of the day we talked about our trip for tomorrow and then hit the floor for our favorite game, the silent game.  We can't wait for tomorrow because it is going to be really sweet!